Okay, while the rest of the world is wrangling with life or death issues involved in health care reform, fighting tooth and nail to try to bring costs down to a level everyone can afford, who was the genius who decided that NOW is a great time to start whining about a tax on soda?

I mean, come on. WTF? Maybe if this woman used environmentally friendly and reusable grocery bags, she could afford her beloved soda. I mean come on. I just want to kick my television in when I feel her staring at me like such a meanie.

What? A tax on soda will hurt the middle class? You have got to be joking. The American Beverage Association wants my support for that? Sorry, I can't right now because I'm ROFLMAO.

A tax on juice drinks and soda would further squeeze middle-class families already struggling through a recession. The Congressional Research Service issued a report this summer showing that a beverage tax on sodas, juice drinks, teas, and flavored milk is highly regressive. Over 70 percent of the cost of this tax in its first year would be paid by those earning less than $91,297.

Yea, Susan K. Neely, President and CEO of the American Beverage Association in Washington put that in writing for all the world to see in The Boston Globe: Soda tax is not the solution

I don't know much about the Congressional Research Service which decided this was a bad idea, but I'm wondering how overweight their wallets and their bellies might be.

Neely says in her pro-soda argument that the tax on soda wouldn't make people healthier, as shown by studies in West Virginia and Arkansas, (two states that already tax soda). Heck, those people are still overweight she says.

There is no doubt that obesity is a serious and complex problem, but it requires thoughtful and comprehensive solutions. We can’t tax our way to better health, and we’re not going to solve the complexities of the health care system with a tax on soda pop.

Mmmm. Soda pop. Can I have some Aunt Bea?

Some Americans apparently want No Food Taxes, and on part of their website, why soda is not the bad guy this group says no overweight people really drink soda anyway, and if they do, they are poor.

Together, they found that any impact of a soft drink tax would be trivial because soft drink consumption is a relatively small part of the diet for overweight people. Their findings also support that it would be a regressive tax, whereby the burden would likely fall disproportionately on the poor.

As a mom of a little boy who doesn't even like soda because I never gave him the opportunity, I don't see much about soda's impact on cavities and bone loss, which I always thought were pretty serious side effects of this wonderful, bubbly drink, which just wants to be loved.

But forget obesity, bone loss, and cavities, my biggest worry is how we will ever be able to camp again if we have to suffer under this tax? Oh, the horror of it all. Camping without soda? Perish the thought.

Kossacks, tell members of Congress that not only do we support a tax on soda, we want it to be high enough to fund health care reform.

Take that mean red-headed lady.

Please note: This diary is not to SUPPORT the tax. This diary was written by a single mom who actually knows what it is like to REALLY not be able to afford to feed my child - WITH FOOD. This was written by a mom who sometimes drops my health insurance in order to afford food for my child. Not soda - broccoli, milk, peanut butter and jelly. You know THAT stuff. I am not highlighting the tax. It pissed me off that I am struggling to feed my child and this woman is whining in my face about not being able to afford soda. That's what pisses me off.

Please note #2: Crashing Vor has an excellent list of all those Americans who don't want taxes on soda pop...Check it out here