Posted on 02/14/2011 6:55:34 PM PST by Free ThinkerNY
First lady Michelle Obama will be speaking out to remove barriers to breastfeeding, Politics Daily has learned, throwing the spotlight on nursing as a way to reduce childhood obesity.
This comes as the Obama administration in the past year has made several moves to encourage breastfeeding -- including a push for more flexible workplace rules and an Internal Revenue Service ruling on Thursday that breast pumps and other nursing supplies qualify for tax breaks.
Mrs. Obama -- who has spoken in public about nursing her youngest daughter, Sasha -- is going to tread carefully in what might be a sensitive area for some women -- and not use her bully pulpit to directly ask more women to breast feed.
"Breastfeeding is a very personal choice for every woman," Kristina Schake, Mrs. Obama's communications chief, told Politics Daily. "We are trying to make it easier for those who choose to do it."
Last week, Mrs. Obama touched on breastfeeding strategy at a lunch with 10 print reporters who cover her to mark the first anniversary of her "Let's Move" anti-childhood obesity campaign.
Looking ahead to what she will do in the second year of "Let's Move," Mrs. Obama said: "We also want to focus on the important touch points in a child's life. And what we're learning now is that early intervention is key. Breastfeeding. Kids who are breastfed longer have a lower tendency to be obese.
"We want to get into child-care centers, day-care centers, and start talking about how -- what kind of snacks they're getting there. We want to have those conversations at an earlier level. But those are just some of the things that you'll see."
(Excerpt) Read more at politicsdaily.com ...
In case anybody still here is genuinely intersted, this article refers to the IRS reversing their decision to declassify breast pumps and related supplies as allowable expenses for healthcare savings accounts.
We now return you to your regularly scheduled hyperbole....
Moochelle and the Fuhrer have been suckling off the US taxpayers since January 09. in 2012, they will be weaned courtesy of We The People.
If the feds can regulate a farmer who grows wheat to use on his own farm because it affects interstate commerce, then they could also tax a woman who uses breast milk to feed her babies, because it impacts the interstate trade in dairy products.
I think the court needs to revisit Wickard v. Filburn.
Cheaper than WIC? Maybe. That is a good reason. They have to cut somewhere.
Under the “Sauce For The Goose Is Sauce For The Gander” legal theory, the following arguments are unavoidable:
1. In light of the new “Equality of the Sexes” legislation, if any female is allowed time off for breast feeding, males must also be given time off.
Mere possession of functional breasts can no longer be used as a legal basis for discrimination!
2. Any tax breaks allowed to women must also be offered to men. Anything less is discrimination against those with Y Chromosomes!
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