300 pound man complains jail dosen't feed him well...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080427/ap_on_fe_st/odd_jail_diet

In todays society, this brings up the question of when 'Big Brother' crosses the line of personal freedoms. Most of us can say with some certaintly that murder is an unacceptable behaviour and society is better off to have rules that can be enforced to prevent such a heinous crime. But do most americans need legislation to control how much they eat? Many would argue 'no'. Yet recently a judge ruled that fast food chains would need to post calorie and nutrition facts on thier menus. This is the first step towards legislating what we do or don't eat, and perhaps the 300 lb man shouldnt be granted his request for more food.

Are we really ready to take that step? Granted, enough laws have been passed due to Amercians lacking the judgement to think rationally - or the government thinknig we lack the judgement or ability to think rationally- ie, making drugs illegal, controling when we can and cannot buy alcohol (in some states you cannot buy alcohol on sundays - can you believe the ridiculousness of it?!).

May as well tell me i cant eat pancakes for dinner...

Should a smack as part of good parental correction be a criminal offence in New Zealand?

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10507015

This news article reports that the 'pro-smacking lobby' failed to gain enough votes to repeal the 'acclaimed' anti-smacking law in New Zealand. Whats amazing to me as an Amercian is that there are laws necessary to prevent smacking. Why is it that enough adults have abused their authority as parents that the government must step in and control us? What kind of parents are there in New Zealand?

As a child, I was threatened with 'the belt'. My parent's parents threatened, and on occasion, beat them. Theres nothing like a good beating to deter bad behavior in children!

Now seriously, if you really do have to beat your kid to keep them in line, they probably deserved it. If you are a parent who needs to be told that you can't beat your kids, then you probably shouldn't be allowed to have kids in the first place. So we need laws to tell us when we can or can't drive a car or drink alcohol or smoke - but we let anybody raise a kid? I think we should drop this legislation all together and just have some sort of qualifier for potential parents - like a drivers test, but for mommies and daddies to be. Oops! Get cought having a kid with no license? Fine! Jail time! Take away that kid until you get licensed. Then we have no need for silly laws like this.