Although the Hill’s title – “GOP has knives out for school lunch rules” – is accurate enough. The GOP does have the knives out: “First lady Michelle Obama’s signature school lunch regulations are coming under fresh fire from GOP lawmakers, who view impending reauthorization legislation as their best chance yet to dial back the controversial nutrition standards.” …and, do you know why? Because those rules are sadistic, pointless, and not feeding our kids properly. Reps. Glenn Grothman of Wisconsin and Dave Brat of Virginia – and yes, even Sen. Pat Roberts of Nebraska – should be commended for pushing back on the Democrats’ frankly bizarre and ill-planned attempts to use our kids’ schools to push dubious nutrition ‘science’ policies.
Think that’s an exaggeration? Check out the last paragraph of the Hill article:
“It’s a long process, but we’re making tremendous strides,” [Donna Martin, director of the School Nutrition Program for Burke County Public Schools in Georgia] said during a recent hearing. “We’ve got to stay the course. It takes time to change those taste buds from liking high sodium to low sodium.”
Speaking as the father of two kids who are going to both be dealing with school lunches next year, I have a better idea. I think that Ms. Martin should let my wife and I worry about how much sodium my kids’ taste buds like. That’s our job. Nobody outside the Democratic party is exactly out in the street there, demanding that it be Ms. Martins.
Moe Lane (crosspost)
We didn’t home school our youngest for ideological or political reasons. But oh my is it nice that we did – so many incredibly stupid regulations and social experiments all gone awry because the laboratory animal in question isn’t in the cage with the others.
Can’t wait until they get someone like me, I don’t retain sodium, into the system. Of course their school lunch program will probably kill him but the ensuing trial will be fun. Even some of the people with a family history of low blood pressure are at risk, since they need sodium to keep their blood pressure up so the don’t keel over.
I also have to limit my fluid intake so there’s another way to kill someone like me. If I drank as much water as normal people are supposed to I’d end up in the hospital on a saline drip, again.
They are essentially playing Russian Roulette with the health of all those kids mot in the exact center of the dietary Bell Curve. And sooner or later they’re going to hit on the loaded chamber and some kid’s going to suffer. I hope the ensuing lawsuit beggars everyone involved. Arrogance deserves to be rewarded.
Not to mention, every child’s nutritional needs vary wildly from 1st grade to 12th. A one size fits all 2 units of starches, 1 unit of protein, .3 units of fats kind of diet is never going to work well.
It is doing a very good job in giving the children a practical example of federal government overreach, though.
.. which is why this should be left alone until 2017.
.
Mew
Pat Roberts of Kansas* (feel free to delete this once corrected)
My son would by 2 lunches or lunch and a separate entree. He is in grade school, but active and tall. We have to buy the second lunch at market price so sometimes he ends up paying $8 for these crap lunches. By the time you consider peanut restrictions, orthodontic restrictions and challenges of keeping food from exploding in a careless, active kids lunch box. It is really hard to pack a lunch.
I resent that my tax dollars are being put towards giving hungry kids a diet. Instead of taking popular foods and sucking the taste and flavor out of them, maybe they could consider some alternative entrees. By the time chicken nuggets are remade according to these standards kids won’t eat them. In one school district they offer kids a “snack” which consists of a single raw vegetable. No kid is eating these. They’ll just wait until they go home and can get better food. These school officials are idiots to think they can hold kids for a short period of time and force them to change their palate over the lunch day. Kids are smuggling in good stuff. The school officials must not be aware of how stupid they sound when they say it just takes time. That might sound good to the press, but anyone with an ounce of sodium free sense knows better/. This is a huge waste of money.
If they wait until Michelle is out of the WH to roll back this idiocy than that will just show that we places her vanity above the welfare of small kids. The democrats aren’t as concerned for the children as they are for their queen. Hypocrites. Keep First Lady out of legislation. It stifles honest debate.
Funny how Michelle’s school lunch program parallels Greek socialism and the requisite, “Well, if we give it more time and just keep trying we’ll eventually get it to work”, response when it all inevitably fails over and over again.
Almost any system can be made to work, if one is willing to ignore the black market…
.
Mew