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Michelle Malkin (in the weekly Washington Times 12/26/11, P 35) tells us that the Chicago School system does not allow kids to bring lunches from home. The Chicago Tribune further explains that the only exception is if the kid has a note from a doctor requiring something special for health reasons. If I were a Chicago parent, my children would suddenly develop intense food allergies and I would keep looking for a doctor until I found one who agreed.
So why this crazy rule? Is it because school lunches are so nutritious that no kid should miss them? No. The school lunch program of the federal government is a nest of crony capitalism, with a pizza classified as a vegetable to please the pizza makers, and the meat irradiated on order of Senator Harkin to be sure there is a market for old Iowa beef that might otherwise be contaminated.
No, the reason for the Chicago rules is related but different. If students could bring their own food, there might be fewer of the school’s lunch employees affiliated with the super-powerful Service Employees International Union. The union wants more of these employees, not fewer, and also insists on benefits and wages that in many cases are bankrupting the schools.
