that will close all the restaurants

Oh its on now!

That's fucking ridiculous in about 1,000 ways, and a waste of time and resources that could at least be marginally effective spent on education.

If Mississippi lawmakers are hell-bent of testing their mettle, they should be looking a lot harder about what's really the cause of this - the proliferation of unhealthy food chains is just a symptom.

You wanna tackle big industry? Start with the fucking corn lobby.

Isn't something like 75% of Mississippi obese by government standards? How would any restaurants stay open? Not that this crazy shit will ever, ever pass anyway, of course, but ...

That is like kicking the homeless out of parks . They move somewhere else. Like to the 7-11 to stock up on chips and big gulps. They should be arresting the parents who overfed and instilled these values in their kids a long time ago. Yes, I am aware that you can't blame the parents entirely-but isolating the root of the problem is much more plausible than this bill.

I'm really surprised that Sumo Wrestling isn't popular in the US.

I've been discussing this with people all weekend - it's a creative approach to the problem, but it's too much of a blanket strategy. Some thoughts:

1. If an obese person chooses to eat out at a healthy-food or veg/vegan restaurant, why not let 'em? If they're making a better dietary choice by choosing tofu over cheeseburgers, why punish them for it? This bill seems to be targeted at those TGI Friday's/Applebees/every-menu-item-involves-the-deep-fryer establishments, but of course it would be difficult to single out just those types of restaurants.

2. So, the morbidly obese McDonalds manager would be able to tell obese customers they can't eat there? That is just retardedly silly. I guess the backlash would be a slew of fatties applying at fast food joints, so they could actually eat the food (employee benefits?).

This is just really amusing to me...I kind of hope it passes just to see what happens.

So will patrons be required to weigh in before being served?

Even if she's right with this one, the Junkfood Science website is quite awful. Typical right-wing food-related bullshit.

This is fucking ridiculous, regardless of whether or not you think obese people make more excuses for their obesity than they take action to fix it.

This isn't going to solve jack-fuckin'-shit. It's inhumane and humiliating.

Is this one of those laws that people propose to show how dumb other laws are? I hope so, because if not . . . just woah.

There's nothing wrong with redefining "all-you-can eat", especially when that statement sounds like a challenge to a large percentage of people.

even health food restaurants (if there are any in mississippi)? serving reasonably sized portions? what are the obese supposed to eat? nothing? there is no end to the obvious problems with this proposed law, any 12 year old could think them up. so, who's the idiot behind this, or is this a hoax?

answered my own question: rep. mayhall.

Not surprising that legislation this stupid is coming from Mississippi.

Wouldn't this give an unfair advantage to the anorexic and bulimic? Or would this nanny-state pass a separate law for them?

About time.

If we can't all be super-models, we can sure starve like them!

Bat shit crazy? YES. But come on, think of the entertainment value of watching fat people being turned away from restaurants.

I's pay for tickets to watch it. Hell, it should be a new reality TV show!!

HA! Next step: concentration camps!

Well that hardly seems fair.

If you're going to be a fascist state, why not be fascist and helpful at the same time. I mean, Mussolini and the timely trains, right?

Just forbid state-mandated overweight people from ordering certain items on the menu. Mississippi Mud Pie: $4.95 - not available for those with BMIs over 30!

Fatty's Delight: $6.95 - fresh fruit tossed with a lemon vinegarette

Please don't embarrass yourself or our wait staff by ordering those items forbidden the obese. You will NOT be served and you will be asked to leave! In compliance with Mississippi State Law OU812.

I'm fat and when I read this I couldn't stop laughing. This is the dumbest thing I've ever heard. I can't wait for the fativists to bring up Jim Crow and Separate-But-Equal.

I hate stories like this because it's alwasys 1 or 2 crackpot legislators who introduce a bill, and then it gets picked up by the AP as "Oh, look what those loons in ______ are doing!" This will never get passed.

@18 That would work. You enver see photos of obese prisoners at concentration camps. Though a simple Arbeitslager here or there would be more effective. Arbeit macht mager!

Mississippi trollin'

@7 - Logical arguments, both of them, but this law is so retarded that logical arguments are not needed.

What I wonder is, how is the person who introduced the bill going to get re-elected if there are so many obese people in MS?

Submitting legislation is no where near the same as adopting said legislation. The former is matter of a rep filing some paper work, the latter is newsworthy.

I wonder if this applies to school cafeterias.

I also wonder how many kids in Mississippi qualify for the Fed's free/reduced lunch program.

Would this mean the fat kids can't be served their free/reduced lunches? Or that the fat kids who can afford to buy a lunch can't, while the poor fat kids chow down?

Feds vs State, film at 11.

Either this is a way for the opposite party to highlight how stupid the sponsoring party is or it's a "make a point" bill. I'm not interested enough to actually read the article, but no one can possibly be serious about actually passing this bill.

@17: That was my first thought too... I saw this fatty throw a temper tantrum in the lobby of at my eye doctor's office last week because (from what I gathered) she was asked if she had diabetes. It was one of the funniest (and jiggliest) adult tantrums I've ever seen.

But the laugh factor probably isn't a good reason to pass a law like this. Let's just make them uninsurable, that way the tax payers won't be footing the bill for their "glanular problem".

I wonder when they'll start passing out the peach-colored stars for the obese people to sew onto their clothes?

Oops... I meant GLANDULAR!

Oh, fun. The AP has picked this up. The guy who introduced this is 5'11" and weighs 230 and admits he might have problems if this passed.

Plugging that into a handy BMI calculator, he's a BMI of 32.1 - which fits the current standard of "obese" as BMI > 30 (set in 1998). Under the prior standard "obese" required a BMI of 35.

Obviously unconstitutional.

@29: Why peach colored?

If we're gonna make 'em sew anything on their mumus I vote that it be a felt cut out of a hamburger.

Although being obese sort of negates the need for identifying markerts such as felt stars or hamburgers since you can see them from outer space.

Never again.

wow, between this legislation and the already existing laws against sex toys, mississippi has some hate going on for the fat and the horny...

maybe we should just turn mississippi into a concentration camp for skinny, white, frigid people and be done with it.

Ummm, is it just me or wouldn't it be more effective, and probably more in line with an actual enforceable law for them to forbid restaurants from selling unhealthy foods???

If its unhealthy, its unhealthy - restrict the unhealthy foods equally across the board. Let folks make Chili Cheese 7 Layer Heart Clog Souffle at home.

Just a thought.

Most people in Missississississippippippi can't read or write; how are they going to interpret these written materials that the State Department of Health is going to distribute? I assume it will be a height and weight table that converts to Body Mass Index. Are they going to weigh people? Make them take off their shoes? What about the many people who will come in right on the cusp of obesity as defined? Who makes that call?

I called earlier for a ban on the discussion of this backwards garbage state. Apparently it wasn't heeded.

"Hi I need some french fries right now please. And hurry?"
"No way, Fatty."
...THUD...
...[coma]...

(Diabetic Fatty was suffering an acute episode of hypoglycemia, a condition rapidly remedied by... eating carbs.*)

*Except in Mississippi.

Just another reason this fat bastard wants Mississippi walled off from the rest of the United States. Take Alabama and Texas with you please. (Louisiana can stay... mmm Jambalaya)

Well, being Missippi, the first day this law goes into effect there will probably be a dozen shootings in McDonalds across the state.

@17

Buy me a ticket!

Oh, fun. The AP has picked this up. The guy who introduced this is 5'11" and weighs 230 and admits he might have problems if this passed.

This should surprise no one. The myth is that most fat people are happy being so. The truth is that most fat people desperately want to be at a healthy weight. I have a lot of pity for this guy's misguided attempts to legislate himself a solution.

It's very early in the process, but I'm having some luck with a low-carb diet where all sorts of other things didn't work for me in the past. Please feel free to take a look at my blog if you care about such things.

@31 - I am exactly the same Height, Weight and BMI. I don't have a gut or a double chin; and I'm considered OBESE? The only thing I sigh at in the mirror is my 1/2" roll around my middle...

Wow - a new era of Jim Crow - this should make the Lunch Counter sit-ins a riot.

I guess this heralds the end of my lunches at the 13$ "All you can eat" sushi at Todai. Must be all those carbs in the 2 cups of white rice I gorge on.

God I love living in the land of the free.

Rereading the language they state: "Certain Types Of Food Establishments"

This isn't a law to protect consumers from themselves, it's a law to help "All you can eat" type restaurants from going out of business.

http://www.bclocalnews.com/bc_north/northernsentinel/opinion/13515942.html

Gotta' think of the economy I guess...

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