Bill would make it illegal to feed "obese"

The "obesity pandemic" is hyped by the media and government for several reasons: It helps their political cronies sell quack weight loss cures. It diverts attention away from government scandals. And it shifts blame for America's broken health care system onto the public.

Much of the real problem is the more limited selection of food available to the public with the rising poverty rate. If people get as much food as they did, it's more often the wrong kind of food, because it's cheaper. Another factor is the simple fact that the official definition of "overweight" and "obese" changed a decade ago. (I'm considered "overweight" under the government's edict. Anyone who's ever seen me would find this to be preposterous.)

Now a bipartisan right-wing bill in Mississippi (which was originally introduced by a Republican, naturally) would outlaw feeding the "obese." The proposed law would make it illegal for restaurants to serve "obese" customers. It says the state's Department of Health shall establish criteria for what "obese" means and would revoke the permit from restaurants that continue to feed "obese" patrons.

Now there's a disaster waiting to happen. If a customer who is denied food under this law also has diabetes, they may go into insulin shock from not getting food quickly enough. People have gone into insulin shock from not getting fed in time, and it'll happen more if this passes.

And how the hell does the state expect to enforce the law anyway? Are restaurants supposed to weigh every patron?

This bill is mean-spirited and ugly. It's no different from the guards at youth confinement facilities who humiliate inmates by loudly denying them seconds at dinner. That's the mentality behind this legislation.

(Source: http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2008/0201081fat1.html;
http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2008/02/bill-would-make.html)