Are We “Fat Cats?”

The CDC has extrapolated that 32 million more Americans will become obese by 2030, upping obesity rates to 42 percent of the U.S. population, according to a new report. The prediction also states that the proportion of Americans who are severely obese, meaning more than 100 pounds overweight, will reach 11 percent, about double the current rate. The estimated medical costs of caring for the obese is astronomical.

 

I personally think that the problem is the use of concentrated sweeteners like corn fructose that are technically addicting. And don’t forget the fast-food meals we consume that have hundreds of calories and to which we add soft-serve ice cream or a mocha which contains another thousand calories.

 

Is there a solution?

One solution might be placing a tax on any sugar containing snack or beverage with the money going to treat health problems arising from obesity. More sugar…more tax…more help for the obese

Cinco De Mayo

Cinco De Mayo (Spanish for “fifth of May”) is a celebration held on May 5, in Mexico. It is celebrated in U.S. cities with a significant Mexican population and regionally in Mexico, primarily in the state of Puebla, where the holiday is called El Día de la Batalla de Puebla (English: The Day of the Battle of Puebla.) It’s when the Mexicans defeated the French invaders there.

Many North Americans think May 5^th is Mexican Independence Day. Not So. On September 15th and 16th Mexican Independence is celebrated throughout the country, with a variety of activities. The 16^th is the actual holiday. I was fortunate to be in Delicias, Chihuahua , Mexico, for one Cinco De Mayo celebration. While I shopped in a grocery store, a clerk was making the rounds, decorating the faces of customers with green, white, and red water color flags. I told her I was not Mexican. She painted my face, planted a kiss on my cheek and told that I was an honorary Mexican. My honorary citizenship expired during the following days as the kiss and water-colored flag faded.

End Occupy Protests

Most of the Occupy Camps across the country were shuttered over the winter, but protesters continue to hold marches and demonstrations against income equality, corporate greed and political corruption. Their latest national action, held on May Day, brought thousands of people into the streets.

Cities have spent from tens of thousands to millions of dollars in police overtime and cleanup costs. In New York, the tally reached $17 million through mid-March.

 The “hooligans” content that they’re in the 99 percent of the people who have nothing. They seem to want what the other one percentile has…they just want it given to them?

To the media: Discontinue coverage and they’ll go away.

 My hint to them is: Get a job, then you’ll have something and won’t have time or need to protest.

Government And Morals By Poll!

In postmodern America, we’ve been advised by Hollywood and politicians that there are no absolutes! The Bible is out. The Ten Commandments are ten advisories. Social mores have been bent until we can no longer tell white from black—everything is gray. So, how do we determine what is right and what is wrong?

 Answer? We take opinion polls. If we want to know if capital punishment, co-habitation, abortion, or drugs are wrong, we take an opinion poll. Whatever the majority of those polled think, then that’s acceptable. It doesn’t make it right.

 A Washington pollster, Richard Cohen, noted, tongue in cheek, “If a vast majority of the people said Thomas Jefferson was the first president, that would not make it so.”

 It doesn’t worry me that the majority could be wrong when polled. It’s when they change the law interpretation and and history books to reflect their opinions, that I become worried.

New French President…New Ideas?

 Sunday, France handed the presidency to leftist Francois Hollande, a champion of government stimulus programs who says the state should protect the downtrodden — a victory that could deal a death blow to the drive for austerity that has been the hallmark of Europe in recent years.

 Mild and affable, the president-elect inherits a country deep in debt and divided over how to integrate immigrants, while preserving its national identity. Markets will closely watch his initial moves as president. Hollande narrowly defeated the hard-driving, attention-getting Nicolas Sarkozy, an America-friendly leader who led France through its worst economic troubles since World War II.

 From an AP story on NewsMAX

Has Good Television Died?

 An icon of good-clean television has died! George Lindsey, who spent nearly 30 years as the grinning Goober on “The Andy Griffith Show” and “Hee Haw,” has died. He was 83. Andy Griffin, Ron Howard, and Aunt Bea dispensed humor which was laced with moral direction.

My, how things have changed. The television is no longer good and clean fun and entertainment. We’ve allowed Hollywood to interject their lack of mores and social conscience on us. By the time one reaches the age of majority, he has experienced rape, murder, mayhem, insurrection, and disobedience to God, family, and himself. Not only does the media fail to observe morality, they seem to promote flouting it..
Is the progress of television worth it?

 

It’s A Werewolf Night!

It’s time for werewolves, howling at the moon, and all types of odd behavior tonight. For the second time in little more than a year, the full moon rising from the east will be a perigee full moon, or “super moon,” on Saturday night. What that means, according to NASA, is that the lunar orb is much closer to the Earth than usual. The moon will look as if we can reach out and touch it. In reality, it will be 218,000 miles away instead of the usual 240,000 miles.

NASA says on Saturday night, the moon will appear 14 percent bigger and 30 percent brighter. But, as with the last super moon in March 2011, the key to getting the most out of this celestial event lies in looking to the sky at the right time.

Peer at the moon as it rises over the horizon and it will likely appear enormous, especially if seen behind objects in the foreground, says NASA

You’ve Got Mail!

I have a habit of visiting my mailbox, often, until the mail finally arrives. It’s a habit I developed when in the army and the YMCA at college. It was great to get mail, from anyone. I got mail from acquaintances and friends on three continents. I’m probably the only person in the state who enjoys the letters addressed to “occupant” and “resident.”

 As we get older, people observe us and perhaps make fun of us because of our habits. A neighbor who’d grown old, would check his mail several times a day, forgetting that he’d just been there. Even if he’d extracted the mail from the box, he’d return shortly.

I was in his front yard mowing my lawn, when a neighbor came out of her house and went straight to the mailbox. She opened it, then slammed it shut and stormed back into the house. Ten minutes later, she repeated the act, and angrily stormed back into the house. She repeated the feat three times before I intervened by asking, ‘What’s wrong with your mailbox?’ She replied, ‘It’s my stupid computer. It keeps telling me, ‘You’ve got mail!’”

 

We Are All Beautiful?

 It’s okay to be less than perfect. We can’t all be look-a-likes for Marilyn Monroe or Tony Curtis. There’s a dating hotline called Beautiful People. Com. In 2011 they were hacked by some computer geek.

Talk about a blow to the ego. The vanity online dating service, excommunicated some 30,000 members after a cyber attack altered the site’s “aesthetics criteria,” prompting the site to inadvertently accept thousands of less-than-beautiful castoffs into membership. The malicious act was corrected as soon as it was discovered. “We have to stick by our standards of only accepting beautiful people,” said a spokesperson for the dating site.

The effects of the hacking and subsequent sacking of so many, forced the site to make counselors available to help ease the pain of rejection. What did the administrator do to get the added people off the role? Did he send a letter saying “You’re ugly. Don’t associate with us.” We’re all beautiful. Perhaps some moms didn’t tell their kids.

The information came from “The Guardian.”

May Day

In post-war Europe,  American Military frowned on soldiers being off post on Mayday, since the communist and labor activists were parading and demonstrating and could possibly make a scene with U.S. servicemen. Somehow, my friend, Bobby Logan, and I escaped through the network and went for a holiday in Bordeaux, France, which just happened to include May first. We were cautioned by our officer in charge to stay clear of controversial situations, and promised to do that.

 On May first, I awakened around 0900 and found that Bobby had left the room. Simultaneously,  I detected a marching band coming up the avenue in front of our hotel. I quickly opened the French window and saw Bobby marching up the streed with the French workers. All, except Bobby, wore white tennis shoes and the faded blue uniforms of workers. We held our breaths for months hoping a picture of his indiscressions did not surface.  

International Labor Day (also known as May Day or International Workers’ Day) celebrates the various labor and left-wing movements across the world. It is mostly observed by holding street marches and demonstrations by working class people and their labor unions. May First is a national holiday in more than 80 countries. It is also celebrated unofficially in many other countries.

Labor Day has its origins in the eight-hour day movement, which advocated eight hours for work, eight hours for recreation, and eight hours for rest. The first May Day celebration inIndiawas organized inMadrasby the Labor Party of Hindustan onMay 1, 1923