Would ban be a good idea?

50 Comments

  • Allen - 12 years ago

    The real reason for banning the larger drinks and the free refills are strictly for revenue generating purposes. You are taxed on the first drink. You want another drink, you pay another tax on that drink. How many calories are there in a supersized drink, maybe 380, depends on the type of drink. A very small portion of the daily recommended count, 2500 for men, 2000 for females.

  • Stanke - 12 years ago

    Surely you morons have better things to do than to dictate what the heck I can drink.. spend a little more time trying to solve the real issues, the important things for a change rather than make others' lives miserable by banning soda refills ffs!!

  • dvrmom - 12 years ago

    I have never known or heard of a successful addiction specialist. There are those who get rich as they watch their patients die. Being smart is not being wise. I will always be on the side of freedom and yes it is a drug and yes it produces a gratifiying drug effect such as....shredded wheat, tractors, medical gloves, hearing aids, periscopes, traffic lights, tow trucks, hydralic brakes, liquid-fuel rockets, sun glasses, radio telescopes, frequency modulation, digital computers, microwaves, and cruise control.......... I'm sorry what did an addiction specialist ever create but a large bank account and an opinion . Which would you rather give up...

  • Commentary - 12 years ago

    I am an addictions specialist and the hysterical rantings about communism on here remind me of an addict's behavior when you take his/her drugs away.

    Plus, Cambridge Mass got voted recently as the smartest city in the country. I dunno...I think I'll let the law fly and see how it turns out with that being the case. Oh wait, I'm being a leftist east coast elitist now. Drat. I forgot that intelligence is partisan.

  • Sigheil - 12 years ago

    Yes, I am a card-carrying communist and I cannot wait to move to Cambridge to be among my people. Fox News tells me exactly what activities I need to know about! Oh Cambridge, Mass, you are so close to communist China with your huge beverage restrictions and no free refills.

    Everyone knows that once society ceases the free unlimited refilling of high caloric, highly processed, completely unnatural soft drinks, secret police raids and shooting people in the streets is the next logical step.

  • Curtis - 12 years ago

    To quote Ben Franklin, "When we use education in place of education, we are doomed as a society." I suppose the two city flags will now have incorporate the Russian Hamme & Sickel into their flags, because these mayor's are basically wanting a to Communist Dictators! I bet they have Fidel on speed dial to help them make the tough decisions. Just b/c you decide you would like things to be a certain way, doesn't mean the people do. Make it a vote & let the majority rule. That's what our country was founded on. These people are elected to administrators not our parents. They are elected to do our will not their own personal agenda.

  • Matt - 12 years ago

    I honestly don't care that huge sugar drinks are banned and free refills doesn't really matter (to me) either. Obesity is an epidemic in this country. We all pay for it. The people who ignore the oceans of nutritional information available to us willingly medicate themselves with big gulps and golden corrals and then waddle to their cars complaining of chest pain--we are paying for their triple bypass surgeries and weeks off of work. And anyone who is blaming Obama for this is laughable. This is coming from 2 mayors, not the freaking president. Americans are such divas, "How dare you suggest I eat healthier!?!?! I'm an American and I can shovel whatever crap I want into my face!!" Hubris and gluttony at its worst.

  • Gm - 12 years ago

    The government isn't telling anyone what to drink or not to drink.
    All they want is that restaurants don't offer it for free.
    Offering it for free makes it harder for people to say 'no' because they get a sense they are losing out.

  • DVRMOM - 12 years ago

    A government controlled by one person, or a small group of people. In this form of government the power rests entirely on the person or group of people, and can be obtained by force or by inheritance. The dictator(s) may also take away much of its peoples' freedom.

    LIKE THE FREEDOM TO HAVE A LG DRINK AND A REFILL AS YOU POUND THE PAVEMENT LOOKING FOR WORK. WHILE THE GOVERNMENT IS WORKING ON PUTTING COMPANIES OUT OF BUSINESS SO THERE IS NO WORK TO BE FOUND.

  • al - 12 years ago

    I'll bet Henrietta is a Democrat.

  • dwright - 12 years ago

    I agree with AM... Why don't these mayors do something productive, like tackle the real beverage monster and do away with alcoholic drinks? I doubt anyone has ever caused a fatal vehicle accident because they had a free refill of soda. Just think of all the heart-ache booze has caused in the history of the world. Government should not be in the business of telling private citizens what they can ingest, unless those items are proven to be a danger to society. If government officials want to regulate sugar intake, contact the beverage industry first.

  • dwright - 12 years ago

    I agree with AM... Why don't these mayorsd do something productive, like tackle the real beverage monster and do away with alcoholic drinks? I doubt anyone has ever caused a fatal vehicle accident because they had a free refill of soda. Just think of all the heart-ache booze has caused in the history of the world. Government should not be in the business of telling private citizens what they can ingest, unless those items are proven to be a danger to society. If government officials want to regulate sugar intake, contact the beverage industry first.

  • AM - 12 years ago

    Why are soda's such and issue... I understand the sugar and health issues so...should they (GOVT) begin limiting the number of glasses of wine, beer or cocktails a person has? What's the difference.
    GOVT needs to back off. Do they want to save money on medicaid bills due to health issues then they need to look at people who are getting benefits illigally! Not someone who wants a large soda...really?

  • Donnie - 12 years ago

    With so many more important things going on in this country, this DUMMY (Mayor) is worried about soda's. LOL Really, thats where our tax dollars are going. And we wonder why things are so jacked up now a days. Just look at the people in charge and you never have to wonder again.

  • Realist - 12 years ago

    The government is there to help the states, the police force if you will. There are not there to infringe or control what people digest, smoke, or do.. never have, never will. Let the insurance companies charge more for people with bad health, they charge more when you demonstrate you can't drive worth a $hit. This id10t mayor belongs in Cuba.

  • paul - 12 years ago

    the problem is with the questions. yes sugary drinks are a problem AND no i dont want the government telling me what to drink. PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY TO NOT BE STUPID.

  • Pedro - 12 years ago

    This is clearly good intentions gone wrong.....it's simply UNCONSTITUTIONAL.

    There's a difference between educating the public aka nutritional information provided by restaurants and FORCIBLY preventing us from having the right to choose. Can't FORCE issues, only allow the opportunity, otherwise it's a breach of the "right to the pursuit of happiness".

  • unimpressed - 12 years ago

    Am I the only one who noticed that the zealots who can't get paid if they take no for an answer, are getting desperate to find anything positive to spin about the public's reaction here, they have actually been manipulating the poll? How pathetic is that?

    The numbers who voted; in favor and marginally in favor, were in a dead heat at around 4% -5% until a couple of hours ago, when the 82% with 13,000 votes in, who said government should back off, started to slip suddenly to now 73% with the sudden appearance of over 1500 votes, all in one category "Yes, sugary drinks are a large part of obesity problem. " Keep watching and see just how desperate these people really are, to sell a new slice of what the people don't want or need.

  • Kevin - 12 years ago

    You can kill an unborn baby, but you can not have a large soda?

    Yes folks chaos has arrived and protecting "other peoples children" by government bureaucracy led the charge. Ad we rejected our own centuries old ability to become adults and act responsibly as community members, eventually passing that grown intelligence along to our children who would, then acting as adults pass it along to theirs.

    The precautionary principle places fear above scientific reality and the remote chances, seen in "lifetime risk" assessments are being sold as actual hazards requiring immediate actions[or so we are being told]. A banquet for industry funded lobby groups and the drug companies, in this case selling an invented fat "pandemic" created with the stroke of a pen, the day they changed the way "fat" [not people?] was measured, to promote artificial sweeteners [Splenda] Just as the same companies continue in the same model of sales practices, riding their success, when they sold cigarette "alternatives" while promoting the large-scale fraud that is "second hand smoke". Your drinking water [yes even the bottled version] has much higher toxic content and extreme levels of carcinogens in direct comparison, but only if you trust the versions of "science" that doesn't rely on remote "risks" expressed as hazards, or by focus groups who measure the dramatic effect of sound bites to sway public opinions, which deflect our focus, to prevent us from looking at the readily available evidence you can actually see. If you light a cigarette in a room full of self described "Public Health Experts" how many run for their lives? Why then should you? We knew this was fraud all along yet we accepted it because it serves our short term comfort. So who is actually to blame? Keep whining, it is music to a paternalist dictators ears.

  • Kevin - 12 years ago

    The editor decided yo ask the wrong questions with this poll. The larger issue of which this intrusion is only a symptom comes down to the question. Do you feel that adult choices and parental autonomy are beyond government authority? or do you believe that paternalist and arbitrary laws serve the interests of we the people, who pay their salaries as Public servants? Are we now to accept a new role of governments with ourselves the servants.

    Largely what it all comes down to, is the question do we the people accept Fascist governments who go to the polls pretending to be something else? and should we have the power to prosecute that fraud?

    The devaluation of personal and parental autonomy laws have been on the radar for decades. We the people failed in our duty to protect each other when they proposed seat belt laws and the unimaginable is now only a few legislative steps away. Can you hear the jackboots marching?

    Rowe Versus Wade was defended by a woman's "right to choose" exemplifying the laws of "personal autonomy" which were our only compensation for the Death camps in Germany, and a soda pop law will stand as legal?

    Only if apathy is our only reaction. Throw the bums out.

  • Jesus - 12 years ago

    Let me get this right,- with a broken economy, homeless people, record foreclosures, prevalent drug abuse, violent crimes, threat of bioterrorism, child abuse, etc- your elected officials have the flea brains to worry about how many refills you get to drink?
    No wonder this country is falling apart, your tax dollars are being pissed away on idiotic petty issues like this.
    Next they'll be setting up a commission on whether to allow people who did not brush their teeth this morning to be allowed into the workplace environment.Penalties to include life sentence for those not owning a tooth brush.
    How much more ridiculous can state and government priorities get????

  • Linda - 12 years ago

    Too bad they they don't worry as much about limiting the amount of booze or cigarettes you can buy,,,,every day innocent people die because someone else got drunk and decided to drive...but hopefully it was a skinny drunk!!! Or got drunk and decided to beat up their spouse or someone else And how many people die because of inhaling someone else's second hand smoke.

  • Mandee - 12 years ago

    This is the dumbest idea the Government has come up with yet...can't say the word "Vagina" and now no refills. Seriously...what will the think of next?

    Ending the war? No - way too difficult
    Helping the homeless? No - also way too difficult
    Feeding hungry people? No - that will keep them thin...which supports the "no refills" initiative.
    Funding Education? No - we can't do that...I mean, kids don't need art or gym, anyway, let's just take away their soda instead.
    How about decreasing our national debt? Oh HELL no! No way we can get that done. Waaay too difficult!
    Ban pants below the butt - yeah - we can do that one!

    Seriously - where are the priorities of our government? Who do they think is going to police the soda dispensers? Oh, wait - now they can control another part of small business - force them to keep the dispensers behind the counter...then enforce fines for business who don't comply! Hey! Wait! It IS a money-maker! (complete and total sarcasm leading to disgust!)

  • Jean - 12 years ago

    People are obese because they choose to. Ban sodas, fried food and chips, burgers and BBQ, candies and cake.. And what else? You can become obese if you eat like a pig and do not exercise.
    Why not banning TV , especially sports on TV and oblige people to run 5 miles/day? That can really help against obesity.
    Why not requiring parents to be more responsible? Do we really need a doctor to say that we need to lose weight? Only lazy people will blame the others.. not themselves.

  • Lora - 12 years ago

    Next we will have to start eating our daily quota of broccoli and do our daily required jumping jacks.

  • Mike - 12 years ago

    People are obese cause they choose to be. Thats why they eat "Fat Free" foods so instead of using moderation they eat the whole gallon of ice cream or drink the whole 2L of soda. They're "Fat"(we call people obese because we don't want to actual face the truth) because instead of walking they'll drive to the corner store. Instead of taking 30mins a day to do exercise they'll watch TV or sit in front of a computer.
    The government cannot legislate good health anymore than they can legislate people from drinking(oh we tried that didn't we), from their choices of sexual orientation or anything else. If the government wants to help out on "good health" make sure that water is actually cheaper than sodas(which is water plus ingredients added-go figure). Bring back actual physical activities in the schools. Create an enviornment we're its actually possible for families to sit down an eat dinner / a home cooked meal together lie they use to but they can't. All the government can do is mess things up & place the blame where it doesn't belong. People need to start accepting responsibilities for the choices they make

  • Wolf - 12 years ago

    The only thing America needs to ban is Politicians...oh sorry and attorneys...!

  • Vic - 12 years ago

    Seriously, politicians are trying to 'govern' what softdrinks we drink? If I chose to drink a sugary drink, it IS my inalienable constitutional right to do so. I beleive that politicians need to address more meaningful problems affecting our society e.g. economic inequality, capital flight, job outsourcing, high cost of tertiary education, homelessness, organized crime, food security, terrorism, etc. Granted that obesity is a runaway problem in this country and do believe sugary drinks contribute to this. However, mind numbing video games that children (and adults) play for hours on end have more of a negative impact than sugary drinks. We were meant to MOVE not become a sedentary blob of fat! If you want to solve the problem of obesity and diabetes in this country, look at ALL contributing factors and address them in a concerted measured approach. Parents need to become more involved with their children and not just feed them junk food and plot them in front of a video game for hours and hours. Each and every one of us needs to take personal responsibility for our actions and how those actions affest those around us. Clearly, condemning sugary drinks is a short term simplistic solution (and not a good one) to a health problem that is multi-faceted and emblematic of a far greater and insidious problem with our society, and as I recall, politicians aren't very good at addressing those type of issues!

  • waterwitch - 12 years ago

    I drink diet coke. What do they do when a person drinks sugar free drinks? The government doesn't need to ban anything. Part of a free country is choosing for and by yourself. If the government takes over our thinking then we cease to be a free country. Is that what liberals want?

  • TaroBapp - 12 years ago

    Yes Andrew, You are totally an idiot!!! I am a doctor, and yes it is my fault that people are obese!!!! What the heck is wrong with you? People will do what they want. Why should we be held responsible for others. You are what typifies this country, and that is nobody wants to accept responsibility for their actions so they blame others. Grow up!!! Blame doctors for everything!! it is not like we go to school longer than any profession and accumulate more debt than any other profession. so just keep piling it on us. And for your information, your Doctor might not be fat or obese, she might have a thyroid or other hormonal imbalance that is causing her weight gain, but we wouldn't expect you to understand that, would we? In conclusion, you are an idiot!!!!

  • Josh - 12 years ago

    Last I checked this wasn't a socialist society. Government needs to check itself before it gets out of hand.

  • Sean Farley - 12 years ago

    Stop the Madness!
    Politicians: "You can't even run their own life, I'll be damned if you'll run mine"

  • JJ - 12 years ago

    Stop the "Nanny State" Get educated and make good choices. Take care of yourself. Quit hoping the government is going to take care of you! I agree with the first poster Andrew. The government can't fix anything -let alone manage anything. Get them out of my life and my right to choose what I put into my body. Warning!! If you give the government the power over your medical care they will control absolutely every aspect of your daily life. STOP the madness already. Thank goodness that 81% of the people in this poll get it.

  • Hummer - 12 years ago

    No re-fill and then what????? People still do what they want to do.
    If no re-fill they just order more drinks, and then they start to ban how many drink you should order?????
    This government is so F@@k up!!!! They need to pay more attention on jobs, educations, and balance a f@@king budget! Not over a stupid soda drink. Well,I guess they have to much time on their hand!!!

  • Mitt - 12 years ago

    Obama is a Socialist, bent on destroying Amurrica.

  • Andrew - 12 years ago

    Health care is at its worst because Doctors are not helping there patience!!! They need to be truthful . So when you go see your doctor for your six month check up, He or she should tell you. Hey your putting on some weight you need to start dieting or start exercising more, so you don't become a diabetic. DOCTORS ARE THE PROBLEM I HAD A OBESE DOCTOR ABOUT FIVE YEARS AGO. She is still my family Doc, I refuse to go see her...

  • Lynn - 12 years ago

    Dan, Funny Guy.

  • Jim - 12 years ago

    America, Land of the free, just NO FREE refills. REALLY? WOW!!! I wish politicians could just pull their head out of their %$# and do something important for a change.

  • Dan - 12 years ago

    I'd rather them ban unhealthy foods and drinks or control portion sizes than to raise my taxes or take away my social security to pay for health care - this country is full of freeloaders - always looking for a handout and never willing to take individual responsibility. Someone has to control the gluttony - of course a nation that takes its freedom for granted is going to be upset when their weaned from decades of sucking on the tit of Capitalism!

  • Heinz - 12 years ago

    Why don't we ban sex to cut down on AIDS?
    Why don't we ban cars to cut down on motor vehicle deaths?
    Why don't we ban water to cut down on drownings?
    Come on people! The government is here to SERVE us, not CONTROL us!

  • Mike - 12 years ago

    I'm not generally one of the "Get the guvmint outta my biznis" types, but this is a pretty ridiculous overreach. Programs to encourage healthy lifestyles are great, but telling people what they can or can't eat or drink is going too far.

  • Lynn - 12 years ago

    Well, since the War on Drugs isn't working, might as well take away our Freedom of Choice. What next, tell us we can only order 2 McDoubles. Some things are best left out of the hands of Politicians. I know if I lived in Mass or NY who would be on my 'Vote this Idiot Out' list. The politicians are going way to far to think it should be their call as to how much Soda Pop we can drink.

    Welcome Comrade to the New 'United Soviet Socialist Republic'.

  • Chip - 12 years ago

    What a Nanny State this country has become. Liquor was regulated in the 20'sbut that didn;t last either.

  • Robyn - 12 years ago

    If the 'government', public officials, crusaders, whomever, are so concerned with the 'obesity epidemic', rather than attempt to impinge on the rights of individuals, i.e. moi, why not regulate the food production companies that make the food fattening to start with? What's next? Rationing food depending on whether you are politically correct in your thinking (as determined by some nebulous group somewhere) or rationing food to certain races, groups, etc. depending on which is determined to be the favorite at the moment. Smacks of Hitler-esque tactics to me.

  • Dheeraj - 12 years ago

    I voted for it is unnecessary because more of these free refills are used by kids than adults. Kids do not make up their own mind the right way always. This would surely help. This is a positive step in controlling obesity which is causing a lot of the illnesses we see in the society. This in turn is causing our insurance rates to go up. On the other hand, doctors and pharmaceuticals make a killing by calling everything a syndrome and then putting chemicals together into our body to suppress just the symptoms. There are not many countries that have free refills. Charge less and if they want more they can buy another. The example of the Fire and Ice restaurant shows that it is greed that makes this option exist than anything else. He charge 1.99 for the free refill. Of course, he is banking on the trend that most people that dine there are not going to get the refill and hence he gets to keep the extra money he is charging. If everyone pays for what they are consuming, then the restauranteur is forced to provide more services or improve the quality both of which are definitely harder than just charging more. Well, that is just my take.
    Of course, this could bring a new model of BYOS (Bring Your Own Soda). The beverage makers are not going to stop making the soda. If you want more soda, just go home and drink. Why should I who does not ever get a refill have to pay the same as someone who does get a refill? If the government does not mandate, the corporations will.

  • Sean - 12 years ago

    The government is not my mother to tell me what to eat or not to eat.

  • The Cool One - 12 years ago

    Aren't 'No, I'm entitled to my free refills!' and 'No, the government shouldn't tell me what to drink' basically the same thing?

    Either way, I'm glad to see the majority of voters here still have some common sense and the wherewithal to stand up against our increasingly nosy government.

  • Scott - 12 years ago

    Oh dear goodness. I read the results wrong. I thought 77% voted "Hmmm.. I like the large size ban, but don't touch my refills.". Im glad I relooked at it and read they voted like me.

    First its ban drugs because they are bad
    then cigerettes are banned pretty much everywhere
    The question was always what was next. Now we know the evil pop.
    Then what the greese we use to make french fries...oh wait.
    So what about beer, you just know its somewhere on the attack free liberty group.

    Sorry ranting.

  • Shannon - 12 years ago

    April Fools?.... oh... it's not a joke.... ;___; Why exactly am I paying taxes?

  • Andrew - 12 years ago

    At what point do we the people take back our government and put more focus on the important issues at hand....Our politicians are deciding what is "good" for us instead of doing good for us.
    Is it not obvious to everyone that they are trying to control the most minute aspects of society to show that they have some sort of power left....they can't fix the economy, they can't fix our debts, they can't fix the basic problems here on our own shores....but they sure can decide that a 39 year old man can't make the decision for himself not to drink so much soda.....We are becoming more pathetic, and more apathetic to what is really going on.

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