There’s always all those jokes about old ladies dying and leaving everything to the cat’s home.

Well in Italy it has just really happened - to the tune of $15 million.

Maria Assunta died at age 94 with no heirs and left her entire fortune to Tomassino, a stray cat she had adopted.

It sounds like the Italian economy needs the money more than the damn cat.

 The Huffington Post has it right.

Writing about the farce of congress calling French fries and tomato sauce on frozen pizza “a vegetable” in school meals, Krisitin Wartman notes large food companies such as conAgra and Schwan spent $5.6m lobbying. And, lo and behold, congress killed the proposed Department of Agriculture guidelines to increase the amount of (badly needed) fruit and vegetables in school lunches.

congressional vegetables

As usual, congress didn’t have the balls to do the right thing (is there anyone in either house who will do the right thing, not jus what ever will bring them the most money/best chance or re-election/power?)

The argument, conservatives are reported as making, is that it is not the job of the “Nanny State” to tell people what to eat.

There are so many flaws to this argument - in that we legislate what’s good for people in so many other places.

But the point Wartman makes is it’s not the government that controls our kid’s desire to eat the “sugary, salty and fatty products” that are causing them to become fat, diabetic, hypertensive and atherosclerotic.

“Corporations do” she says, through relentless advertising and their monopoly on schools cafeterias.

“I am for individuals - exactly like automobile insurance - having health insurance and being required to have health insurance”

This is a quote, not from some raging leftist, but from current leader of the pack of republican potential nominees, Newt Gingrich (from when he was minority House whip in 1993).

This was after Clinton introduced his attempt at universal health care in the 1990’s.

A decade after which Mitt Romney resurrected the idea in Massachusetts which required the residents to buy health insurance or face up to $1,212 in annual penalties.

“It’s the Republican way of reforming the market” he is quoted as saying when this became law in 2006 - and referring to the “free rider” issue of people not taking out insurance until the get sick if they are not mandated, he said “to have people show up when they get sick, and expect someone else to pay, that’s the Democratic approach.”

And now, in case you haven’t notices, the Republicans are doing everything in their power to get the courts to declare the idea of everyone being mandated to take out health insurance, be declared unconstitutional.