10 February 2004No Cokes for youA measure to ban soft drinks and sweets from grade-school vending machines failed to get past the Senate Education Committee; the final vote was an 8-8 tie, which doesn't necessarily mean the bill is dead, but it's certainly coughing up blood. It wasn't quite a party-line vote, either. Six Democrats and two Republicans voted for the bill; six Republicans and two Democrats voted against it. Generally, the proponents agreed that too many kids eat too much junk; opponents argued that these matters should be settled at the local, rather than the state, level. I just don't give my kid money for the vending machines.. Pretty much takes care of that little problem. Still, vending machines *at all* in public schools, as well as Taco Bell and Pizza Hut at schools seem retarded to me. Anyone else remember having the white gravy with bits of some sort of meat in it over rice or mashed potatoes for school lunch? Sheet pizza was a great day for me, as I recall. Of course, bringing your own lunch was always an option. I've seen the OKC public school hamburgers, and they don't look like the ones I was subjected to way back when. These are juicy, with tomato, not the kind of so-called burgers that make McDonald's look like real hamburgers. But anyway, we really can't expect our government to do anything about the vending machines, because that would mean they're doing their job. Something about one of the signs of the apocalypse comes to mind. What Terk describes from the old days sounds like what passes for a hamburger at the local gas station/convenience store -- and this is the new version of that establishment. Of course, for buying a hamburger at a gas station, I deserve what I get. Posted by: McGehee at 10:16 AM on 10 February 2004Turk, you may have control *now*, but when she gets to HS and is working, you won't have any say in it. |