nation

I'm sorry devout extremists conservatives but peoples kids aren't your customers to make money from by selling them junk food. School officials should be making money off of selling them junk food either. And furthermore we don't need to be feeding them junk food either. They are there to learn so they can be the competitive edge for our country in the future. When they eat garbage food their minds aren't properly energized and they will not learn. We wouldn't let drug dealers come into schools and sell them garbage so we shouldn't allow vending companies or school officials to do it either. People that think they should be able to eat whatever they want need to grow up and start acting like parents and responsible adults.

getcrazy - I watch kids from both liberal and conservative parents in the lunch room. They all throw out food they won't eat. That includes vegetables and milk. Go ahead, tell us that only children of conservatives like pizza, hot dogs and chicken nuggets. I'd rather have my child eat and have a food in them than see them throw out Obama's menu items and go to class hungry.

getcrazy - Isn't it a shame that we still allow parents to make any choices for their children? I would suggest we have food police go to each childs home and tell the parents what they can or cannot feed their kids. Great post!

Hey, guess what? I don't like how YOU are raising your kids! I'm going to tell you how to live your life. Meanwhile, I'll ignore our 17 trillion dollar deficit, the staggering unemployment figures, and the fifty million people on the dole. Great plan. Forward!!!!!

getcrazy - Didnt take long for someone to connect chicken nuggets to politics.

I thought decisions like these could be made at the local level. For instance at community school board meeting with parents, students and district staff could deciding what is best for them. Another unfunded mandate coming down from the know-it-alls in Washington. If they are so smart, why don't they begin their testing their ideas in the District of Columbia school district?

School children are not a profit center. And they shouldn't be drinking diet soda or "sports" drinks either. Does any parent really think that ingesting all the chemicals in diet pop and high fructose corn syrup in so-called "sports" drinks is good for their child? Sports drinks are nothing more than flavored sugar water with some chemicals thrown in as a good excuse. Children aren't going to drink or eat healthy when they can opt out for snacks and junk food. Try it at your dinner table some night. A cookie or some carrots - which would your child choose?(Good for you if your child would pick the latter.) It's time to get real about this whole debate. It's over MONEY - not health. The soda companies and the school districts are making big bucks on kids. That's it. End of story.

I don't recall having vending machines at Osseo Senior High back in the early 80s when I went there, let alone any junk food. If memory serves me, we weren't allowed to bring food or drink into class anyway; it all had to be consumed in the lunchroom during lunch hours ONLY....if anyone remembers differently, please advise. It's been a few years and the memory is not what it used to be.

Unfunded mandate? Government meddling?

Puh-leeze!

I went to school in the 1950s and 1960s, and we had NO vending machines in school. None.

We either brownbagged it or ate what was on the day's menu or, once we got to high school, had the option of ordering a hot dog or a hamburger instead of the school lunch.

We drank milk with our lunch and water from the fountains if we got thirsty between classes.

We didn't have as many fat kids as there are nowadays, either, despite living in the suburbs and being driven everywhere.

It's the junk food vending machines that are non-traditional, installed in the 1970s and 1980s.

Just wondering where all the libs are that complain about the gov't telling them how to live? Oh, It's a democratic program telling them exactly what they are able to eat, well, then, It's acceptable? Hypocrites!