response to a letter to the editor - re: “No Such Thing as Federal Money”

This column is in response to a letter to the editor (Bottom of this page as well) regarding the 12 NOV column “No Such Thing as Federal Money”

Dear Mr. Kevin Jaudon,

Thank you for reading my first column in the Upson Beacon - it is great to get feedback this quickly.  Let me first say that I think you are right to praise those who choose to teach.  As they say, “If you can read this, thank a teacher. If you’re reading this in English, thank a soldier.”  I am going to use this week’s column to take your challenge to “EDUCATE NOT INTIMIDATE.”   (I must admit however, that I did find your use of all caps a bit intimidating.) 

In your letter, you stated that I “infer the free lunch program is a waste of money.”  In the spirit of educate not intimidate – I offer this from vocabulary.com:  “Imply and infer are opposites, like a throw and a catch. The writer does the implying, and the reader does the inferring.” Your slip may well have been Freudian. 

You may have “inferred” that I “implied” it is a waste of money, but that would be to miss what I plainly said.  The point that I was making is that the federal government has no money, except that which it confiscates from the taxpayer.   The other point was, somebody has to pay for the lunches – that was also the point made by the general – “the immutable economic fact” that there are no free lunches.  Somebody has to pay. 

What one might infer (or deduce) from the column is that the real tragedy is the misguided thinking that there can be “free lunches.” This is the same thinking that has led our country to a $17 Trillion national debt and continues to drive our economy into the ground. 

Furthermore, I did not mention “children would not eat grilled chicken without condiments” as you suggest.  If you reread the article, you will see that it was in fact a direct quote from Julia Bauscher, director of nutrition services for Louisville’s public schools and president of the national School Nutrition Association (SNA).  The quotation marks clearly indicate it was her saying, “… I can’t serve condiments with it. How many kids are going to eat grilled chicken with absolutely nothing on it?”

You go on to say that I mention “Michele Obama and her children despairingly as if she was a paid Federal employee.”  (I think you actually meant “disparagingly.”)  I only stated the fact that Michelle Obama started the Let’s Move initiative that resulted in the nutritional standards that prevent condiments from accompanying chicken sandwiches because of calorie limitations (see above).  If it was unclear why I included the quote about what the Obama kids menu choices are at their $36,000 a year school, please allow me to try again.  What I was seeking to demonstrate is the absolute hypocrisy of the Obama kids getting to eat whatever they want, but the parents of those same Obama children, dictating by the withholding of the taxpayers (or “federal” if you prefer) money, what other parents’ children may eat if their public schools don’t comply with governmental standards.

Moreover, I never said anything about denying anyone a free meal, your stating it as a “fact” notwithstanding.  What I do deny is that there is any such thing as a free meal (again, the point of the column).  The other irony not pointed out, but potentially worth mentioning, is that since the same President that is limiting the calories of school lunches took office, the child poverty rate has only increased.  My desire would not be to deny anyone a “free” lunch – my desire would be to stop the destructive policies and mindset that make “free” lunches necessary.

Kevin – I’m not even trying to deny the “hungry” kids condiments let alone a “free” lunch.  In what might be described as the ultimate irony or perhaps insanity is a better description -- it is Michelle and Barack Obama’s lunch program that is denying the kids condiments!  And why are they doing that you ask, because she says those same kids that you say are hungry, she says are obese.   I won’t touch that one, but I will say our bloated government needs to trim down.

It is easy for politicians to be generous with the taxpayers’ money, especially if it can buy them votes. Why not just give free meals and free housing and free healthcare to everyone all the time?  Why limit it to just breakfast and lunch?  Maybe Margaret Thatcher was on to something when she pointed out, “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money.”  In case you prefer to hear from one of our Founding Fathers, “A government big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take away everything you have.”  (Thomas Jefferson) 

It will be difficult to teach our kids the meaning of liberty and freedom when their government dictates what they’re allowed to eat. I do not doubt that children all across this nation are important – that is why my rhetorical question might be, “What do we teach kids when we give things to them without making them work for those things?”

Not sure why you brought it up, but so you don’t have to “wonder” any longer about my “being in the Officer’s mess” -  during my time as an enlisted infantryman, I never recall the officers not being with us (their men) when we were in the field – admittedly, they didn’t have to pull KP like we did.  As an officer, I never ate before my Soldiers had eaten.  In terms of being hungry, I lost about 42 pounds in Ranger school, and you are right – I happily ate everything I could get my hands on, even without Grey Poupon.  As to fine china and silverware, I’ve only seen that in the US Navy (when I was in the 75^th Ranger Regiment, we were embarked on the USS America for the Haiti invasion.)  In terms of swatting sand fleas, insects don’t seem to care about rank, at least the tick that gave me Rocky Mountain spotted fever didn’t.

Regarding my Christian faith, I’ll demonstrate that by not responding to your attacks on my character and theological doctrine.   But being Thanksgiving, I will share a portion of what President George Washington proclaimed on October 3, 1789, in his Proclamation of a National Day of Thanksgiving:  “Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the Providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor…”   I can’t help but wonder if that same God the General spoke of had not been expelled from our government schools a generation ago, that we wouldn’t have far fewer of the societal problems that necessitate the “need” for a “free” lunch program.  Stay tuned to future columns for how the faith of the founders informs my world view.

Finally, thank you Kevin for your promise to pray for me.  I am sorry that my thoughts on economic truths and the problems inherent in big government upset you so much.  I’d love to meet sometime so we can swap war stories and discuss this further – lunch is on me.

 Robert Young’s regular column will return next week.

This response to a Letter to the Editor was published in the 3 DEC 2014 Upson Beacon.

Letter to the Editor:Arrogance is ignorance matured

                Shame on you Col. Young! Your letter to the Upson County Beacon Published Nov. 12, 2014 infers that the Free Lunch and Breakfast Program at Upson County Schools is somehow a waste of money. The Thomaston-Upson School District and its teachers should be applauded and receive the highest awards and accolades available.

                There are children in the district who receive a meal on Friday and will not eat again until Monday. The fact that you would deny anyone of them a free meal makes me question your Christian ethics and values, if in fact you are a true Christian. The future and the most important asset, in this County and across this nation, are all these children attending school.

                You mention that children would not eat grilled chicken without condiments. Hungry

children do not require Grey Poupon. Your comments about lack of condiments make me

wonder if you were in the Officer's mess, dining with fine china and silverware, while enlisted

troops were swatting sand spiders and eating Chicken ala King MREs.

                There is no mention of whether or not you have children attending public school or

elsewhere. Every school district adjacent to any military installation receives compensation for

every dependent child. Many bases have their own schools which are well funded by the

Department of Defense.

                Your concern seems to be focused more on the diet of the Obama children rather than

local children. You mention Michele Obama and her children despairingly as if she was a paid

Federal employee. She volunteers her time and isn't some overpaid contract consultant

representing KRB, or whatever name Halliburton goes by these days.

                Do you really think the President's children could attend public school?

                You should be ashamed. I will pray for you.

                EDUCATE NOT INTIMIDATE.

                -Kevin Jaudon

 

Most of Upson County Got It Right

Most of Upson County got it right.   In the recent, 4 November general election, over 52% of the 13,879 registered voters in Upson County voted.  Of those who voted, 4,636, or over 66% did not vote for Michelle Nunn.  Two-thirds said no to Nunn.  

Was it because she was portrayed to be aligned with Barack Obama?  Was it because of what her party stands for?  Was it because of what she says she believes?

On the issue of abortion, Nunn said that she believes abortions should be "safe, legal and rare and that women should be ultimately able to make this very difficult personal decision in concert with their doctor and their family."

On gay marriage: Nunn said she agreed with the U.S. Supreme Court decision that left the definition of marriage to the individual states. "I also believe that marriage is not only a legal construct, but a sacrament, and every religious institution has to be able to define it for themselves," she said. But on a personal level, Nunn said she favors homosexual marriage. 

Was it because she said, “I support the Common Core.  It is a set of standards, not a curriculum, and these standards are research-based benchmarks that we can use to measure how well our students are prepared in math and English.”?  Was it because she said she believed that human activity is a major factor contributing to climate change?  

Maybe it was Benghazi, Fast and Furious, the NSA spying on Americans, the IRS targeting conservative groups and then losing the emails, or the Veteran’s Administration healthcare scandal and cover-up that cost her the election in Upson County.  Was it because we traded five terrorists for a deserter?  Maybe it was the fiasco in Syria and Iraq.  Perhaps it was because we have alienated Israel, our closest ally in the Middle East.  Maybe it is because our national debt is $17 Trillion dollars or because Putin’s Russia is running roughshod over Europe.  Maybe it is because Iran is running unabated towards nuclear armament while we stand impotent.  Maybe it’s because the Keystone pipeline is uncompleted.  Maybe it is because under Obamacare, in spite of promises to the contrary, so many could not keep their insurance or their doctor.  Maybe it was all the money wasted on Solyndra and other green energy boondoggles.

The last six years of Democratic rule has left us weaker on the world’s stage, militarily, economically, morally, and by just about every other measurement.  The last six years has produced more racial and ethnic division in our nation.  The last six years has reduced the standard of living for most Americans and has created chaos at our borders.  

Given the above, I’m not exactly sure why over two-thirds of the voters of Upson County’s voters did not vote for Michelle Nunn, but I’m sure glad they didn’t.  

 This article was published in The Upson Beacon on 19 NOV 2014.

No Such Thing as "Federal Money"

      I read an article the other day about how school districts were turning down “federal” money rather than complying with the new school lunch requirements Michelle Obama had helped to establish.  I hope that what alarmed me alarmed you as well.  Specifically, the adjective used to modify the noun “money”.   My concern is not grammatical.  

     According to an August 21, 2014 Bloomberg Businessweek article, “The National School Lunch Program, which is run by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service, reimburses public schools 30¢ for each paid lunch and $3 for each free one. To get the money, schools must abide by the government’s new limits on calories (750 to 850 for high schools, roughly the amount in a deli sandwich and a bag of chips); saturated fat (less than 10 percent of total calories, so there go the chips); and, starting this year, sodium (1,420 milligrams, reduced to 740 mg by 2022—or about a dill pickle’s worth).”

     The Businessweek article goes on to state, “When the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act was passed in 2010 as part of Obama’s Let’s Move! campaign, advocates praised it for attempting to combat childhood obesity. ‘We’ve seen the connection between what our kids eat and how well they perform in school,’ President Obama said when he signed it into law. The USDA set a series of increasingly strict rules to be introduced over 10 years, starting in 2012. ‘I currently have one lunch entree that meets the a la carte requirements: grilled chicken breast on a whole-grain bun,’ says Julia Bauscher, director of nutrition services for Louisville’s public schools and president of the national School Nutrition Association (SNA). ‘But I can’t serve condiments with it. How many kids are going to eat grilled chicken with absolutely nothing on it?’” 

 
     Man, it is getting tough out there – no condiments.  But don’t fret too much.  Not everyone is suffering.  Mr. J. Christian Adams – an election lawyer, who served in the Voting Rights Section at the U.S. Department of Justice, reported on October 28, 2014, “While Michelle Obama’s skimpy school lunch mandates have been widely rejected by students and schools, the elite private school attended by both Obama daughters will be serving chicken wings and potato chips on Wednesday.  Sidwell Friends is the elite private school with a $36,264 tuition per child where President Obama sent his daughters instead of Cardozo high school, a government-run school in Washington, D.C.  After Wednesday’s chicken wings, on Thursday Obama’s daughters can get a Cuban sandwich.  Pasco County Schools in Florida had to eliminate Cuban sandwiches because they violated Michelle Obama’s lunch standards.”  I’ll bet they get condiments too.

  It seems nowadays if you want free money you have to rough it.  There used to be an old saying, “There is no such thing as a free lunch.”   Back in 1950, a New York Times columnist attributed that maxim to economist Leonard P. Ayres, who also happened to be an army general.   Sometime shortly before General Ayres died in 1946, a group of reporters approached the general with the request that he give them one of several immutable economic truisms he had garnered from his lifetime of economic study... “It is an immutable economic fact, that there is no such thing as a free lunch” the General told them.

In an August 1, 2014 letter from the Upson County School Nutrition Director we were informed that the Thomaston-Upson School District would be implementing a new option under the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs called the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) for the 2014-2015 school year.  The letter went on to say, “Great news for you and your students! All enrolled students are eligible to receive a healthy breakfast and lunch at school at no charge to your household each day of the 2014-2015 school year….Your child(ren) will be able to participate in these meal programs without having to pay a fee or submit an application.  We encourage all students to eat breakfast and lunch at school.” 

Well I guess the General had never been to Thomaston (or thousands of other American locales), because not only is there a free lunch, but there’s a free breakfast too. There is only one little problem with this scheme – there is no such thing as “federal” money. 
 

It is time for local, state, and federal government officials to stop treating taxpayer’s money like it belongs to them. 

The column above was originally published 12 NOV 2014 in The Upson Beacon .

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-08-21/school-districts-avoid-nutrition-rules-by-shunning-federal-funds