Fractured Deinition

Pandemic — a worldwide disease that originated in a Chinese black-and-white, bamboo-eating bear

Youthful Indiscretions

When I was 19. and was working a summer construction job in State College, Pennsylvania, I was approached by a recruiter from Fidel Castro to join his Cuban revolution. I thought about it for about 30 seconds before I declined. But, being young and full of daring-do and having a head full of mush (a Rush Limbaugh expression), I easily could have screwed up my life for good with a wrong decision then.

I'm sure that many of the foreign fighters from England, Belgium, France, Germany, etc. who have joined ISIS over the last year made their decisions with less studied consideration .... be it wanderlust, romantic idealism, and/or the pull of danger. The reward for many of these fighters has not been all that they expected ... as about 100 of them have been executed by ISIS when they became disillusioned and tried to leave this insurrection to return home ... see: Breitbart Article.

It is amazing sometimes how our callow youths ever reach adulthood when they are surrounded by the toxic temptations such as the Internet now lays at their feet. Youthful indiscretion often seems a bigger reason for a young person's demise than any other possible disease, accident, or freak of nature.

Obesity

The American Medical Association (AMA) has just decided that obesity is a disease (see: USA Today Story).  This is a profound declaration and is likely to cause not just a ripple though our society, but a tsunami … considering that it is estimated that 1/3rd of Americans are already obese.  (Full disclosure: yours truly shops in the “hefty” section of clothing stores.)

Now, I am old enough to remember that, in Germany, being overweight was once considered to be a recognition that you had “made it” … particularly for men.  This might be a hint as to why so many in this country are fatties – we are a land of good and plenty and this plutocracy is reflected in out waistlines. Not only are we overweight, but we are also obsessed with getting svelte.  I once was friendly with Dr. Robert Atkins who made his fortune with his weight-loss theories … and is still famous long after he has expired (probably partly due to his being overweight.)  Even after the billions of dollars Americans have spent on diet fads and weight-loss regimes, things do not seem to be getting better.

So how do we fix things?  I don’t think it will be by banning super-sized drinks or by declaring that there are “food desert” areas of our cities or by forcing restaurant to list caloric contents on their menus or by many of the other cockamamie ideas touted by the likes of Mika Brzezinski or Michelle Obama.  Perhaps I too can offer a few silly suggestions:

-         stop making tobacco smokers into piranhas (maybe why Barack has stayed so thin)

-         start making pot smokers into piranhas (the munchies don’t help things)

-         bring back physical education to our school curricula

-         eliminate food stamps (EBT cards) for anyone overweight

-         locate all parking spots at least 100 yards away from the nearest store (or restaurant)

Unfortunately, these are probably not effective solutions (the real ones are too buried in our society’s ethos.)  And if I did have them, I would then be listed in the “Forbes 100,” a compendium of the world's richest people.

But the most insidious result of this AMA decision is that now millions more Americans will now likely apply for Social Security disability benefits (SSI) … in that they have this “disease” … again, an example of unintended consequences.

And what will happen to these people who then go on the federal dole?  You guessed it.