First Lady Food Cop

I don’t believe in politicizing the First Lady, so I’ve tried really hard to give Michelle Obama the benefit of the doubt in her effort to make everyone —-especially kids —eat healthier.

But read this and you can only come to one conclusion….

The discussions are preliminary, and participants say they are nowhere near an agreement like the one Mrs. Obama announced recently with Wal-Mart to lower prices on fruits and vegetables and to reduce the amount of fat, sugar and salt in its foods. But they reveal how assertively she is working to prod the industry to sign on to her agenda.

…But as she uses her public platform to persuade children to eat healthier and exercise more, Mrs. Obama and her team are also quietly pressing the levers of industry and government. Over the past year she has become involved in many aspects of the nation’s dietary habits, exerting her influence over nutrition policy.

…That Mrs. Obama is as committed as her husband to bringing the strong arm of government down on every aspect of our lives.

Post Super Bowl roundup

Because everything else pales in comparison to last night’s 31-25 Packers victory.

*Happy belated 100th birthday, Ronald Reagan. Our country was going down the crapper when you stepped in and saved it. We face the same danger today, but —I’ll be honest — I don’t know who’s going to step in and save us this time;

*The Forsyth County Board of Elections will meet in open session to discuss allegations against director Rob Coffman;

*Both the N&R and the Winston-Salem Journal stick up for municipal annexation;

*Local economic developers complain about Senate bill that would divert money from so-called economic development funds. Civitas argued back in ’09 that Golden LEAF should simply be dissolved;

*WSJ’s Travis Fain has a good budget primer:

Spending-cut promises roll easily off the tongue.

But actually eliminating more than 4,000 teaching jobs and 1,900 university jobs, increasing community-college tuition, cutting Medicaid prescription benefits and laying off officers in the Department of Corrections? That’s harder to do.

*As reported last week, Lexington leaders toured train depots —including Greensboro’s —- as they anticipate funding for a downtown depot of their very own. An NCDOT official says a shift to more travel by rail and bus “appears the trend of the future.” Oh it does, does it?