Please invite me to the Boston Soda Party....

The guys on the radio this morning were talking about the government's brilliant new idea to tax soda because it's unhealthy. Is that they only thing they can come up with that's unhealthy? They said that if they tax soda, then people will drink it less and it will cut down on obesity. I know that soda can make you gain weight ... someone I once knew quit drinking Dr. Pepper and lost 60 pounds. But that's not the only thing that makes you gain weight. What about cheese, or chips, or bacon, or whole milk ... what about steak, or fried chicken... sheesh -- mashed potatoes can make you fat, especially if they're yummy with butter and milk.

Ice cream makes you fat, so does candy bars...there's more calories in a candy bar than there is in a soda or diet drink, so why not put a $0.03 tax on that? They said that they will pay for the new health care system (BOGUS!!) with the money made off of this new tax, and that over the span of a couple years, the soda tax would yield $240 BILLION. But they won't stay at just a three cent tax...NOOOOO ... it'll be raised again, before you know it.

I'm not upset about this because I like to drink soda and I feel like it'll break the bank to feed my soda habit. I don't have a soda habit. I drink them from time to time, but I'm just as happy with water, lemonade and juice. What I'm upset about is the government making a ridiculous tax to just blow up their wallets even bigger.

And if you're going to tax something, tax the gaming systems and television, so that parents would be less inclined to let that babysit for them, and kids would get back outside and exercise....that's a good way to decrease obesity.

Why don't you offer incentives for people to be healthier, such as less of an insurance premium if you weigh under a certain amount, or if you join a gym and faithfully work out. If you don't smoke, drink or do drugs, you should pay less for insurance.

But taxing soda???? What's next? I agree with taking soda machines out of schools -- kids don't need soda anyway, and they can't decide for themselves when enough is enough, and when to drink water etc. The government shouldn't have the right to tax food items like this just to encourage us to not drink it...in a way, it's the same as what our founding fathers, pardon me, our framers fought against with their tea.

But we couldn't go dump all our cola in the bay .... then we'd be attacked by PETA.