i'm sure bittman eats at gourmet joints, so why not tax goose liver or linens?one buys "the times," we make them read a book. the tax is your punishment which funds things like soymilk, sprouts, and unitarreds. those are stupid. people will end up paying more for their coca-cola because coke adds life, unlike creeps like bittman. >> what the hell unitard? >> the thing you wear when you go home. >> the guys that wear bicycles, wear the euro trash outfits with helmets, i want to drive them off the road. >> greg has a really good point. the question being, why is it that the elite should get to choose what's taxed? >> right. a gourmet restaurant -- a gourmet meal has a couple thousand calories in it. it's high fat. yet they point at mcdonald's. >> why should the government which can't deliver the mail tax our food and try and tell us what to do? who is the government to tell us what to eat? >> let me make a serious point here. michelle obama, i'll defend her over and over again, childhood obesity is an epidemic in this country. you'll pay more money -- >> we don't

to do so, we join jim bittman joining us today.s to be a presidential hopeful for the 2012 elections. >> reporter: well, it could be. one of the things we're waiting to see if the prosecutor actually files charges. they're filing a complaint back in 2003. she was a young journalist. and she says that strauss-kahn assaulted her in an empty apartment, while she was trying to get an interview with him. in any case, the prosecutor has to take her complaint and decide if there's sufficient evidence eight years on, to file charges against strauss-kahn. that could take a while before that is ascertained. on the question of his political future, there was a public opinion poll that came out this morning that indicates most french would not like him to present himself as a presidential candidate. at least not right now. about 54% according to that survey, said it would not be a good idea if he was a presidential candidate. >> why would that be, jim? is it because his name is, to a certain extent,s be sullied by the accusations he's facing o

. >> reporter: some industry experts including mark bittman thinks soda and junk foods should be taxeda lot in some states, and we force the tobacco companies to contribute money to anti-smoking programs. now if we taxed soda and junk food similarly and began a huge public health campaign that said this is the way we ought to eat, we might see similar results. >> reporter: according to yale's red center a national penny per ounce on sweetened beverages would generate $13 billion a year in tax revenues. call it a junk food tax and whole foods subsidy. raise the price of foods high in fat, calories and preservatives and drop the cost of fresh vegetables, fruits and other organic perishables. how much did you pay for the chips. >> a dollar. >> reporter: if they were $2 more would you still buy them? >> no. they would be too expensive for a snack. >> reporter: some say a new tax is the last thing we need. it could mean a healthier america. >> that's a healthy lunch. >> reporter: michelle miller, cbs news, new york. >> one columbia university study estimates one penny on every ounce of swee

. >> mark bittman.e's a picky eater. >>> much more coming up including the ten ways to be polite. one of them is not speaking with food in your mouth. this is "today" on nbc! >>> it used to be when you went out to dinner, women ordered first, men paid and you were required to wear a sport jacket. times have changed. tim zaga tfrkt is here with ten rules for dining-out etiquette. nice to see you. this is the first time you've done an etiquette survey, isn't it? >> absolutely. >> why did you decide this was the right time? >> we just decided in a world of using cell phones to make ord s orders, reservations online, that it was about time we looked at the whole thing. >> let's get to the rules. the first one is about equality. are men and women treated differently in restaurants? what do the people in the survey say about this? >> well, they say they should be, obviously. >> should be treated equally. >> but they're not. 24% of surveyors say women are treated less well. so the restaurants sort of changed t