Does this mean we can stop now?

Help sign the petition to declare Congress a vegetable!

I’d like to see President Obama eat the crap that Congress believes is food fit for our children!

You do understand that Michelle Obama has been working toward healthier school food?  And that it’s traditional for Republican Congresses to try to kill the projects of Democratic First Ladies?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFB_vHVFM_8&ob=av3e

Are things as bad as they seem in America?

I don’t know what your perception is, but probably not.

From what I understood your markets don’t have to inform consumers which country fruits and vegetables are from?

Currently country-of-origin labeling is voluntary. I usually get my vegetables from the local farmer’s market or our CSA share, but in the winter when we have to get stuff at the grocery it is often labeled, but not always. I think that’s kind of silly, but it is what we currently have.

So yes, they don’t have to, but the often/usually do.

Are there any nutritional information in american food stuffs?

Ah… yes. We have food labeling requirements, same as, just about every other “modern” country.

http://fnic.nal.usda.gov/nal_display/index.php?info_center=4&tax_level=2&tax_subject=273&topic_id=1317

Why don’t you want to take care of your health especially when health care system seems to be so crappy?

I’ll ignore the trollish nature of the wording breifly: The issue with the US’s health care system is its availability, not its quality. If you have covereage, there is nothing “crappy” about it, and just characterizing it that way prevents the real nuanced discourse from taking place, which is concerning its availability.

Intelligence is knowing that tomatoes are fruit.
Wisdom is knowing not to put them in a fruit salad.

(author unknown)

And Common Sense is knowing to avoid the whole fruit/vegetable pedantry altogether.

I learned to get over a lot of that way back in 2000, when I figure out “you know, it doesn’t really matter if this is the first year of the millennium or not….”

Why is the federal government in charge of what can be served in school cafeterias?

The federal government provides funding to buy school lunches under the National School Lunch Program. It sets standards for what it’s buying. Not all schools participate in the NSLP, but I don’t know what the issues are around that.

Is this in any way an improvement over the status quo ante??

The status quo ante was more volatile farm prices and more childhood hunger. Now there’s less of those things, but issues with childhood obesity and nutritional standards (thanks in part, as we see, to our pals in the pizza and potato lobbies). You decide.

Could this be any more like Idiocracy?

Michelle O only has the bully pulpit to promote healthy ideas.  She can serve as an example, but why should her family suffer if people won’t follow?

The original bill seems to be concerned with the health and welfare of children. Who could possibly oppose a bill that would improve the health of school children? The pizza makers who stand to lose money. And their political arm (in this case the Red part) legislated in favour of the pizza lobby, while ignoring the health of school children, the wishes of the voters, and any kind of voice of conscience that might have whispered “you’re better than this.”  

We need a revolution.

PS: such observation doesn’t mean that I disregard the poors’ education, simply that the poor are actually better served by a competitive system in the long run.

I think you’ll find that government leaders are naturally healthier than the average. If you family tends to die young, the odds are against it accumulating wealth, and elected positions have absolute or de-facto biases in favor of old people. The people who do well in dynasties can eat more fat, smoke more tobacco, and drink more alcohol without ill effect than “normal” people.

Hence, the school lunch program. Given that a majority of the Republican-controlled Congress would like to abolish the public education system as a whole I am not surprised that they have made a mockery of the program. Those lazy kids should just get jobs to support themselves and stop expecting handouts from the society that will soon rely on them exclusively for labor, taxes, etc., amirite?

/facepalm

“This time around, food companies that produce frozen pizzas for schools,
the salt industry and potato growers requested the changes and lobbied
Congress. Piling on to the companies’ opposition, some conservatives argue that
the federal government shouldn’t tell children what to eat.”

“This time around, food companies that produce frozen pizzas for schools,
the salt industry and potato growers requested the changes and lobbied
Congress. Piling on to the companies’ opposition, some conservatives argue that
the federal government shouldn’t tell children what to eat.

“This time around, food companies that produce frozen pizzas for schools,
the salt industry and potato growers requested the changes and lobbied
Congress.Piling on to the companies’ opposition, some conservatives argue that
the federal government shouldn’t tell children what to eat.”

“This time around, food companies that produce frozen pizzas for schools,
the salt industry and potato growers requested the changes and lobbied
Congress. Piling on to the companies’ opposition, some conservatives argue that
the federal government shouldn’t tell children what to eat.”

Congress pushes back on healthier school lunches