A Canadian nutritionist left a fast food cheeseburger stored for a year, and its appearance remained basically unchanged, according to a Montreal newspaper.
“Obviously it makes me wonder why we choose to eat food like this when even bacteria won’t eat it,” said Melanie Hesketh, who had the plate out on her kitchen counter when journalists arrived. She said the beef patty shrank, but still looks edible. It “still smells slightly like a burger,” she told the Montreal Gazette. “It hasn’t changed much.”
I don’t know much about Hasketh’s experiment, which she conducted as a heads-up to her kids, ages 13 and 15. But I will point out that when I buy fresh bread from the bakery — not the stuff in the bread aisle of supermarkets — it starts to get mold on it in about five days, if I don’t put it into the refrigerator or freezer.
She believes that the high salt content is what preserves the sandwich.
She said: “I’m going to keep it forever — it’s a good conversation piece.”
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Briefs have been filed in the Supreme Court lawsuits over the Affordable Health Care Act. The plaintiffs’ brief can be found here; and the governments brief can be found here.
The court will hear three days of testimony starting March 26. A ruling is due in June.
The pivotol questions are whether the government can require Americans to purchase health insurance and if not, does that negate the entire Obama Administration initiative?
The court could also kick the can down the road, to 2015, by falling back on a Civil War era law that requires tax implications to be involved before a court ruling. Americans could be penalized in 2015 if they declined to purchase health insurance.
There are several ways of looking at the issue. One is that Americans have been required to purchase retirement insurance for years: Social Security. They have also been required to purchase senior (65-plus) health insurance: Medicare.
Another viewpoint surfaced at a press conference last week. On Friday, an administration official was asked “the broccoli question” originally posed by a New York Times story.
The question is whether the government, if they can mandate health insurance, can also require people to eat broccoli.
The official said the question is “wildly unrealistic,” which is true. Then he went to say that federal law already requires people to make some purchases. “If you buy a car you have to buy the seat belts, too,” he said.
This where the administration errors, and I hope it comes up with better anologies in its presentation to the Supreme Court. Because nobody is required to buy a car. You can bike it, walk it, or take public transportation. But all adults would be required to purchase a health insurance policy. Apples and oranges.
I’d like to see health care become accessible to everyone, will the administration’s argument really hold water?
