The Food Police
America was founded through war and suffering upon the concept of personal liberty. Sadly, since then our culture has been infected with a creeping desire to surrender that liberty to the state in order to be protected from the actions of others and of ourselves.
We have slid far down the slope into tyranny, and few seem intelligent enough to even notice it.
All fear the jackbooted thugs of the dictator, but so many in America gladly accept the more kindly face that despotism normally wears.
When a Texas third-grader get’s a week’s detention, during which she would be separated from other students during lunch and recess, for possessing a Jolly Rancher hard candy, it’s a stark warning sign that the Nanny State is firmly entrenched in the country.
Reported by KHOU:
ORCHARD, Texas – A third-grader at Brazos Elementary was given a week’s detention for possessing a Jolly Rancher.
School officials in Brazos County are defending the seemingly harsh sentence. The school’s principal and superintendent said they were simply complying with a state law that limits junk food in schools.
But the girl’s parents say it’s a huge overreaction.
“I think it’s stupid to give a kid a week’s worth of detention for a piece of candy,” said Amber Brazda, the girl’s mother. “The whole thing was just ridiculous to me.”
Leighann Adair, 10, was eating lunch Monday when a teacher confiscated the candy. Her parents said she was in tears when she arrived home later that afternoon and handed them the detention notice.
According to the disciplinary referral, she would be separated from other students during lunch and recess through Friday.
Jack Ellis, the superintendent for Brazos Independent School District, declined an on-camera interview. But he said the school was abiding by a state guideline that banned “minimal nutrition” foods.
“Whether or not I agree with the guidelines, we have to follow the rules,” he said.
The state, however, gives each school discretion over how to enforce the policy. Ellis said school officials had decided a stricter punishment was necessary after lesser penalties failed to serve as a deterrent.
Ellis said failing to adhere to the state’s guidelines could put federal funding in jeopardy.
According to the Texas Department of Agriculture’s website, “The Texas Public School Nutrition Policy (TPSNP) explicitly states that it does not restrict what foods or beverages parents may provide for their own children’s consumption.”
Brazos Elementary Principal Jeanne Young, said the problem, in this instance, was that the candy was provided by another student – not the girl’s parents.
The girl’s mother said the incident has taught her daughter a lesson, but not the one her teachers intended.
“I told her, ‘Leighann, unfortunately you’re learning very young that life’s not fair,’” Brazda said.
— Gabe Gutierrez
KHOU News 11, Houston, TX
So the Food Police at Brazos Elementary gave the ten year-old Leighann Adair a week’s detention for “possession of minimal nutrition food.” One has to wonder if the student who gave her the Jolly Rancher got worse due to harsher sentencing for “possession with intent to distribute” and if young Ms. Adair could have gotten a lighter sentence by identifying her “dealer” to the authorities.
Brazos Elementary school officials have defended their actions against Leighann Adair as being required by- and consistent with Texas state laws; they were just following orders from the Nanny State after all. In this they are actually correct.
Texas Public School Nutrition Policy (TPSNP) Update
SY 2009-2010 TPSNP Amendments will be effective August 1, 2009. Highlights of the Amendments include:
- Nutrition Standards: Schools must eliminate deep-fat frying as a method of on-site preparation for foods served as part of reimbursable school meals, a la carte, snack lines and competitive foods. Transition period for extensive equipment or facility changes ends.
- Foods of Minimal Nutritional Value (FMNV): High Schools my not serve or provide access for students to FMNV and all other forms of candy at any time anywhere on school premises until the end of the last scheduled class.
Complete details and information pertaining to the SY 2009-10 Amendments are available here: Texas Public School Nutrition Policy – SY 2009 – 10 Amendment – Effective August 1, 2009
As I have said before, the Liberals seek to enact a “nanny state” whose despotism will wear a kindly face, but whose iron fist will strike as hard as any other tyrant’s. Even worse, as they have so often in the past, they have come first for America’s children since they are well acquainted with Lenin’s words, “Give me four years to teach the children and the seed I have sown will never be uprooted.”
The question before Americans is do we have the conviction and the will to do what is necessary to stop them.
Tags: America | Food | Freedom | Law | Liberals | Liberty | Nanny State | Politics | Society | Texas | Tyranny
May 9th, 2010 at 10:44 am
[…] This post was mentioned on Twitter by jonolan. jonolan said: New Post – The Food Police – http://tinyurl.com/266urct […]
May 10th, 2010 at 4:33 pm
Yeah, the nanny state is upon us. These attempts to keep Americans ‘safe’ is getting way out of control. It looks like we are doomed to suffer the fate of the UK. A week for a piece of candy? That’s just insane. I remember in my school the rule was that you had to bring enough for everyone. I hate to think that I will not be allowed to give my kid a piece of candy to bring to school with him.
Side note … isn’t Texas a Republican controlled state?
May 10th, 2010 at 6:29 pm
Yeah, it’s bad – very, very bad – and getting worse all the time, zhann.
As for Texas being Republican-controlled – not exactly; Texas is a unique state with a unique brand of both Republican and Democrat.
The problem is that the regulations in question are federal, not state level. If Texas wants any Fed education dollars, they have to bow down to their feds’ rules no matter how wrong those rules are.
May 11th, 2010 at 1:49 pm
When I went to school, we ate the problem foods of today. We did not go home to watch tee vee. Most of us didn’t have one to watch. Few, if any kids were considered overweight let alone obese back then.
May 11th, 2010 at 4:02 pm
You might be shocked and appalled at how many of those kids would now be considered obese, mcnorman. Our $20+ billion weight-loss industry has corrupted our societal body images to a great extent since you and I were young.
May 12th, 2010 at 12:34 pm
I know you are correct, the billion $$$$ weight loss IS the culprit. Body dysmorphia advocated by our own government.
We were small kids, we ate everything in moderation. We did not sit in front of the teevee all day snacking, that’s for sure. Hell, we even played Dodgeball. LOL
May 12th, 2010 at 1:26 pm
http://dailycaller.com/2010/05/12/michelle-obama-to-women-planning-a-pregnancy-no-fatties/
May 12th, 2010 at 2:25 pm
Oh lovely. 🙁
May 13th, 2010 at 2:26 pm
I think more Americans will be ok with the “nanny state” as the cost of obesity increases. Already now healthcare costs in America are higher than for most comparable countries. And even poorer countries like Cuba, Puerto Rico, Costa Rica have longer life expectancies than USA.
May 13th, 2010 at 2:46 pm
Paradigm,
Life expectancy isn’t a particular good measure of overall health because it normally isn’t broken out with enough granularity, either by race or cause of death.
There’s also the fact that some scientists are turning the idea of the causes and progression of “metabolic syndrome” on its head. This may well effect the overall stance that people take on “obesity” – I quote obesity due to it being based upon Quetelet’s BMI which was never meant to be applied to individuals and is, in any event, horribly flawed by its very simplicity.
May 14th, 2010 at 7:27 am
Well, research indicates that Americans have more heart disease, cancer and diabetes than Europeans, even if more screening in America is taken into account. And all of these major conditions relate to obesity.
As for race, African Americans are by definition Americans and should of course go into the equation.
May 14th, 2010 at 8:56 am
There is a correlation between heart disease and some cancers and obesity, Paradigm, but that correlation is not yet well understood. Recent research indicates that it’ possible that obesity is a protective response and symptom of an underlying hormone imbalance that effects insulin absorption and resistance.
In other words, it’s entirely possible that “treating” obesity would not only be only treating a symptom but might actually hasten the onset of dangerous later symptoms of metabolic syndrome.
My point on the granularity issues in life expectancy data is that, if there’s a significant discrepancy in life expectancy based upon race, if you don’t normalize your data for this fact you’ll get effectively skewed results.
It is the reverse of how, when people speak of “Europe’s” life expectancy or disease rates, they normally only include data from certain countries: Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.
May 17th, 2010 at 3:03 pm
[…] Comments jonolanon The Food Police Paradigmon The Food Police jonolanon The Food Police Paradigmon The Food Police mcnormanon Frank […]