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**Written by Doug Powers

The food profiteers & self-appointed nutrition cops stampede onward.

From the Chicago Tribune:

Fernando Dominguez cut the figure of a young revolutionary leader during a recent lunch period at his elementary school.

“Who thinks the lunch is not good enough?” the seventh-grader shouted to his lunch mates in Spanish and English.

Dozens of hands flew in the air and fellow students shouted along: “We should bring our own lunch! We should bring our own lunch! We should bring our own lunch!”

Fernando waved his hand over the crowd and asked a visiting reporter: “Do you see the situation?”

At his public school, Little Village Academy on Chicago’s West Side, students are not allowed to pack lunches from home. Unless they have a medical excuse, they must eat the food served in the cafeteria.

Principal Elsa Carmona said her intention is to protect students from their own unhealthful food choices.

Do you think this has anything to do with the “no lunch from home” policy?

Any school that bans homemade lunches also puts more money in the pockets of the district’s food provider, Chartwells-Thompson. The federal government pays the district for each free or reduced-price lunch taken, and the caterer receives a set fee from the district per lunch.

I’m sure it’s all about health though. The fact that unions are the ones who profit the most from government health initiatives is purely coincidental.

Here’s a little side challenge: Look at the photo that accompanies the story and try to figure out exactly what in the world is on those food trays. I’m afraid to guess. If they’re trying to get kids to lose weight, that should do it.

Finally, here’s the nanny-state’s dream citizen:

But parent Miguel Medina said he thinks the “no home lunch policy” is a good one. “The school food is very healthy,” he said, “and when they bring the food from home, there is no control over the food.”

Um, here’s a wacky suggestion: You, the parent, could control your kid’s lunch. Just a thought. I’ll just down off my “rugged individualism” soapbox now.

All things being equal, when it comes to setting kids up for a lifetime of subjugation to the nanny state or having too much sugar in his or her lunch from home, I say “give me Gummi Bears or give me death.”

**Written by Doug Powers

Twitter @ThePowersThatBe