Big Brother Is Watching

New system tracks what kids eat

Big Brother may be watching you -- but Big Mother is keeping an even closer eye on your kids.

In a shocking and blatant electronic intrusion, schoolchildren in Iowa are being forced to submit their school lunch choices to a computer, which matches their selections to a federal database.

If Big Mother approves, the kid gets to eat. If not, well, I suppose he gets to pick again... but it probably won't be long before he gets shipped off to a reeducation camp.

WE WILL EAT WHAT THE PARTY TELLS US TO! WE WILL EAT WHAT THE PARTY TELLS US TO! WE WILL EAT WHAT THE PARTY TELLS US TO!

Since the system works by computer, the kids -- some as young as 5 years old -- have to memorize a personal pin code before they can eat. And, just in case any of them are already learning how to hack the system, cafeteria staff watch to make sure the kid and food match up to what's in the computer.

Now, I know what you're thinking: What the heck's wrong with making sure kids eat a healthy lunch, doc?

Just the simple fact that federal bureaucrats wouldn't know a healthy meal if they were eaten by one!

Here's one way the feds have "improved" school lunches in recent years: They've replaced pizza with... pizza on a whole wheat crust. Never mind that it's still a carb-loaded nightmare starring processed noncheese and sugar-soaked tomato "sauce."

The only healthy thing on the pizza was the pepperoni -- and they're taking that off!

Remember, federal guidelines are the result of political -- not scientific -- negotiations with the barons of the food industry. Need proof? Just peek inside a school cafeteria, where you'll usually find items like Froot Loops and chocolate milk, well within government "standards."

That's not a breakfast of champions -- that's the lunchtime of losers.

But expect to see more of these tracking systems in more schools, because there's something else at work here -- something much more sinister: By raising a generation of kids who grow up with computers tracking their every move, they'll produce a generation of adults who don't know what the world was like before Big Brother and Big Mother took control of the family.

Think I'm exaggerating? It's already started -- and lunch isn't the only thing on the menu.

One California school forces kids to wear microchip-embedded jerseys that track their every move. And yes, Uncle Sam gave them the money for that program.

The future is here, and it is frightening.

It doesn't stop with kids -- keep reading to find out the latest scheme to keep tabs on you!


Big Brother is watching your garbage

That's not a hobo going through your trash -- that's a government agent!

Sounds crazy, I know... but creeping Big Brotherism has fallen to a filthy new low as the city of Cleveland unveils a high-tech trash-tracking system designed to weed out disloyal citizens who refuse to recycle.

The city is wasting millions of dollars on new computerized garbage cans and recycling containers embedded with radio frequency identification chips and bar codes.

Every pickup day, Big Brother will know which cans you rolled out... and if it turns out you haven't sent the recycling bin to the curb in a while, one of his agents will stop by to visit your trash.

And if he finds more than 10 percent recyclable material mixed in with your waste, you'll be out $100.

Even worse, you'll be on Al Gore's naughty list.

Cleveland says eventually, everyone in the city will be given these bins... and it's not alone. Similar greenie-pleasing systems are already in place in Philadelphia and Alexandria, Virginia.

Of course, the cities say this is just about making sure residents recycle -- not spying on people and tracking their behavior and habits.

Yeah, right. Tell that to the folks over in the U.K., where more than 2.5 million microchip-enhanced garbage bins not only track recycling habits... they also weigh the trash.

The more you throw away, the more you pay.

And while officials there made the same hollow privacy promises that you hear over here, they were caught digging through residential trash in 2008 to find evidence on income and lifestyles.

But that can't possibly happen here, right?

Eventually, there will come a time when people won't know what it's like NOT to have their every move watched and tracked.

And that time isn't far off.

He may be big, but he ain't my brother,

William Campbell Douglass II, M.D.