The good thing about tea is that it's an alternative to drinking water and it does not have added sugar! (Unless you're adding it, of course.)
On that note...yeah to IL for passing a law that bans junk from food being sold in schools. Too bad high schools got around this.
In our society, it's OK to risk the health of our children because schools get subsidized by selling candy in vending machines!! Does this strike anyone else as insane? Childhood obesity is soaring, and that's a really important health concern! Kids that are overweight are much less likely to be active, healthy adults. An estimate I saw in a recent Time magazine predicted over 60% of our children would turn into obese adults. And most children aren't overweight because of health problems. Nope. It's because of bad nutritional habits and a lack of exercise.
I know that educational leaders need every penny they can get - but let's not continue putting them in the position to endanger the health of children in the process of getting it! Let's fund education the way it should be. Let's cut spending on other things - like war - and redirect it to our own crisis.
Reference article: http://www.cnn.com/2006/EDUCATION/03/17/schools.junk.food.ap/index.html
I think it is less about the money they get and more about 'free market idealism.' Generally anything that impedes business, even if it is for the good of society, is somehow seen as a bad thing. There was a story on the radio the other day how like 1 in 7 (or maybe 1 in 4) kids cannot fit in standard car seats anymore. I get so frustrated by the lack of funding schools get for teachers and space. Albuquerque is a great example of enormous growth and tax squandering...whereby 10s of thousands of new homes are developed and somehow there isn't enough money to build more schools. My mom works for public schools in Nebraska and she just got notice that her pay would be cut by $3K after next year (which is a huge cut for someone who only makes about $35K/year). The thing is that what revenue we generate in the short term through soda sales is nothing compared to the costs of an unhealthy society. All in the name of free market! Yee haw!
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