Free Talk Live

Los Angeles parks and libraries could soon be soda-free. - When Councilman Mitch Englander discovered that his daughter was unable to buy anything but sugar-packed sodas in a city park vending machine, he introduced a motion to ban them. Englander pitched his proposed soda ban at parks and libraries to the city's Arts, Parks, Health & Aging Committee on Tuesday, CBS reports. The council member, who serves as president of the local chapter of the American Diabetes Association, talked about how sugary sodas increase rates of childhood obesity and diabetes.

A team of researchers at the University of California at San Francisco say sugar should be identified alongside alcohol and tobacco as a health danger, and governments should tax sweetened drinks and food as part of their efforts to combat it.

Best Quote: "We're not talking prohibition, we're not advocating a major imposition of the government into people's lives. We're talking about gentle ways to make sugar consumption slightly less convenient"

Should We Tax Soda?

The Senate is considering various ways to pay for a health care system overhaul. One option is to start taxing things that are contributing to health problems such as obesity, and sodas are in the cross-hairs.

From The Wall Street Journal:

In March, Kevin Brady (R-TX) introduced H.R.4180 (Sound Dollar Act) and Mike Lee (R-UT) introduced a companion bill (S.2247 Federal Reserve Modernization Act) in the Senate. These two bills are actually seven pieces of legislation, put into a single bill. There is nothing in this bill that would prevent the Federal Reserve from continuing to inflate the currency. Nothing to prevent future cycles of “boom and bust.” The “Sound Dollar Act” is another misnamed piece of legislation designed to trick the American people into supporting bad legislation.

A bipartisan bill introduced in the Senate requiring all airports to use full-body scanners lacks sufficient privacy safeguards, says a prominent watchdog group.

The Electronic Privacy Information Center says the bill, introduced in the Senate by Sen. Bob Bennett (R-UT) and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), "contains particularly weak privacy provision[s] that ignore many of the problems with the devices already uncovered."

A New Jersey lawmaker wants minor criminals, including shoplifters, to turn over DNA samples, which he says will help clear up unsolved crimes, according to a report.
The bill, which was introduced in Trenton by state Sen. Nick Sacco (D-Hudson County), would require adults and juveniles convicted of disorderly persons offenses to submit a sample under the state’s DNA Database law, according to the Jersey Journal.

New York City and the Bloomberg administration plan to enact a ban on the sale large sodas and other sugary drinks at movie theaters, restaurants, and even street vendors in an effort to fight obesity.

Senate Bill Will Force Radiation Testing Of TSA Scanners

Lawmaker to introduce legislation to require independent radiation tests of X-ray scanners

On March 4 Senators John McCain (R-Ariz) and Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.) introduced a bill entitled “The Enemy Belligerent Interrogation, Detention and Prosecution Act of 2010.” If you thought some of the legislation introduced and passed by Congress under Bush II was scary, then in the immortal words of Bachman and Turner you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.