soda tax?

It is no secret that childhood obesity is on the rise and in response to this a excise tax on sugary beverages has been proposed. It would add a few pennies on to sodas that contained less than 70% of fruit juice, and no diet drinks would be effected. The revenue from this would benefit expanding the health care system. The Congressional Budget Office estimated that adding a tax of three cents per 12-ounce serving to these types of sweetened drinks would generate $24 billion over the next four years. Those in favor say the tax would lower soda consumption, reduce health problems and save medical costs. Plus, at least a dozen states already have some type of taxes on sugary beverages.
As expected this tax has many that oppose it, those including lobby groups that represent the big two soda companies, Coca Cola and Pepsi co. They claim that this tax will hurt only those with a low income.
Once a tax such as the soda tax is announced it is hard not wonder what will be taxed next. Cigarette taxes were just added, but why not taxes on companies that use excess amount of trans fats or a tax on alcohol. A tax on things that are unhealthy is understandable especially if the revenue brought in went to benefit health care or education programs to teach children how to be responsible adults. Maybe if the soda was just a few more cents than the healthier fruit juice more people would buy healthier products. I think a big problem with our obesity epidemic is that the food that is bad for you is much cheaper than the food of high quality that is healthier.

and the Oscar goes to....

Is he attempting to re-enact Russell Crowe's performance in "A Beautiful Mind", except instead of brilliant theories, all he manages to comes up with is mis-spelled paranoid garbage?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l92Rldafp_U

H1N1

I was reading an article on Tuesday where Dr. Gupta gives advice to parents regarding the media's coverage of a swine flu outbreak. The media has taken this idea of massive pandemic and blew it out of proportion, especially toward the end of last years flu season. Gupta says, "People were scared, more than I had seen in a long time. And, health care professionals were blaming the media -- accusing them of being alarmist". This is true, the media was giving swine flu a lot of air time, describing the symptoms and claiming that as many as 50% of our population will contract swine flu. Some outlets going as far as to call this the next major pandemic.

Dr. Gupta, in response to all the hype, decided to observe an pediatric emergency room, because children are particularly susceptible. According to Gupta, ER attendance is up almost 2-3x more than normal. My mother, who is the Director of Infection Control at Piedmont Hospital agrees. She has seen ER attendance that is considerably higher than before and the majority of patients are there complaining of flu like symptoms, and claim they have swine flu.
The media loves to comment on the death tolls, symptoms, and projected outcomes of this flu. However, they concentrate on the bad cases ones that involve those with weakened immune systems, like the elderly and infants. Instead of educating, I feel the media has crossed the line, they would much ignite fear in the hearts of the public.

Gupta had some advice for those about swine flu which I found interesting and very true. Basically Swine Flu is the flu, and can be solved by taking a few days to sleep and drink plenty of fluids. If you think you may have Swine flu, call a doctor, don't go to the ER unless, you can't breathe, your fever lasts for longer than 3 days, you can't urinate, or you are sick enough that you would normally go to the ER. Gupta debunked one more myth, "Yes, hearing between 30,000 and 90,000 could die from H1N1 is scary, but keep in mind -- around 40,000 people die from the regular or seasonal flu every year. The numbers may not be that much different, yet there is not panic about the regular flu. As things look now, H1N1 is causing only mild to moderate illness, not the widespread deaths people are worried about".
I am more than pleased with this form of journalism, it is informative yet it does not strike fear in the hearts of millions. This is what good media is all about.