‘Let’s Move’ Summer Break Edition: Your Kids Get Skinnier, Unions Get Fatter; What’s Not to Like?
**Written by guest-blogger Doug Powers
Michelle Obama’s unwaivering committment to ensuring that our kids don’t get too fat to join the military rolls on unabated.
The Let’s Move program has been going on for some time, but now it’s being extended to include summer vacation. The motivation to move forward came as a result of one of the kids asking with great concern, “Mommy, have you plugged their pieholes yet?”:
CHICAGO — School is out for much of the country, and kids everywhere are looking forward to a few months off.
But nutrition and education experts warn that for too many kids, summer break is also a time when they backslide educationally and fall into bad eating habits.
On Tuesday, first lady Michelle Obama helped launch another component to her campaign to tackle childhood obesity, this time targeting summer vacation.
She joined several members of the Obama Cabinet in announcing the administration’s new “Let’s Read. Let’s Move.” campaign, aimed at promoting exercise, healthy eating, and reading among kids on break from school.
The campaign will be coordinated by the Corporation for National and Community Service, an independent federal government agency that supports such programs as AmeriCorps and Senior Corps.
Well, if the First Family knows about anything, it’s what to do while on vacation.
From the Let’s Read, Let’s Move website:
So America’s greatest liability, a rapidly expanding and recklessly irresponsible government, wants to keep their tentacles on “America’s greatest assets” year-’round? No thanks.
Another stated goal is to “bring grocery stores to poor neighborhoods.”
So… we’re trying to get kids to lose weight by trucking the food in closer? What’s Michelle’s next brilliant move? Build bars next door to alcoholics to help them quit drinking?
And it’s an odd coincidence that the SEIU is also gung-ho over the “Let’s Move” program — I wonder why?
Tell Congress: Strengthen our Child Nutrition Programs
Successful, cost-effective child nutrition programs — school lunch and breakfast, child care and WIC, summer feeding and afterschool snacks and meals — play a critical role in helping children achieve access to quality nutrition, child care, and educational enrichment activities while improving their overall health, development, and school achievement.
“Free lunch includes complimentary purple wristband!”
The day before the unveiling of the new summer edition of “Let’s Move,” the government announced that $234 million will be granted to “organizations using service as a solution to social and economic issues” — including, of course, the aforementioned AmeriCorps.
**Written by guest-blogger Doug Powers
Twitter @ThePowersThatBe
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What ever happened to “Go out and Play….and here’s a buck for the Good Humour Man.”
My niece just graduated from college, and doesn’t have a job yet. I advised her to speak with the local Navy recruiter.
That will be $1 million, please. Make the check out to the J S Ragman Institute.
It got usurped by the homosexual pervert wandering the neighborhood trying to convert your kid. Of course this Administration is all for promoting *that* as well.
People have to eat. The whole reasoning behind bringing in grocery stores is to give people more healthy options. Many poor neighborhoods only have fast food joints and small corner stores to choose from. Good luck getting fruits, vegetables, and other healthy foods there. Obesity is not just about eating too much. It’s also about eating the right kinds of food and you can’t do that if you don’t have access to it.
Well, with Obama putting kids to sleep at graduation ceremonies we seem to have conflicting messages.
Maybe the POTUS and FLOTUS could coordinate with TOTUS and get a coherent message here…
Our ice cream truck operator wears an ankle locator-bracelet.
While you make a good point, I have seen reports that show that many of the neighborhoods where MO feels the need for a local grocery once had groceries — that failed. The people wanted fast / junk food. So yes, we get back to personal responsibility.
We live in a nice small town, and the kids still play outside. I do, however, make sure that my daughter has at least one friend with her. I’m still not completely comfortable sending her out on her own — which is really sad.
“educational enrichment activities” of the Bill Ayers variety.
I just knew that her program was going to be about “Social[ist] Justice”, and not about good diet and exercise!
On June 9th, 2010 at 3:22 pm, MCGusto said:
Ditto what Lan Astaslem said; personal experience: I worked at a grocery store long ago when a woman tried to buy dog food with food stamps (along with a mountain of potato chips sodas and twinkies). When told she could not, she exchanged the dog food for Steak- not for her children- but for the dog- to make a point. You can not legislate responsibility.
All my neighborhood’s moms give their kids a snack when they get home, and then make them do their homework. The kids have several hours of homework each night. Then the kids are free to play outside until dinner, which is maybe a 1/2 hour. Of course, the kids would rather x-box or twitter.
When I was a lad (a long time ago in a galaxy far away), I changed clothes as soon as I got home. Then it was outside to play. I had a bicycle, we climbed trees, etc. As soon as the streetlights came on, we had 5 minutes to get home. Then we ate dinner, and after the dishes were done THEN we did homework. Once that was done, we could watch TV until 9. We only had about an hour’s worth of homework each night because the teachers TAUGHT during the day!
Hey kids — lets all eat tree bark and grass clippings while reading Aunty Mo’s little red book on social activism.
Hey kids – lets all celeberate summer vacation by having group get togethers on how to report your parents and neighbors to the Thought and Food police if you grill a burger or even think of a steak, baked potato with sour cream and Key Lime Pie for dessert.
Air conditioning killed the ice cream man.
Purple? Figures. Tinky Winky figurines included?
Child Nutrition Programs and school lunch programs need to go away. Millions of hard working people go to work with a lunch box every day. Child Nutrition Programs and school lunch programs are an assault on brown paper bags and lunch boxes.
Major chains do open markets in “poor” areas from time to time. Shoplifting, robberies and shakedowns often soon close them. If any here feel that “poor” areas need a grocery store feel free to start one. But as in all things Progressive the moochers, hanger ons and “community organizers want the other guy to spend his money.
PLAN YOUR GROCERY STORE BUSINESS BETTER WITH A RETAIL STORE BUSINESS PLAN AND RETAIL FINANCIAL PROJECTIONS
Bashas Grocery was dedicated to the “poor” areas.
Why would anyone want sour cream and Key Lime Pie on a baked potato. That’s just disgusting!
I NEVER ate a Popsicle indoors until I was married.
OMG. I just flashbacked -
Orange push-ups! Do they even make those anymore? I think it was orange sherbet in a cardboard tube on a stick. I seem to remember Fred and Barney…..
You should either get smaller popsicles or a bigger door…
You’re sick, WarEagle!
I admire that in a person.
So much government de-funding to do, so little time. I do love the smell of American revolution in the morning.
I can see November from here.
Ah, Dreamsicles were my favorite. I think we would get those once a week in 2nd grade if we brought in either a dime or a quarter and placed our order ahead of time. Those were the days!
It’s a darn good thing the federal government has an unlimited budget and time on its hands, what with oil spills, international crises, etc., not taking up that much effort. This woman is insufferable.
Hangfire–I still never eat watermelon indoors.
Oh, and last time I checked, fast food costs more or about the same as purchasing food from a grocer. So, if there isn’t a grocer in your neighborhood, take the extra cash you save from not buying fast food and take the bus or taxi to a grocery store.
Now there’s a big ass just begging for a swift kick. Just aim belt high, just below the armpits. Can’t miss. She’s almost all ass.
There’s a lot of things I never did indoors until I was married, but this isn’t the time or the place.
They don’t call her spud butt for nothing.
But in saying that I’d put my money on Spud Butt to kick Duh Won’s ass any day.
Do they still have ‘bomb-pops’ anymore? Or, are they victims of the Popsicle PC Police?
My town was too small, and we were too poor to have a guy driving around in an ice cream truck.
Surely you guys remember sitting on the hand-cranked ice cream freezer whilst grandpa turned the handle??
My neighbor told me that the ice-cream man in our neighborhood is a pervert. Since I don’t have any children, I wouldn’t know…so, I asked my neighbor how he knew. He said, “I just know he is–there’s an Obama sticker on the bumper of the truck.” Okay, I’ll have a dreamscicle now and you can do with this information what you will.
That works.
Ice Cream truck IFF.
So, in other words,we are too stupid to feed our kids healthy food and let them out of their rooms and out of the house to play and run around as well as too stupid to know what’s good for us.
We just need Shelly to be our nanny and regulate our lives for the common, greater good.
No thanks, Nanny Shelly. I’ll run my own life and raise my own kids.
Let’s move Ms. Obama and family back to Chicago and put someone with real presidential skillz into the White House.
Wait! Wait! You mean to tell me that fast food isn’t good for you? That Fruits and vegetables are better for my kids? Really?? How are we supposed to know this stuff unless the government (especially Nanna-shell) tell us?
Jeez – get out of our lives already, will ya?
Yes they do-they are smaller but still red, white and blue and thus the kids always eat them outside.
God Bless America and Bomb Pops. Quit your bragging Ragman, trying to get the old guys jealous?
What the heck is “an independent federal government agency”?
Are they independent from public scrutiny.
Yeah, Michelle O, get out and move. Get Richard Simmons for your next state dinner and serve weight watcher foods too.
This is going to totally date me, but I remember when we had an ice box (yes, ICE BOX). The top held a huge block of ice, delivered every other day by the ice man. We would run out to the truck and grab all the slivers of ice that had broken off. What a treat on a hot summer day!! This was pre-air conditioning and that ice was a memory I’ll never lose.
I can still remember the melody that came from the ice cream truck. Thanks, I think…
QUIZ: Who said it —
Democratic leaders or Communist Party USA?
Lunch for tomorrow…Five Guys Burgers and Fries Bacon Cheese burger, fries and a drink. I wonder how many calories that is?
Thanks for the reminder Michelle.
I dare say that more poor neighborhoods don’t have fast food all that close, when you take your eyes out of the big cities & suburbs. (Though it is improving, from what I can tell.)
Anecdote: When visiting my in-laws in Sherburne, NY, we still have to drive down to Norwich to get to a fast food restaurant, yet the grocer is there in town. Several years back, even Norwich was without fast food.
I could go on, with anecdotes about Farmland, IN, and so on. But you get the point. I hope.
You see, unlike population numbers, “neighborhoods” is a geographic term. And as such, there are more neighborhoods across the country where there are no or few fast food places, but there are grocers.
And the other failure in your point is the fact that the grocers offer “junk” foods in addition to the good stuff. Even people out in “the sticks” choose convenience foods over built-from-scratch. A box of Little Debbie for $1.49? Oh, yeah, come to daddy!
So just to be sure I understand this, her husband, the role model for her kids, smokes but she wants to regulate other people’s food.
Hypocrisy appears to be innate in liberals.
You guys are missing the point. I was addressing Mr.Powers argument that having healthier food options moved closer is akin to having a bar near to alcoholics. It’s not the same at all. Not even close.
But to address some of the comments, I don’t pay much attention to personal anecdotes as they mean little. They are what they are — one person’s experience. They don’t necessarily reflect the overall trend. I’m more interested in stats and facts.
Someone raised the point of personal responsibility and that is very much a valid point. However, in order to make good choices, people need to be educated on what a good choice is. So they can’t just drop a grocery store in the area and expect people to magically change their dietary habits. We need to address the common excuses (I don’t have time to cook, it’s too expensive, etc.) that people have and offer real world solutions that actually work. Once people see the cost-benefit analysis shift from convenience foods to healthy foods, the new grocery stores will thrive.
Ok now you’re starting to sound like a politician; “offer real world solutions that actually work” seriously?
What sort of solution would YOU “offer” for “I don’t have time to cook” excuse from parents that work 9 to 6, sit in traffic for a hour, pick up the kids at daycare and feel like *blah* when they get home?
Don’t bother saying you OFFER solutions. People should be able to buy whatever food they want, where EVER they want without nanny state preaching.
It’s NOT the government’s job to tell anyone they are TOO FAT. If someone FAT is using food stamps, it would be nice to arrange for that person to run a mile and a half a day to earn those food stamps, or the best solution would be to maybe get rid of foodstamps altogether! Then the churches and family members who have to support these lay-abouts can regulate what kind of food they get.