The even newer Food Pyramid, no, Food Plate

Or, in the words of one commenter, let's call it a Boondoggle Pizza. 

Let me explain.....

I grew up looking at this pyramid on the back of my cereal boxes:

This dietary triangle was originally developed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, at the behest of producers of wheat, bread, cereal, and rice.  Note that the government recommended between 6 and 11 servings of wheat, bread, cereal, and rice.  Funny how that works. 
If you followed the government's dietary advice, you got fat enough to have your own planets and gravitational system.  Go here to read an earlier rant about the battles fought between Dr. Robert Atkins and the USDA.  It features this glorious Atkins quote about the cause of American obesity:

There is no doubt in my mind that this increase in refined carbohydrates has been spurred by the media attention given to The Food Guide Pyramid, created by the U.S. Department Of Agriculture, which made 6-11 servings of wheat derivatives the basis of the pyramid. I believe that the Food Guide Pyramid's recommendations have directly contributed to the twin epidemics of diabetes and obesity we now face in this country.

(The food combinations that were recommended by the U.S.D.A.) are bad for your health, bad for your energy level, bad for your mental state, bad for your figure. Bad for your career prospects, bad for your sex life, bad for your digestion, bad for your blood chemistry, bad for your heart. What I'm saying is that they are bad.

Well said, Dr. Atkins.  Well said.  It was bad, bad, bad. 
Shortly thereafter, the USDA came up with a new food pyramid that looked like this:

This set of dietary guidelines didn't last very long, mostly because the illustration didn't make a lick of sense. 
The government obviously wanted to retain the "pyramid" concept, since they didn't want to back-pedal and admit killing so many Americans, but they needed something so vague that it would kill fewer people but still allow them to spend a lot of money on their pyramid scheme. 

(You'll have to trust me that this is what it looked like.  They've since scrubbed the site.)

Some of the accompanying propaganda still advocated a ridiculous amount of carbohydrates, but the percentage lowered considerably. 

For a couple of years, the USDA didn't stack any more food into triangles.
 
And then came....THE FOOD PLATE !!!

Yes, we now have a USDA Food Plate.  The pyramid has been leveled. 

Here's Ed Morrisey on the new place-setting:

Wow, what a breakthrough! And if the food pyramid had any relevance to diet selection for Americans, it might even have been worth the two million dollars the USDA spent just to design the logo.  Yes, that’s right, it cost taxpayers $2 million for someone to draw a circle, cut it into four quadrants, and then attach labels like FRUITS and VEGETABLES.  The $2 million didn’t just go into the logo design, though.  According to the New York Times, they spent part of that money doing focus-group testing on circles with two lines, and on a Web site, too — as if millions of people will thunder to it to plan their dinners.

And it's still waaaaaay heavy on the fruits and carbohydrates, but we have the Florida and Iowa primaries to consider. 
You would think that the simple matter of what to eat would be (ahem) "Settled Science" by now. 

They spent two million dollars designing a chart that looks like it was lifted from a Powerpoint slide. 
Two million dollars. 

Go here to read the USDA's bullshit about Climate Change. 

What if they went on strike...

....and nobody knew? 

Hey, it works for Westboro Baptist Church !!!

Stay classy, folks !!

Go here for details. 

Won't someone please raise my taxes?

There are several ways to become a millionaire. 
For the sake of this discussion, let's rule out winning lotteries or playing slots in Vegas. 

All of the other methods have one thing in common.  In order to become a millionaire, you have to shelter your money from the government. 

Here is a video put out by a group of "patriotic" millionaires.  Now that they've made their pile, they're asking to have their taxes raised. 



There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that the overwhelming majority of these folks employ tax specialists who work very, very hard to keep these pampered puppies from paying no more taxes than absolutely necessary. 

This mindset is something I call "Pull up the ladder - I'm doing all right". 

There are people all over the U.S. who wouldn't mind becoming millionaires.  I wouldn't mind it a bit.  But if these characters are succesful in getting my taxes raised, my chances (slim to begin with) are lessened. 

Anyone who wants to waste his money by throwing it into the gaping maw of the beast can go here to make a donation.  Despite all these people whining, they've only gotten something like 5 million in contributions to the IRS in the last few years. 

Remember, every cent you give to Uncle Sam is a cent taken away from a worthwhile purchase. 

Which of King Herod's programs would Jesus cut ???

"I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me... ... "And the King will say, 'I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!'"  - Matthew 25:36

From The Orlando Sentinel:

Members of Orlando Food Not Bombs were arrested Wednesday when police said they violated a city ordinance by feeding the homeless in Lake Eola Park.


....The penalty for violating Orlando's ordinance is 60 days in jail, a $500 fine or both.

Arrest documents state that Orlando Food Not Bombs received permits and fed more than 25 homeless people at Lake Eola Park on May 18 and 23. Coleman said the group rejected the permits.

From the Belief Blog:

A coalition of progressive Christian leaders has taken out a full-page ad that asks “What would Jesus cut?” in Monday’s edition of Politico, the opening salvo in what the leaders say will be a broader campaign to prevent cuts for the poor and international aid programs amid the budget battle raging in Washington.

What would Jesus cut?  As in, which of King Herod's or Caesar's programs would Jesus really get behind and lobby for and which ones would he campaign against?

Give me a freakin' break.   

The first King Herod (who supposedly murdered tens of thousands of Jewish babies) and Caesar (who had almost as many troops in the field as Obama) had different priorities than Jesus.  Herod and Caesar still have different priorities from the Jesus painted in our surviving gospels. 

When person A takes stuff by force from person B to give it to person C, it doesn't mean person A is a good person.  It usually means person A is simply a Statist thief. 
Person B isn't improved by the process either. 

Herod and Caesar hate, hate, hate competitors.  They don't want anyone else to deliver mail, defend property, maintain privacy, teach children, start a new currency, or in the case above, care for the homeless and hungry. 

"Give unto Caesar that which is Caesar's.  And then give him everything else.  For Caesar is freakin' awesome."  - Luke 20:25

********************

Thanks to Stephen Gordon on Facebook for the link to the Orlando Sentinel article.

I hope to do a YouTube video of this sometime soon.  Here's a song I wrote called "Let's Get Caesar Involved". 

"Jesus taught the multitudes one day in Galilee,
Must have been five thousand, and they all got hungry....
Disciples came to Jesus, and said "Get those people fed.
Jesus turned toward heaven, and this is what he said:

(bass) And he said

Let's get Caesar involved !
Caesar will get your problem solved. 
Go away and let me relax, that's why I pay all that tax,
You need to get Caesar involved. 

Three men saw a traveller that thieves had robbed and beat.
Two men were too busy, but one man stopped to speak
"Buddy that looks painful, yeah sometimes life's a bitch. 
Samaritans no longer pull your ass out of the ditch.

(bass) They just say...

Let's get Caesar involved !
He will get the problem solved.
I used to go the second mile, but in your case I think that I'll
Just try to get Caesar involved.

A wedding feast in Cana had just run out of wine,
One man said to Jesus, make us some moonshine...
But Jesus had no permits, nor a license to distill,
So he said I can't help you, but I know one who will

(bass) And he said

Let's get Caesar involved !
Government will get the problem solved. 
Give to Caesar what is his, next you'll give him all their is,
So let's get Caesar involved.

So if you're on life's highway, burdened with sin and shame,
Just call on Big Brother, just call out his name....
Don't call out for your neighbor, or friends and family,
They will just refer you to Washington, D.C.,

(bass) And they'll say

Let's get Caesar involved !
He will get the problem solved. 
If you find that you can't cope, call on Mr. Change and Hope....
That you can get Caesar involved.

(Repeat chorus forever and ever, praising Caesar and thanking him for his great and glorious works.) 

Certitude

From the website of Rep. Anthony Weiner....

“Sadly, the Internet is the predator's venue of choice today.  We need to update our strategies and our laws to stop these offenders who are a mere click away....”

IMAO, the texts and sexts and crotch shots that Anthony Weiner sent to various young ladies are nobody's business but his and the young ladies' and Mrs. Weiner's.

But for this Nanny State Buffoon to call for another 50 pounds of internet regulation and ultra-wholesome Big Brotherism while trolling Twitter for _____  ______??  That's unforgivable.  (I've deleted two different alliterative words in those blanks.) 

Anthony Weiner will probably be forced to resign by July, at which point he'll go to work lobbying his friends in Congress for more regulation, more laws, and more handouts.  I can't say this with certitude, but now that he's been taken down several notches, he would probably do less harm as a Congressman than as a lobbyist. 

Can you not control your employees???

When I was interviewing for my first supervisor job, I asked the Operations Manager why some managers weren't succesful.  He didn't even pause to think about his answer. 

He said "Lack of control and lack of involvement." 

A few years later (because of a lack of enforcement of policies and procedures on my part !) I found myself interviewing for another job with another company.  I asked the Ops Manager why some managers weren't succesful. 

He said "Inability to control employees, and not caring." 

That's another way of saying "Lack of control and lack of involvement." 

Speaking of inadequate management, the founders of our country were the first to believe that a government should work for the people, and not vice-versa.  Our government only has authority because we allow it to have that authority.  It's called "government by the consent of the governed".  In other words, Barack Obama, John Boehner, the infamous "chair nazi" at Fort Worth's McCart Street Department of Motor Vehicles, the highway patrolman, David Petraeus, the person who teaches your 4th-grader, and Anthony Weiner all work for....YOU. 

Because of the actions and poor decisions of your employees (if you are a taxpayer) you are $129,000 in debt.  That's your share of the total. 

If you hired a lawn service that purchased a $50,000 mower, a $50,000 weed-eater, and contracted for $29,000 in employees and then sent you the bill, you would fire them.  You would go to court to have them stop spending in your name.  You wouldn't ask how much their purchases were helping the economy, you wouldn't stop to wonder if you were throwing their grandmothers off a cliff, and you wouldn't care how much your decision to fire them impacted the situation in the Middle East. 

You would fire them. 

But you continue to stick with Republican and Democrat employees, don't you? 

They're horrible.  Total miserable failures. 

What's your excuse?  Lack of involvement?  (You think the problem will just magically go away) Or lack of control?  (You just can't bring yourself to tell the crack whores running around with your credit cards that you're cutting them off.) 

The Libertarian Party awaits. 

Well, THAT shut 'em up !!

Go here.  See comments.