SF Mayor Gavin Newsom Wants You to Get Fat
Professional political clown and San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom has issued an order:
Under an executive order from Mayor Gavin Newsom, Coke, Pepsi and Fanta Orange are no longer allowed in vending machines on city property, although their diet counterparts are - up to a point.
Newsom's directive, issued in April but whose practical impacts are starting to be felt now, bars calorically sweetened beverages from vending machines on city property.That includes non-diet sodas, sports drinks and artificially sweetened water. Juice must be 100 percent fruit or vegetable juice with no added sweeteners. Diet sodas can be no more than 25 percent of the items offered, the directive says.
There should be "ample choices" of water, "soy milk, rice milk and other similar dairy or non dairy milk," says the directive, which also covers fat and sugar content in vending machine snacks.
Unfortunately, thanks to Mayor Newsom, everyone is San Francisco is about to get fatter, as Jason Kuznicki points out over at Cato @ Liberty blog:
What can I say about San Francisco’s ban on vending machines for sugared soft drinks on city property?
I could say that a twelve ounce can of Coca-Cola has fewer calories than twelve ounces of whole milk, because it does — 140 to 216.
I could say that you’ll be even fatter if you substitute whole milk for Coke, ounce for ounce, because you will be.
I could say that the extra nutrients in milk don’t do anything to make it less fattening, because they don’t.
I could say that 12 ounces of soy milk has 198 calories, which is still well above Coke’s 140.
I could even say that switching to skim milk doesn’t help you all that much — if you do the math, you’ll find that there are 124.5 calories in 12oz of skim milk, compared, again, to 140 for Coke.
I could also point out that a tall Starbucks Frappuccino — also 12 ounces, and not covered by the ban — has 190 calories, largely from sugar and fat.
Mayor Gavin Newsom: he's why San Franciscans are going to need bigger pants.
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Comments:
Re: SF Mayor Gavin Newsom Wants You to Get Fat
Ewww. Who buys milk from a vending machine??
Jun '10
Re: SF Mayor Gavin Newsom Wants You to Get Fat
Enjoy now while you still hav'ed choice, comrades. When revolution comes, you get vending machine with one choice: cold borscht. And you will like it!
May '10
Re: SF Mayor Gavin Newsom Wants You to Get Fat
Oh come on. The man is mayor. That at least gives him the right to sell whatever drinks he pleases on city property. If the man wants to sell *gag* rice milk at city hall, who really cares. It just makes him even sillier.
And the notion that conservative pundits are going to try to make a case for Coke over milk is just stupid. Is this really what policy scholars at the Cato Institute are spending their time on? Can't they delegate this stuff to Ricochet contributors and get busy figuring out health care and Afghanistan?
If I were mayor of SF I would insist that only local drink companies paying local taxes be included in city vending machines anyway. No need to demonize Coke -- but no need to shill for them either.
May '10
Re: SF Mayor Gavin Newsom Wants You to Get Fat
I guess it goes without saying that Arizona Iced Tea products are verboten as well?
May '10
Re: SF Mayor Gavin Newsom Wants You to Get Fat
Nice! Apparently the company is actually headquartered in New York, but is getting hammered because of the Arizona name association. I buy more of their stuff just to counter the negative Arizona connotation.
May '10
Re: SF Mayor Gavin Newsom Wants You to Get Fat
Trace Urdan:
...If I were mayor of SF I would insist that only local drink companies paying local taxes be included in city vending machines anyway. No need to demonize Coke -- but no need to shill for them either. · Jul 8 at 8:28am
This is a tremendous idea .. far better and far less vacuous than using the vending machines to make political statements!
May '10
Re: SF Mayor Gavin Newsom Wants You to Get Fat
Many schoolchildren do, which apparently is what Newsom considers his constituents.
May '10
Re: SF Mayor Gavin Newsom Wants You to Get Fat
Of course the item that the nanny scolds all seem to be missing is the increasing body of scientific evidence linking artificially sweetened drinks to weight gain. Apparently the body starts the digestive process based on the sweet taste and, when the calories aren't forthcoming, craving for additional carbs is triggered.
What I really resent is being charged more for my responsible choice of the occasional treat (my weight and blood pressure are well within norms) while the really garbage-filled "food" is subsidized because it has artificial sweetener. This is so bassackwards, it makes me crazy. Then again, responsible behavior is penalized and irresponsible rewarded, so why should this be different?
Jul '10
Re: SF Mayor Gavin Newsom Wants You to Get Fat
The time is in sight when stool samples will be demanded to insure compliance with food edicts. You will have the option of appealing fines to a government agency whose employees earn more than you and have better benefits.
Jun '10
Re: SF Mayor Gavin Newsom Wants You to Get Fat
Does anyone know a company that manufactures stool sample kits? I think the time is right to buy.
May '10
Re: SF Mayor Gavin Newsom Wants You to Get Fat
Y'know...it's not a bad thing that the "nanny state" folks live for a while within their own edicts. Better this that the more typical ruling that limits options for everyone except the city leadership and employees. Perhaps the people of SF will learn to expect even less from City Hall, now that even the drink you really want is not available there either.
This is good news for the snack shops that border city facilities. Those enterprising folks will be quick to advertise "Cold Coke Sold Here!" in their windows. Wait until some photog catches the Mayor in line at the local deli making a "cola run".
Re: SF Mayor Gavin Newsom Wants You to Get Fat
Trace Urdan: Oh come on. The man is mayor. That at least gives him the right to sell whatever drinks he pleases on city property. If the man wants to sell *gag* rice milk at city hall, who really cares. It just makes him even sillier.
And the notion that conservative pundits are going to try to make a case for Coke over milk is just stupid. Is this really what policy scholars at the Cato Institute are spending their time on? Can't they delegate this stuff to Ricochet contributors and get busy figuring out health care and Afghanistan?
If I were mayor of SF I would insist that only local drink companies paying local taxes be included in city vending machines anyway. No need to demonize Coke -- but no need to shill for them either. · Jul 8 at 8:28am
Nobody's shilling for Coke. Or my preferred RC Cola. But it's nauseating to have a politician demanding changes based on nonsense. What irks me isn't that he's making an executive order, it's that there's no basis for it, in caloric terms. It's just....fashionable. That's worthing calling out.
May '10
Re: SF Mayor Gavin Newsom Wants You to Get Fat
Good night you like to exaggerate. So the mayor wants everyone to be fat. You want everyone to be fat and lose their teeth (excess sugar) and break their bones (bone density goes down - hey, there's calcuim in milk)
And the choice thing? Are city employees forced to only buy food from the vending machines? Are they prohibited from brining lunches?
May '10
Re: SF Mayor Gavin Newsom Wants You to Get Fat
Rob Long
Nobody's shilling for Coke. Or my preferred RC Cola. But it's nauseating to have a politician demanding changes based on nonsense. What irks me isn't that he's making an executive order, it's that there's no basis for it, in caloric terms. It's just....fashionable. That's worthing calling out. · Jul 8 at 2:31pm
Don't get me wrong -- I think making fun of Gavin Newsom should be a standing Ricochet feature and remember please I was the one that urged you to publicly mock his new program for the city to set up college savings plans for all pre-school age children... That said, I think the evidence that the rise in the consumption of soda, which has gone from being a special treat when we were kids to being a meal staple today has contributed to epidemic childhood obesity. And I am really loath to believe that rising childhood obesity is a liberal plot. I'm all for stomping on the nanny state AND for mocking Gavin Newsome forcing rice milk on city workers, but I absolutely draw the line at praising soda over milk.
May '10
Re: SF Mayor Gavin Newsom Wants You to Get Fat
Milk with the expiration date conveniently hidden.
May '10
Re: SF Mayor Gavin Newsom Wants You to Get Fat
Have you ever brined a PB&J? Seriously, man, it just falls apart, right there in the water.
Newsom's helming over a San Francisco that's turning into the control freak capital of the U.S. The city bans plastic bags, smoking in all sorts of places (like ATM lines?!), JROTC programs in schools, and now this. All wrapped up in an aura of smug self-righteousness and self-congratulation for being so "tolerant."
May '10
Re: SF Mayor Gavin Newsom Wants You to Get Fat
Oh, I say this as a San Franciscan of 15 years.
Jul '10
Re: SF Mayor Gavin Newsom Wants You to Get Fat
"That said, I think the evidence that the rise in the consumption of soda, which has gone from being a special treat when we were kids to being a meal staple today has contributed to epidemic childhood obesity. And I am really loath to believe that rising childhood obesity is a liberal plot."
It is a liberal plot..... it's called "evolution."
May '10
Re: SF Mayor Gavin Newsom Wants You to Get Fat
The range of subjects discussed on Ricochet continues to draw the most entertaining ads in the right margin. This series of posts was trying to sell me a brand-new state of the art vending machine but now seems to have switched over to the Atkins diet. I suppose there's a lesson in markets there somehow.
May '10
Re: SF Mayor Gavin Newsom Wants You to Get Fat
Maybe all those fatties with the soda, can go get a dog and take it for a walk. But then again didn't they just ban the purchase of pets?