Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Michelle Obama Q & A - Conservative tweeter confused?

From the USA Today:
First lady Michelle Obama knows how to use Twitter to promote her causes, but so do her husband's critics and opponents.

Live by social media, slapped by social media. First lady Michelle Obama took to Twitter today for a Q&A on her anti-obesity campaign, but some critics couldn't resist the chance to try to hijack the forum to mock her...

Since 2009, Mrs. O has effectively used social media, especially Twitter, to promote her causes and reach people she might otherwise miss. But her husband's opponents know how to use social media, too, to promote their causes and to bash the president through the first lady.

"Would we save enough money to reopen WH tours if we shut down your Let's Move tour?," tweeted right-wing radio pundit Laura Ingraham, alluding to the sequester budget cuts the administration cited to shut down White House tours starting this week.

Some tweeters were confused about, or deliberately distorting, Mrs. Obama's Let's Move campaign, which seeks to encourage healthy eating and more exercise for everyone but especially kids. It's voluntary, not mandatory, as most first-lady projects are.

"What makes you think that you are qualified to dictate MY CHILDREN'S diet, or anything else concerning them, than I am?," scoffed Matt Harrison, self-described "Uncompromising Conservative."
The USA Today asserts that tweeters like Matt Harrison are "confused" because they assume Michelle Obama's Let's Move Campign is "mandatory," when it is really "voluntary."

Well, that's a disingenuous assertion.

From the U.S government's Let's Move.Gov website:
Since we launched Let’s Move! a year ago, we’ve been hard at work, talking to educators, parents, and kids... We’ve done it all to achieve one big goal – to end the epidemic of childhood obesity in a generation... And that’s why we made passing the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act a cornerstone of our work during the first year of Let’s Move
From Wikipedia:
The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, [otherwise known as The Child Nutrition Reauthorization Act]... sets new nutrition standards for schools, and allocates $4.5 billion dollars for their implementation. The new nutrition standards have been a point initiative of First Lady Michelle Obama in her fight against childhood obesity as part of her Let's Move! initiative.
The $4.5 billion, tax payer-funded legislation was promoted by Michelle Obama as part of her Let's Move initiative. The bill is mandatory, not voluntary.

Incidentally, the bill was funded in part by siphoning off $2.2 billion from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, the federal food stamp program. Heh...

Moreover, many parents complain that their children are coming home from school hungry as a result of the new nutritional mandate initiated by Michelle Obama.

The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act?  Heh.....

Conclusion: Matt Harrison is not confused at all; he's clearheaded and he's right!

P.S. Here's a few more tweets that were tweeted to Michelle Obama during here Q & A:

"Where in the constitution does its state "the FLOTUS shall tell kids what to eat"? Just wondering...."

"Why do you think the media has spent more time reporting on your bangs than they have on #Benghazi?"

"What's the best vacation destination to escape to when you really feel like spending my tax dollars in style?"......