But It Does Mix Better With Vodka

Yesterday Connecticut Gov. M. Jodi Rell vetoed a bill that would have banned regular soda and "junk food" from vending machines in the state's public schools. Rell said the legislation would usurp the roles of parents and school boards in deciding what beverages and snacks should be available to students. Aside from the issue of local control, there is the question of whether this particular solution makes sense as a response to obesity, which is how the legislation was pitched. The authors were enlightened enough to allow diet soda, but they also would have permitted fruit juices that, while more nutritious than soft drinks sweetened with corn syrup or sugar, have the same number of calories. Whatever contribution school vending machines make to students' waistlines, replacing Coke with orange juice is not going to make anyone thinner.