Aristocratic Dietary Restrictions

Nicole Russell at the American Spectator makes a great point about the Obamas’  constant admonitions that Americans need the Federal Government to help them eat better, while nonchalantly breaking their own rules.

When President Obama indulges in fast food while traveling he exhorts interested onlookers: “Don’t tell Michelle.” The fit First Lady is, of course, an advocate of healthy foods and outspoken about childhood obesity. She had her own “Don’t tell Barack” moment recently, when she stopped at a diner in Milwaukee and had classic greasy fare: a burger and fries. Mrs. Obama’s meal really wouldn’t be anyone else’s business were it not for her own aspiration to rewrite the nation’s menus.

Feel-Good Fatties

Kerrie at the Liberal Heretic (no relation) has an observation about the obesity epidemic:

In an honest post on Facebook, my partner Sharon pointed out that the generation of I’m Special, has caused a severe epidemic here in America.

We’re fat, ladies.

Not just a little bit. We aren’t thick, big and beautiful, or “curvy”. We’re huge.

What most amazes me, perhaps because of my age, is how people who’re morbidly obese still manage to have an incredibly high self esteem. The reason I say this, is because when I was a child, being fat wasn’t an acceptable state in which to be. It was seen as a lack of self control, or laziness.

Now I’m not saying people aren’t genetically predisposed to obesity, and there are certainly medical conditions that exacerbate the problem. But most of us are fat because we’re more sedentary, we eat crappy food, and we have this new PC form of acceptance for obesity. Such as the titles above.

New York Cracks Down on “Smoke-easies”

From Jacom Sullum at Reason Magazine:

New York City is cracking down on “smoke-easies,” bars and clubs that let their customers light up despite a municipal edict that forbids such accommodation …  Because many of the targeted night spots are defended by nearly impregnable barriers of coolness, the health department “has deputized a team of inspectors—many of them younger and hipper-looking than the stereotypical bureaucrat—to work into the wee hours, posing as patrons and hunting for tolerance of smoking by clubs’ employees.”

When Food Nazis Strike: The New York Salt Ban

Never underestimate the desire of Progressives to control your lives in any and every way possible. The core of Progressivism is the notion that Progressive are a super-intelligent intellectual aristocratic elite, and therefore they know what’s best for you better than you do, since you are an uneducated, unenlightened, unsophisticated rube. So they will fight to use the force of law to compel you to behavior that they are sure is better for you than whatever you may want for yourself, because their extreme 133tness gives them the right to tell you what to do.

So in New York, we get this:

“No owner or operator of a restaurant in this state shall use salt in any form in the preparation of any food for consumption by customers of such restaurant, including food prepared to be consumed on the premises of such restaurant or off of such premises,” the bill, A. 10129, states in part.

Why Regulating Nutritional Suppliments is Stupid

Melissa Clouthier at Right Wing News rebuts a previous article by John Hawkins calling for increased regulation of dietary suppliments. Her arguments prettyt much come down to consumer education and free market solutions, and I’m inclined to agree. It is not for the government to wipe people’s bottoms and tell them they can’t take a vitamin or herbal suppliment because some pharmeceutical company has lobbied government.