Pirate's Cove

Remember when Michelle Obama was elected to the position of First Lady, allowed to make laws and rules, so that she could do things like this?

(Politico) First lady Michelle Obama will unveil a proposal Tuesday that would ban marketing junk food and sodas in schools — an unusually aggressive position for the administration that could draw the ire of school districts, food companies and conservatives.

Schools would no longer be able to house vending machines that sport images of their flagship sodas, have posters promoting unhealthy food and drinks or use cups in cafeterias that market high-calorie beverages, among other forms of promotion, according to administration officials.

The proposal — part of an updated school wellness policy crafted by the Department of Agriculture — would require marketing of all food and drinks to fall in line with the same healthier standards that are expected to be required of foods sold during the 2014-15 school year. Both sets of measures, which go beyond the new school lunch and breakfast requirements, stem from the 2010 Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act.

Last time I checked, she had no authority to determine rules, regulations, and law. More importantly, this is simply more of the Central Planning Office, er, federal Executive Office determining how people eat for the entire country, getting involved in our lives. Funny how Liberals want government out of our lives when it comes to abortion on demand, but want input and control over what we eat and drink

The updated standards for foods sold in schools, which have yet to be finalized, would require snack foods, including those in vending machines, to meet at least one of the following requirements: be a whole-grain-rich grain product; have as the main ingredient a fruit, a vegetable, a dairy product or a protein food; be a combination of food that contains at least one-quarter of a cup of fruits or vegetables; or contain 10 percent of the Daily Value of nutrients like calcium, vitamin D or dietary fiber.

The foods also would have to meet calorie, fat, sodium and sugar limits.

For beverages, elementary and middle schools are mostly limited to water, unflavored and low-fat milk, or 100 percent fruit and vegetable juice. High school students will be able to buy a certain amount of low- or no-calorie beverages.

The American Beverage Association actually applauded this interference in citizens lives, but, then, they’ll make more money off selling water than soft drinks. Water has a higher net profit. And for the schools, the marketing brings in cash for school operations, and this could have a detrimental effect on that cash flow.

“This is potentially the first time the government has set limits on marketing in schools. What kind of precedent does this set?”

This is why the Framers established the powers of the federal government while creating a federal republic, leaving all powers not delegated to the States and the People. They wanted, for one, to avoid an over-arching, dictatorial, intrusive, domineering, controlling federal authority, especially one where the Executive branch could simply make the rules up as they see fit.