Quote Far worse, the health of millions of Texas children, 36 percent of whom are already overweight or obese, will be seriously harmed if junk food and soda are again allowed to flood our schools.
http://www.thelunchtray.com/houston-chronicle-op-ed-re-texas-cupcake-amnesty/ (http://www.thelunchtray.com/houston-chronicle-op-ed-re-texas-cupcake-amnesty/)
http://m.chron.com/opinion/outlook/article/Siegel-New-agriculture-commissioner-steps-6018642.php (http://m.chron.com/opinion/outlook/article/Siegel-New-agriculture-commissioner-steps-6018642.php)
Wow--her editorial was so well written.
What would motivate a state official to tilt at pink-frosting-covered windmills as his first official act, especially when our state has so many real problems to address? Two words: political grandstanding.
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Miller derided the old Texas school nutrition policy (championed by former Ag Commissioner Susan Combs, a Republican) as sounding "like something from the Obama administration." Then he surprised many in attendance by declaring his intent to return deep fat fryers and sodas to Texas schools. "We've been raising big, strapping, healthy young kids here in Texas for nearly 200 years," he said. "We don't need Washington, D.C., telling us how to do it."
Miller views the new federal school nutrition standards as Obama-style overreach, but they were in fact commissioned by President George W. Bush and formulated by the nonpartisan Institute of Medicine. They received bipartisan support in Congress and are championed by groups like Mission Readiness, an organization of over 500 retired admirals, generals and other senior military leaders from both sides of the political aisle, as well as numerous respected public health organizations such as the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Heart Association.
All these individuals and groups recognize that children's health must never be used as a political pawn. But Miller seems willing to do just that.
Wow.
You GO, Bettina.
(Amusingly, that was initially autocorrected to "You GI" rofl...)