NYC bans big, sugary drinks at eateries, theaters
September 13, 2012 at 5:38 am in Grand Forks Herald
New York City’s Board of Health opened up a new, experimental front in the war on obesity Thursday, passing a rule banning sales of big sodas and other sugary drinks at restaurants, concession stands, and other eateries.
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Its about time the government starts taking care of us.
Do they really think we are capable of making decisions on our own? Isnt this why we elect smart people?
Now if they would just hurry up with my welfare check and that free health care for me i could sleep easier at night knowing i didnt have to get up early and go to work.
The warm embrace of Big Government keeping us warm and fuzzy at night.
Now thats Freedom!
well, i suppose you have to give up some things but the embrace is still warm and fuzzy!
just as long as you obey.
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I am really getting to embrace your humor Capt.
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Capt Amerika, I fully agree with your comments as long as we take the next step and hold people accountable for those decisions. People should be free to make whatever choices they want regarding their diet, but then they shouldn’t expect the government to bail them out on the back end with Medicare benefits when they have diabetes, heart disease and increased medical expenses because they choose to adopt an unhealthy life-style. The vast majority of people will holler and scream if you try and take away their choice to enjoy an extra-large Dairy Queen Blizzard six times a day. Many of those same people will also holler and scream if there is any suggestion that their Medicare benefits should be reduced or limited because they choose to eat six Blizzards every day and they now have a daily visit to the hospital. I am certain someone will respond that they paid for Medicare and it shouldn’t be limited, but the average Medicare recipient will receive $250,000 more in benefits than they ever paid into the system. I agree with you that the solution shouldn’t be to take away personal responsibility, but then taxpayers shouldn’t have to pick up the tab for poor choices.
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Couldnt have said it better myself!
I believe people who treat their bodies like crap should be allowed to do what they please as long as the Govt doesnt pick up the tab.
Thats why Obamacare needs to go away.
If you cant afford insurance, you better go that extra mile to ensure you are as fit as possible and if you choose to treat your boidy like a dumpster, you better have good insurance.
i have never seen anywhere in the constitution where it said the Govt was responsible for keeping people alive as long as possible.
Your life, you live it.
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This is nothing more than a symbolic gesture. But maybe it will make people stop and think?
Nah. They’ll just order two 16 oz. drinks.
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Why bother messing with such restrictions, It’s called free refills anyways. plus for take-out say no to the ice.
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I think the government should limit our intake of caffeine by making us use smaller cups, make us become more fit by requiring us to serve food on smaller plates and using a tiny forks. Heroine addicts could cure themselves using smaller syringes. The list goes on and on…
I wonder if they thought about people that might have three 16 ounce refills instead of having one 48 ounce Big Gulp?
What a bunch of BS!
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This is so ridiculous that it’s hard to even talk about it.
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I totally agree to how ridiculous it is. Now, just to ask, how many of this places off free refills? Seriously? Do they think it is going to make any difference? People will do what they want to, you can’t tell them other wise, and honestly you shouldn’t.
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I once stated that after the helicopter moms got done with my cigarettes that they would start on the next item on their list and take something that someone else loved if they weren’t stopped.
I never have been accused of being Nostradamus for the foreshadowing on this makes the ending easy to read. It isn’t going to stop here people.. People like Chelsey Matter won’t stop there.. They won’t stop until you live YOUR life THEIR way.
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Well, we don’t get a say in this because don’t live in New York. Those people there who don’t like it better vote for someone different as Mayor. All uf us can just mind our own business. Democracy at it’s silliest.
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The thing about minding our own business is that regardless of where you live the trampling of individual liberties spreads across the nation taking on many forms. Ignoring it doesn’t work. It lends other to believe just because no one is putting up a stink it must be o.k., all right and good. Nothing could be further from the truth. Today sugared drinks, tomorrow freedom of movement and free speech. Call me a bit dramatic if you will, but our individual liberties are being eroded more and more each day, and sometimes, as is the case with this example, in very overreaching ways. It’s nobody’s business if I drink one big gulp, or get 3 free refills. Whoever wasted the time and taxpayer funds to come up with the garbage ought to be tossed out on the street to look for a real job.
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Food for thought on who will defend our rights…
http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles2/silveira102lw.html
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Duluth passed a no smoking ban along the Lakewalk and in two of their city parks just the other day. You have to stay six feet back from the Lakewalk or you will get a $50 fine. It is really to combat the users of synthetic weed from smoking in public but they added the cigarette smokers. Some of the comments on the DNT are from people complaining about having to walk through billowing clouds of smoke. IMO they just have a beef with smokers. The ridiculous thing is this is a tourist town where people can’t smoke in hotels, bars and restaurants. Now add the outdoors to that list.
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I do understand that some smokers are disrespectful of non-smokers but disallowing all smoking, even outdoors, is too much.There’s talk that North Dakota might institute a smoking ban in ALL pubic places. This means streets and public parks would be off limits for smokers. Why don’t they get to their real agenda and make smoking illegal? Oh, I know, they wouldn’t be able to collect taxes then.
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I certainly understand some have allergies and in general cigarette smoke is just plain gross even though it is still legal in all 50 states. As a smoker, I don’t even smoke in my house, but banning smoking outdoors in ALL outside public areas is over reaching. That reasoning puts restrictions on one segment of the public but not the another, both of whom pay taxes (the smoker pays additional taxes) to support those public areas.
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Jsuz, the taxes paid on cigarettes don’t even come close to paying for the additional costs that have to be absorbed as the result of increased medical needs of smokers. The idea that smokers are paying more for the maintenance of outdoor public spaces is incredible.
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No one said smokers pay more for maintenance of public spaces. If that ‘s the message you received from my comment then you are mistaken.
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some counties had no choice, but to ban it outdoors due to the extreme drough. Been in SW South Dakota, signs all over saying no smoking outdoors due to fire dangers. It is extremely dry out there, many other places, that is the reason why.
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Before smoking bans a person was able to have an area to go and smoke. These areas were usually places away from non-smokers. Now with the indoor bans people smoke where they think they should. Now the same people that complained about indoor smoking complain about walking through “clouds of smoke” when they created the monster in the first place.
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i ABSOLUTELY HATE SMOKING.
However, if the Government has decided it is not evil enough to make ILLEGAL to sale, the same Govt should not be placing restrictions.
As a non-smoker, i will choose establishments that have posted no smoking signs on their esablishment and will not patronize bars etc that allow smoking.
That is called FREEDOM.
People forget that to ensure we are a free nation sometimes you have to adjust your life to ensure others enjoy the same freedoms.
Even though i cant stand the smell of cigarettes, i can adjust my walking path etc to not interfere with someone elses freedom to have a cigarette.
Next up….. Mandatory seatbelt laws, and why is it the govts job to keep you safe……
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I agree, I also never enter any public place that allows smoking indoors. If it allows smoking I will not enter. Smoking is a disgusting addiction, effects the smoker and the health of everyone around the smoke. 17,000 die each day to smoking related health problems including from second hand smoke.
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How did these comments turn from the size of a pop container to smoking?
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Infringement of rights whether it is deciding we can’t have a certain size sugared drink to restricting smoking in the out of doors to restricting freedom of speech, freedom of religeion, freedom of the press. Ristrictions. Deciding for others how they ought to live. It covers a lot of territory. This is a forum. It will and does go in many different directions but the theme remains the same.
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Jsuz, I don’t disagree, make whatever unhealthy choices you want. However, when start receiving Medicare benefits I fully expect that you will pay for the additional healthcare expenses you will incur as a result of those poor decisions. The sad truth is that the majority of people fighting for their right to smoke and their right to engage in gluttonous behavior will also scream bloody murder at the suggestion to reduce their Medicare coverage or require them to pay a higher level of tax for engaging in those behaviors. I will vigorously defend a person’s right to make choices (good or bad), but I also believe that if you make poor choices you shouldn’t stick taxpayers with the cost of those choices.
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This is spot on. Where’s the personal responsibility here?
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I’m fairly confident there won’t be medicare when I’m old. Frankly, I don’t know if there will be a U.S.A. when my time comes to collect medicare. Social security and medicare is something I don’t give much consideration to as part of my future. If either is still in tact it will be nothing short of a miracle.
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Anyone remember the movie demolition man?
Whats next my triple whopper with cheese?
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two dogs, which fast food joint won the franchise wars in Demolition Man? Was it Taco Bell?
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Yes it was. I wonder how much they paid for that product placement.
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Ok….So NY wants to force people to drink smaller size pop…One solution is to stop having seperate bathrooms….Just think of all that savings if public restrooms were share rooms? First off there’d be that very uncomfortable feeling waitins for a stall or women having to hear men at the urnals….But just think…People will eat less and drink less in public because they’ll go to great links to avoid going to the bahroom if they were share bathrooms……Man…This problem solving for big cities must be my forte eh?
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Let people eat, drink, or smoke whatever they please. Since doing any of these things to excess will lead to increased medical expenses I suggest that the Medicare tax be variable. The average person receives $250,000 more in benefits than they paid in (that number is increasing). The employee portion of Medicare tax is currently 1.45%. If you smoke I suggest your rate increase to 6%. If you are obese I suggest your rate increase to 9%. I firmly believe that the vast majority of Americans are fully capable of making their own decisions, should be allowed to make their own decisions and should accept the consequences of those decisions.
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I really don’t have much of an opinion one way or other, but I will say that some of the sizes of containers they sell at some of the truck stops is really unbelievable. I swear some of them should come with a shoulder harness to strap on their back to carry back to the truck. Some look almost as big as pony kegs and must hold at least a quart or more……Hell…I keep expecting to see these guys with muscles like Popeyes on one arm from doing curls from the floor to their mouth with those heavy things
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Funny, TB! What did we used to do? We drank water when we were thirsty, but we didn’t drinks nearly as much. I blame the “gotta drink 8 or more glasses of water a day or you’ll die” advice. People don’t need that much fluid. If you drink when you are thirsty, you don’t end up drinking (and peeing) nearly as much. Think of how much water we could save.
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Realist, your observation about drinking eight glasses of water a day is right on target. Although many doctors continue to perpetuate this urban legend, there have been no studies that support the need for a healthy person who eats a balanced diet to drink eight additional glasses of water a day. I think that many people picked up on this “fad” because it made them feel like they were doing something “healthy” while putting out very little effort.
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Lewis Black the comedian thnks it happened about the same time as the water from the tap wasn’t good enough anymore so we needed to buy our water bottled….I don’t know if there’s any truth to that, but it sounds plausable…..
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I’ve never gotten anything larger than a 16oz at any fast food place, just get a refill if needed. What bothers me at drive thru’s is how they fill the container half or more with Ice!
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I think this is a good starting point.
Now we need our elected officials to ban Supersized Govt and Supersized deficits.
or in laymans terms…. DO WHAT WE SENT YOU THERE TO DO!!!!
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One real question…..Does anyone think this will actually help anyone lose even one pound? I wonder if there were any studies to support the idea that by cutting down on cup sizes would actually do anything for those over weight in the long run? It would be interesting to see if in a year from now they did a study to see what if any effect this ban had. My guess is none at all….You know when it comes to picking your battles….I don’t think this was a very smart pick
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What I mean is that on a personal bases a person cutting down on sugar soda would indeed help, but would this law in general actually do anything at all since those who want more will just get more….
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I can’t believe people still waste money on the food and drinks at movie theaters. Why do you think us women carry such large purses?
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