I remember a little running joke that was told when I was in grade school that seems to be timeless, when asked what my favorite period was I would reply “Lunch period”. You get to take a break from your classes and meet up with friends for a bite to eat. Pizza and chicken parmesan days I think were weekly staples for schools across the country. Our cafeteria even had an A La Carte section where you could go up for an ice cream sandwich, snack, special drink or extras that weren’t available in the regular lunch lines.

Maybe food and school, together as a combination, hold even more memories for you. Bake sales to support your sports team or extra-curricular club. Pizza parties for the class hitting a goal that seemed out of reach in regards to grades. Stopping by the school store for some M&Ms or other candy on your way to the next class. Are these memories that you also have?

What if those simple memories were wiped away for your children and grandchildren for no other reason than that the government feels they know better about your child’s health than your child or even you do? Is that right? Do you think the government even has the gull to propose something like that?

Well they do and they did. But first, let’s have a message from the sponsors. For this, we will use Elmo to talk down to you about the new bill:

It is called the “Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act” and it was introduced by the Obamas, both Michelle and Barack but it is really center to Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move!” campaign.

At a recent school board meeting that I attended for the local school district around me, we were given a presentation by the Food Services Department. Facts and figures were revealed and talked about, past years were compared to recent years and the “Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act” was brought up to discuss the coming effects on the school system. As soon as I have the video of that meeting, I will post it in an update below where you will learn even more information, but in the meantime I would like to reveal some of the things I wrote down.

• This bill introduces a mandate on food standards.
• Regulates costs of meals by increasing price to students by 6 cents to equal the reimburse cost of $2.72/free federally funded meal to the school districts. Failure to comply with this mandate results in the de-funding free lunches.
• Requires an increase in the price of school meals and a change in the type and makeup of the food. Of those changes, you will see the following:

1. Must have less than 200 calories per meal
2. Must contain less than 35% sugar content
3. Sugar CAN NOT be the first ingredient on the label

• This bill is funded by funds from Social Security and Medicare with absolutely NO PLANS of refunding or replenishing.
• This bill pertains to ANY food situations on the school campuses, including the cafeteria, fundraisers, pizza parties, school stores and vending machines.

By looking over this information (please remind yourself that this is but a sampling of some of the outrageous things contained in this bill) you should realize the strangling grip by the government.

This bill will provide $2.72 per free meal in federal funding and yet, the meals will be forced to an increase in price to the paying students. When asked if the district can decline to comply with these regulations we were informed that doing so will result in the de-funding of the free meals.  So basically if you fail to comply because you can realize the math is fuzzy, you are rewarded with the label of “Heartless School Villain” and that you are trying to starve children that can’t afford their lunches.

You may or may not agree with the changes in the type of food and its makeup. The calorie count, sugar content and switch to healthier foods might sound good to you on face-value and that is exactly what the government is banking on. Who wouldn’t want their kids to act and eat healthier? Saying otherwise would make you a bad parent or at least appear to be. The real problem here is the reach and scale of the government. Who are they to tell us how and what we can and cannot eat? What ever happened to personal responsibility, food education and parent interaction? Why is it the government’s responsibility to force a food tray into our hand for the benefit of society?

Well I can at least answer part of those questions. The reason that the government and those that support this bill will tell you that this is required is because of the obesity rate here in the United States and around the world for that matter. The number one killer in this country is heart disease, onset by obesity. So again, why does the government feel they need to be able to control obesity? Health Care.

If you haven’t learned by now, let me spell it out clearly for you, everything in the progressive-left’s agenda is connected.

They know that the complaint (70% of the public opposed the Obama-care bill) is that the bill will make the costs of health care sky-rocket. If the number one killer in the States is heart disease, the way to reduce that (and its associated costs) would be to control obesity, thereby reducing the costs (though minuscule) of the health care plan.

Ready for the connected conspiracy thus far?

Obama wins presidency and pursues an environmental and health care agenda first and foremost with a cold shoulder to the economy and current job situation. Why? Because the more people that lose their jobs/health benefits, the more people will be standing behind his administration for a public health care option because they lost their benefits and they are scared (talk about fear-mongering). Since the costs were superficial and false, they had to make compensations elsewhere…reduction of #1 health care patients, the obese. How? From the bottom up, through children’s lunch programs and habits in the school system. It is all connected.

Is it any surprise that these politicians would fund this from Social Security and Medicare? Because if it doesn’t surprise you, then you are even less surprised that they have no plan to refund it. If Social Security is always a key issue in the campaigns, why do we keep sucking funds from it and using the people’s security as backup for wasteful spending? Social Security was setup as a safety net for us as we retired, a little cushioning and padding for our funds…in essence, looking out for our future. Yet, the government’s reason for “looking out for our future” has sucked the funds from SS like it was a piggy bank between a child and their trip to the candy store.

That this controls our children’s lunch habits is enough but to have its ripple effects throughout the school affecting the fundraisers, bake sales, pizza parties, school stores and vending machines just seems that much more out of control.

If you are reading this and still thinking that the government is only looking out for our children and that this bill is perfectly fine, then where does it stop? If they included all those things in the school that are effected by this outside of the cafeteria, what makes you think they won’t start introducing things outside of the school? When will the government start mandating fast food, restaurants and grocery stores?

Oh that could never happen….right?