The American Journal of Public Health did a study on restaurant locations in Chicago and discovered that they were strategically located in the busy parts of town. [The nerve] They go on to suggest that fast food restaurants are also located too close to schools and that zoning restrictions should be put in place to force restaurants to move away from population centers. (As opposed to moving the schools)

"This study emphatically does not show fast food outlets intentionally locating near schools," said Dan Mindus, senior analyst for The Center for Consumer Freedom. "All this study indicates is that restaurants are likely to be found in areas of high commercial activity -- the same places you might find a bank, a clothing store, a grocery chain, or a gas station. Restaurants locate where people work and shop. According to this study, when schools aren't in commercial areas, they're not likely to be close to a fast food restaurant."

Zoning restrictions on restaurants are just the latest example of a broad agenda to restrict what Americans eat and drink. This agenda also includes taxation and litigation.

In the study's conclusion, the authors compare fast food to the danger of guns to minors. Given legal precedents with regard to "firearms vendors," the study suggests the government should "impose stricter controls on fast-food restaurant sites."

You don't find guns in vending machines and in most states you must be 18 years or older to purchase guns. It sounds like a shock quote to me.

"Suggesting that a cheeseburger poses the same danger to a child as a gun shows pretty clearly that the food police have gone too far," Mindus said. "Instead of zoning restrictions on restaurants, there should be publishing restrictions on bogus studies that are simply propaganda pieces in support of radical regulations."

By that logic, wouldn't placing schools near Planned Parenthood clinics encourage kids to become parents? Try suggesting zoning restrictions for those and see what happens. Same argument for churches.

UPDATE: Photo supplied by reader Steve S.