New Food Rules: A Guide to your Government Regulated Diet

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/new-food-regulations-a-guide-to-your-government-diet/

• Posted on September 22, 2010 at 7:09pm by  Meredith Jessup
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As Glenn mentioned on his Fox show this evening, new government regulatory crackdowns on certain foods and beverages across the country are forcibly shaping new dietary habits for many Americans. To make things easier, we thought we'd consolidate and break down a number of the bureaucratic overreaches for you.

How is government working to limit your scrumptious individual liberties? Let us count some of the ways…

• As we've reported, officials in Boston, Mass., are contemplating a ban on "sugary" beverages from the vending machines of all city municipal buildings in an attempt to whittle down public employees' waistlines.

• Likewise, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom used his executive order power to ban sodas and other sugary beverages from public building vending machines, replacing them with diet drinks and soy milk products.

• In a separate executive order, the San Francisco Mayor also single-handedly banned the use of city funds to purchase bottled water. "[Bottled water manufacturers] are making huge amounts of money selling God's natural resources. Sorry, we're not going to be part of it," he said.

• In New York, a Brooklyn Democrat introduced a bill in the state legislature earlier this year to ban the use of salt in restaurant cooking.

• The New York Times dubbed the state of California a "national trendsetter in all matters edible" when Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a bill in July to ban trans fats from the state's 88,000 restaurants.  "Under the new law, trans fats, long linked to health problems, must be excised from restaurant products beginning in 2010, and from all retail baked goods by 2011."  Other places that have banned trans fats include New York City, Philadelphia, Stamford, Conn., and Montgomery County, Md. — a suburb of Washington, D.C.

• In perhaps one of the most outrageous cases of regulations restricting small business, health officials in Oregon shut down 7-year-old Julie Murphy's roadside lemonade stand in August for failing to secure a $120 "temporary restaurant" license.

• Kids may also be also be getting the shaft in San Francisco where officials are launching a campaign to ban "Happy Meals" or any other meals that come with a toy.  The so-called "Healthy Meals Incentive" would ban toys if the food contains too much fat, sugar or salt.  It wouldn't be the first time meal-time toys would be nixed in California; earlier this year, Santa Clara County approved an ordinance "to break the link between unhealthy food and prizes."

• New York City has banned school bake sale as part of a new wellness policy that also limits options in vending machines and student-run stores.  Proceeds from the ventures generally used to help help finance school-related activities like pep rallies and proms.

• Under state laws in Texas, a single piece of candy landed a 10-year-old Brazos Elementary School student in detention for a week in May.

USA Today: 1 OUT OF 6 TAKE GOV'T AID...

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2010-08-30-1Asafetynet30_ST_N.htm

Record number in government anti-poverty programs Updated 4m ago |  Comments 434  |  Recommend 8 E-mail | Save | Print | Reprints & Permissions |

Enlarge By Paul Sakuma, AP Close to 10 million receive unemployment insurance, nearly four times the number from 2007. Benefits have been extended by Congress eight times beyond the basic 26-week program.  COSTS RISE WITH CASELOADS Share Yahoo! Buzz  Add to Mixx  Facebook  Twitter More Subscribe  myYahoo  iGoogle More By Richard Wolf, USA TODAY WASHINGTON — Government anti-poverty programs that have grown to meet the needs of recession victims now serve a record one in six Americans and are continuing to expand. More than 50 million Americans are on Medicaid, the federal-state program aimed principally at the poor, a survey of state data by USA TODAY shows. That's up at least 17% since the recession began in December 2007. POLITICS: Welfare agencies boost voter rolls "Virtually every Medicaid director in the country would say that their current enrollment is the highest on record," says Vernon Smith of Health Management Associates, which surveys states for Kaiser Family Foundation. The program has grown even before the new health care law adds about 16 million people, beginning in 2014. That has strained doctors. "Private physicians are already indicating that they're at their limit," says Dan Hawkins of the National Association of Community Health Centers. More than 40 million people get food stamps, an increase of nearly 50% during the economic downturn, according to government data through May. The program has grown steadily for three years. Caseloads have risen as more people become eligible. The economic stimulus law signed by President Obama last year also boosted benefits. "This program has proven to be incredibly responsive and effective," says Ellin Vollinger of the Food Research and Action Center. Close to 10 million receive unemployment insurance, nearly four times the number from 2007. Benefits have been extended by Congress eight times beyond the basic 26-week program, enabling the long-term unemployed to get up to 99 weeks of benefits. Caseloads peaked at nearly 12 million in January — "the highest numbers on record," says Christine Riordan of the National Employment Law Project, which advocates for low-wage workers. More than 4.4 million people are on welfare, an 18% increase during the recession. The program has grown slower than others, causing Brookings Institution expert Ron Haskins to question its effectiveness in the recession. As caseloads for all the programs have soared, so have costs. The federal price tag for Medicaid has jumped 36% in two years, to $273 billion. Jobless benefits have soared from $43 billion to $160 billion. The food stamps program has risen 80%, to $70 billion. Welfare is up 24%, to $22 billion. Taken together, they cost more than Medicare. INFOMOTION GRAPHIC: A historical look at the national debt INTERACTIVE GRAPHIC: Getting a grip on government debt The steady climb in safety-net program caseloads and costs has come as a result of two factors: The recession has boosted the number who qualify under existing rules. And the White House, Congress and states have expanded eligibility and benefits. Conservatives fear expanded safety-net programs won't contract after the economy recovers. "They're much harder to unwind in the long term," says Michael Tanner of the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank. Other anti-poverty experts say the record caseloads are a necessary response to economic hardship. "We should be there to support people when the economy can't," says LaDonna Pavetti of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a liberal-leaning think tank.