There is no doubt that soft drinks are making people fat, and that giving soft drinks to children increases their chances of becoming obese. Health officials warn that 12 ounces of soda everyday add 15 extra pounds per person per year. There is one obvious solution to curb the problem: a corrective tax on the consumption of sugared drinks and soda purchases.
Michael Bloomberg, the mayor of New York, and New York State officials did certainly think about it. But in these insane times when corporate power and tea-partiers have confiscated the political discourse while democrats are hiding, a tax on these products is a long shot. The solution, for our health-minded, paternalistic New York State law makers: a ban on the purchase of sugared drinks and sodas with food stamps. The poor shall be virtuous, even if nobody else is. Also, the proposal plays the trendy cord of fiscal responsibility: how dare the poor gorge themselves with sweet drinks they buy with our hard-earned tax dollar anyway? Finally, the proposal is conveniently risk-free: The poor don’t vote.
Why not a ban on the possession of car by the poor to curb global warming?
I am going to be completely honest here. I know your older daughter Camille and she is a really smart girl. How do you think she feels to have all of your family’s “dirty-laundry” aired on the internet? If you really want to mend your relationship with your daughters, perhaps you should not be telling the entire world that their mother, who they live with and are closer to, is psychotic. She is also a very happy girl, so even if you don’t get to see her as often as you would like, she is doing very well.
Thank you for your comment. I am happy to learn that Camille is happy and loves her mother.
For your information, I don’t get to see my daughters “as often as I would like”. I have just not seen them since September 10, 2005. That is five years, one month and 28 days.
Through this blog, I want my girls to know that 1/ this situation has been caused by an aberrant trial and an aberrant justice system 2/ that there is not one day that I do not think of them.
I know that Camille is a really smart girl, and I know that one day she will understand why I write this blog.
Pierre Lacour