Yes, that beastly icon ,of that sinister company that is perpetrating a scheme to addict your children to food that poisons their bodies, has got to go. And, if we have to trample all over the First Amendment to get rid of him, so be it. That’s right. Big Brother, once known as Uncle Sam, is planning on protecting your children because you are doing such a terrible job of protecting them yourselves.
The Wall Street Journal has the story. Take a look at these excerpts from the story along with some “unbiased” comments from me:
More than 550 health professionals and organizations have signed a letter to McDonald’s Corp. asking the maker of Happy Meals to stop marketing junk food to kids and retire Ronald McDonald.
The letter, slated to run in the form of full-page ads in six metropolitan newspapers around the country on Wednesday, acknowledges that “the contributors to today’s (health) epidemic are manifold and a broad societal response is required. But marketing can no longer be ignored as a significant part of this massive problem.”
The campaign is organized by the nonprofit watchdog group Corporate Accountability International, which has also targeted tobacco companies and beverage makers like Coca-Cola Co. and PepsiCo Inc. for the environmental impact of plastic bottles.
So some NGO that calls itself Corporate accountability International (Have you ever wondered where all these NGO do-gooders get all their money?) is attacking McDonald for their supposed culpability in a supposed “health epidemic”.
Is that true? Do you have a health epidemic in the US that I’m not aware of? And if you do, is it the fault of McDonalds? I’m going to go out on a limb here and assume that the issue is that your children, in general, are over weight. But is that qualify as an epidemic? We have epidemics from time to time here in Venezuela. Things like Dengue, Malaria, Swine flu, and etc. Epidemics are serious. People die. So, I ask you, are American children dying at an alarming rate from this so-called epidemic? I thought that life expectancy was on the increase in the US. Isn’t that along with the “baby boom” phenomena what is driving Social Security and Medicare cost into the stratosphere?
Well, what the hey. These attacks are coming from a non-government organization. If this is how they want to spend their money and exercise their freedom of speech, so be it. Unfortunately, it is not just NGOs that are involved. The WSJ article has more:
Food makers that market to kids are coming under increased scrutiny. Last month, federal regulators proposed standards to which they’re asking food makers to voluntarily adhere when marketing food to children.
Food marketed to kids ages 2 to 17 would have to contain healthy items and limit sodium, sugar, fat and calories, according to the proposed guidelines issued by the Federal Trade Commission, the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
That is just what America needs; more government regulations. The cost of compliance will get passed to the consumer. The cost of government, i.e., cost to tax payers, will go up as bureaucracy must expand to carry out and administer the new regulations. More importantly, why is it governments business what your children eat? Further more, marketing by businesses is a form of “free speech”. Do we really want government putting limits on the right of free speech?
Is it just me or is Big Brother growing out of control? What are your thoughts?
loopyloo305
May 19, 2011
Totally out of control!
Conservatives on Fire
May 19, 2011
Absolutely out of control and nobody lifts a finger to stop them. Very sad.
Otis P. Driftwood
May 19, 2011
It seems that the obese one is Big Brother. That particular ‘brother’ is getting bigger and bigger.
Conservatives on Fire
May 19, 2011
Bigger and more dangerous.
Bunkerville
May 19, 2011
These groups have no idea what a bad road they are going down. While these groups may support this loss of freedom, it is only a matter of time until it is spreads its nasty tenacles into their lives. Chilling. But we cannot have a happy child these days anyway. They must worry about the nasty Oil companies, Climate Change, worry, worry worry, about things they should not be even thinking about.
Conservatives on Fire
May 19, 2011
The next thing you know everyone will be required to attend stress management courses.
Frankenstein Government
May 19, 2011
Collectivism. Nanny statists. Back from the dead. Well struck Jim.
Conservatives on Fire
May 19, 2011
All because we are simple minded idiots and we need them to take care of us. Well they can take their sanctimonious blather and stuff it!
Pat
May 19, 2011
When will the people recognize this for what it is: people who consider themselves better than us (more intelligent, wiser, and more compassionate) assuming the right to tell us what to do? These progressives/liberals are extraordinarily insulting. If some stranger walked straight up to me and told me I was doing a bad job of raising my son and I should just do what he says I’d threaten to break his nose if he didn’t leave my sight immediately. Yet people don’t seem to recognize that these intrusive know-it-alls are insulting every one of us, telling us we can’t make good decisions or take right actions on our own, all the time.
They are particularly condescending to those they are most trying to “help.” How often do minorities get told how hopeless and helpless their lives are and that they need the help of big government just to get by? Have they ever heard a Democrat say, “Hey, you are completely capable. YOU can make your life better. Go get it done!”? No, they hear, “You’re screwed. Let us help you because you can’t make it on your own. Hell, you can’t even raise your kids properly.”
You know how they say that if your life circumstances are not what you want, look around and see who you’re friends are? People tend to be stuck in the same ruts as their friends. Start hanging out with more successful people who pull you up and your life gets better. The Democrats as “friends” hold people down.
I’m sick of being insulted by these busybodies who think they know better than me. It’s time that we, collectively, punch them in the nose (metaphorically).
Conservatives on Fire
May 19, 2011
They know what they are doing. They are chipping away at our freedoms just a little bit at a time and they plan to continue until one day we wake-up and we are slaves of the state. Enough already!!
Infidel de Manahatta
May 19, 2011
To paraphrase Mel Gibson at the end of Braveheart: “Freedom and Happy Meals!”
Hey, when I was a child we went to McDonalds often. No one thought we were damaging our health.
I guess I was just ignorant.
Conservatives on Fire
May 19, 2011
I downed a few sausage biscuits in my day. Good, good good!
Cheryl
May 19, 2011
Stepping out on a limb here….we have had to start looking at RDA’s of fats, sugars, and sodium in our foods since my husband’s heart attack about three weeks ago. Frankly, we have found that there are shocking amounts of fats and sodium in foods we took for granted as being part of a normal diet. Not able to substantiate this, but it looks to me that the food industry, as a whole, has been putting a lot of fat and sodium into these foods that didn’t used to be there. I think it looks like the food industry has changed…for the worse. My husband is not over-weight, but these ingredients contributed to the heart situation anyway. Our Dr. says the worst are processed and fast foods.
Sooooo….I agree that the government should butt out and let the public take responsibility for their own diets. Obviously the government has no business regulating McDonalds out of business. But, on the other hand, we see huge, fat people all around us when we are shopping or at events or anywhere in public. Lots of them. It truly is remarkable. Wondering why. Of course I don’t blame McDonalds. People need to take it on themselves to watch what they are eating, But of course, the big brother government doesn’t want to let people alone….so once again we will suffer the Orwellian hammer.
Pat
May 19, 2011
Cheryl, you hit the nail on the head. People need to be responsible for their own diets. I’m in favor of the government saying that nutritional information should be available to aid people in being responsible. In a free country, though, some people simply will not be responsible, no matter how much info they get. That’s the price of freedom.
What bothers me about busy-bodies is that they want compulsion. Information is an asset in freedom. Compulsion is the end of freedom.
Conservatives on Fire
May 19, 2011
I don’t mind being warned about the dangers of this or that. But when they use a badge and a gun and take my choice away, that is when I have a serious problem.
KingShamus
May 19, 2011
Notice how often Big (Obese, Bloated, Overentitled Government) Brother tries to intervene ‘for the sake of the children’?
It’s always kiddies that they’re trying to protect. Government just loves pushing parents to the side.
Conservatives on Fire
May 19, 2011
Children, they think, should be raised by the state. that way the children would eat right and be educated right so they could be good little comrades
Blue
May 19, 2011
I loves me a quarter pounder with cheese and fries from Mac’s Supper Club….
Conservatives on Fire
May 19, 2011
As late as it is, I could go for one right now! Guess I’ll have to settle for some left overs. Sigh!
Bob Mack
May 19, 2011
Hell, you could see this coming years ago when first they started to place warning labels on products that the government disfavored. No one protested. It was, you see, a “good thing” they were doing. Well, I don’t want warning labels on things I choose to purchase. I don’t want petty bureaucrats overseeing American lifestyles. I don’t want Michelle Obama waving her fat rump in the air after dining on champagne & truffles and telling other people what <em their kids are allowed to eat. This is the tyranny of the nanny-state, and it’s got to be stopped.
Conservatives on Fire
May 20, 2011
There are so few people who recognize these types of government actions as tyranny. But that is exactly what it is.
MK
May 19, 2011
I read about this elsewhere, and let me assure you, their motives are never the children they couldn’t abort, they merely hate a company that’s doing well and supply people with cheap food.
If children are too fat from eating junk food, then i suggest telling their parents to grow a pair and discover the words ‘no’ and ‘responsibility’. I’m tired of hearing this nonsense about the nag-factor, whilst my little one isn’t at the stage of nagging yet, she whines and cries for plenty of things that she won’t get.
“More than 550 health professionals and organizations have signed a letter to McDonald’s Corp.”
Please, all 550 of you, take your letter and piss off, stay out of our lives and mind your own lives.
Conservatives on Fire
May 20, 2011
Parents, MK, have abdicated their rights over their children and that is exactly what the Nanny’s want.
LD Jackson
May 20, 2011
Obviously, the government has no business telling McDonald’s they have to retire Ronald McDonald. As a side question to this, if they happen to pull it off and “shame” McDonalds into shelving the clown, what about the Ronald McDonald houses? Don’t they count for something, as in the indisputable fact that they have helped a lot of people?
Conservatives on Fire
May 20, 2011
An excellent point about the Ronald McDonald Houses. The whole thing is absurd, Larry. We can’t continue to allow government more opportunities to micro-manage our lives. But the bleed hearts will argue that it must be done for the good of the children. Most people, unfortunately, don’t see the danger.
OneMom
May 20, 2011
Not a fan of Ronald McDonald, but that’s because clowns give me the creeps.
In Chicago there is a school that has banned children from bringing their own lunch to school because they don’t think the parents pack healthy enough foods. I have no problem with schools serving foods that are as nutritious as possible to the kids that eat school meals, but banning brown bag lunches from home, that’s crossing a frightening line.
Personal responsibility must return to our society.
You mentioned that life expectancies in the US continue to increase, but actually US children born in the last few years now have shorter life expectancies than their parents – mostly because of obesity and its related diseases. This isn’t an excuse for government interference in how McDonald’s does business, but US citizens do need to start recognizing that fatter isn’t better. Obesity costs our nation billions of dollars, and keeps us from being competitive. If someone wants to eat big macs and large fries three meals a day, that’s fine with me, but don’t expect the US taxpayers to pay for their bypass surgery, rehab, and 24/7 nursing care.
Conservatives on Fire
May 20, 2011
One Mom, I think you and I totally agree. I wasn’t aware that children today have shorter life expectancies than their parents. I appreciate that information. I have no doubt that diet is a major contributing factor to obesity in children; but, I wonder how much is due to a lack of physical exercise. As I said in other comments, I don’t object to government providing me with information that can help me make better choices. When they use the force of law to limit my choices, I have a serious problem. Thank you for stopping by, One Mom. I hope you will come back often.
OneMom
May 20, 2011
You are very correct about the lack of physical activity. Children and adolescents use to walk or ride the bicycles everywhere, but now they are passengers in motorized vehicles, even for 1/2 mile trips in town. The reasons behind this are: irrational fear by parents (thanks to Nancy Grace) that evil lurks under every sidewalk; giving children everything they want and nothing they need; bad urban/suburban design that has built based entirely on motorized vehicles and no longer for the human foot; technology … we use to think that television was the downfall of US society, when in reality it is smaller screens (computers and cell phones) that are isolating our children (and adults) and seducing them into near comatose stupors. Parents have to lead by example, step away from technology and get out and walk, run, ride a bike, plant a garden, or even just turn the radio on to some lively music and dance in their living rooms (or put on a good Sousa march and march in place for 45 minutes every day of the week … it’s amazing how much distance you can cover without leaving your living room).
In the “old” days, people worked hard physically and ate huge meals (meat, potato, gravy kind of meals), but obesity was extremely rare because the sun-up to sun-down physical exertion more than compensated for the caloric intake.
We are now seeing 6 year olds with cholesterol levels of 600+, and elementary students presenting with Type II (previously referred to as “adult onset”) diabetes … the diabetes linked directly to obesity. We are fast heading to a time when we’ll be paying for junior high students to have bypass surgeries. We all have to move our bodies more or we’ll end up looking like the “colonists” on the space ship in the movie “Wall-E”.
Conservatives on Fire
May 20, 2011
I’m an old man so I know that I am out of touch; but I don’t understand parents that allow their children to carry a cell phone with them at all times even in school. children spend so much time playing video games it is a wonder to me that their brains aren’t fried. Technology is great but my moto is moderation in all things and plenty of exercise.
Steve Dennis
May 20, 2011
Clowns are creepy–I’ll be glad to see him go! But seriously, here we have yet another example of the government stepping in and trying to do the job of the parents. Nobdy is ever held accountable for their actions, there is always somebody else to blame and in this case “big food” is being blamed because some parents don’t know how to raise their children.
Conservatives on Fire
May 20, 2011
We are becoming a country of sheep, Steve. It’s easier to let government take care of everything, including children.
Cheryl
May 20, 2011
You are all correct on this….
Seems to me we are having a bad time getting government out of anything….it has become an infestation of termites, eating the foundations. Smart food, smart growth, smart energy, smart homes, smart phones, smart cars, smart this, smart that. Smart A@%$^$%#*’s….. Oops…I’m spiraling again….
John Carey
May 21, 2011
Once again we have a small group of people trying to dictate to the masses. All people should have a voice and opinions, however not all opinions need to be implemented. This is ridiculous and sad Jim and quite frankly I’m sick of these people trying to impose their will on me.
Conservatives on Fire
May 21, 2011
I’m with you; John. I t is important that the public be given the latest opinions on health issues but hen the government must leave it i in the hands of the people to decide what to do with that information. Children should recieve this information in their health classes at school. Nothing more.