Banning Soda, Lessons from Wisconsin, & Obama the Pot Smoker

"In the same week that NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg was pushing the idea [of banning super-size soft drinks] he also celebrated National Donut Day with the world's largest box of Entenmann's donuts that were the size of manhole covers," says ReasonTV's Nick Gillespie. "And that's OK, but God forbid you get that 17-ounce soda."

Gillespie joins Reason Magazine's Matt Welch and KFI DJ Kennedy for a wide-ranging discussion of the hypocrisy of the proposed soda ban, the real lessons of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's recall victory, and the revelation that our drug-fighting commander-in-chief Barack Obama was once a "puff-puff passer."

About 8 minutes. Shot by Jim Epstein, Meredith Bragg, and Josh Swain, and edited by Epstein.

Go to http://Reason.tv for downloadable versions and subscribe to Reason.tv's YouTube Channel to receive automatic updates when new material goes live.

• Category

  News & Politics

[Drake3209]

Ok at first I really didn't care for Lisa Kennedy Montgomery, but these past two videos were pretty good, she's a good addition to ReasonTV.

[LucisFerre1]

You need to change your phrasing (and possibly your thinking). Sodas don't "cause people to get fat". Chronically consuming a high glycemic index food substance with more calories than one burns will make one fat. Banning bulk sales of a substance WILL NOT make people thinner, just as diet sodas has not made people thinner, diet cookies have not made people thinner. And, believe it or not, seat belts usage has not decreased highway fatalities, per car on the road. "Do-gooder laws" don't work.

[hdl13]

I miss Kennedy on Mtv. I miss music on Mtv too.

[charlesvan13]

That;s what makes the US better than 1. the third world where you'd get kicked out of a hospital for being unable to pay, and 2. asshole socialist countries, where you have trouble getting the treatment because it's rationed.

[charlesvan13]

Most people do pay for their own health insurance.

You do have the option of not buying it. Then if something serious, say you need surgery, you would get 50k in bills. I suppose there are ways to avoid paying bills, but I don't think it's as simple as just deciding not to pay. Of course, if you're poor you're not going to pay it because you can't.

I've always wondered why democrats bitch about that. You can't get kicked out of a hospital for being poor.

[randomxnp]

Grow up. The race card is a childish response.

[indycolts4]

oh please. There should be no doubt in any thinking person's mind that drinking 50 grams of sugar can be anything but unhealthy. Why even bother argue against the detrimental effects of soda and skip straight to the economic side of things.

[Smackchow]

2:10 Silence of the Lambs.

[willsham45]

Oh and make gyms cheaper to free and add free excessive things out in the open public stuff and make the healthier option more continuant and desirable, make riding your bike or walking to work over the car give you something.

[willsham45]

Why not subsidies ingredients to make meals and the healthier options cheaper and easier to get and the pre made and unhealthier stuff harder to get, or hell use the physiological methods used to make people buy more and more profitable products and turn it around to make healthier things more desirable.