Boston Bans Soda On City Property,...Except Beer And Mixed Drinks. Really.

[twyacht]

Ah, the Nanny State, at its finest.......Except read the calories of a beer or a cocktail,...which will still be aloud.....

Oh thank you nanny state,.....thank you...

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/04/10/boston-mayor-thomas-menino-kos-soda-oks-alcohol/?test=latestnews

Boston Mayor Thomas Menino has banned soda, sports drinks and sweetened ice teas from city property, according to a recent government press release.

In an attempt to reduce the city’s rising obesity rates, Menino has banned all sugary drinks from city vending machines, cafeterias and concession stands, just one day after reaching an agreement with the Boston Red Sox that allows the team to sell mixed drinks at its ballpark.

“I want to create a civic environment that makes the healthier choice the easier choice in people’s lives, whether it’s schools, work sites, or other places in the community," said Menino in the press release issued last week about the soda ban.

According to the release, city buildings and departments have a six-month grace period before they’ll be required to phase out the sale of beverages loaded with sugar, such as non-diet sodas, pre-sweetened ice teas, refrigerated coffee drinks, energy drinks, juice drinks with added sugar and sports drinks. The order allows for the sale of beverages such as diet sodas, diet iced teas, 100 percent juices, low-calorie sports drinks, low-sugar sweetened beverages, sweetened soy milk and flavored, sweetened milk. Beverages such as bottled water, flavored and unflavored seltzer water, low-fat milk, and unsweetened soy milk can continue to be sold.

Meanwhile, Menino has signed off on a proposal that will allow Fenway Park to sell mixed drinks during baseball games, according to The Boston Globe.

Menino made the announcement last week following a tour of Fenway Park, home to the Boston Red Sox, to see the annual renovations to the 99-year-old ballpark.

According to the plan, liquor would only be served in five areas of the ballpark, and liquor sales will stop two hours after the game begins (beer will continue to be sold for another half-hour beyond that).

The agreement still needs the approval of the state Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission, which could take another month, according to the Globe.

Allowing the selling mixed drinks - or even just beer - at a ballgame gives the lie to Menino's efforts to get Bostonians to slim down. A 12 oz Budweiser has 145 calories while 12 oz of Coke has 142. A Rum and Coke has a whopping 314 calories while a Scotch and Soda has 135.

But try and take a beer away from a Red Sox fan and you would probably lose the next election.

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Oh the humanity,.....Gee Whiz.....we are so going to hell in a hand basket....

[Timothy]

Ironic thing is that study a few years ago proved that folks that drink "diet" soft drinks actually were more prone to gain weight.

Something about drinking a "diet" cola with your 20" Meatlovers pizza kind of defeats the purpose!

 

[MikeBjerum]

Ironic thing is that study a few years ago proved that folks that drink "diet" soft drinks actually were more prone to gain weight.

Something about drinking a "diet" cola with your 20" Meatlovers pizza kind of defeats the purpose!

 

I like diet coke the most - regular root beer and Mountain Dew once in a great while, but mostly diet Coke.  I don't like the heavy syrup taste of regular pops.  However, I find that I tend to crave sugar after a pop. 

I did see a study where they tried to blame weight gains on the aspartame, but if I recall correctly they found it is just that our bodies WANT sugar.  If we don't get it one way we go after it another.  I do know that if I grab a diet Coke and a candy bar I'll eat the candy bar and complain about how sweet it is.  If I grab a Mountain Dew and a candy bar I tend to not eat the candy bar or take one bite and leave it alone.

All that said, I am still fat and out of shape, but that is by choice (I know what I'm doing and how to correct it) and the "nanny" can keep their fingers out of it!

[alfsauve]

I just finished Steven Landsburg's book, The Armchair Economist  in which he closes with a letter he wrote his daughter's pre-school teacher.  

Basically, in the letter he was admonishing the teacher about forcing beliefs of environmentalism onto pre-schoolers when he and his family are staunch anti-environmentalists.     He equates the pushing of any particular theory of lifestyle as the equivalent of pushing a particular religion.  The same applies for the school pushing "healthy" choice.  Not just making it available but pushing it.   On many issues the elitist take the moral high road, believing their's is the only right way.  Here's an excerpt from Steve's letter.

"First,  [snip] we're dealing with a systemic attempt to inoculate a doctrine and to quite literally put words in children's mouths. Second, I do not sense on your part (the teacher) any acknowledgment that there may be people in the world who do not share your views.  Third, I am frankly a lot more worried about my daughter's becoming an environmentalist than about her becoming a Christian. (Landsburg is Jewish.)   Fourth, we face no current threat of having Christianity imposed on us by petty tyrants; the same co not be said of environmentalism.  My county government has never sent me a New Testament, but it did send me a recycling bin."