Save us from soda

[billydkid]

Do you think it will ever reach a point where ordinary, sane people will awaken from their slumber. No, they never have which is how madness has been the guiding principle of humanity since the beginning. But, of course, Ron Paul is a lunatic.

http://www.reason.com/blog/show/123545.html (http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=071115145104.rykb7bub&show_article=1)

[slingblade]

Soda?

[dudalb]

What the hell does the story have to do with Ron Paul ?
Other then his general belief that the whole world outside of the US is evil and corrupt,and the US should therefore ignore it.

[Cleon]

Soda? Ron Paul? Whaaaa....?

My friend, you are taking the non sequitir to an art form.

[UserGoogol]

I very strongly suspect billydkid's link somehow screwed up. Even though the visible text of the URL goes to an article about soda, clicking on it sends you to the article people have been commeting on. This (http://www.reason.com/blog/show/123545.html) is presumably the link billydkid meant to present.

Even so, I don't think I agree with the intended link much more than I would agree with the unintended non-sequitur of "soda, rape, and ron paul." It is an entirely reasonable proposal. The whole concept of childhood is that until a person develops into an adult who is capable of making reasonable decisions, "more reasonable people" are allowed to control their lives to a degree which would be considered rather oppressive otherwise. In that, as it stands, many children are becoming obese, it is reasonable that some modest regulations on selling soda to children and whatnot be proposed. I don't understand why libertarians think the "nanny state" argument holds any water when applied to children. Children are supposed to have nannys!

A soda tax is a bit more dubious, I admit, since it effects everyone and not just children, but it does not seem utterly unreasonable either. In so far as the government is going to be taking money, they ought to take it from sources which causes minimal harm. Thus, to tax things which are themselves harmful is preferable to taxing actions which are not harmful to anyone like the act of earning an income. Of course, when a new tax is proposed and that money is used to create new spending rather than offset other taxes, that changes the dynamic somewhat, and you have to consider the value of the program itself. However, it still seems reasonable to suppose that the net benefit exceeds the net harm.

[billydkid]

Whoops, sorry. Just never mind, okay.

[Sir Robin Goodfellow]

Okay, so "soda" is some sort of ethnic slur, or...

[UserGoogol]

Or he linked the wrong page, which I think is extremely likely, since the link he gave is given a different thread (and thus he might have had something in his clipboard or whatever) and http://www.reason.com/blog/show/123545.html goes to an on-topic.

[Cleon]

Or he linked the wrong page, which I think is extremely likely, since the link he gave is given a different thread (and thus he might have had something in his clipboard or whatever) and http://www.reason.com/blog/show/123545.html goes to an on-topic.


...Which still has nothing to do with Ron Paul. Thanks for playing, though.

[BPSCG]

...Which still has nothing to do with Ron Paul. Thanks for playing, though.Damn, I hate it when I have to agree with Cleon.

Y'know, I drank very little soda when I was a kid. The reason was, my mom did the grocery shopping and she never bought any.

Of course, we're much more enlightened today. We recognize that a child is not "an adult who is capable of making reasonable decisions," as UserGoogol observes, and presumably, neither are his parents, and we therefore need The Government to force them into proper behavior. It's for their own good, don't you know?

And they call Bush a fascist.

[billydkid]

I have said a couple of times that one of my admirable qualities is that I am not afraid to appear stupid. This would be a case in point.

[Sir Robin Goodfellow]

I have said a couple of times that one of my admirable qualities is that I am not afraid to appear stupid. This would be a case in point.


Happens to the best of us.

[Molinaro]

If I saw someone on a plane talking bad about Ginger Ale I would kill them.