SODA WARS

Last night, all over the news, they reported about “Soda Wars”. In San Francisco, Mayor Gavin Newsom has done it again, making a fizz of himself, by proposing a tax on soda, pop, soft drink, cold drink, whatever you call in your area. He claims this is to get money to run anti-obesity programs for children in his city. So indirectly he is saying that soda drinks is causing obesity in children, which is probably true, but certainly not the only contributing factor. What about the sofa, the lay-z-boy, the video games, the pizzas and hamburgers and fries, the fact that children don’t play outside the house anymore, etc, etc.

Just seems to me like another invasion of personal freedom. There is very little personal freedom left in America. There is no more real speech freedom. If you speak your mind they label it either hate speech or politically incorrect. If you say something as it is you are blamed for being insensitive. Already smokers cannot smoke where they want, and there is more tax on cigarettes than the worth of the product. (I don’t necessarily disagree on a separation, but outright ban in cities without any option?) Many cities already banned Trans-fat content in food. And several States already tax any form of fast-food including buying a prepared green salad if sold by fast-food restaurants. (I hate to use the word restaurant for fast-food joints. A restaurant is a sit down affair.)

Since when did it become the job of government to try and force the population to change there eating habits? Doesn’t that fall within personal choice? I remember a few years ago they tried to pass the “Hamburger Act” in Congress, which would have held McDonalds, Burger King, etc., liable for people that become obese eating their food. Thus people could sue these companies. Thank goodness common sense prevailed (for Congress it was a surprise…the common sense part) and the proposal was soundly defeated. I don’t disagree, I am sure soda can be bad for you like anything else that is overdone or taken too much of (except of course being too rich according to my interpretation of rich.) But to just tax soda manufacturers or to just blame and isolate soda drinks for child obesity is ridiculous (Seems more like they threw a dart at a board of names or industries to target.)

Mr. Newsom maybe you should concentrate more on saving the city’s money by not providing any services to illegal immigrants. Or even better, tax them on the cost of the services provided. I am sure you will suddenly have millions for obesity education for San Francisco. (But that’s another subject for another time.)

Oh, by the way, in LA another city councilor now wants to prevent the opening of any new fast-food restaurants in certain areas. See here. Make you wonder what makes politicians think they can prescribe to others once elected. It must be the drunkenness of power.

Let’s tax stupidity and then we will all be in jail for tax evasion. Or let’s tax breathing because the result is the release for that nasty carbon dioxide that causes global warming, such an inconvenient truth.

“Let’s just tax, tax, tax the bastards! They wanted to work for money and we the government wants a part of it, as big a part as possible.”

Stop invading our personal freedoms! What’s next? It certainly won’t stop with soda! Give a shark a pinkie and you’ll quickly lose an arm.