by Amy Kerr Hardin
Congressman Robert Ad
erholt (R-Alabama) co-chaired the 2015 National Prayer Breakfast late last week. This event has since inflamed the delicate sensibilities of righteous Christians who apparently snoozed their way through world history 101, leaving them completely ignorant of the not so pleasant details of the Crusades and Inquisition. (Must have been the junk food in their school lunch.)
Speaking at the event, Aderholt explained that, as a devoted Christian, he and his fellow House colleagues gather weekly to celebrate their faith in a completely non-partisan manner. His words:
“We come together once a week, not promoting a party. We’re not promoting a particular issue or particular agenda. I’m a Republican from Alabama, Juan is a Democrat from California, but we come together that one hour during the week, to promote Jesus.”
So, why then did the self-described Jesus-loving congressman mean-tweet the First Lady, along with her significant other, over their appearance at the National Prayer Breakfast?
No, not over the President’s mention of Christianity’s bloody history.
It was in response to a sarcastic tweet from the CEO of right-wing Yellowhammer News, conservative Cliff Sims:
The First Couple maintained an appropriately reverent aspect about their demeanor during the entirety of the somber event. Yet, the Jesus-loving, non-partisan, Christian lawmaker from Alabama took a break from being a Jesus-loving, non-partisan, Christian to mock them with his tweet
With the cat-like reflexes of a politician up for re-election, it took Aderholt a mere 39 seconds to delete the indiscrete tweet, apparently realizing he wasn’t being a Jesus-loving, non-partisan kind of guy after all. Alas, nothing really gets lost in the vast series of tubes the GOP knows as the internet.
Okay, so we get the hashtags DHS and DontShutDownOurSecurity — the lawmaker clearly meant them as a taunt over the Republican scheme to hold hostage homeland security funding as payback for the President’s executive order on immigration. Very mature of them. But, what’s up with the jab at #SchoolLunch?
Rep. Aderholt does not care for the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, and its “Smart Snacks in School” provision, which gave the USDA broad authority over school lunch programs. He believes this is just another costly regulatory burden intended to strip school districts of local control. Citing a decrease in student participation in the program, he’s calling for a return to the days of offering some of the less expensive, and less healthful, highly processed junk food items to the menu.
Judging from his press release on the topic, he should consider spending a little more time back in school himself:
“Less kids are buying school lunches and that undermines the intention to increase healthy eating in schools.”
The USDA has been willing to tweak the program offering some flexibility in their compliance guidelines and implementation timetables, but that’s not enough for Aderholt, who wants to extend waivers to districts with budget constraints that are having difficulties affording the more nutritious meals, i.e. poorer under-funded schools located in communities that are frequently found in food deserts. A 2010 Gallup study found that poverty was the primary factor in adulthood obesity, with a lack of healthful food choices being a contributing factor.
Michelle Obama, a passionate champion of nutrition and exercise programs, has made it clear she won’t back down in the ongoing struggle with GOP lawmakers. She wants to break the obesity/diabetes cycle that’s become a national crisis of proportions much more costly than providing decent school lunches in the first place.
Sorry boys, FLOTUS will win this food fight — she’s got laser beam eyes.
