More nanny state BS - as if seeing a calorie number is going to make a difference. geez why can't the gov just let the restaurants decide?

wouldn't it be a "nanny *state*" if the state prohibited local governments from putting in ordinances as the local people wanted?

Locals should be able to do anything they want as long as it doesn't violate the constitution.

Let's pass a bill making all Tennessee Governors account for every dollar, free meal, banquets by the Liquor Industry, his amount of body fat, where and what he eats and drinks. Let's add Jimmy Naifeh's records as well since he runs the Governor.

That would be certainly more helpful (and interesting) than calorie counts on menus.

How about it Phil and Jimmy? I'm sure that Tennesseans need this vital information. And if you don't release this information, you get fined as you would fine those who refuse your Nanny-State calorie counts on menus.

Nah,I dont't think that Twiddle Dee and Twiddle Dumb (you decided which is which)would go for that. But they sure take pleasure in more regulations for working Tennesseans that "eat" away at your freedoms and wallet.

Obesity is the number 1 cause of morbidity and mortality in the U.S. and a major cause of rising insurance costs.

The definition of obesity is somewhat arbitrary, and there is data to show that we may have set the BMI cut off too high and that even lower weights are more appropriate.

I doubt that a move to publish calories alone will be enough to stem the tide of ever increasing obesity in the US. But there is data to show that publishing this data leads to the intake of fewer calories.

In 2007 Tennessee was second only to Mississipi as the fattest state in the Union. Nearly 30% of us are obese.

See http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/trends.h...

This is a relatively inexpensive idea that can be very eye opening to people who would not otherwise know that their salad has many more calories than the taco platter.

For those who would actually make decisions based on that information, it's already freely available. A number of places do post the data. We don't need more laws. I find it difficult to believe somebody wouldn't know eating 2 big macs and fries isn't good for them.

Tennessee just moved into the big-b*tt arena with greater than 30% obesity, along with Ala, Miss and WV. This is not a highly coveted position to be in and any tools that can be made available to individuals to reduce this ridiculous position would be a help.

For the vast majority the tool they need to use most is self discipline.

Now I Know this is a big stretch for those who want the calorie counts, but here's what we learned in times past. SShhhh, because we wouldn't want this secret to get out as it might catch on.

WE EDUCATED OURSELVES about the world. That include the foods we ate and what we drank.

Incredible as it may seem to the Nannyites in this plague they call life (but they can fix it given your assets), we actually learned how to do stuff.That required getting off our butts.

We were taught to think for ourselves. Encouraged to dream but as the honored Henry David Thoreau said "If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.

We learned that foundations make dreams work. Now dreams have become Nannyite commands for foundations with our own blood, sweat, tears and pains.

We read and went to libraries (open at least six days a week). Of course we didn't have Rocky the Rotten Recycling Raccoon project at a price over $100,000.00 that appeared to be a poor imitation of something furry instead of library materials and librarians, nor major crime rates so often denied by a Chattanooga Police Department hierarchy full of incompetence that make characters such Toody and Muldoon qualified for Chief of Police in Chattanoooga.

No, our cities and towns held that libraries were important as repositories of knowledge, life, and history.We were taught not what to think, but how to think. That requires self responsibility. Children today are not taught how to think for themselves; rather it's a group-think.

In the reverse and perverse world of the Nannyites (and most are true believers) everyone needs help and guidance and the Nannyites need everybody's money, wealth, and any assets available to make their dream of providing that help and guidance a true reality.

Fantasyland for sure, but Nannyites have been taught that for twenty five years at least in Chattanooga - For over forty years in other school areas.

A poor school in the blue collar/working class of 50 years ago would be a blessing in education today.We actually could learn in those days. No disciplinarian problems, parents were concerned about their kids and not just in making them and spitting them out as rag dolls,and the Federal Government was out of the picture.

Good days, gone to long, but with the rejections of Nannyism, we do take a step for an era of wisdom and self responsibility.

Nope, don't want your Nannyism. Save it for yourself. You are obviously in need of help and self responsibility, but don't count on me to provide it. You laid your eggs. Keep your butts on your eggs, but don't be looking at mine.
I know your game.

Harry Statel

Harry, you seem terribly threatened by this idea.

I have to wonder why.

There was a lot of sound and fury in your last post, but exactly how is it bad to put this data on the menu?

It's another attempt to pass laws that are:
1.Unconstitutional
2.Concern matters that are NOT the responsibility of the Government(read local,State and Federal regulations).
3.Involve personal decisions of an individual's life and pursuit(not a guarantee)of their own choice of happiness.

If a diabetic eats five pounds of chocolate, if a smoker decides to smoke five packs a day, if obese people decide to eat lard out of the bucket,if a dieter decides to eat alfalfa sprouts on zwieback for his every meal, what business is it of mine to enforce regulations and legal proceedings on others?

This is not a small issue as you think it is. Bureaucrats,government lackeys,and Regulatory Agencies add another stone on the prone bodies of free men and women.

And too many people (Nannyites) say "Please Sir, May I have another stone on my chest? And Please Sir, have that man standing up, minding his own business, knocked to the ground and place stones on him too. Please Sir, it's scary to see a free person who refuses to lay down and won't allow their bodies to be crushed by stones. We must all bear the weight of any stone because we know best."

Voluntarily placing calorie counts on a menu by an owner of a restaurant is fine, but it's his choice.

I'm tired of the Bredesons, Naifehs, Littlefields,Obamaites,Bushes,Clintons,Reganites,Carterites,Nixonites and most of all the Lyndon Johnsonites who took a slow-moving government cannon ball of illegal, immoral laws, and BS regulations and today fire that cannon ball at light-speed into anyone who's not a member of the Nannyite Club for the scared and nervous, who always believe that "just one more law and Utopia is here. Never mind what you want, Nannyites know best."

"Now Sir, where would you like your stones placed"(you really don't have a choice, but Nannyites want you to think you do). The Nannyites don't want you dead, just alive enough to keep you working and paying for Nannyland.

That's the reason for my fury. I'm sick of Nannyites, and this is another stone to add to my back.

But I'll stand up and throw them until the back of your head is bleeding.
Then the Nannyites will call for stone registration, require you to get a license to possess stones, and have Law Enforcement search for those stones and arrest you without the proper stone papers.

Of course, most Nannyites don't have any stones, either those made of rock or flesh.History is replete with Nannyites. Thank God on the 4th of July in 1776, free people with very big stones ignored their British Masters. So Nannyites beware of people with big stones and who aren't afraid of your undescended ones.

Nannyites be afraid, not for your free speech, that's a Constitutional guarantee, but some will fight back at your stupid laws and regulations that make you believe you have a right to inflict your opinions of Utopia with Government force at free people with free thoughts. Go away or face the consequences of your actions.