The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine(PCRM), in a laudable and smart effort to help encourage legislation that will/might actually get junk food out of schools and usher in a new era of nutritious food (God help us all! Is it possible, what with the bribes junk food corps give county school systems? ... Oh, there she goes again!), placed huge posters in Union Station in D.C. with poster children saying:
PRESIDENT OBAMA'S DAUGHTERS GET HEALTHY SCHOOL LUNCHES. WHY DON'T I?
Good question? Are healthy school lunches only for the elite in wealthy prep schools while mainstream kids are lured more and more into unchecked obesity?
I hope not. Regardless, no sooner did the posters go up than Neal Barnard, President of PCRM, was contacted by White House attorneys Karen Dunn (Associate Counsel) and Ian Bassin (Deputy Associate) who wanted Barnard to remove the posters because the "president's children are off limits." Now, this does smell like an effort by White House subordinates to curry favor by drumming up a non-issue and playing crusader rabbit to impress Barrack and Michelle.
Is that so Karen? Ian? Or are you under orders from Michelle? ... And by the way, do you support the Bill of Rights?
Nevertheless, Karen Dunn and Ian Bassin are employees of Obama and therefore Obama is answerable for their actions, and right now his employees are acting very much like the lackeys of any dictator, such as Castro e.g., who do not wish to be criticized or look unfavorable in any manner that can be avoided or negated via the use of force, i.e., if White House legal muscle can intimidate Neal Barnard into removing the offending speech, so much the better. And besides, how dare this Barnard practice free speech and reveal that Obama's daughters get elite treatment and that most of American children do not! But wait, I thought the Obamas were democrats ... uhhhhhh.
No doubt the heat on Barnard will increase, but I sincerely applaud his efforts to resist the White House pressure despite various wags predicting hateful retaliation by Obama (see original Post article in paper).
If Neal Barnard is pissing off the Obama White House, I could not be happier. And I have a message for all White House employees: your boss is slowly murdering your country, in a manner as reckless and sociopathic as George Bush Jr. Why participate in the wreck of your nation?
God speed.
