RFK is from the Govt and he's here to help (AKA Poor People! He's coming for your Mountain Dew)

[AthenaAwakened]

ICYMI, RFK Jr has declared war on soda. He wants poor people banned from buying soda with their SNAP benefits.

Oy vey

Puts me in mind of a piece I wrote a few years back

One of my mom's pet peeves was food stamps going for junk food.
She would say, "they should take Oreos off the list and put soap and washing powder on."
I used to agree with her until I looked at it another way.

People get mad at poor people on food stamps for buying junk food, but no one else. Middle class people make poor food choices all the time but no one complains about them in the check out line.

Aren't their children also going to be malnourished?
Or does money buy you freedom?

Poor people have little money and live on public assistance so they can't buy their way out of our righteous indignation. It's "our tax money" (It really isn't, but that another topic) so we get to sit in judgment and demand limitations on their behaviors.
Only it isn't "our money" and we really should have no more control over how a person in the grocery store spends his or her money than we have the right to tell a fireman how to fight a fire or a VA nurse how to take blood or a soldier how to fire a weapon.

Public money isn't just "our" (as opposed to "their") money and how the end user of public funds uses that money isn't "our" business unless that use is illegal.

Think of it this way, if you can tell a welfare recipient he can't use public money to buy Doritos, what's to stop you from telling him he can't check out Lady Chatterly's Lover from the public library or use the emergency room at a public hospital, or push his kids on a swing in a public park?

And what does our bullying and berating the poor for legal behavior we all have engaged or do engage in (the buying of junk food is legal) say about us and what we think freedom of choice really is?
Is it a right, a privilege, or a commodity?
__________
From the Harriet T and Ida B Gun Club and Sewing Circle this is me and I'm jessayin'

 

[AthenaAwakened]

RFK Jr. seeks to ban soda buying with food stamps in health push

Kennedy compared his push against junk-food companies to the fight against Big Tobacco.

fortune.com

 

[barbos]

Well, he does what he can. Ideally there should be a tax on sugar, but sugar mafia will assassinate another Kennedy before that happens.

 

[AthenaAwakened]

We are asking poor people to limit purchases of a legal food stuff because they are not financially able to feed themselves and their families without public assistance.

Doritos become a food of privilege.

We are in effect saying to poor folk “Either go out and find special money with which to buy junk food or do without it because on MY dime (which really isn’t mine but the public’s which means the poor have as much say in how it is spent as the rest of us) I get to decide what YOU can and cannot have.”
So we take the program that is designed to help the poor and make it into a bludgeon with which to beat the poor, infantilize the poor and make the rest of us into precious moral overlords of the poor.

And on a personal note
I want everyone to eat healthy. So I want to restrict access to bad food FOR EVERYONE.
But the food stamp debate is more about just restricting or banning bad food for poor folk. Somehow poor folk aren’t allow the luxury of poor decision making. That’s a right they shouldn’t have but others should. Because we who buy food with money are more enlightened and our bad decisions are better than their bad decisions.



And Finally
The problem isn’t food stamps or checks or subsidized housing or Medicaid. The problem is poverty and the beasts it makes of the poor and the brutes it makes of the rest of us.

 

[Axulus]

And of course, the whole idea that it is restricted to food is already an indignity. Give people cash and let them decide.

But, in addition, there is a danger with having a central authority administer the program. We see now when a cruel and sadistic authoritarian regime gets in power, they control everything and have way too much power to do harm. They use the money to compel obedience to their ideology and political advantage. There needs to be a way to decenteralize it. Maybe have the states take it over or something, I don't know. It just is too important to be left to the whims of a single regime who can then subvert it to their own ends and entrench their power.

 

[marc]

And when republicans express support for this, break out how the same people were calling Bloomberg a dictator for trying to limit soda size in NY back in 2012.

 

[ideologyhunter]

Right -- the Nanny State!!

 

[Shadowy Man]

And when republicans express support for this, break out how the same people were calling Bloomberg a dictator for trying to limit soda size in NY back in 2012.

Was he only limiting it for welfare people or for free people too?

 

[thebeave]

From the first line of the SNAP website home page:

Putting Healthy Food within Reach for Those in Need

SNAP provides food benefits to low-income families to supplement their grocery budget so they can afford the nutritious food essential to health and well-being.

Does not seem like soda falls under the current criteria for healthy or nutritious. That said, a zero tolerance approach for all soda might be going a little far, so maybe a monthly limit on soda purchases (if there's not one already in place) would make sense for special occassions, like birthday parties, etc. People do need to have a few guilty pleasures in life.

I also don't really get why this is really an issue. I despise RFK as much as the next guy, but this is actually one of the more sensible (if not the only sensible) things he's proposed. And wasn't it Michelle Obama who proposed and implemented a healthy menu for free school lunches?

 

[Shadowy Man]

From the first line of the SNAP website home page:

Putting Healthy Food within Reach for Those in Need

SNAP provides food benefits to low-income families to supplement their grocery budget so they can afford the nutritious food essential to health and well-being.

Does not seem like soda falls under the current criteria for healthy or nutritious. That said, a zero tolerance approach for all soda might be going a little far, so maybe a monthly limit on soda purchases (if there's not one already in place) would make sense for special occassions, like birthday parties, etc. People do need to have a few guilty pleasures in life.

I also don't really get why this is really an issue. I despise RFK as much as the next guy, but this is actually one of the more sensible (if not the only sensible) things he's proposed. And wasn't it Michelle Obama who proposed and implemented a healthy menu for free school lunches?

Then why not limit soda purchases for ALL people if it’s such a sensible idea?

 

[thebeave]

From the first line of the SNAP website home page:

Putting Healthy Food within Reach for Those in Need

SNAP provides food benefits to low-income families to supplement their grocery budget so they can afford the nutritious food essential to health and well-being.

Does not seem like soda falls under the current criteria for healthy or nutritious. That said, a zero tolerance approach for all soda might be going a little far, so maybe a monthly limit on soda purchases (if there's not one already in place) would make sense for special occassions, like birthday parties, etc. People do need to have a few guilty pleasures in life.

I also don't really get why this is really an issue. I despise RFK as much as the next guy, but this is actually one of the more sensible (if not the only sensible) things he's proposed. And wasn't it Michelle Obama who proposed and implemented a healthy menu for free school lunches?

Then why not limit soda purchases for ALL people if it’s such a sensible idea?

People who earn their own money can spend it how they please, however reckless and harmful it may be. If someone is receiving a money as a gift to help improve their lives, whether from the government or a friend/relative/charity, etc there is often a stipulation that the money be spent sensibly and for a specific purpose. You're not allowed to use your Pell grant money on hookers and cocaine, you have to use it for college expenses. This is nothing new.

If you gift your kid a big chunk of cash to use for college, is it OK by you if he spends it on partying in Europe, or lottery tickets?

 

[southernhybrid]

WIC is a program that provides food help to poor pregnant women and children, but WIC can only be used to buy healthy foods, so I don't really see a problem limiting what one can buy with SNAP either. Poor people don't get enough money from SNAP to buy all of the food they need, so why not have them use that benefit for the healthy foods they need? Most work in low paying jobs and probably have enough money left over for junk foods if that's how they want to spend that money. I've never met one SNAP recipient who bought all of their foods via SNAP.

I worked with a lot of poor women, some who received SNAP. Some of them drank enormous amounts of sodas. Should we really be subsiding sodas? I'm sure Coke and Pepsi love getting government help for their products. The women I worked with were mostly obese and they would ask me how to lose weight. The first question I asked them were how much soda did they drink each day. Some admitted to drinking 2 liters of soda per day. Most drank at least 3 or 4 cans each day. Some acted as if I was crazy when I suggested they cut back on their soft drinks, I don't consider soda to be food. They are nothing more than flavored sugar water and they are addictive. If SNAP can be used for soda, why not let it be used for wine or beer. I put soda in the same class as that. They may be enjoyable but they aren't food, imo.

 

[Elixir]

Some admitted to drinking 2 liters of soda per day. Most drank at least 3 or 4 cans each day.

Holy shit.
I have a real bad Coca Cola habit. I buy six packs of those half liter bottles, and feel guilty if I finish two of them, for a total of one liter within a week.
At that level of consumption the caffeine alone does the drug thing - gets you pumped up then lets you down and finally leaves you unable to sleep if you’ve consumed it in the late afternoon.
I cannot begin to imagine the havoc wrought upon a body - an older body at that - consuming 10-15 liters a week.

Kudos to them every day, for surviving the night. It definitely recalls rats that will kill themselves with cocaine, given the chance. Maybe soda tolerance can be acquired that allows an older person to consume liters per day of that stuff, but tolerance or no, it HAS to be tearing up the body.

 

[thebeave]

Years ago, my cousin (from Northern California) decided to volunteer working with kids at some Christian organization in very rural Kentucky right after college (for about a year, IIRC). One thing that took her by surprise right away was how bad the teeth of a lot of these kids were. In fact, she went to a dentist while she was there, and the local dentist mentioned how pleasantly surprised he was by how nice (aka normal) her teeth were. He told her these kids drink Mountain Dew and other soft drinks like there's no tomorrow.

 

[TV and credit cards]

I think all this crap should be sin taxed based on how unhealthy it is. Use those taxes to subsidized our healthcare system or at least the $137 billion in medical costs due to obesity. How's that? We pay a tax when buying this shit regardless of income level or does that place an unfair burden on those with lower income?
One small UK study shows that even after being educated on diet and exercise, those who meet the criteria for being prescribed a statin will make no lifestyle changes.

 

[Elixir]

We pay a tax when buying this shit regardless of income level or does that place an unfair burden on those with lower income?

If they’re okay with tariffs and trumpflation, why would they object to something that might actually BENEFIT them?

 

[laughing dog]

From the first line of the SNAP website home page:

Putting Healthy Food within Reach for Those in Need

SNAP provides food benefits to low-income families to supplement their grocery budget so they can afford the nutritious food essential to health and well-being.

Does not seem like soda falls under the current criteria for healthy or nutritious. That said, a zero tolerance approach for all soda might be going a little far, so maybe a monthly limit on soda purchases (if there's not one already in place) would make sense for special occassions, like birthday parties, etc. People do need to have a few guilty pleasures in life.

I also don't really get why this is really an issue. I despise RFK as much as the next guy, but this is actually one of the more sensible (if not the only sensible) things he's proposed. And wasn't it Michelle Obama who proposed and implemented a healthy menu for free school lunches?

Then why not limit soda purchases for ALL people if it’s such a sensible idea?

People who earn their own money can spend it how they please, however reckless and harmful it may be.

That is simply not true. People who earn their own money are not legally allowed to by cocaine or hit men.

If someone is receiving a money as a gift to help improve their lives, whether from the government or a friend/relative/charity, etc there is often a stipulation that the money be spent sensibly and for a specific purpose. You're not allowed to use your Pell grant money on hookers and cocaine, you have to use it for college expenses. This is nothing new.

If there is a stipulation, it is not a gift.

But if RFK really wants to promote healthy eating, why stop at banning soda. How about banning processed meat or potato chips, or salt, or sugar, or the myriad of other items that are just as unhealthy for people.

 

[laughing dog]

Years ago, my cousin (from Northern California) decided to volunteer working with kids at some Christian organization in very rural Kentucky right after college (for about a year, IIRC). One thing that took her by surprise right away was how bad the teeth of a lot of these kids were. In fact, she went to a dentist while she was there, and the local dentist mentioned how pleasantly surprised he was by how nice (aka normal) her teeth were. He told her these kids drink Mountain Dew and other soft drinks like there's no tomorrow.

Is your solution to ban Christians from buying soda?

 

[southernhybrid]

Some admitted to drinking 2 liters of soda per day. Most drank at least 3 or 4 cans each day.

Holy shit.
I have a real bad Coca Cola habit. I buy six packs of those half liter bottles, and feel guilty if I finish two of them, for a total of one liter within a week.
At that level of consumption the caffeine alone does the drug thing - gets you pumped up then lets you down and finally leaves you unable to sleep if you’ve consumed it in the late afternoon.
I cannot begin to imagine the havoc wrought upon a body - an older body at that - consuming 10-15 liters a week.

Kudos to them every day, for surviving the night. It definitely recalls rats that will kill themselves with cocaine, given the chance. Maybe soda tolerance can be acquired that allows an older person to consume liters per day of that stuff, but tolerance or no, it HAS to be tearing up the body.

The one who admitted she drank at least 2 liters a day, drank Mountain Dew. She was extremely obese and sadly died of heart failure while in her mid 40s. I'm not claiming that all obesity is due to drinking too much soda, but it is certainly a factor in many cases. Obesity is a complicated disease based on many factors, including having a genetic perdisposition, and some obese folks live long healthy lives. Mr. Sohy's grandma was very obese and lived to be 94, but her over eating was mostly due to eating a lot of nuts. I never saw her drink a single glass of soda.

If you're drinking less than a liter a week, I would hardly call that a bad habit. I try to limit my soda intake to 12 oz. per day and that hasn't seemed to harm me or put any weight on me. I love ginger ale, especially Canada Dry.

I think when I was in my 20s and my ex was drafted during the Viet Nam War, we did qualify for what was then called food stamps for a few months until the government raised the pay from less than 200 dollars a month to around 400 per month. I only bought healthy foods with my benefit. In fact, I don't even think I drank any sodas back then.

 

[GenesisNemesis]

Basically the only soda I drink now is ginger ale, but it's a comfort drink for me. Was sick a lot as a kid (I got pneumonia twice FYI) so I had it often. Anyway I'm still alive.