The nanny state is alive and well in Sacramento. Some group came out with a study that concluded, with what may be shocking news to some, but not to this blogger — sugar-filled soda pop causes weight gain when consumed regularly!
Is there someone out there that would like to pay me to conduct a study on whether eating chocolate bars regularly will do the same? Probably not.
Oh well, the study having been conducted, it’s results were telegraphed in MSM articles up and down the state, and invariably there will be magazine articles, and the study-authors will probably pen some sort of book on the subject. That’s the ideas marketplace at work — telegraphing information out there so that, in this case, parents can decide the value of it and if or whether they are going to do anything because of it.
That said, I was unimpressed to find out (h/t CapitolAlert) that the California legislature has (I am not making this up) a "Select Committee on Obesity and Diabetes" and that it’s Chairman, Alex Padilla, wants to convene hearings on this startling revelation about the fattening effects consuming sugar-filled drinks.
Sounds like a huge waste of public resources if you ask me.
And, oh, we shouldn’t be too surprised that this obscure committee exists. One of the tools used by the Democrats who run this full-time legislature — to spread around perks such as extra staffers, budgets, and office space — is to anoint Democrats (or Republicans willing to be co-opted to their government-growth agenda) with Chairmanships of Committees. But like with trying to get a popular website URL, once the good ones are taken, you have to get to more obscure ones, such as this one on Obesity and Diabetes.
Anyways, instead of holding hearings on the obvious, the Democrats in Sacramento ought to get in a room and figure out what they are going to do about real problems such as over-regulation, our water crisis, or maybe the fact that our state budget is still bleeding red ink.