When the government intrudes everyone starves

New York's Bloomberg Says Let The Homeless Eat Nothing

Nanny State: It seemed impossible, but New York's Big Brother Bloomberg has outdone his smoking and trans-fat bans. He is ordering homeless shelters to refuse donated food that isn't nutritionally "assessed."

'Let them eat squat" might be an appropriate motto for New York City's "mayor for life," Michael Bloomberg, who in 2009 broke his promise to honor the city's term limits law. He would rather see the five boroughs' downtrodden starve than consume excess cholesterol.

City hall says that it cannot analyze food that organizations have been donating for years or even decades, so the shelters must turn the food away. A new document from the bureaucracy dictates serving sizes, as well as salt, fat and calorie limits, fiber minimums and condiment recommendations.

As the New York Post reports, the Upper West Side orthodox Jewish congregation Ohab Zedek can no longer drop off "freshly cooked, nutrient-rich surplus foods from synagogue events" — a common charitable activity carried out by many of the city's churches and other religious institutions.

Today, state power over the individual has expanded, with Bloomberg successfully banning smoking in all commercial locales and the serving of trans fats in all city restaurants — the latter a dubious health measure since other fats can be worse for your body.

Much of the supposedly nonnutritious food that Bloomberg has banned from the homeless really amounts to leftovers from what the city's rich eat. No wonder a Rasmussen poll this week found 82% of American adults opposed to such a ludicrous ban.

But lefty New York politicians such as Bloomberg are proud to see their diktats emulated elsewhere, in spite of the cost in personal freedom. Elk Grove, Calif., for instance, is now considering banning smoking in all apartment complexes.

That's right: The health police are invading your home. But fleeing to your local homeless shelter may mean starving.