Criminal Negligence

Kate O'Beirne, an MSNBC pundit and editor of the right wing magazine National Review, was quoted making this statement during a republican panel discussion last week:
"The federal school lunch program, and now breakfast program, and I guess in Washington, D.C., dinner program, are pretty close to being sacred cows. Broad bipartisan support. And if we’re going to ask more of ourselves, my question is, what poor excuse for a parent can’t rustle up a bowl of cereal and a banana? I just don’t get why millions of schoolchildren qualify for school breakfasts, unless we have a major widespread problem with child neglect. You know, I mean, if that many parents are incapable of pulling together a bowl of cereal and a banana, then we have problems that are way bigger than—that problem can’t be solved with a school breakfast, because we have parents who are just criminally—criminally negligent with respect to raising children."

Reading this was rather interesting and comical in a morbid sort of way. I mean, I understand the point she is making about the cereal and, it's nice that she throws in the banana as well. However, what she does not consider is the amount of parents who work before their children are able to get to school. The hot breakfast and lunch program is a great asset of school districts because the truth is that many families are sincerely struggling in this pathetic economy. A parent who doesn't have the opportunity to provide a breakfast for a child before school is not criminally negligent. Not to mention, most cereals are ghastly bad for your children. Watch out for High Fructose Corn Syrup and loads upon loads of sugars. The added in vitamins and minerals are little compensation for this poor breakfast food. Though, keep up the bananas, try the organic ones. Meanwhile, Kate O'Beirne should consider herself criminally negligent for suggesting we shouldn't help provide hungry children with proper meals.


Quote found at Democracy Now! The War and Peace Report