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Weaning Them Off Soda/Maine
The Bangor Daily News ^ | 5 July 2002 | who knows!

Posted on 07/05/2002 6:25:02 AM PDT by SheLion

A group of dedicated health specialists met again this week to fine-tune its plan to encourage every school in Maine to get rid of sodas, chips and other non-nutritional items.

They have put together an information packet warning against soda and chips as major causes of a current epidemic of obesity and tooth decay throughout the country but especially in Maine. The packet includes research articles and fact sheets designed to persuade students, parents, teachers and school administrators that the campaign is one tangible, practical means of improving health and heading off future disease. The committee has met with vending machine companies and obtained assurances of cooperation.

The next step will be to develop a strategy presentation for individual school districts. Pilot projects in several Maine communities are scheduled to start March 1, 2003, After evaluation of the results, the statewide campaign is slated for the school year starting in September 2004.

One question that arose in this week’s meeting was how best to get the students to realize that it is up to them to control their own diet and escape from the vending-machine monopolies in many schools that promote consumption of the big-name drinks that are heavy on sugar and caffeine.

A nutritionist suggested permitting a choice between healthful and unhealthful items. Others believe that, if given a choice, many students will take the junk.

Another question is how the vending companies may respond to the campaign. Milk and plain water must be carefully defined or some vendor may come up with a pricey new variation. How about Coke-flavored milk?

The committee is preparing for the day when it will seek wider publicity. It is drafting model news stories and news releases. One suggestion, unanimously approved, was that they drop the technical term “dental caries” in their fact sheets and refer simply to plain old “tooth decay.” That was a step in the right direction.


TOPICS: Activism/Chapters; Culture/Society; Editorial; US: Maine
KEYWORDS: bigbrother; highschool; soda; vendingmachines; weaning
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To: liberallarry
You really are rotten. "Let them eat cake" describes you.

Have we met?

141 posted on 07/05/2002 7:20:09 PM PDT by Madame Dufarge
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To: liberallarry
Well, since you're so opposed to "Big Brother" you no doubt support selling pornography and drugs to school kids?

That is a ridiculous statement and totally irrelevant to the disussion at hand. Selling pornography and drugs to children is already illegal in all 50 states. Soda pop and chips are legal products.

I'll make your argument for you in a less hysterical manner.

I think public schools should get out of the lunch and snack business and get back into the business of educating our children. If it were up to me, there would be no food or drinks of any kind served in school. Students can "brown bag" their lunches from home. That way, the parents can pack their own lunches for their own kids and the schools can just worry about the academic cirriculum. Trestle tables can be set up in the gymnasium or some other suitable place where the kids can get a half hour or so to quickly consume their bag lunches and then get back to their lessons.

This is really the best way. No more controversy over junk food being served to kids. No more silliness over kids being allergic to peanut butter. If your kid is allergic to peanut butter, make him a cheese sandwich instead or something.

142 posted on 07/05/2002 7:30:12 PM PDT by SamAdams76
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To: Madame Dufarge
Have we met?

Maybe we should. There are actractive attributes other than decency. You certainly are feisty and witty.

143 posted on 07/05/2002 7:34:04 PM PDT by liberallarry
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To: SamAdams76
Works for me.
144 posted on 07/05/2002 7:36:12 PM PDT by liberallarry
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To: liberallarry
There are actractive attributes other than decency.

Larry Kennedy strikes again.

145 posted on 07/05/2002 7:39:36 PM PDT by metesky
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To: metesky
Larry Kennedy strikes again.

A great compliment.

At my age, lurches forward or grasps at straws would be more accurate.

146 posted on 07/05/2002 7:44:29 PM PDT by liberallarry
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To: liberallarry
Here's a story for you. A friend told me he watched his father die of delirium tremens. His uncle and many others in his family for uncounted generations had met similar fates. But no one educated him on the dangers of alcoholism. He and his cousin were the first to realize what was going on and do something about it.

What nonsense. I don't buy that lame excuse. Nobody needs to be "educated" that being an alcoholic is a dangerous thing. The dangers of drinking too much have been common knowledge since almost the beginning of civilization. Certainly they were aware of it during ancient Greece and Rome.

I don't need to be "educated" that jumping off a tall building, putting my hand in a fire, or drinking myself into oblivion every day are dangerous things. And neither do you or anybody else.

147 posted on 07/05/2002 7:45:52 PM PDT by SamAdams76
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To: liberallarry
Maybe we should. There are actractive attributes other than decency. You certainly are feisty and witty.

You are a caution, Larry!

OK, it's a deal. You bring the "decency" and I'll bring the Constitution.

Lunch is on me, burgers, fries, beer and cigarettes.

I'll have my people call your people.

148 posted on 07/05/2002 7:47:55 PM PDT by Madame Dufarge
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To: liberallarry
By the way, physicians returning from Cuba tell me they deliver care as good as ours at 1% of the cost. That ought to make your blood boil.

Yeah, and they all come back, don't they? Maybe they don't like being paid 1% of what they are worth either.

149 posted on 07/05/2002 7:49:16 PM PDT by SamAdams76
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To: Madame Dufarge
Hey, we're in good company.

Ever seen "Out of the Past" (Robert Mitchum, Kirk Douglas, Jane Greer. 1947)? It's one of my favorites and I'm not alone.

Besides, I know your secret:

Jacques and Madame Dufarge are the presiding genii of the Faubourg St. Antoine, and chief instigators of many of the crimes committed by the Red Republicans in Dickens’s Tale of Two Cities."

150 posted on 07/05/2002 7:59:22 PM PDT by liberallarry
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To: SamAdams76
Well, I see your reading the posts, replying as you go. It's a strategy but I'll save you some time. There's more to health care than whether doctors are socialized or not. It's the "more" that I'm interested in.
151 posted on 07/05/2002 8:04:48 PM PDT by liberallarry
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To: SamAdams76
Remember Doctor tested cigarrettes? You'd be surprised at how much education is needed.
152 posted on 07/05/2002 8:10:05 PM PDT by liberallarry
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To: liberallarry
A great compliment to be compared to Teddy Kennedy? You are a pathetic waste of skin.
153 posted on 07/05/2002 8:12:27 PM PDT by metesky
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To: liberallarry
Jacques and Madame Dufarge are the presiding genii of the Faubourg St. Antoine, and chief instigators of many of the crimes committed by the Red Republicans in Dickens’s Tale of Two Cities."

Busted.

Never saw the movie, my husband has, like it a lot.

All that aside, knit, knit, purl, purl.

154 posted on 07/05/2002 8:13:00 PM PDT by Madame Dufarge
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To: metesky
Oh, I thought you were comparing me to John. Well, your mistake.
155 posted on 07/05/2002 8:15:16 PM PDT by liberallarry
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To: SheLion
I'm getting sick and tired of people telling me that I can't drink soda, I can't eat meat, I can't drive a suv, or I can't enjoy life at all!

156 posted on 07/05/2002 8:15:34 PM PDT by KevinDavis
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To: liberallarry
See! I told ya before that I knew you had a picture of Saint Jack on your wall.

Make that two pathetic wastes of skin: you and Saint Jack.
157 posted on 07/05/2002 8:18:15 PM PDT by metesky
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To: metesky
Do you really believe morality plays describe reality?
158 posted on 07/05/2002 8:44:13 PM PDT by liberallarry
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To: liberallarry
WTF are you talking about, d!ckl!ps?

Wipe your chin.
159 posted on 07/05/2002 8:49:04 PM PDT by metesky
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To: metesky
I mean comparing me to Teddy Kennedy because of my remark about attractive attributes other than decency is absolutely childish.
160 posted on 07/05/2002 8:52:50 PM PDT by liberallarry
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