and that is not a policy that the people of this country want. the conservative have dozens of policies on this. his is the most extreme but we will follow none of their advice. >> mr. kris mullins be back with my right honorable friend confirm that it remains his intention in the event government has reelected to restore the link between old age pensions and earnings that were abandoned early 1980? >> mr. speaker, it was part of the turner report recommendations to reform the pension system of our country. i say was originally accepted on an all party bases by all parties in this house, and we will wish to go ahead with our proposals. >> mr. speaker, contrary to last the prime minister said he had no knowledge of 50,000-pound slush fund for his leadership party and that was why it was

not registered in the interest that he has had a week to reflect. would he like to correct the record? >> mr. speaker, they're all reported by the labour party, not by me. >> thank you, mr. speaker. for the to the question ahead of the european council, could the prime minister confirm that any negotiations for the greek economy would be completely confined to your countries and have no impact on the u.k.? >> mr. speaker, i've already said that there is internatiinternational support available for countries as set up by the g-20 summit in london in april. data support that is able to be drawn on at an international level. if the euro area was to move ahead with the proposal, that is for the euro area. >> thank you, mr. speaker. recent research has shown that over 70 percent of blind and partially sighted people are unable to access health

information. would he agree to meet me at the delegation so we can address provisions that could address the shameful inadequacy? >> mr. speaker, gp's are red required under relevant legislation to make reasonable adjustments to the written information for patients with a visual impairment. the equality bill also contains legislation that would avoid the discrimination against those people with lesser side in that way. anybody with a visual impairment should also be aware that the general counsel is given guidance that doctors must make sure that arrangement are made to meet patients and which communications the. so we do everything in our power to improve the services to help with visual impairments and i would be very happy to meet the delegation she brings to me. >> does the prime minister accept that the welcomed

international support for euro zone countries better economic difficulties is undermined by the $8 billion spending speculative transactions that are currently taking place against the value of the euro? does this reinforce this case for the urgent introduction for an urban tax which will bring to the international table 400 billion pounds per year that would be as relevant to the development needs of the poor countries in the south as a voting the 13 measures in the north? >> international agreement to restructure our banking system and the way that is necessary. it cannot be done by one country on their own. and it's got to be done country fighting together. we'll put proposals to the g-20 that we could coordinate activity both in terms of capital requirements for banks liquidity ratios, and also that they are prepared to pay but it is also true the relationship in

the banking society needs to change. and i propose with other people that a levy be raised from banks. there is no interest in that around the world. i believe over the next period of time we will get agreement on a global financial lead and i'm saw that many people opposed it when it was first announced, because i believe will be able to go ahead with it in the not-too-distant future. >> order. >> from london you have been watching prime minister's question time. aired live every wednesday while parliament is in session. at 7 a.m. eastern. you can see this again sunday night at 9 p.m. eastern and pacific. for more information check out our website, c-span.org. on the homepage you see the heading international links. click on it for links to british parliament and legislatures around the world. you will also see links to c-span programs dealing with other international issues. the address is c-span.org.

>> first lady michelle obama announced the start of a campaign to prevent childhood obesity. i mongo speaking at this white house event is former nfl player tiki barber. this isn't our. >> please turn off all cell phones and pagers. the program will begin shortly.

>> ladies and gentlemen, mrs. michelle obama, accompanied by tiki barber. [applause] >> thank you all for being here. this into the snowy day and watching can be say. i used to live down this way, and i don't remember snowbank so that are so many flights being canceled, but i guess that is the state we're stuck with right now. it is a pleasure for me to be here in the white house. i was sitting next to michelle obama an absolute honor for me, especially when we're talking that what we are about to talk about. childhood obesity in this country has become an epidemic, and we all know it. we have all talked about it.

we've all talked to her kids about it, but somehow change has not come. when our kids are born, we always make a promise to them, to live a better life, to have a better education, to be healthier, to do things and live a life better than we did ourselves. and sometimes you can keep all promises. you can't make the ballet recitals, you can't make the baseball games, you can't take them to the play dates. but there is one promise that we have to start keeping to our kids, and that is living a healthy lifestyle. for the first time in decades, the mortality rate of our children and the life expectancy of our children is shorter than their parents. and that's, i think, we all know unacceptable. let's move. this is a beautiful program because this is how i live my life. always moving. i remember when my mom used to go to work and say, just don't

get in trouble, and if you do you're going to have to pay for it. but i was always outside. i was always running around. i was always doing things that kept myself active. and we look at where our country is now. kids don't do that anymore. as part because we're afraid to let our kids out individually. part because of video games and things that force her kids to lead sedentary lives does. and it's also because our schools, and sometimes are not taking care of ours physical activities of our kids and not beating them correctly. half of our calories that kids can't happen at school. our focus should be on getting our kids the best opportunity to have a future that is better than ours, to live a lifestyle that is healthier than ours. and that's why we're here today, to talk about how we all collectively can do that. it is my honor to introduce a woman that i have had some interviews with us more, freezing out on the white house lawn this morning, as their only

cameras in here, you know. dr. judith palfrey who's the president president of the american academy of pediatrics, who represents pediatricians across the country, who had been long fighting this problem. hopefully will help us find a solution. dr. palfrey? [applause] >> thank you. and is one of the youngsters behind me. my name is dr. judith palfrey, and i'm president of the american academy of pediatrics. it is an incredible honor and privilege to stand today with a first lady, michelle obama, and the other partners calling upon our nation to commit to improving children's health. over the past 20 years, the united states has seen an alarming rise in the number of children who are overweight and

obese. about 30 percent of children are in the overweight and obese category. this means that the united states leads the developed world in overweight and obesity. putting not only our children, but also our nation, at great risk. we face a medical and moral imperative to rescue our children's health. overweight and obesity can have serious medical consequences, including heart disease, diabetes and bone problems. every day, we see overweight toddlers who struggle to learn to walk or run. overweight can cause our children to have respiratory problems. a youngster who develop diabetes in his teens may need a kidney transplant by the time he is 30. and we've gotten we are today by

a somewhat unusual route. for the first time in history, our health problems stem from abundance and excess. families are inundated by too much food, too many advertisements, too much driving around hurriedly from place to place. quite simply, too much busyness. at the same time, many of our communities lack access to healthy food and safe places for our children to play. because this is a new and complicated problem, it requires a sophisticated solution. pediatricians know that we can play an important role in this effort. through regular well child visits, pediatricians promote good nutrition and exercise. and we care for those children who suffer the consequences of overweight and obesity. but we can and we will do more to prevent obesity before it

starts. that is why today, on behalf of the 60,000 members of the american of the american academy of pediatrics, i am proud to announce our commitment in partnership with the first lady. first, the american academy of pediatrics will call him every pediatrician to catch a late body mass index or bmi, for every child over the age of two at every well child visit. now, bmi is a simple but important tool in starting a conversation with families about their children's health and well being. pediatricians will take the time to make sure parents understand what it means for their children to have a healthy body weight. second, the academy will also urge our pediatricians and other health care providers to give out official, child friendly prescriptions for healthy, active living. and including good nutrition and

physical activity at every well child visit. using these prescriptions, we will engage in conversation with children and parents so that they can set their own goals for areas they want to work on. for instance, one child might choose to get up to five fruits and vegetables a day by adding foods that contain the letter b. to their meals. a parent might plan to keep chart of the family screen time plotting how to cut back on television and increase reading. we are suggesting some of tiki barber's books. [laughter] >> a youngster might set a personal best for running last our double dutch. these conversations will emphasize kids choices, and their ability to succeed at what they set out to do. now we know that families can improve their health with other modest changes. the american academy of pediatrics recommends that

mothers breast-feed their babies. families eat colorful, balanced meals, and they eat them together. children need to get plenty of sleep and parents and children play physically active games. this campaign is a long-term commitment to our children's health. the american academy of pediatrics shares and supports the first lady's goal of overcoming obesity in this generation of children. to our combined efforts with all of the groups that are gathered. we cannot expect a solution overnight, but we pledge we will do everything we can to end the epidemic of childhood obesity. it will take a concerted effort, thoughtful collaboration among all of us, the whole nation to help create healthier communities for children. we must take on this challenge. the health of our children, future of our country, is in our

hands. together, we can reverse the numbers and we can make a difference. we will turn the tide on childhood obesity. thank you. [applause] >> i didn't have your for the book blog, but the check is in the mail. getting. [laughter] >> we often talk the talk, but it comes down to execution. and we all know that urban environments often have a lack of access to organic and fresh foods. the next person coming up, mr. will allen, is an urban farmer, and he brings it to the people. mr. allen? [applause]

>> thank you. first lady michelle obama, i feel very honored to be here today. i'm going to tell you i have been farming for over 50 years, and you've been a wonderful inspiration to me, along with a lot of other folks. would you put that garden on the lawn out there, that moved a lot of people. i hear over 10 million people have started gardening this year because of that garden. i know in milwaukee, wisconsin, mayors called me and we became the fourth city to have a garden at city hall. so thank you very much. [applause] >> i'm here today to really talk about our food system, and i don't want to do a lot of framing, but i will do a little bit of framing.

today as we sit here and stand here, we are losing farmers. as we stand here and sit here, we're losing farmland. and we have to change that. for us to have good food, food that our grandmothers would actually recognize as food, because a lot of stuff we eat, our grandmothers would never recognize as being food. and we have problems in our cities, because of all the areas inside our cities and our rural communities -- let's take our rural communities. for example, back 50 years ago, there was an agricultural industry throughout the south. and those areas where people in those khmers actually work in the field and had jobs in a farming industry but if you go through the south in mississippi, alabama, those same towns are there, but there is no farming industry for those

folks. the industrial farm industry has taken over. we're growing cash crops, soybeans and corn. they create a lot of sugar that our young people are consuming. as part of the problem that they have today. and when we look at our inner cities, we cede food deserts. we see areas where major grocery stores are pretty much redline and decided they're not going to put our grocery stores there. and our folks have no place to go. but the corner stores that have a lot of really bad food and fast food restaurants. so that's what we have right now. and we've done a lot of talk. we've met, we've done a lot of feasibility studies, we've talked about this, we've gone through the '50s, 60s, '70s where this movement around healthy food has grown.

now in the 2000 where everybody seems to be coming together. where corporate companies, universities, political folks, are all coming together to sit at the table with folks like farmers, folks at a been working on this issue for many years. and that's an important piece, because for us to solve this problem we have to have everybody, everybody at the table. we have to make sure that everybody is on the same page, and we can just are looking at each other and playing each other anymore. what we need to do is take some action. this is the year, 2010, for us to really take some action. instead of just talking about it. because our kids are suffering. you just heard from dr. palfrey, who brutally outlined what's happening with our kids, and tiki talked about it also. it's a social justice issue.

for us to not -- do not tackle this issue. it's really a social justice issue. everybody, every child in this country, and the person in this country should have access to good food. and to make that happen, let's look at what's happening in milwaukee, in chicago, in madison, wisconsin. in madison, wisconsin, and milwaukee and chicago, we've been able to obtain about 100 acres of farmland, grow it intentionally. we have systems that are grown food vertically. we're able to grow food year-round. i know that the weather is tough right now, but in wisconsin, we are used to this weather. [laughter] >> so we know how to do it. we know we have to eat this food, not just 20 weeks out of your, when farmers are in business. but remember, when farmers are in business, schools are out. so we need to make sure that we

have access, our kids have access to food throughout the year. and to be able to do that, we're going to have to go inside greenhouses and inside vacant buildings. we're going to have to have a garden in every school. we're going to have to activate all those vacant -- as i, rather country, i see all these they can greenhouses at schools that are not being used. we're going to have to train our teachers to do hands-on education. because of this is our kids to learn. if they can touch it and feel it, then they are more apt to want to go the next step, dig into a book and really learn. the other thing that can happen around this food system that we need to create, local food system is create jobs. this food system will create thousands of jobs. i think one of the things that's been missing as we talk about jobs. so i think we need to put more funding into this local food system. we don't need to be shipping

food 1500 miles, 3000 miles bringing food over from foreign countries. we need to grow in the communities, and really involve everybody in the communities to keep that money in those local communities. that's what we've been able to do at the growing power in milwaukee and chicago and madison, wisconsin. we should be able to keep that money in the communities and grow intensively. our typical farm produces about $500 an acre. with this new type of agriculture, or i should say type of agriculture were trying to do again, we're going at about $5 a square foot. which equates to about $200,000 an acre of production. and that's what we have to do, because we're losing our farmland, folks. to urban sprawl, we're losing our farmland and we have to grow farmers. and that's a we do in our training program, and growing power. we've been able from the last 17 years, we have 40 employees.

we plan to add another 16 employees this year. as we take on another 50 acres of land in chicago and milwaukee. so thank you for this opportunity. it's not whether we have to do this. we must do this. if we're going to survive, we must do this, because we a very unhealthy society, and the entire world. and this is really, for me, i've been thinking about this, and this is really a security piece, and national security piece. because as i travel outside of the u.s., we're the ones that get blamed for the bad food. we're the ones that get blamed for everything. there were 600 food riots last year around the world, and they blame us. so we have to fix this problem not only here, but all over the globe. thank you very much. [applause]

>> a. >> the state of mississippi has the largest obesity rate in the country. that there are many reasons for this, one is because of fried food and it tastes so good. i.t. my grandmother used to cook, but we have to do things in moderation. some people take even moderation, but especially eating we have to do in moderation. mayor johnson of mississippi, is a great example of how we express this issue is not a political issue. it goes across parties. and he is done phenomenal things down there in mississippi, building parks, building playgrounds, walkways, where people can get out and exercise. but also bringing back farmers markets in places for organic and fresh food. mayor johnson? [applause] >> i am honored to be here --

thank you very much for inviting me, and i'm here to represent my city and a great state of mississippi. and you may wonder why a mayor is out there. i want to talk about things mayors can do. and aldermen and counsel people. there are things we can initiate. one of those things are partnerships. i have found that the state board of health, the health department, they want to work with is that they have all the knowledge, but they don't quite know how to get to the people, and that's generally what we are good at, getting the work to the people. we partner with our board of education. we partner with groups like national league of cities and robert wood johnson to train other mayors have to do this. there are lots of partnerships we can form and i would like to talk about those. i'm not going to talk all of them today. in the minute you hear mayor curtatone of come up and speak. you see there are some differences between us. first in your knows if i don't have an accent, and he does. [laughter] >> the next thing you will notice is he comes from a large

city in the northeast. i come from a small town in the south. the other thing is, as was mentioned or do, we come from different political parties, but i think on this childhood obesity initiative we will work together. and i think that's something the entire country is going to be a lockstep on regardless of which side the iowa come from. we all want our children to go up and be healthy and live and live longer than we live. that's what this is all about. we might is accidentally balance the budget. you wonder why i said it. just a my little state, right now we're spending $982 million a year, almost $1 billion a year on obesity related illnesses. 580 million of that is medicare and medicaid. those are our tax dollars. that makes you where the under 400 million is. that's a for with insurance premiums, and those entrances are paid for by businesses and higher premise. so this will make everything better if we can just get this

under control. it's a lot of money. i think the paper today said $142 billion a year nationwide on obesity related illnesses. that's why this is important. in the u.s.a. today, i saw the first lady was quoted saying we need to quit quoting statistics, which i was just an. she said we need to quit and just get going. and so what i would like to do is just cite a few examples of how a small town like mine got going. you just can't do it all. we're probably 5 percent towards the goal in our town. people are looking is a you are doing a lot of things but we're nowhere near we need to be. but some of the things we've done our we just got going, in august a year and after we decide we will do a farmers market every said, it's too late in the season, let's wait until next you. we said no, let's get going and doing a. so we started, and within eight weeks we had 23 vendors. that gave us the whole winter to figure out what we had done wrong and the next these was just incredible. we have a great farmers market now because we just did it.

we started a community garden last year and got off to a rocky start. i had to get my neighbor to come down to kill it. we got all the neighborhood together. we had some hiccups, the people were eating out of the garden and we provide on the edge of our poor neighborhoods. now we've had all winter to figure out how we'd can make it better. we will move forward. we didn't have any use sports to pick up an account so we start a youth basketball league. they said how can you do that, you don't have a gym? well, we share facilities. we can't afford to build a gym so we got the school to let us have youth basketball in there. i am plugging so and that there is a group that has a model policy for how you can share that liability. because people always worry about the viability. i get tired of hurting about liability, frankly. i think we should just do things that but there are ways to get past that so we can all share these facilities that are there. we started a soccer league, and we didn't have any led to play soccer on because the fall soccer is the same time as fall

football. we couldn't kick the football guys off the football field, so we just found a guy in the neighborhood who at a vacant piece of land. he said we could lease it for 1 dollar a year. so you find these innovative partners that you can do without money because we don't have any money. we just do what we do. we have been installing walking paths. you do them one at a time. we look for the wildlife and fisheries grants that you can do them one at a time. but we are piecing it into. you, you can do things so simple. you can do a fundraiser, 100 feet of sidewalk doesn't cost much at people come out and help. but you have to start somewhere. a lot of it has to do with policies. and in the policies are what stay though, so you've got those policies in place and we have a policy in place mandating sidewalks and all to developers and redevelopments in 2001. and we have miles and miles of sidewalks in our town now that

will pay for by the developers and not out of tax dollars. those work. secretary sebelius was quoted this morning in a paper saying that we should involve not just the kids, but their parents. and i agree with that, absolutely. one thing we've done is almost all of you know state health department had this bug and called on the work. you can send people out there and get them trained in the program. they come back and started in your town. we're doing that. we call it healthy eating active living. we have 40 people in our town attending at every year. we are not want them to die, we are teaching them healthy lives as. so it's all about partnership. and i'm excited we are partnering together on this. so what i think we're supposed to be doing as mayors is not telling people to be healthy, that is a private decision. i absolutely believe in that. but what we have to do is create an atmosphere and an opportunity for good health. that's we're going to move forward to do. thank you. [applause]

>> thank you, mayor johnson. you just did one thing wrong. when you mentioned your fellow mayor, you have to say with an accent that you have to put a hand into. we talk about doing things often, childhood obesity and other things in our country. and sometimes we get stuck doing it at 10,000 feet. we don't come down to the base level will people actually are and keep it real so to say. this next mayor has done that. i love his load, shape up somerville, get in shape. and he has done it, his put himself in the communities and try to make a huge difference and i think it is working. mayor curtatone. [applause] >> thank you. good morning, thank you. madam first lady. it's great to be here. with all of you, the first lady,

secretaries, on this very important occasion. it's also for me an honor to be with my colleagues. my presence speaks at this issue cuts across all party lines. it affects every demographic, every community, rural, urban, suburban. and it affects us all, no matter what our ethnicity, race and socioeconomic status. do you hear a lot in my message and chip johnson's message is very similar. i was going to point out, he took my like of that he had the accident, i have the hair. [laughter] >> sorry, tiki. . .

>> we have partnered with local restaurants to create new menu items with a growing number of community supported agricultural dropoff sites we are transforming our environment for the long term. we have instituted policies and infrastructure changes to support walking, biking, public transportation, and access to open spaces including smart growth and a long-range plan to renovate parks and playgrounds. all of these efforts have had a

positive impact on the health of our children, their weight gain, and their physical activity. designed to improve the quality of life of residents. some of these initiatives can be replicated in communities across the country. we will tell you as leaders it is our responsibility to make decisions and develop policies that create environments that improve the quality of life for all those who want to live, work, play : and raise a family in our communities. we know that help the communities are productive communities. the healthy choice must be easy to this. i want to thank the first lady for her leadership, vision, and commitment. we stand with you, mrs. obama. together we can raise the socil consciousness of an entire country to overcome this epidemic and eliminate child with the b.c. we can make our entire nation,

healthier, happier, and more productive. think you very much. [applauding] >> i would be remiss if i did not acknowledge and thank the secretary for what he is doing in our schools. our schools, our kids are about responsibility. forcing that responsibility. we see examples of repair. you see failures everywhere. my next guest is a great success because you have -- where is tammy? tammy has the privilege, had the privilege last year of helping mrs. obama plantar garden when she was in fifth grade. now she is a sixth grader at

bancroft elementary. been nervous, but don't be. tammy, please join us. [applauding] >> good afternoon. my name is tammy nguyen. i am 12 years old. today i would like to say something about change and the way it happens. as you can see, a lot has changed for me. i have moved on from bancroft elementary to a new middle school where i am at the bottom i of new teachers, friends, cousins, and assignments. i could not really too much about this kind of change. it just happens to you as you get older. [laughter] but another big change in my life since last year has come because of a partnership by

classmates and i at bancroft elementary had with mrs. obama and the white house. my fifth grade class was invented to help dig, plant, harvest, cook, and eat vegetables from the white house kitchen garden. we picked the peas right off the vine and popped almost as many in our mouths as we put in the bowls. we researched best vegetables, where they came from, and many varieties. we care for them in our own school garden, and we're proud to show them with misses obama came and even helped us plant

seedlings from her house. from these experiences my friends and i have learned a lot about change, about eating healthy foods and making the right choices. we have learned the skills that will last a lifetime, and our lives to last a lot longer. as for change, sometimes it doesn't happen, and then kind of glad about that. my fifth grade classmates and i plan to keep that color on the plate, and i don't mean m&m's. [laughter] emily glad that mrs. obama is interested in continuing to teach kids the eating healthy and making good food choices. another thing that has not changed is what i said to mrs. obama when she visited my school last year. mrs. obama, you are an inspiration to us. thank you for motivating us and encouraging us in this existing card project.

ladies and gentlemen, it is an incredible honor for me to introduce someone who has done so much, the first lady of the united states, mrs. michele obama. [applauding] >> thank you, everyone. thank you so much. it is a thrill to have you all here in my home. i want to the thank tammy. i could just start crying. you are so weak and so smart. you have gotten so tall. you are on your game, girl. thank you for that wonderful introduction and for all your outstanding work. it is important, tammy, for you to know how much you and your classmates of all played a role in where we are today. look at this room. look at all these important people with cameras and lights,

and it is because of what you help me start at the white house garden. i am so proud of you all an and what you are doing well. you can do it. i want to recognize my cabinet members here. secretary sibelius, duncan, salazar, donovan. as well as surgeon general benjamin. i want to thank them all for there excellent work and leadership. you like doing a phenomenal job. i also want to think some of our other guest, senators harkin and gilbrand. good to see you all. thank you for your leadership. representative laurel,

christensen. thank you for you being here and to work to have done to get as to this point. i want to thank you. good on your feet. he is still upset because he is shorter than me. thank you for your work, your passion. we're glad to have you aboard. dr. judith palfrey, thank you for your wonderful work as well as will allen. wonderful words. we're going to get on it. you guessed a doing a terrific job, and you represent all of what we can do together. thank you all for coming today and braving this weather and risking getting stuck here. thank teefor the word that you

do every day to help our kids lead active and healthy lives. one final congratulations. i hear that the watkins hornets, are some of the hornets here? stand up. i know you are bored. [applauding] they are barely hanging in. so we want you here. this is really about all of you. we have got other kids, but these guys are the national football champions, right? [applauding] congratulations, guys. you guys can sit. we are almost done. hang in there. just think, you could be in school. but we are all here today because we care deeply about the

health and well-being of not just these kids up here, but for all kids like them all. clearly we are determined to finally take on one of the most serious threats to the future. obviously it is an issue of great concern to me, and and just as the first lady, but as a mother. as is often said, we begin by setting a sobering statistics like the ones we have heard today. we can't say enough because we have to drill this and. over the past three decades childhood obesity rates in this country a tripled. one in three of our children. the truth is these numbers don't paint the full picture, and it's important to say this. the words overweight and obese,

those words don't tell the full story. this isn't about inches and pounds, and it's not about how our kids look. it has nothing to do with that. it's about how our kids feel and how they feel about themselves. it's about the impact be are seeing that this issue is having on every aspect of their lives. pediatricians like dr. palfrey all over this country are seeing kids with high blood pressure, high cholesterol, more and more kids with type two diabetes, which used to only be a disease of adults. our teachers talking a lot of them, seeing how they are seeing the bullying, the teasing. coaches are seeing kids struggling to keep up. worse yet sitting on the sidelines unable to engage. our military leaders report that obesity is now one of the most

common disqualifiers for military service. economic experts tell us that we are spending outrageous amounts of money treating it obesity related conditions like diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. public health experts tell us that the current generation is actually on track to have a shorter life span than their parents. none of us want this future for our kids, and none of us want this feature for our country. so instead of just talking about this problem and worrying and wringing our hands it is time for us to get going and do something about this. we have to act. let's move. let's get this done. let's move to get families and communities together to make healthy decisions for the kids. let's move to get together our governors and mayors, doctors and nurses, businesses,

community groups, athletes, moms, dads, you name it together to tackle this challenge once and for all. we're here to launch this wonderful new campaign, let's move. let's hear it. let's move. [applauding] let's move is a campaign that is going to rally our nation to achieve a single but a very ambitious goal which is to solve the problem of child that obesity in a generation, so that children born today will be to reach adulthood at a healthy w eight. but to get where we want to go it is for us to understand how we get here. and i'm to ask all the grownups

to think back. like many of you when i was young and we walked to school every day. in chicago it was in the wind, sleet, snow, and hail. we were out there. we had to have recess. had to have it. had to have gym. we spent hours running around outside. you couldn't even go inside until it was time for dinner. and then in so many households we would gather around the table for dinner as a family. in my household and many there was one simple rule. you ate what was on your plate. could combat camorra good. kids as much as say in what it felt like eating. if you didn't like it you were welcome to get to bed hungry. back then fast food was a treat. it was something that happened occasionally. dessert was mainly a sunday affair. in my home we weren't rich. the foods weren't fancy, but

there was always a but still along the plate. we managed to lead pretty healthy lives. many kids today aren't so fortunate. urban sprawl and fears about safety often been the only walking your kids to is out the front door to a bus or car. cuts in recess and jim in a lot less running around for our kids ds during the school day. lunchtime may mean a school lunch heavy on calories and fat for many kids those afternoons spent riding bikes and playing ball until dusk have been replaced by afternoons inside with the tv on internet, video games. these days with parents working hard, in some cases two jobs they just don't have the time for this family dinners. with the price of fruits and vegetables rising 50% higher a lot of times they just don't

have the money. they don't have the supermarket in the community. the best option for dinner is something from the shelf of the local convenience store gas station. this is where we are. many parents desperately want to do the right thing, but they feel like the deck is stacked against them. they know their kids help is their responsibility, but they feel like it is completely out of their control, and they are bombarded by contradictory information at every turn. they don't know what to believe or who to believe. this leads to a lot of guilt and anxiety in a sense that no matter but they do it is not going to be right or enough. i know what that feels like. i have been there. i live in a wonderful house. today i am blessed with more help and support than i could have ever imagined, but that didn't always live in the white house. it wasn't that long ago that i was a working mom. i have shared this story, struggling to balance meetings

and deadlines and soccer and ballet. there were plenty of nights when you get home so hungry, and you just wanted to get through the drive-thru because it was quick and cheap. there was the time you threw in that less-healthy option. monday my pediatrician pulled me aside and told me might want to think about doing things a little bit differently. for me that was my moment of truth. it was a wake-up call that i was, in fact, the one in charge even if it didn't always feel that way. and today it is time for a moment of truth for our nation. it is time for a wake-up call for all of us. it is time for us to be really honest with ourselves about how we get your because the truth is our kids didn't do this to themselves. our kids don't decide what is served to them at school and whether there's time for a gym

or recess. our kids don't choose to make food products with tons of sodium in super-sized portions and then have those products marketed to them everywhere they turn. no matter how much they bag for pizza fries and candy, ultimately they are not and should not be the ones calling the shots at dinner time. first we are in charge. we make these decisions. fortunately that is to get news here. if we are the ones that make the decisions we can decide to solve this problem. when i say we i'm not just talking about folks in washington. this is not about politics. there is nothing democratic and republican, liberal or conservative about doing what is best for our children. i have not spoken to one expert about this issue who has said that the solution is having government tell people what to do. instead i'm talking about what we all can do.

i am talking about common sense steps we can take to help our kids lead active, healthy lives. this is an about turn the clock back to preparing five-course meals from scratch every night. no one has the time for that. it is not about being 100% perfect 100% of the time because lord knows i'm not. there is a place in this life for cookies and ice cream and burgers and fries. that is a part of the fun of childhood. often it is just about balance. it is about a really small changes that can add up like walking to school when you can, replacing soda with water and skim milk, trimming portion sizes just a little. things like this can mean the difference between being healthy and fit or not. then there is no one-size-fits-all solution here. instead it is about families making manageable changes that fit with their schedules and budgets and needs and tastes and

realities. it is about communities working to support these efforts, mayors like johnston and curtatoni who are building sidewalks and parks and community gardens. it is about athletes and role models who are building playgrounds help kids stay active. community leaders who are building farmers markets. and companies like the food industry leaders who came together last fall and that knowledge to their responsibility to be part of the solution. but there is so much more that we have to do. that is really the mission of let's move, to create this wave of effort across the country that gets us to our goal of solving childhood obesity in a generation. we kicked off this initiative this morning in my husband's office when he signed a presidential memorandum establishing the first-ever government-wide task force of childhood obesity. the task force is going to be

comprised of representatives from key agencies, many of whom are here today. over the next 90 days, yes, more work for you, these old folks will review every program and policy relating to child nutrition and physical activity. they're going to develop an action plan to marshal these resources and to make sure we are continuously on track to meet those goals the task force is going to set some real concrete benchmarks to measure our progress. we can't wait 90 days to get going here, and we won't. let's move right now starting today on a series of initiatives to help achieve our goals. first, let's move to offer parents the tools and information they need and have been asking for to make healthy choices for their kids. we have been working with the fda and several manufacturers and retailers to make your food labels more customer friendly to people don't have the spend hours squinting at the words they can't pronounce to figure

out whether the food they buy it healthy or not. clear and visible information of the front of their products as well as the new machines and soda fountains. this is exactly the kind of vital information parents need to make good choices for their kids. we are also working with the american academy of pediatrics in supporting their ground-breaking efforts to ensure that doctors not only regularly measure children's bmi and write that prescription detailing real steps that parents can take to get the kids healthy and fit. in addition we will be working with the walt disney company, nbc universal, and viacom to launch a nationwide public awareness campaign educating parents and children about how to fight childhood obesity. we are creating a one-stop shopping website, let's move dot

gov. they can use these things to keep their families progress on track. let's remember 41 million american children participate in the federal school meal program. many of these kids consume as many as half of their calories daily at school. what we don't want is the situation where parents are taking the right steps at home, and the kids undo all that work when they go to school with salty, fatty foods in the school cafeteria. so let's move to get healthier food into our nation's schools. that is the second part of this initiative. we will start by updating and strengthening the child nutrition act, the law that sets nutrition standards for what our kids eat at school. we propose a historic investment of an additional $10 billion over ten years to fund the

legislation. with this new investment we will knock down barriers that keep many families from participating in school meal programs. in that way we will add additional 1 million students in the first five years alone. we are going to dramatically improve the quality of the food we offer in schools, including in school vending machines. we will take away some of the empty calories and add more fresh fruits and vegetables and other nutritious options. we also plan to double the number of schools in the healthier u.s. school challenge. this is an innovative school program out of the department of agriculture that recognizes schools during the very best part. they're already providing healthy school meals, requiring physical education, incorporating nutrition education into their curriculum. to help us meet that goal i am thrilled to announce for the very first time several major the school food suppliers of come together and commited to decrease sugar, fat, and salt,

increase all green, and double the fresh produce in the school meals. [applauding] and also for the first time the food service workers along with principals, superintendents, school board members all across this country are all coming together to support these efforts. and with all of these commitments we will be able to reach just about every school child in this country with better information, more nutritious meals, and it will be able to put them on track to a healthier life. these are major steps. let's not forget about the rest of the calories our kids consume. ..

>> so let's move to insure that all our families have access to healthy, affordable food in their communities. that's the third part of this initiative. today for the very first time we're making a commitment to completely eliminate food deserts in america, and we plan to do that within seven years. now, we know this is ambitious, that's why it's going to take a serious commitment from both the government and the private sector. and we're going to invest $400

million a year in a healthy food financing initiative that's going to bring grocery stores to underserved areas and help places like convenience stores carry healthier food options. and this initiative won't just help families eat better, it's going to help, as will allen said, create jobs and revitalize neighborhoods all across america. but eating right is only part of the battle. experts recommend that children get 60 minutes of active play every single day, and if this sounds like a lot, consider this: kids today spend an average of 7 and a half hours a day watching tv, playing on the cell phone, computers, videof hi so let's move. and i mean literally, let's foro vity. be physically active both in and out of schools, and that's the fourth and final part of this initiative. we're going to increase

participation in the president's physical fitness challenge, and we'll modernize the challenge so it's not just about how athletic kids are. because not every kid is going to do push-ups and situps, but what's important is how active they are. we're going to double the number of kids who earn a presidential action award, those students who engage in physical activity five days a week for six weeks. and we've recruited professional athletes from all over the place induing the nfl, nba, major league baseball, they've all been terrific. so that's just some of what we're going to do today to achieve our goal, and we know it won't be easy, we won't get there this year, and we probably won't get there this administration. we know it will take a nationwide movement that continues long after we're gone.

that's why today i am so pleased to announce that a new independent foundation has been created to rally and coordinate businesses, nonprofits, state and local governments to keep working until we reach our goal and to measure our progress all along the way. this foundation is called the partnership for a healthier america, and it's bringing together some of the leading experts on childhood obesity like the robert wood johnson foundation, the california endowment, the kellogg foundation, the bookings institution and the alliance for a healthier generation which is a partnership between the american heart association and the clinton foundation. and we expect many others to join in the coming months. this is unheard of. so this is a pretty serious effort, one that i'm very proud of. proud of everyone for being a part of it. and i know that in these challenging times for our country there will be those who

will wonder whether this should really be a priority. there are going to be many who might view things like healthy school lunches and physical fitness challenges as extras, as things we spring for once we've taken care of all the necessities. there are going to be those who ask, how on earth can we spend money on fruits and vegetables in the cafeterias when many schools don't even have books and teachers? or how can we afford to build parks and sidewalks when we can't even afford our health care costs? but when you step pack and look at it -- back and look at it, these are false choices. if kids aren't getting adequate nutrition, even the best books and teachers in the world won't help them to get where we want them, to and if they don't have safe places to run and play, then those health care costs will just keep rising. so, yes, we have to do it all. we're going to need to make

modest but critical investments in the short run, but we know that they're going to pay for themselves likely many times over in the long run. because we won't just be keeping our kids healthy when they're young, we're going to be teaching them habits to keep them healthy their entire lives. and we saw this firsthand with the white house garden when we planted our garden with students like tammy last year. and one of tammy's classmates wrote in an essay that her time in the garden, and this is a quote, has made me think about the choices i have with what i put in my mouth. isn't that good? [laughter] another wrote with great excitement that he'd learned that tomatoes are both a fruit and a vegetable and contain vitamins that fight diseases, and armed with that knowledge he declared so the tomato is a fruit and is now my best friend. [laughter] what more could you want? [laughter] but just think about the ripple effect. when kids use this knowledge to

make healthy decisions for the rest of their lives. now, think about the effect it's going to have on every aspect of their lives, every bit of it. whether they can keep up with their classmates on the playground and stay focused in the classroom, whether they have the self-confidence to pursue the careers of their dreams and then the stamina to succeed in those careers, whether they'll have the energy and the strength to teach their own kids how to throw a ball and ride a bike, and whether they'll live long enough to see their grandkids grow up, maybe even their great grandkids too. see, in the end we know that solving our obesity challenge won't be easy, and it certainly won't be quick. but make no mistake about it, this problem can be solved. this isn't like a disease where we're still waiting for the cure to be discovered. we know the cure for this. this isn't like putting a man on the moon or inventing the internet, it doesn't take a

stroke of genius or feat of technology. we have everything we need right now to help our kids lead healthy lives, and rarely in the history of this country have we encountered a problem of such magnitude and consequence that is so imminently solvable. so let's move. let's move to solve it. because i don't want our kids to live diminished lives because we failed to step up today. i don't want them looking back decades from now and asking us, why didn't you help us when you had the chance? and why didn't you put us first when it mattered the most? so much of what we all want, as pinky said, for our kids isn't within our control. we want them to succeed at everything they do, everything. we want to protect them from every hardship and spare them from other mistake they'll will have, but we know we can't do all that. we can't do that. what we can do, what is fully

within our control is to give them the very best start in their journeys. what we can do is give them advantages early in life that will stay with them long after we're gone. as president franklin roosevelt once put it, we cannot always build the future for our youth, but we can wild our youth for the -- build our youth for the future. this is our obligation. not just as parents who love our kids, but as is thes who -- citizens who love this country. so let's move! let's move, let's get this done. [applause] thank you all so much. thank you. i look forward to working with you in the years to come. you all take care. [applause]

[inaudible conversations] >> his film, "hillary, the movie," was the focus of a recent court decision on campaign finance. documentary producer and head of citizens united, david bossie, sunday night on c-span's "q&a." >> it's the only collection of american presidential portraits painted by one artist by renowned painter and sculptor chazz fagan now on display at purdue university through february 2 19th. the -- 21st. through paintings, photographs,

prints and audio recordings sponsored by c-span and the white house his to historical association. and if you can't get to west lafayette, see the entire collection online at c-span's web site, american presidents.org. >> now a funeral service for former u.s. senator charles mathias who died recently at the age of 87. he served the state of maryland as a republican from 1969-1987. and prior to that four terms in the house representing the state's sixth congressional district. among those remembering him at washington national cathedral was his former senate colleague, vice president biden. this portion of the service is an hour.

>> mr. vice president, distinguished guests, friends and family, thank you for being with us today. we are here to celebrate the life of a great man. the public story has been well told. statesman, the conscious of the senate, protecter of the chesapeake, friend of nations, fierce advocate for the equal rights of all men and women. ours was a heady household to grow up in, but through it all dad was still dad, fun and fallible and full of love and devotion. and through it all a life's lessons emerged. dad loved to travel, and he would take charlie or me with

him whenever he could. it was part of our education and a great gift that he gave us. i remember my first trip to san francisco. i was young, maybe 12 or so. dad was there to make a speech, and i was along to see the city by the sea. one night we were on our own. we went out to dinner and for a short walk. we climbed one hill and then the next. i started to whine suggesting that we find a cab and go pack to our hotel. -- back to our hotel. just one more hill, dad would say, as we went up another and then another. i learned on that trip that san francisco was built upon seven hills, each of them walk bl, and that my father thought cabs were a waste of money. [laughter] it wasn't until later that i learned that he and senator pell had an ongoing contest as to who was the cheapest man in the senate. [laughter]

later in life i was lucky enough to accompany him to the city of light, paris. he was where, he was there with some important purpose, and i was primarily along for the ride. now well versed in my father's aversion to taxi cabs, i was not surprised to find us on the paris metro. on this particular day, dad was wearing his red lapel ribbon denoting his membership in the legion. the ribbon goes mostly unnoticed except by a few. as we boarded the metro, there was an elderly gentleman sitting many the seat that is reserved for the disabled, senior citizens and veterans of foreign wars. the man looked up, and when he saw that ribbon, he jumped up and with great excitement said,

my general, my general. dad smiled, acknowledged the greeting and much to my horror, took this 102-year-old's seat on a crowded train. [laughter] it would have been is rude to have done otherwise, he counseled me later. it's great to be great, my dad would say with awry smile and a twinkle in his eye when we would encounter such acts of kindness. but we knew what greatness meant in our father's eye. by his example greatness was with defined by humility, graciousness and service. i will never forget a time immediately following the 1968 riots when dad piled us into our blue buick station wagon and atrophy us down to the mall -- drove us down to the mall to see resurrection city, the tent and

plywood village that had erected itself many the midst of all the turmoil. at a time when my friends' families were fleeing the city for the safety and security of the suburban countryside, dad drove the other way. he drove us into the heart of the problem so we could see it and understand it for ourselves. it is a lesson that has stayed with me ever since. dad always had room are for people from all parts of life be they the water help from his beloved chesapeake, the residents of pig town in baltimore or the presidents and prime ministers, kings and queens of europe and the middle east. this was one of the hallmarks of the slightly round man in a rumpled suit. not long ago dad was giving my in-laws a tour of the capitol. his beloved foreign relations committee room was locked, but

he found a key, and he let us in. while we were inside, some tourists peered in and began to push their way through the open door. sarah and i quietly nudged them away whispering that the room was closed to the public. dad caught what was going on out of the corner of his eye, and he interrupted himself. come in, he called, come in. well kohl. take a look -- welcome. take a look around. let me know if you have any questions, and then he continued with his oral history of the treaties that had been negotiated at that table. lesson learned. dad also was a great scholar, a lover of history, he was one of the best-read people i knew. i often thought that dad was born 200 years too late. he spoke of jefferson in the first person, could cite the federalist papers from memory, and had the love of and respect for the constitution of an

origin original author. this was all an important part of life with father. i remember a time when i was in college researching a paper that was due the next day. this was long before the advent of the google machine. there was a point i wanted to make, but i needed some hi to have call -- historical context and some actual facts with which to make it. i called dad, my own personal search engine. he opined that hard rot discuss had first introduced this thinking. when i opined this was interesting but not really all that helpful as i needed source material and footnotes that night, he told me he would call me back. two hours later, well past midnight, he phoned with the volume, photograph and page number along with the relevant quote. for the previous two hours he had been sitting in the cold and

dark of our attic going through his volumes to help an errant son out of a jam. stick with dad and you'll be glad, is the refrain that dad would chime whenever we would arrive at a hard-to-find destination or when the result of a seemingly hare-brained scheme of his actually turned out as intended. charlie and i would groan and roll our eyes. stick with dad and you'll be glad is how i regale my girls, and i take great pleasure in their subsequent groans and eye-rolling movements. i guess it's true, like father, like son. dad was fun, and he could be wickedly funny. i loved to listen to his tales about uncle buzzy's unusual zest for life almost as much as he loved telling them. he delighted in trading

witticisms with his sister who always made him laugh. i remember one summer night at the pinkus' dinner table when dad suddenly laid down on the floor, hands and feet wriggling in the air demonstrating the proper technique for playing dead ants, something he apparently learned in the navy. [laughter] and then there were summer visits in maine where dad and david look would play with their world war ii vintage walkie-talkies like two adolescent boys. war horse one to war horse two, went the gleeful call even when they were sitting next to each other. [laughter] the portrait of this man would not be complete without a mention of dad as the grandfather. in a word, he was wonderful. he took great joy in experiencing the joy of our

children, and from the day of their birth he treated each one with love and with warmth. always with a lollipop in his pocket, he greeted them each with a hug and a squeeze and rejoiced in the reciprocation of that act. from early days at the farm when they were babies to more recent times when he would surrender old trinkets to their young and curious hands, dad always welcomed claire and katie into his life. sharing what he could, always offering more. our children knew their grandfather, and for this i am forever grateful. but dad's life was not a one-man play. he had a wife of 51 years whom he loved with all of his heart, a devoted son, charlie, of whom he was so very proud, an extended family that supported him always, colleagues and

friends who advised him wisely, and the best staff in the united states senate. all of whom he treasured and all of whom were an important part of the achievements that now mark his life. i am grateful to you all. patience, humor, kindness, humility, these are all qualities, all lessons that my father taught me. but perhaps the single greatest lesson that he left me with is the power of perseverance, the simple act of moving forward. keep moving, one foot in front of the other, one step at a time, never give up, never lose hope, never lose sight of that which is in front of you. persevere. this really is how dad lived his life from his view of family and

friendship to his philosophy of government to the way he chose to live with par kinson's disease. parkinson's was the darkest and perhaps most unfair chapter of dad's extraordinary life, but we never gave into it, he never surrendered to it, and he never once complained about it. he just kept going one step at a time, one foot in front of the other every day until the very end. it is what he chose for his coat of arms, it is the family motto, it is an ode to a great man, preserve. preserve, dad. we love you and we miss you.

>> when word of the passing of our beloved senator charles mathias reached me, i felt the same way winston churchill said england felt with the death of king george vi was announced. the news struck a solemn note that made people pause and look around them. a new sense of values took the hearts of mortals. the same moment in the serenity and the sorrow, and in its splendor and in its pain and its fortitude and in its suffering. mac mathias has gone home. and so we gather today to

celebrate the life of a man who did his duty by meeting his high calling. we sent out our compassion to ann bradford mathias whose marriage to mac was a love match, a perfect blending of old stock new england. and our own compassion goes out to charlie and rob and the rest of the mathias family. here's to a man whose dignity, wisdom, courage and integrity earned him the respect and admiration of all who met him, all who knew him, a number far too high to measure. and still this celebration would be incomplete were it to conclude without a few words about other members of the mathias family who, at a much earlier date, were also called home from above.

first, let us speak of sha finish ny. shanny. may i see a show of hands of those who recognize the name? for those of you in the dark, shanny played the lead role in the stephen country horrow movie, kujo -- cujo, about a big dog that terrorized a small town in maine. shanny scared the life out of capitol hill police and probably even some senators. mac mathias loved shanny, sha insurancenny loved the senator. a sure fire way to keep staff meetings first.

when shammy was called to his final home, there may have been weeping in the mathias household, but you could hear soft, fervent murmurs of thanks be to god, thanks be to god. [laughter] shortly after shammy's departure, i expressed sympathy to the senator for his loss. senator mathias said wistfully, colby, shammy's up there running through fields of clover chasing the rabbits. perhaps so. but my imagination, i too could see shammy up there romping, but i imagined him romping over to peter's place and paul's and luke's and john's, romping all over the lilies of the field. i could see him venturing into the older parts of heaven, stomping on the gardens of moses

and isaiah and jeremiah, and i could imagine the emergency town hall meeting called by the saints. their conclusion? that shammy needed a place to stay, and despite the mercy shown to all god's creatures at all times, no one in the celestial palace volunteered to take shammy. thus it was decided that the time had come to call home the blue bomber. a show of hands if you know the blue bomber. a show of hands if you ever rode in the blue bomber. a show of hands if you ever requested a ride in the blue bomber. [laughter] of course you didn't. the senator just told you to get in, and you got in. for the uninformed, the blue bomber was the means by which the senator transported himself from his home in chevy chase to the senate, and from capitol hill to the farm in frederick, and to every corner of maryland, sometimes heavily laden with the

o odor of manure. sometimes with the manure itself fresh from the farm. [laughter] i refused to call the blue bomber an automobile. i believe it was one of the vehicles that landed at the beach of normandy. [laughter] and took direct hits all the way to berlin. anyway, that's the way the blue bomber looked with the senator behind the wheel and shammy slobbering in the backseat. [laughter] so the serenity of heaven would be restored by calling the blue bomber home to be made into a dwelling place for shammy. the response here on earth was tremendous. from connecticut avenue to reno road, from the department of motor vehicles in man