Free Republic

You gotta hear this - in context, he was advocating for "slow speed" rail in California (the biggest boondoggle I have ever seen in my life). But then he stumbled into what liberals want us all to do, always, so that we can fit into their communist scheme. LISTEN:

Just a day after House Republicans introduced legislation to roll back some Department of Agriculture (USDA) regulations on school meal programs, the USDA announced some flexibility would be granted to some schools for the coming school year when implementing the new policies:

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack fired back Wednesday at Republican-led efforts to weaken nutrition guidelines in the federal school lunch program that were championed by first lady Michelle Obama and enacted in 2010 when Democrats ruled the House. Headlining the Organic Trade Association’s annual conference in Washington, Vilsack labeled as “outrageous” the GOP policy rider in the agriculture appropriations bill, and he urged the organic industry to fight back. The rider would let schools facing financial hardships in the lunch program opt out of the rules. School lunch administrators and some big food manufacturers oppose the nutrition requirements as too rigid...

Look out, everyone: The nation's school lunch lady, Michelle Obama, is mad. With her federal nutrition program under fire across the country and now on Capitol Hill, Mrs. Obama put out a "forceful" call to arms this week to "health activists," according to The Washington Post. She's cracking the whip. Her orders are clear: There must be no escape. The East Wing and its sycophants zealously oppose any effort to alter, delay or waive top-down school meal rules. Big Lunch must be guarded at all costs. Progressives blame kid-hating Republicans and greedy businesses for the revolt against Mrs. Obama's failed...

If the government wants to make progress in lowering obesity rates, it needs to start regulating fatty foods much the way it does tobacco. That's the recommendation from a pair of international health organizations pushing policies it says would answer the obesity epidemic. Specifically, the groups recommend that the government control the way the food and beverage industry advertises, to ensure companies aren't implying unhealthy food is good for children and adults. Additionally, they advise governments to require statements on food packaging about how high or low the content of salt, saturated fat, and sugar is in relation to dietary...

The European Union is poised to scrap compulsory “best before” labels on coffee, rice, dry pasta, hard cheeses, jams and pickles to help reduce the estimated 100 million tons of food wasted across Europe each year. Officials of the European Commission will table proposals next month allowing national governments to extend the list of foods that do not require best-before dates, in a move which they believe will mean 15 million tons less food a year is discarded by households wrongly worried that it is no longer fit for consumption. […] EU legislation on labeling currently requires all food to...

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) said asking whether a politician has ever tried marijuana is a "worthless question" in American politics.Rubio, a potential 2016 candidate for president, has consistently dodged the question about if he experimented with the drug as a younger man. In an interview that aired Monday from ABC News-Yahoo News, Rubio reiterated that answering the question honestly is a lose-lose."Here is the problem with that question in American politics," he said. "If you say that you did, suddenly there are people out there saying it is not a big deal, look at all these successful people who did...

The food industry should be regulated like the tobacco industry as obesity poses a greater global health risk than cigarettes, say international groups. Consumers International and the World Obesity Federation are calling for the adoption of more stringent rules. These could include pictures on food packaging of damage caused by obesity, similar to those on cigarette packets. The new rules could include reducing the levels of salt, saturated fat and sugar in food, improving food served in hospitals and schools, imposing stricter advertising controls, and educating the public about healthy eating. Artificial trans-fats should be removed from all food and...

With her children grown, Trisha Eck thought it would be fun to go from being a stay-at-home mom to a small entrepreneur—so she rented a room at a medical spa, where she started her own business, Tooth Fairies Teeth Whitening. She purchased equipment and supplies from a vendor she met at a trade show, including non-prescription strength teeth whitening gels. Customers could purchase her products as a take home kit or apply them to their own teeth while visiting the spa. Since she’s not a dentist, Eck says she never performed the treatments on customers but was there to offer...

<p>A ban on chocolate milk may be too much for the governor of Connecticut to stomach.</p> <p>The state General Assembly earlier this week approved nutrition legislation that threatened to remove chocolate milk from public schools. But, drawing a line in the sand in the nanny-state debate, Democratic Gov. Dannel Malloy announced Friday that on the matter of lactose legislation -- he is intolerant.</p>

New school food requirements are going into effect next year, attempting to make school meals healthier. The changes will affect four major areas. First, The Smart Snacks program requires that all sides must be served with something healthy. Second, the school will be required to meet the first target of reducing sodium. Third, all whole foods served must be whole-grain. This year, the requirements are half-and-half. Finally, breakfast must include fruit. This year, students are allowed to choose to refuse two items at lunch if they do not want it, and one at breakfast. New requirements say that they have...

A proposal to phase out the use of single-use plastic bags in California grocery stores was approved Wednesday by a key Assembly panel despite heavy lobbying efforts by the plastics trade industry, which warned it would cost the state thousands of jobs. The measure was approved by the Natural Resources Committee, whose chairman, Wesley Chesbro (C-Arcata), talked about visiting a remote island in the northern Pacific only to find a line of plastic particles littering the beach.

(CNN) -- Vermont's governor on Thursday signed a bill into law that will require the labeling of genetically modified foods -- hailing it as the first such law in the nation. Under the new law, food offered for retail sale that is entirely or partially produced with genetic engineering must be labeled as such by July 2016. "Vermonters take our food and how it is produced seriously, and we believe we have a right to know what's in the food we buy," said Gov. Peter Shumlin. "More than 60 countries have already restricted or labeled these foods, and now one...

The white-marble Rayburn House Office Building, in Washington DC, looks like a giant courts building or a central bank, fully intimidating and imposing in its hulking stony blockiness. And the US Congress, of course, is an institution best known for its tedium, albeit a tedium that is regularly punctuated by fiery partisan combat. On a typical day, the Rayburn building--acronymed as RHOB--is a place where politicos and bureaucrats struggle for and against some special interest, yea or nay, on regulation or appropriation. And the biggest single activity in RHOB, or in any of the other five office edifices on Capitol...

The world's largest beverage-maker, Coca-Cola, plans to remove a controversial ingredient from some of its US drinks brands by the end of this year, following an online petition.Brominated vegetable oil, or BVO, is found in Coca-Cola fruit and sports drinks such as Fanta and Powerade.Rival Pepsi removed the chemical from its Gatorade sports drink last year.In Japan and the European Union, the use of BVO as a food additive is not allowed.Pepsi has a plan to remove the ingredient from its entire product portfolio.It uses BVO in its Mountain Dew and Amp Energy drinks sold in the US.BVO has been...

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — Becky Domokos-Bays of Alexandria City Public Schools has served her students whole-grain pasta 20 times. Each time, she said, they rejected it. Starting next school year, pasta and other grain products in schools will have to be whole-grain rich, or more than half whole grain.

FAIRFAX, Va. – A plan to ban “frequent and large gatherings at neighborhood homes” is a lawsuit waiting to happen, a Fairfax County supervisor predicts.Officials will get an idea Wednesday when public-comment hearings begin in Virginia’s most populous county.“I believe the county is risking a lawsuit and/or a constitution challenge by interfering with peoples’ right to assemble,” Supervisor Pat Herrity said in a statement.The proposed zoning ordinance limits “group assembly” at residences to 49 people a day. Such gatherings “shall not occur more frequently than three times in any 40-day period.”County officials say they have received complaints about group meetings...

It's a little over 30 years ago that Ozzy Osbourne bit the head off a bat in front of a live audience. Now it appears the little animals have had their revenge. They could have scuppered his plans to convert a historic barn on his £5million estate into a two-bedroom home. The former Black Sabbath singer’s representatives are understood to have met planning officers to discuss redevelopment of the 19th century building. But brown long-eared bats have been discovered in the building. Osbourne, now 65, bit the head off a bat while performing in America in 1982. He was said...

Hide your Big Gulps again, New York. Mayor Bill de Blasio announced this week his administration will pick up where former Mayor Michael Bloomberg left off and will continue the battle to ban sodas larger than 16 ounces. The city will appeal a state court ruling that pulled the plug on the ban last year. City lawyers will argue the case at the Court of Appeals on June 4, the New York Daily News reported this week. Former Mayor Michael Bloomberg got plenty of headlines in 2012 when he declared war on Big Gulps and other large sugary drinks. The...

Ten years since Malta accessed the European Union, the country’s business community has been provided with the necessary platform to expand their produce and improve their opportunities, but while the majority of companies have flourished amid increasing competition, some failed to meet EU standards. In the wake of Malta’s milestone anniversary, Sunday newspaper Illum interviewed four business directors – all of whom voiced their delight at how the local business community improved since May 2004. Famalco’s Business Director Hermann Mallia, Saint James Hospital Director Maria Bugeja, Impressions Managing Director Ron Mifsud and the CEO of Malta Business Bureau Joe Tanti,...