CHICAGO (MarketWatch) -- A record number of Americans are now receiving food stamps, according to data released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. In May, there were 45.75 million recipients of the aid, up 2.5% from the previous month and 12% from May of 2010. The state of Alabama showed the biggest increase, almost 120%, with New Jersey, Nevada and North Carolina all seeing jumps in the 20% range. Every state posted a percentage increase, save North Dakota, which was essentially flat.

And you see story after story about ordinary people stepping in with what little they have to provide free meals to children in the summer months, when they cannot get the free or reduced price breakfasts and lunches through the schools, it's enough to make one weep.  

The story I saw last night showed a woman in the south somewhere, feeding hundreds of children every day - delivering the meals by bus - and the reporter talked to some of the kids about it.  When kids are saying things like, "if I can get food here, that means there's food for my mom and dad to eat at home," you know that on their own, people in this situation cannot afford to eat healthy - they're lucky if they eat at all.

http://www.letsmove.gov/kids

This is about blaming kids for not being healthy and another way to separate the rich from the poor.

Yes you can eat your veggies, as long as you can afford them.  Help with dinner?  What if there IS no dinner.

The rest is just fluff to make her feel better.

Downrate me all you want.  Have fun.  But Obama's government is just simple tried and true conservativism, and Ms. Obama's efforts are nothing more than that.  She comes from the upper eschelons, and that's all she understands....and this narrow-minded program of hers pretty much proves it....

Link

And if we examine each of the above achievements, we realize, that despite their well meaning, they are insignificant in the grand scheme of things:

1. Awareness is not enough. When the cheapest option for a hardworking mom to feed her kids is to pick up a pizza pie or a bucket of KFC on the way home from the office, what does it help her to know that her family needs to consume more veggies.

By the way, McDonald's had its best year ever in 2010, with sales growth both domestically (4.4% !!!) and internationally (yes, we are exporting obesity).

2. The partnership with food manufacturers and retailers is interesting. At the end of the day these corporations are out to make money. And the most profitable products are the least healthy. Partly due to farm subsidies that make sugar-like sweeteners (HFCS) so cheap. Will Michelle Obama tackle the 2012 Farm Bill? Heck, even Barack is not going to touch that can of worms.

3. It's hard to see how the child nutrition bill, adding pennies a day to an already low cost school lunch will have an impact. Yes, there are some grass roots local success stories, but they are an exception to the rule.

4. Our entire society is set up for fast food and for junk food. It is obesogenic from the moment we wake up til we go to sleep. Just look at the Superbowl commercials this past Sunday, 12 out of 12 were for junk. While the USDA is telling us to eat less, companies are making larger and larger portions. Just read this recent quote:

"The bottom line is we're in the business of making money, and we make money off of what we sell," said Beth Mansfield, spokeswoman for CKE Restaurants Inc., which owns the Carl's Jr. and Hardee's chains. "If we wanted to listen to the food police and sell nuts and berries and tofu burgers, we wouldn't make any money and we'd be out of business."

And thus we enter 2011 with a warm fuzzy feeling in our tummy - the first lady is watching out for our kids. If only she had the real power to do so ...

But she does have the power to do so, but Austerity is more important to her and her equally conservative husband.

... if he is really that clueless, or if it's campaign schtick.

From the WaPo [with my commentary in brackets]:

White House officials are weighing ["weighing:" because, it's the thought that counts, right?] a proposal to offer tax cuts to employers in return for hiring new workers. [Aren't we already doing that?] The administration considered this idea last year, but it gave way to a broader payroll tax deduction for workers in a bipartisan deal in December.

In addition, administration officials are considering proposing new investments in domestic clean energy as well as renewing tax breaks [is this the only thing these people can ever think of?] for companies using renewable energy -- particularly wind power -- that are to expire this year.

Also on the table is an initiative designed to help the ailing housing market without the need for more public spending [because God knows, we can't have that]. Under that proposal, the government-controlled mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would rent out foreclosed properties that they own rather than try to sell them at depressed prices [that's it?  "Call your new landlord at 1-800-FREDDIE!"]. That approach could relieve pressure on the housing market, one of the main drags on the economy [so could application of the billions in unused TARP money that was set aside for housing - oh, wait - that's "public" spending, and we don't do that].

Former administration officials are pushing other initiatives, such as a program to rebuild and rehabilitate schools as a way to improve education and stimulate the economy [note the use of "former" - that means "no one currently a member of the administration supports it" - or they would have said so]. A fan of this approach, Jared Bernstein, a former chief economist for Vice President Biden, calls the program "Fix America's Schools Today."

And gee, here's one:

"In his statement, Romney tried to appeal to conservatives. "As president, my plan would have produced a budget that was cut, capped and balanced - not one that opens the door to higher taxes and puts defense cuts on the table," he stated."

But it's true, it's hard to pin anything on Romney, because he's completely disowned anything he ever said/did while actually in office, and he is such a slimeball that he will say just about anything to win.  In a way, he will be interesting to watch as he tries to thread the needle between the tea party and independents.

Although it's no wonder he wants to run away from us, his record here was pretty terrible.  While he was governer we had some of the worst growth in the country, now we are one of the top states for growth.  And his vaunted "business experience" was all about cutting American jobs.

It's not spine, it's not courage, it's not negotiating skills, it's not helplessness, it's not foolishness, it's not bad advice, it's not Geithner - it's that Obama does not believe in the same things Democrats believe in.

Until he does, it's just going to be SSDD.

Heck, the whole party needs to rid itself of the Ploufes and Axelrods etc.

I would add Geithners to the your list, but in reality they all have a common denominator, the person that put them in their currect positions.