A Stitch in Haste

Having nothing better to do with the city's budget — like, for instance, lowering taxes — Mayor Blooperberg and his chief health fascist, Thomas Frieden, are now declaring war on baby formula:

The city Health Department is spending more than $2 million in city-run hospitals to encourage moms to breast-feed.
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"That means getting formula out of the nursery. It means putting the baby on the breast immediately after birth. It means that every person who interacts with that mother and child is supportive and encouraging of breast-feeding[," said Frieden.]

Two million dollars per year? They couldn't just send an email to maternity ward staff? "Hey, be sure to remind them about breast feeding."

It gets worse:

Baby-formula companies have long plied hospitals with goody bags for new parents, filled with free samples and bottles. But that will come to an end[;] public hospitals will now give new parents freebies like ice packs to keep pumped breast milk fresh.

So "greedy" capitalist firms are giving away free stuff (and free baby formula is hardly equivalent to, e.g., free cigarettes), for the city to distribute to poor families — and the city will now refuse to take or distribute it? Madness. Sheer madness.

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And don't get me started on property-rights-infringing "right to breast feed" laws. Your right to breast feed ends where my property line begins.