Although Barack Obama is far too busy fundraising to worry about attending to the nation's business, Michelle Obama is still tirelessly pursuing her all-important quest to keep America's children from eating anything even vaguely enjoyable.
Which is why she was the centerpiece of a ceremony yesterday in which she announced that the Walt Disney Company was joining her crusade to end childhood obesity by instituting new policies which would keep junk food from being advertised on Disney radio, television, or Internet sites which target kids 12 and younger.
And seriously, who could have a problem with that?
Time's up! Hope n' Change has a big fat problem with it!
Not because we're in favor of childhood obesity or against healthy eating. Quite the contrary. Nor is our particular objection that Mrs. Obama praised Disney's new policy of asking "is this good for our kids?" even though her husband has never asked that question before raising lifelong taxes on those kids, or making sure that countless kids would never even be born.
No, our problem is that this whole deal doesn't pass the smell test. Because Disney isn't instituting this new policy out of altruism (in fact, they'll continue running junk food ads through 2015) - it's the kickoff for their new "Mickey Check" label which will go on foods in grocery stores so that feeble-minded parents can more easily figure out whether broccoli is a healthier choice than Frosted Pop-tarts.
But Disney doesn't give away anything for free - especially anything with Mickey's picture on it. Rather, they'll be licensing that "Mickey Check" label to food companies for untold millions of dollars. And the nation's first lady just gave their profit-making venture a huge boost with her endorsement.
But as an outspoken enemy of corporations and capitalism, why would Michelle do Disney such a huge favor? What's in it for her?
Plenty.
Because Disney just happens to own ABC News (and the rest of ABC for that matter) as well as television and radio stations all over the country. Stations that could do a lot of good for Barack Obama's reelection campaign depending on which news stories they choose to cover...and which they choose (or are told) to bury.
So Michelle helps Disney rake in money, the ABC Networks help Obama get reelected, and everyone's happy!
Except kids who want junk food.
And adults who don't want junk news.
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25 comments:
Keep the faith, folks...the silly recall the unions wanted just bit them in the butt! And ya know why? Well, according our buddies at MSNBC, it was simply because Gov Walker's side simply outspent them! It just COULD NOT be that this vote in Wisconsin really is the will of the people in a huuge voter turnout! Especially enjoyed ED's (of the Ed Show) countenance as he was all set to gloat over the left's victory! This vote spoke volumes!!
@PRY- I'm loving the Walker victory. And to tie it back to today's cartoon theme, let's compare the difference between what Libs and Conservatives are doing in government: Walker cleared the state deficit, has now gotten a budget surplus, and jobs in Wisconsin are up...meanwhile, all of those same factors are still in the toilet on a national level, while Bloomberg is dictating what size soft drink adults can buy, and Michelle is trying to suppress the advertising of (ahem) fast food.
Clearly, voters can choose between positive results or a "Nanny state" in November. And just maybe some of them are starting to realize that those are the real (and only) choices.
Michelle Obargearse is hardly a spokesmodel for being slim and trim. Her rear shot puts me in mind of the Clydesdales that used live on the neighbouring farm.
Perhaps if she took a little more exercise and few less taxpayer-funded junkets I might feel inclined to give credence to her notions. Or not.
OT:
Congrats to Governor Walker and the state of Wisconsin for proving there's more than just cheese in those cheddar-heads.
My habit is to quickly shut off the alarm clock in the morning, but it came on with Queen's We Are The Champions, so I turned it up, instead. Walker's victory is a well deserved and long overdue thumb in the eye to the left -particularly to the unions which were purported to have sent bus loads of people from Detroit into Wisconsin to vote illegally...
Rumor is that 1/2 of those bussed in found jobs, and will be staying...
Seriously, when OUR new Governor Rick Snyder set up his new plan and budget, there was MUCH wailing and gnashing of teeth, on ALL sides - which indicated to me that it was probably a good plan, plenty of 'shared pain'. In only one year the state is showing a (very slight) surplus, and unemployment is dropping here, too. Not sure it's below national average yet, but it's sure headed the right way. Fortunately, the recall petition that came out immediately was pretty much laughed off the street, people felt it was time to do things a bit differently. It seems that, in this case, they were correct. But Romney campaign surely 'should' be able to point to the differences in 'turnaround states' like WI and MI and 'chronic failing states' like CA and IL and make hay...
@Coon Tasty- To be perfectly fair, I think it is a good idea for kids (and everyone else) to make healthier food choices - but the key word in there is "choice." Moreover, I like the idea of advertisers showing some extra responsibility if they're targeting young audiences. Frankly, I just don't like Michelle and these incestuous "you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours" deals with the media.
@Emmentaler- Walker's win is HUGE, and I'm going to enjoy watching the ripple effects in the coming days.
@Pete(Detroit)- The real significance to Walker's win is the reason behind it: he kept his promises, and his much-criticized (from the Left) policies worked to clear the state's debt and get employment moving in the right direction. That's the message I want to make sure the whole nation gets.
And I like the idea of Romney comparing the records of different states to help make his case.
@Angry Hoosier Dad- Not that there's anything wrong with cheese (as we in the Jarlsberg family like to say).
Every First Lady has to have some sort of pet project, and healthy eating for children is certainly a worthy cause, BUT...
1) Practice what you preach, fatass!
2) It's MY friggin' business what I eat and what I feed my kids, not yours!
3) We are (gasp) smart enough to use the salt shaker conservatively (hence the name "conservative"), so we don't need a damned law against salt shakers!
4) What the heck is your fixation with sleeping with goofy? ...and now the other Goofy?
5) How about a law against fried chicken farts in the White House?
6) We LOVE having this crap rammed down our throats by somebody who has to fly a $20 million per hour jet to their weekly vacation.
As Mad Max would say, "Go away and stop ruinin' my life!"
@Colby: your point #1 got today's "Coffee Spewed At The Monitor" award. But don't forget that the Huffington Post's "journalist" Ellie Krupnick claims that Michelle Øbama’s butt size is excused because it’s "natural"...
Also of note is the recent revelation of a medical study which shows that the medical community (and the friggin' media) has had it all wrong around salt and its link to medical problems, particularly hypertension. Plus, my wife, a pharmacist (note to Moochelle: a "pharmacist" is an actual medical professional - as opposed to a "first wookiee") reports a surge in people being admitted to the hospital she works at for sodium deficiency. Heavens! Go figure. Reminds me of the medical community's inability to nail down cholesterol levels, and the badness/goodness of the incredible, edible egg, red meat, etc. If they'd stop bending to such exemplary medical associations as "PETA" in thier assessments, they'd probably have settled nutritional science long ago...
So, back on point, when the medical community is so often at sea over nutrition and foods' effects on the human body, I'm supposed to listen to a stupid politician's hypocritical wife?! That would be much akin to listening to Gore on climate change - another thing I refuse to do...
So we're going to make sure that kids who are getting obese by sitting around watching tv don't get more obese by seeing Hershey commercials.
Got it.
@Colby- I applaud your point by point breakdown of the situation. I have to admit that, for me, it largely boils down to "Oh, STFU Michelle."
@Emmentaler- Good point that even something as seemingly simple as nutrition isn't exactly "settled science." And while I'd hope that people in general, and parents in particular, would exercise some discipline and logic when making their choices, we can't lose track of the importance of having the right to make our own choices...including bad ones.
@Suzy- There you go, clouding the issue with logic again!
OT, but rich.... 119% turnout? Voter Fraud? Who, US?!?!?
http://weaselzippers.us/2012/06/05/wisconsin-recall-update-voter-turnout-in-liberal-stronghold-madison-on-pace-to-reach-119/
+1 Suzy - and let's all not forget it's not watching the commercials that gets you fat...
When I saw this, I paid little attention; big whoop. After all, Marxism requires healthy bodies with feeble minds to slave away for the elite. (and we're going to need them to slave away for us when we retire) I didn't know about the whole "licensing" angle on this. Brilliant on Disney's part, and another fine example of "crony capitalism" at work. At least the Econ household won't be subsidizing it.
One thing we can be sure of; once the dust has settled, Disney/ABC will not be making the comparison between the state of affairs in Wisconsin and the rest of the country. That will be up to us.
The Walker victory is, to borrow Joe Biden's words, "a big @#%@#% deal". Breaking the government worker stranglehold on state budgets is just one battle that we will have to win if there is any hope in resurrecting America. But this was a big win. No doubt Wisconsin voters were please to see a balanced budget, taxes not going up, and unemployment going down; pretty much the opposite of what Obama has to offer. They can't be pleased at the White House this morning; When a 119% voter turnout still isn't enough to stop something, they've got a real problem.
@Pete(Detroit)- I had to laugh (well, sort of) at that 119% turnout figure. While it seems impossible, the Dems were saying it merely reflected a lot of previously unregistered people who decided to register on the day of the vote. And people from out of state. And dead people. And their imaginary friends.
@Stan da Man- Maybe the first lady's lesson is that misleading commercials which try to influence choices by the naive and uneducated are a bad idea. I just wish she'd tell that to Barry before he unleashes $1 billion of commercials exactly like that.
@John the Econ- I haven't seen the licensing angle or Disney/ABC angle explored anywhere else. I have some experience in the areas of advertising and licensing, so the connection jumped out at me immediately.
Regarding Walker, I think the most damaging thing for Dems is the growing awareness that Walker's reforms worked - at a time when nothing the Obama administration has tried has made a dent in our problems. The Dems may now be wishing that they hadn't called attention to Wisconsin's success story.
Suzy, so Hershey's is joining Johnny Walker and Marlboro in TV commercials persona non grata list?
(Somebody tell me, I don't waste my time with the idiot box.)
Emmantaler,
Seriously? There is actually a "journalist" who defended the size of the First Lady's ass?! Truth really is stranger than fiction sometimes.
Our country is going to hell in a handbasket, and our daily news is usually about some political moron telling us what to eat or quacking about green cars, or some lunatic screaming about Scott Walker's going to get arrested because he spent more campaign money than Barrett, or...
People. Wake the eff up! I think Wisconsin is now proof that we can overcome the nonsense. BO is going to hide from this recall vote like it never happened.
I dream of the day when 100% of this country's unemployment is nothing but idiots like Rachael Madcow, Ed Schultz and their ilk.
Thank you stilton and all. My connect the dots decoder ring got sugar in it while I was making bad food choices and I was unable to figure out mooches quid pro quo until you shined the light into the darker recesses.
Gov Walker was just a fluke in the space time flux and dumb luck- that should probably subside sometime in mid Nov
@rickn80r- Makers of junk food don't need to panic quite yet; the ad ban only affects Disney outlets, and won't be put into effect until 2015 so that Disney can honor current contracts. So apparently childhood obesity isn't such a big problem that they're not willing to profit from it for another 3 years.
@Colby- Like you, I'm frustrated by the triviality of what passes for news, and the fact that the HUGE and IMPORTANT news stories are totally ignored. The CBO recently released a report showing the absolutely catastrophic debt levels we're facing, but only did projections going out to 2025 or so. Why stop there? Because the CBO points out that after 2025, our ratio of borrowing to GDP will be so high - higher than any other economy, ever - that there are no real world models to say what will happen. This being the case, Americans should be worrying a lot more about our national checkbook than "Mickey Checks" on food products.
@REM1875- The "connect the dots" theory is purely my own, but I think it has validity. When one considers the fact Disney isn't implementing the ad ban until 2015 (hardly "breaking news"), the real purpose of this event was to kick off the for-profit "Mickey Check."
Regarding Walker, it's funny (in an unfunny way) to hear the Left saying that it wasn't really an important election, but shows what evil outside money can do. In fact, I got a letter from Barry's campaign begging for more dough based on the dire warning that if shadowy outside funding sources can buy the election for "the most hated Governor in America," the same could happen on a national level. Unless, of course, people give (and give generously! to Obama's reelection fund.
The Obamas both belong to the order Phonus Balonus, a common type of parasite distinguished by its reddish coloration, swollen cranium, and constant emission of hot air designed to lull its prey into inactivity prior to ingestion.
Mickey, of course, is now just a common rat.
@Bob Mack- Very nicely put!
@Colby: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/21/jim-sensenbrenner-michelle-obama_n_1163711.html - though it was, from the dateline, "updated" the day after I read it. Among other modifications, the comment regarding Moochelles buttocks has since been reduced from the borderline racial slur to a parenthetical natural prior to the word physique. Yeah. And that pretty much summarizes the sate of journalism today.
sate=state. Sorry.
Good post...follow the money!
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