I just read this over at Isaac Hunter's Tavern, the blog of local NPR reporter Laura Leslie, and was simply astounded. The state health care plan is in a major shortfall, as discussed elsewhere. So, what should we do to fix the problem? Adam Searing and Adam Linker think we should look at the administrator of the health care plan, of course we aren't allowed to look at them because the details are CONFIDENTIAL.

Lord forbid that we actually have a real discussion about marijuana, its use and its abuse. No, we have to turn this into a witch-hunt where Michael Phelps is bad, bad, bad becuase AAAAAAH MYYYY GAWWWWD he smokes pot!

Please, everyone who hasn't smoked pot raise your hand? One, two, three, four.

Now, everyone who knows somebody who had their life ruined by pot raise your hand. Okay, no one.

Now everyone who knows somebody who had their life ruined by alcohol raise your hand. One, two, three, four....four million.

Yeah, what a load of crap. If I were Michael Phelps I would man up and talk about pot for what it is, less addictive and less destructive than alcohol. He should know, he's been arrested for DUI back when he was 19!

This started off as a comment over in James' post about Doug Berger's ideas on the budget. I started to comment that Republican Pete Brunstetter had one crazy idea and one not so crazy idea.

What two things would you cut in the state budget? "I'm not a big fan of the More at Four program," Brunstetter said. "I don't think it has had the impact that justifies the cost."

He added that there needs to be some consideration of merging More at Four with Smart Start, another pre-school program.

Getting rid of early childhood education programs is so stupid I can't even comment, but the idea of merging two pre-school programs into one overhead makes sense.

But, this is where my bullshitometer went off.

I saw an update from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation that many states are trying to update their WIC program to better reflect newer nutritional standards and combat obesity.

Under the dietary changes, foods such as whole grain breads and cereals, canned or dried beans, and jarred baby foods will be made available to WIC recipients. In addition, beneficiaries can receive cash-value checks to purchase fresh fruits and vegetables. Another update to the state's WIC program calls for whole milk to be provided only to children between 12 months and 24 months and for all women and children older than age 2 to receive vouchers that cover only the cost of skim or 1 percent milk. In response to reports suggesting that juice consumption contributes to childhood overweight and obesity, New York is also looking to restrict the number of vouchers provided for the purchase of juice and eliminate juice options for children younger than age 2.

Horrible eating habits are responsible for the obesity epidemic in America. The old "food pyramid" is wrong, just wrong. That's why WIC is encouraging the purchase of fresh fruit and vegetables. That's why they are trying to eliminate whole milk and juice, which are unnecessary calories. More after the break. Newer nutritional understanding has, for all intents and purposes, turned the pyramid upside down. This is the old pyramid, you can see that it says you should eat lots of grains.
This is the new pyramid as designed at Harvard.

You can see that the white bread, white pasta group has moved to the top of the pyramid, use sparingly. Even the remainder of the pyramid blocks are better defined, such as "healthy fats" versus just "oils".

This is the "new" pyramid from USDA, which I'm not happy with. The USDA has tried to turn the pyramid into a rainbow logo - I'm not thrilled about it. Either way, I think what the WIC is doing is great. Folks often say you can't regulate good behavior, "What are you going to do, tax fatty foods?" Well, yeah. At least in this case you can, what you can do is limit tax-payer dollars for things that make you fat and unhealthy and expand funding for foods that are healthy. No more Cheetos and Wonder Bread, more apples and oranges.