Texas Commissioner Wants to Get Deep Fryers Back in School Cafeterias,

[KamaAina]

Says “It’s not about french fries, it’s about freedom”

Not The Onion!!

http://firstwefeast.com/eat/texas-sid-miller-deep-fat-fryers-returning-to-texas-school-cafeterias/

At a time when lawmakers across the country (and, of course, Michelle Obama) are pushing schools to ditch the sad square pizzas in favor of healthier lunchtime options, one elected official in Texas continues to take a stand on behalf of (wait for it) junk food.

Republican Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller—who gained national notoriety and the nickname the “Cupcake King” earlier this year for granting “amnesty” to all cupcakes, pies and sugary treats in schools—is now proposing to overturn the longtime ban on deep fat fryers and soda machines in cafeterias.

In response to a Houston Chronicle editorial bashing his plan earlier this week, Commissioner Miller (who I can only imagine was eating a corndog while dictating this quote) said it really has nothing to do with health:
“It’s about giving back local control and allowing each school district to make the best decision for their community. It’s not about french fries, it’s about freedom.”

This move, which will be voted on in the coming months, is the latest in a series of tiny hits to the much-lauded health reforms made by former Agriculture Commissioner Susan Combs to the Texas Public School Nutrition Policy in 2004. Among other reversals, Former Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples undid the ban on high fat and high sugar foods in schools during his tenure. Miller seems hellbent on keeping pace with Staples’ efforts to make everything bigger in Texas.

[Initech]

1. Doesn't Texas have the highest obesity rates in the country?

[snooper2]

3. no, That has been one of Arkansas awards for some time now- think we are #11 or #12

[Rex]

5. I'm shocked we are not in the top 10!

Governor Terminator will have to get right on that!

[Turbineguy]

2. Smart move.

Kill them while they are still young!

[Rex]

4. Great idea! All children should have to pass the school lunch bean burrito test!

Makes hot pockets look like a healthy salad.

[LanternWaste]

6. his first official act was the declaration of a cupcake “amnesty”

Miller is a worm. A tricky worm, but still a worm. Immediately after his election, his first official act was the much-ballyhooed declaration of a cupcake “amnesty” - a reference to a state rule prohibiting some junk foods in schools he said he himself had repealed, but had actually had been repealed six months earlier. Miller said many people might not have heard the news of its repeal.

More recently, Miller also pissed off his former GOP colleagues in the Legislature by aggressively pushing for more money for the Department of Agriculture, the same agency whose budget he voted to slash when he was a state rep. He's also been banned from parking in the driveway around the Capitol.

Just after his election, he appointed the wife of his longtime business partner* to a newly created executive position (just below the elected commissioner in seniority). Her salary was the third-highest in the agency. She was fired after four months on the job for missing too much work. As soon as a local paper began asking questions about the position, she alleged that she had actually quit to attend to family matters.

Another of the commissioner’s new high-level hires was sanctioned by the FEC in 2004 for improperly obscuring sources of campaign contributions.



*Business partner in Todd Smith & Associates, a longtime lobbying firm. Smith billed Miller more than $1 million for his work on every state campaign Miller has run.

[KamaAina]

7. Pity King of the Hill is no more.

They would have had a field day with this, pitting pro-deep fryer Bobby against health-conscious Peggy, with poor old Hank in the middle as usual. Oh, and Dale would be convinced the whole thing was a government conspiracy.

[Takket]

8. "Its about freedom"

Then explain to me why people on food stamps aren't allowed to buy McDonald's or chips?

[KamaAina]

9. It's only about freedom fries, silly!

[sakabatou]

10. Are Freedom Fries coming back?