Monthly archive for August2014 - page 4

Let’s just say that it’s a good thing the 2010 Healthy Hunger- Free Kids Act doesn’t apply in home kitchens – yet.  And if it ever does, I pity the poor bastard from the FDA (or HHS, DEA, or whatever) who has to visit Auntie Fee and ensure her compliance.  Language warning, but it’s nothing you haven’t heard before:

Hat Tip: Ace of Spades HQ

We used to have a saying when we were kids and someone was getting mad over a small thing.  We would say sarcastically “Don’t make  a federal case out of it!”  Now it’s popular to do just the opposite.  Let’s make a federal case out of everything!  The one important difference?  It’s the adults talking now.

Case In Point: what kids eat in school.  For approximately as long as kids and schools have existed, the only issues with what kids ate at school were the speculative origins of the various mystery entrees in school lunches.  Now, since “The Children”® are either morbidly obese or malnourished depending on which particular do-gooder is speaking we now must have the Federal Nose stuck into everyone’s business.  And idiocy ensues.

Courtesy of Business Insider, we learn that the Federal Initiative called “Let’s Move” is unpopular with the kids it was designed to “help”.  Part of the “Let’s Move” initiative was a revamping of the school meal standards in the National School Lunch Program.  Yes, you heard me – the National School Lunch Program.  Of course these revisions were undertaken with the best of intentions.  And when you’re do-goodin’, intentions are all that matter.  The reason it is unpopular?  Because the “right portions” and “healthier food options” required by the initiative are apparently very small and/or inedible and the kids are left hungry after lunch.  Kids being kids, they have taken to social media, namely Twitter and are tweeting pictures of their lunches along with sarcastic remarks – follow this link to see some of their tweets:  Business Insider – Students Are Tweeting Photos of Awful School Lunches….

Now everyone knows that other than school cafeteria lunches, the only other time food and school intersect is at Bake Sale Time.  Bake Sales have long been a way for school groups to raise money for any number of causes, and it’s a treat for the kids, too.  And they still will be – albeit with appropriate supervision.  Because starting this fall, we’ve made a Federal Case out of it.  There is literally a Federal Law governing the fare offered at school bake sales:  The 2010 Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, one of the stated goals of which is to fight childhood obesity…apparently by by making kids hunger-free.  And the best way to make them hunger free is to only offer them foods they won’t eat.  Makes perfect sense *eyeroll*.  Read the details in this article at the Wall Street Journal: “Put Down The Cupcake:  New Ban Hits School Bake Sales”

Remember that the people making these rules are only doing it for your own good.  You need their help because you aren’t smart enough to make good decisions.  And they care more than you.  And they think they are better than you.

And when you finaly figure out there’s a boot on your throat, remember: it’s for your own good.

Today a man said something:  Obama says ‘After 9-11 we tortured some folks’

Welcome to another edition of Music Friday.  I’m your host, Kasey Kasem.  Jumping of on a tangent from last Music Friday, today we will foray into the New Wave Movement of  the late 1970s and early 1980s.  New Wave Music was an evolution of Punk Rock, tweaked ever so slightly to give it some mainstream appeal and therefore chance of commercial viability.  If you are about my age and have ever listened to a radio, you have probably heard these songs, which I chose to highlight the fact that New Wave did what it set out to do, which was reach an audience.

First up, English group The Fixx.  This song, “One Thing Leads To Another”, is their most successful recording, having reached #4 on the US Billboard Top 100 in 1983:

Loved it.  OK, next here is a band from Scotland called Big Country.  This song, “In a Big Country” was popular at the same time as the previous song, as it reached #17 on the US Billboard Top 100 the same year. Give a listen:

Sounds Scottish, no?  Apparently those are not bagpipes you hear, but heavily engineered electric guitar.  Interesting.  Moving on to our final stop, we have the English group Tears For Fears.  They had many commercial successes, this song being one of them.  “Head Over Heels” reached #3 on the US Billboard Top 100 in 1985:

There you have just a little taste of the late 70s and early 80s.  Have a favorite that I overlooked?  Leave it in the comments.  I take requests!