Me, Myself & Media.

At long last, there is action being taken to remove high calorie soft drinks from schools all across America. A can of Coca Cola has 140 (empty) calories and 39 grams of sugar. This is atrocious, truly. And the fact of the matter is that kids should never have been allowed to buy these high sugar beverages during school hours in the first place. Perhaps without being hopped up on sugar, children will be able to concentrate better, and we can see the number of kids being medicated for ADHD and ADD decrease (that's a whole other ballgame). But I'll get off my soapbox now.

Coca Cola, Dr. Pepper and Pepsi have all joined forces to help remove full-calorie sodas from elementary, middle and high schools. While the program just happens to coincide with movements in the government to increase sugar taxes as an attempt to stifle soft drink manufacturers, the timing is definitely helpful in creating some goodwill for these three companies. The VP of Public Affairs for the American Beverage Association, Kevin Keane, said that while Coke, Pepsi, and Dr. Pepper are "the fiercest rivals you're going to get" these companies felt that the program was "the strongest way to convey what they'd done and that they'd done it together." I really like that these huge competitors are able to join forces in order to act in a way that is beneficial to the public's welfare.

In addition, I think that Michelle Obama's new plight against childhood obesity is wonderful. We need a national role model like her putting her foot down and demanding change. The children of today are the future of tomorrow -- how do all parents not understand that? The odds are against obese children, in that the vast majority of them will grow up to be obese adults. This is scary. We absolutely need to all work together to change the staggering statistics that are out there on obesity. Seeing Coke, Dr. Pepper and Pepsi's program is really a huge step in the right direction.