Why people hate liberals

Washington Post - Doughnuts are out, whole-wheat muffins in, and Virginia’s General Assembly is fed up: It wants to bring back the old sugary school bake sale.

Federal guidelines that took effect this school year have banished sales of nutritionally dubious treats to students during school hours. Anything sold while school is in session must meet the same nutritional guidelines as school lunch and breakfast.

That might be good for the fight against childhood obesity, but it has taken a big bite out of bake-sale proceeds at schools such as Brooke Point High School in Stafford County, where reduced-sugar, whole-grain muffins aren’t exactly selling like the glazed honey buns they replaced on the snack menu.

“Previously, we were allowed to sell whatever we wanted,” said Anne Jacobsen, a parent volunteer. “Since we’ve gone to the ‘smart snacks,’ sales have dropped by more than half. The kids just don’t want it.”

Never fans of new federal regulations, Virginia’s Republican-controlled legislature is trying to come to the rescue with a bill that has cleared both chambers granting schools exceptions to the rules.

The measure flew through the House without controversy, but in the Senate, it inspired one of this year’s more animated debates, pitting those concerned about childhood obesity against lawmakers wary of government overreach.

Senate Minority Leader Richard L. Saslaw (D-Fairfax) warned colleagues not to vote for the bill “unless you believe America’s just not fat enough.”

Sen. Charles W. “Bill” Carrico Sr. (R-Grayson), on the other hand, said he managed to survive the cinnamon rolls his mother, Alba Carrico, used to bake in the cafeteria of Marion Middle School in Smyth County in far Southwest Virginia.

“Every time someone talks about school lunches, I think of these cinnamon rolls my mom used to make that were to die for, and she’s still making them for me today,” Carrico, 53, said in an interview after the debate. “Now it would be the kiss of death to eat a cinnamon roll. .?.?. I’ll bet you if I brought those pans of cinnamon rolls into the Senate, I wouldn’t take the pans out full again.”