The American Spectator : The Obama Administration Chews the Fat

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Lifestyles Left and Right

The Obama Administration Chews the Fat

By Matt Purple on 5.26.10 @ 6:07AM

The government’s anti-obesity plans contain several times your daily value of nanny statism.

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Regrettably, my conclusions will probably be lost on bean-counting government technocrats who think building a Stop and Shop in the middle of the Everglades will solve our obesity problem. In 120 pages of Michelle’s report, there’s almost no mention of personal responsibility.

Instead, there’s the ghostly presence of the man behind the curtain at the president’s regulatory Oz, Cass Sunstein. Sunstein has theorized that people are incapable of making good decisions on their own. Instead, they need to be “nudged” by government regulations and incentives into choosing well. He writes, “[O]ne thing is clear: a system of limitless individual choices with respect to communications is not necessarily in the interest of citizenship and self-government, and efforts to reduce the resulting problems ought not to be rejected in freedom’s name.” Michelle’s report would have the government commandeering those choices to nudge people to eat healthier. It even discusses the “choice architecture” of school cafeterias, a phrase Sunstein coined.

This is the preferred method of the government nanny: Rather than letting the individual clean up his own problems, fiddle with his surrounding environment to force him to conform to the nanny’s definition of good. If all this makes you throw up your hands in despair, rest assured that it’s been approved by grey suits in Washington armed with scientific studies who just want to make you a better person. They know better than you, after all.

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About the Author

Matt Purple is The American Spectator’s assistant managing editor.

Letter to the Editor View all comments (77) | Leave a comment Leave a comment

KyMouse| 5.26.10 @ 7:03AM

Mr. Purple notes that "limiting portion sizes, buying junk food in moderation, and exercising have all helped me avoid obesity. Further, if I ever become obese, increasing these activities on my own time will help reduce my weight to normal levels."

My internist has a plaque on the wall of her examining rooms that puts it more simply: "Eat less. Exercise more."

I've kept 23 pounds off for some years and am working on losing more, but I don't want the government telling me when I can indulge and when I can't. If the bureaucrats can control what we eat, what can't they control?

God's help, and the Weight Watchers system, have been what I needed. Also trying to limit naughty foods to no more than once a week, or special occasions. But, since I'm an adult, that needs to be my decision, not some policy wonk's.

Miss Alabama| 5.26.10 @ 11:06AM

Although I live in a red state, where morbid obesity is visually omnipresent, my handsome husband and I . . . I am happy to report . . . are as slim as olympic swimmers. I, in fact, look ravishing in a bathing suit, and my husband (age 62) has not an ounce of fat on him. He works out regularly, and he's one sexy hunk. While strolling on the beach, we both turn heads.

Both of us abhor the gluttonous lard butts that surround us here in Alabama. They are our state's worst visual pollutant. "Pigs-a-poppin'" is what I mutter to myself every time these chubby chow-hogs cross my line of vision.

We are hoping that Mrs. Obama will focus her anti-obesity efforts here in Alabama and other red states.

"Thin is in, but down here in the red states, fat's where it's at!" This is what my sophisticated friends and I often say to each other while shaking our heads in despair.

Enough of this prattle--my husband and I are off to the club for a rigorous two-hour cardiac workout . . . and later tonight . . . stars will fall on Alabama as we make love.

Wm Paterson| 5.26.10 @ 11:33AM

Better fetch me a bucket...I'm going to throw up.

Baxter R.| 5.26.10 @ 4:50PM

Miss Alabama you sound like your a real hottie.

Joe from Buffalo| 5.26.10 @ 4:56PM

Yeah, but it's her description of her husband that's got me all excited.

Crystal Walker| 5.26.10 @ 12:02PM

Well, too bad one day your body is going to putrify and rot along with all that pride and love of self. You may look good on the outside, but it's on the inside that matters.

NavyBrat | 5.26.10 @ 12:40PM

Here's an idea. You & your tofu eating hubby can do what YOU want & those of us who know how to eat properly & in moderation will do what WE want. Are you so non self sufficient that you think the gub-ment needs to regulate people's diets? Tell me where in the Constitution it says that the gov. has the power to do that.

PS. The only "prattle" on this thread is your post.

TrailerTrashLardButt| 5.26.10 @ 2:58PM

Actually, Ms Alabama is a 58 year old 300lb lesbian who teaches Womyn Studies at a Vermont Community College.

Pastor Jimmy Swaggart| 5.26.10 @ 5:08PM

"TrailerTrashLardButt" is the name of a depraved and perverted porn site, and you should be ashamed, not only for looking at it, but for selecting it as your name on this respectable God-fearing political blog. You make me sick!

Margie| 5.26.10 @ 5:17PM

Jimmy, is this really you? I just love to hear you preach the Lord's word.

Alan Brooks| 5.26.10 @ 3:35PM

"stars will fall on Alabama as we make love."

gosh, Alabama, some might think this was written at the Playboy "Letters to Hugh Hefner blog", not AS.

lordjim| 5.26.10 @ 3:56PM

too much information...and narcissism

drudge ette obama| 5.27.10 @ 5:58AM

My thoughts, exactly.

Hank| 5.26.10 @ 4:47PM

Miss Alabama,

I searched through today's submissions, and I finally found you.

You are a hoot! I always get a kick out of reading your posts.

You can be articulate and erudite and trump any argument, or, like today, you can be tongue in cheek and hilarious!

You make me want to reread Carl Carmel's classic Stars Fell On Alabama. (yeah, unlike some others, I got it)

Troll Watch| 5.26.10 @ 5:56PM

I am thinking she might have been referring to the jazz standard unless the the book is about breeding bovines. By the way it is Carmer. You are so smart.

Miss Alabama| 5.26.10 @ 5:58PM

Maybe there is another reason we are turning heads on the beach.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com.....d07ea0.jpg

drudge ette obama| 5.27.10 @ 5:57AM

While you were muttering "chubby chow-hogs" to yourself, I was thinking that it was a shame that they freed all the schizophrenics from the asylums and wondering how you find your food on the streets?

Tommy| 5.27.10 @ 12:41PM

I'm sure "chubby chow-hog" would describe you to a T, and, for that matter, the majority of the other pot-bellied posters.

kim| 5.27.10 @ 5:37PM

Miss Alabama, you are a hoot. Thanks for a good yuk and a reprieve from most of the humorless reponses found herein. Oh, if people in general were only more literate, they would recognize an ironic device when they read one. I still hate you, though. My misanthropy can clock your smarminess any day. Love to the family.

Appleby| 5.26.10 @ 7:32AM

The tobacco companies warned us that when the Mommies begin to March, no product is safe from their shrieks of BABIES WILL DIE!

We allowed them to scream the house down vis-a-vis cigarettes, because nobody wants to appear anti-baby. Now we are allowing them to expand their territory. Will there eventually be no part of the world that is exempt from the requirement that it must be safe for unsupervised toddlers?

Not at this rate it wont. You stood idly by when they came for Joe Camel. Will you shrug and shuffle when they come for Ronald McDonald?

Melvin| 5.26.10 @ 8:05AM

Remember back in high school for some of us, when we had PE? Not the PE that the government run education system had now but the PE during the 70s.
I remember playing dodge ball for so long being covered in red welts from getting the dog squeeze smacked out of me, andthe students of the afternoon period would be standing there bent over gasping for breath all the while getting repeatedly smacked with dodge balls.
Jeez, the PE teacher would have us play Push Ball with a gigantic canvas that opposing forces would have to push over the goal line, and the school favorite behind football, a hybrid version of soccer and rugby.
We would tear each other up, Our JC Penny gym uniforms would be tore up, we would have scratches, cut lips, and road rash from hell being drug over all over the grass.
Back then our Hillsbor Senior High had pulverized red lava rock around the track so if you fell you body was toast.
The point to all this is, schools are complaining that students can't focus and have to much energy in the classroom and eat too much crap.
Our school had primitive vending machines that sold apples, oranges and bannanas.
Going back to class after PE, we would be so dog tired no one had the energy to act up. We would be sitting in at our desks like zombies without the drugs.
Us kids were in much better shape, better frame of mind, but that was when teachers were teachers and not Liberal propagandists.
There is a simple cheap fix to all this. Get rid of junk food, have the lunch ladies start making lunch from scratch again instead of this pre-packaged frozen crap, and have rough and tumble PE for 1-1/2 to 2 hours.
We don't need no stinkin Co-President telling us how to live our lives.

terrie| 5.26.10 @ 10:47AM

LOL Melvin! Thanks for the trip down memory lane. Besides lava rocks on the track, we also had those plastic hockey sticks to play "floor hockey" in the gym, Talk about welts... After reading this article, I feel like having some pizza, which I'm gonna do. Michelle, the FDA and the Salt Police can bite me.

Melvin| 5.26.10 @ 11:16AM

Jeez, I completely forgot about the plastic hockey sticks, in which we got tired of hitting that stupid cheap plastic puc and started beating each other without mercy.
The funny part about this was the PE let us do it, because it was like getting smacked with those foam whiffle bats.

J.P. Travis | 5.26.10 @ 11:54AM

Oh yeah, the memories. Kids are missing so much now. We played dodgeball in the gym with these little round rubber balls that you could REALLY throw, and there was nothing better than watching some kid try to jump over a throw and the ball catching him in the feet and sending him a##-over-teakettle.

C| 5.26.10 @ 12:18PM

Too funny! :D And I remember that the playground equipment was made of metal, and underneath, instead of rubber mulch , there were rocks! lol!

Louis Jenkins| 5.26.10 @ 8:24AM

Weight is a personal choice. You can choose to be fat and underworked, or you can get to work. The problem begins in school as Melvin has pointed out. Now we don't even have Physical Education. When will GovCo. ever understand? I do remember the lunch ladies, and it makes my stomach churn. They were over weight by a large amount and I don't get any comfort from them handling the food either. Scary. I often just picked at the food and did without.

Melvin| 5.26.10 @ 8:30AM

Aww come on Louis, ya got to admit chilimac Thursday's was the ticket.

c| 5.26.10 @ 12:21PM

Yes, and you know, wouldn't it all be great if we could learn the value of 'work' through a mandatory 1-year sentence to hard labor? :D We wouldn't have obesity problems then would we peeps? Well, maybe I should become a citizen of China. At least I could eat all the chow mein I wanted with as much MSG as I want without government intervention. Looks like China will be more free than the US, when the Obamas get through with us. :D Ain't it grand?

Jim O'Brien| 5.26.10 @ 8:32AM

Obama and his pack of socialists have never heard of individual responsibility. Like the leaders of the USSR, they are going to "protect" us from all risk, and make us all equal slaves of the state. This approach fits nicely with the idea that we are "victims" of the evil capitalist corporations who should be reined in, and punished for making the Average American comrade eat crap, drink too much alcohol, and smoke.

We don't have a health care problem in the U.S.; we have a health problem. More than half of all hospital patients at any given time are there due to self-inflicted problems. Just think how many hundreds of billions of dollars would be saved if people accepted responsibility for their own bodies. Repeal Obamacare Now!

Escoffier| 5.26.10 @ 8:34AM

I look forward to peanuts,fly amita mushrooms and mik for the lactose intolerant. But the children will cease to be...fat.

Ronald Hussein McDonald | 5.26.10 @ 8:58AM

For the first time in my adult life, I'm ashamed of my government.

Jonathon| 5.26.10 @ 1:50PM

Really? This is the first time in your life you've been ashamed of this government? What is wrong with you?

Jack Kinch(1uncle)| 5.26.10 @ 2:54PM

The fed gov is the most obese of anything. Do something about that. Congress is a bunch of obeasts.

Gersheps| 5.30.10 @ 5:42PM

This is your FIRST Time being ashamed of your Government??? I guess you weren't around during the Carter Administration!!

tjsker| 5.26.10 @ 10:03AM

Your natural weight is no more a personal choice than your height, eye color, or hairline. The only way you can change what your natural weight, is by choosing your parents.

That's another major reason why this anti-obesity campaign is wrong. Not only is it an infringement of our right, it's simply not based on sound science. The science behind obesity prevention is as poor as that of global warming, organic foods, and the latest cancer cure that never materializes.

There's one common factor in weight-loss programs and that for the vast majority of participants there is rapid weight loss at the beginning and then a return to natural weight within a few months after. IT'S THE RULE, NOT THE EXCEPTION.

There's big money in trying to make people change their weight. So the next time you hear about some great new weight loss program, bone up on some statistics and dig into the details, you'll be surprised at what you find.

Jenny Johnston| 5.26.10 @ 10:11AM

I need a $1 million dollar government grant to study why I am 20 pounds overweight. Where do I apply? Cass, are you listening?

Rick Z| 5.26.10 @ 10:23AM

Mr. Obama's appointee as Surgeon General is a rather plump lady, Regina M. Benjamin. She gives great lectures on 'being healthy and fit'.

Her BMI (Body Mass Index - how fat she is) is a secret more closely guarded than the combination to Fort Knox.

Da Dog| 5.26.10 @ 11:09AM

Are Americans actually allowing this crap, along with all the other ridiculous government intrusion to happen? The Golden Age of America is over. I am glad I experienced the patriotism, responsibility and independence of real America. It is, sadly, lost. They can have my chocolate bar, potato chips and Twinkies when they pry them from my cold dead hands. I don't have that many years left, anyway.

Houston Rao| 5.26.10 @ 11:38AM

In a way, are we not all victims of our own individual and selfish desires to have the government 'do more' for us or 'do something about that we do not agree with'? While the liberals like growing government because it increases their mooching opportunities, every one of us has one way or other encouraged government to get more involved in our personal lives.

From asking the government to help one out on housing by granting a mortgage deduction, to asking them to 'provide' for retirement security and medical assistance. The pols, always eager to amass more power, have simply taken advantage of our individual desires, expressed as groups, special interests, etc. to use it to intrude more and more into our personal lives.

The Constitution was deliberate in limiting the scope of the government because this was the outcome feared by the writers; the loss of individual liberty by power hungry pols reaching more deeply into our individual lives under the guise of helping us.

Ted| 5.26.10 @ 11:42AM

Reading some of these comments was a great trip down memory lane. We had a lot of fun in PE. It also made me laugh because over on the Washington Post website there's a breathless post about how only (ONLY!) 1 in 5 kids in America lives near a park....

Did you think that maybe they should just go outside and play? Run? Kick a ball? Play catch? Jump rope? Stickball?

Bueller?

Myob| 5.27.10 @ 3:31AM

Kids can not go outside and play until and unless 1) their mom has scheduled a playdate, 2) an Escalade or BMW is available to transport them to and from the park, 3) Ipods, Playmans, Boyscreens have been fully charged and programmed, 4) appropriate hydration beverages have been procured and chilled, 5) weather appropriate jackets, hats, sunglasses, shoes have been requisitioned from North Face, 6) sunscreen from France has been applied, and last but not least, 7) au pair from Brazil is in place. Anything less is child abuse.

J.P. Travis | 5.26.10 @ 11:57AM

The people who want to control our food are the same people who want to keep lowering the legally drunk level (MADD) and stop everybody from using their cellphones in cars and prevent people from smoking ANYWHERE. Sel-righteous, teetotalling, busybody nimrods.

Ned| 5.26.10 @ 12:01PM

Two words: Eat Me.

NavyBrat | 5.26.10 @ 12:41PM

Well played, Ned! Well played.

Myob| 5.27.10 @ 3:33AM

What you did. I see it.

NavyBrat | 5.26.10 @ 1:02PM

I used to cook for 8 years in fine dinning kitchens. Let me tell you how many chefs I know who already laugh at anti foie gras ordinances passed by some cities. I can't even BEGIN to imagine what NYC chefs have said about this proposed "salt ban." Can any of you begin to guess what guys like Mario Batali, Bobby Flay, & especially Anthony Bourdain would say about such regulations? Kosher salt is a staple in ev ery kitchen I've ever worked in. So is duck fat, European style butter (higher fat content=more flavor), heavy cream, sour cream, creme fraiche, wine, & pork fat.

In order to not make food that tastes like all the other crap available at chain restaurants, better quality places use these things for only one reason. THEY MAKE STUFF TASTE GOOD!

Now, I'm sure that most big time chefs are liberals. I don't think we'll be seeing Eric Ripert, Jose Andres, or Bourdain at a Tea Party or an RNC fundraiser. But when you start screwing with the way a chef makes his food by way of dictate, you have unleashed a creature that you will never control. Chefs are like artists (the big time guys). Can anyone imagine the government telling artists what mediums they can use for their art. For G*d's sake, an elephant dung smeared statue of the Blessed Mother was LAUDED by the arts community. What would the outcry have been if that artist were told he couldn't use elephat feces in his "masterpiece?" They would've heard it on the International Space Station.

I have faith that since most chefs are liberals & have wealthy liberal clients who like to eat at their restaurants 3 or more times a week, they will explain to their good customers the error of the ways of such regulation.

"Hi Mr. Big Time Democrat Contributer. I've got something new on the menu. Its called Kobe tofu ribeye. I serve it on the side with about 3 lemon wedges since I can't use salt anymore. We injected it with some unsalted, low fat beef stock that we colored with red food coloring to make the tofu look as juicy as a nice rare Kobe ribeye." Tell me if you don't think this little example conversation would go over like a proverbial flatulence episode in church with Mr. Big Time Donor.

Wanna be healthy? Eat whatever the hell you want, within reason, & be active!!!! Run, walk, do sit ups, pushups, lift weights, whatever. Its NOT that freaking hard. And such behavior doesn't need the hand of government directing it. Unless that same hand is the one that pays for everyone's health care. The pieces are all coming together folks. Watch your six!

duck| 5.26.10 @ 1:45PM

I wonder when there will be a mandatory, government authorized salute to be presented when party members and non-party members alike meet each other. Maybe the thrusting of the right hand towards space followed by a loud, sharp exclamation of Zig Obama would suffice....

Morrismajor| 5.26.10 @ 3:27PM

Wow, can you post something relevant and intelligent, or is duck a metaphor for your brain?

Duck| 5.27.10 @ 12:58PM

It seems that some sort of endearing salute would be appropriate given the general direction that our dear leader and group is taking the country, unless, of course, you are one of the group that needs to be in control of all the country's unwashed.

An example of the direction the great one is taking the country is listed below and looks very similar to the edicts presented during the first part of the last century.....

Snip===============================

The Department of Homeland Security released an "extremism" report
that warned local law enforcement officers nationwide to watch out for
"potential terrorists" including those who:

* Oppose abortion

* Oppose same-sex marriage

* Oppose restrictions on firearms

* Oppose lax immigration laws

* Oppose the policies of President Obama regarding immigration,
citizenship, and the expansion of social programs

* Oppose continuation of free trade agreements

* Are suspect of foreign regimes

* Fear Communist regimes

* Oppose a "one world" government

* Bemoan the decline of U.S. stature in the world

* Are upset with loss of U.S. manufacturing jobs to
China and India, and more

mejamom| 5.26.10 @ 2:56PM

The school my kids go to has an excellent PE program and the lunches include 2-3 choices of fruits and veggies. Okay.
All this talk about personal responsibility...
How does one teach that to a child? You'll say the parents, but what if they are obese, too? How does one teach it to them? How else does one get a healthy eating/exercise education class in the schools without some kind of government funding?
I'm all for letting people choose what they want to eat, but how do we help the obese kids who might never lose weight?
I'm a former smoker. I quit because I couldn't run/bike/ hike without getting out of breath. I'm glad we have laws that prohibit smoking in some places. Is anyone old enough to remember when smoking was permitted even in grocery stores? Being around cigarette smoke makes me ill and it stinks. I, and people like me, wouldn't be able to go anywhere if everyone was smoking wherever they wanted. Where would my freedom be then? And if our country ends up with a huge (no pun intended) obese population, will I be subject to having to squeeze into public transportation seats, through store aisles, etc.?
Obese people need help, are you going to do it?

Crusader| 5.26.10 @ 7:01PM

God helps those who help themselves. There's nothing more personal than maintaining a healthy body weight. Read the posts---there's plenty of "help" in them. My fav - Eat less. Exercise more.

Seriously, if you really need the gubmint to tell you eating McDonald's 3x a day, 5x a week is bad for you, maybe keep eating and die sooner. The gene pool will be forever grateful.

mejamom| 5.27.10 @ 10:40AM

I'm talking about kids. If their obese parents aren't going to teach them or set a good example, what then? Since kids respond to peer presure, maybe a constant reminder, everyday, via healthy lunch choices, exercise, and the nutrition values of fast food will help. I know that's being done to an extent, but perhaps more is needed. If a child can't learn to read one way, change the way.

Crusader| 5.27.10 @ 11:23AM

I know in the 21st century this is a revolutionary idea, but here goes:

Other people's children are NOT MY BUSINESS.

That is unless they are currently infringing on my or my family's rights. However, if they are sitting on their fat a$$es eating Doritos and playing XBox, I don't really give a rip. You shouldn't either. Is it sad? Yes. However it is not the government's responsibility to ensure fat kids get exercise.

Morrismajor| 5.26.10 @ 3:25PM

I could tolerate some more regulation if I felt it would do any good. But let's start with the welfare cases, half of them are terrestrial sea manatees around here. Lets give them food stamps for only healthy foods and have the Medicaid docs snitch them out. Meanwhile , let's do simple things like build paths and walks to connect areas in the suburbs instead of risking one's life walking on the side of these roads.

Morrismajor| 5.26.10 @ 3:30PM

Do any of you cons ever connect the dots and relate the meteoric rise of the auto, fast food, junk food and sugared beverage industries to obesity? Our capitalistic success is causing this. I don't agree with most of the solutions but don't blame the libs or the government for the problem. Blame the industries who make a killing pandering to our inner child.

honkhonk| 5.26.10 @ 3:44PM

ah but it is the libs fault, it's their policies that lead to this so called obesity crisis. Take Michelle (please) for instance, she's a liberal and her gross obesity was caused by her shoveling tons of food down her waiting gullet over and over and over until she reached the disgusting weight that she is now. mooooo

A Normal Person| 5.26.10 @ 3:41PM

woooohoooo there is nothing worse that an ignorant busybody lardo (Mrs Barrack Sprat, oink oink ya needs to push ya extra wide butt back from the table sooner) lecturing us as to what to eat while her husband (Barrack Sprat, who needs to lay off the butt puffing for he gets the lung cancer) shovels money to his big corporate agriculture fat cat buddies (ADM, ConAgra, Cargill, Monsanto, etc.) who are pushing all of this fattening tasty stuff at us.

Wanna stop childhood obesity? Eliminate the biggest corporate farmer subsidy of all, SNAP aka Food Stamps. Obesity started being a "problem" when Food Stamps got started in the '60s. Concidence? I think not.

Nick| 5.26.10 @ 3:52PM

Miss Alabama probably looks like a cross between Babs Streisand, Shrillary the Hut, and Helen Thomas!

(Sorry for the mental abuse I just commited, folks.)

mejamom| 5.26.10 @ 5:55PM

I totally agree about the food stamp issue. When I worked as a cashier, I saw many overweight mothers with similar children using stamps to buy candy, soda,packaged bakery items,etc. That was in the early '80's. Has it changed any? I used to wonder why they didn't have rules as to what was acceptable. Or why they couldn't buy toilet paper, soap or other needed, but non food items.

Ken (Old Texican)| 5.26.10 @ 6:15PM

Heh,
I was addicted to ciggarette smoke before I could walk. If my dad wasn't smoking, it was because he was eating or sleeping.
I smoke a pipe (Dr. Graybow), and the mellowist tobacco known to mankind. (Sir Walter Raleigh AROMATIC).
Humans have been enhaling smoke since humans discovered fire.
Let's outlaw fire!
Heh

AmenBro| 5.27.10 @ 2:54AM

Straight Mature RED VIRGINIA sir.
No aromatic syrups merely nature created sugars, reduced tannins, ammonia and acids. Tobacco sure as hail ages just like wine.

Post a request and I'll send you a carepackage. I've got tobacco blends I've been aging for up to 15 years.

NO TONGUE BITE AT ALL. I smoke Castello pipes. Dry as the Sahara, DRINKLESS

Can you say SMOOOTH.

Stinks like a muthertrucker though.

Appreciate the smile you gave me sir. So glade to relate to another SMOKESTACK chomper.

ralph| 5.27.10 @ 8:33AM

But fire was necessary to keep warm and maybe cook food. Smoking is for enjoyment. And it's not always enjoyed by others. BTW I respect those who make sure they're not bothering non smokers. I used to be one, but like an earlier poster, I can't stand to be around it anymore.
Food is also necessary, but "junk" food is for enjoyment. If big junk food companies are targeting kids to keep them on the "sugar/ fat teat" the way tobacco companies keep smokers addicted, something should be done. I don't like the idea of more federal control over my private choices, but like smoking, obesity affects more than the individual. Overweight people aren't going to slim down because the airline kicks them off the plane or they can't go on a ride at an amusement park. Additional education will not hurt anyone. And those companies will still make billions.

Crusader| 5.27.10 @ 11:28AM

How does my fat neighbor affect me? Unless he beats me to the grocery store in the food desert I live in and buys the last twinkie, he really doesn't affect my life at all.

Bottom line is this is a freedom issue. Some folks abuse it and they eventually pay the price, whether that is criminals who are jailed or fat people who die sooner or can't enjoy life the way thin people can. Oh well. The answer, however is NOT to take EVERYONE ELSE'S freedom away when someone abuses theirs. Unfortunately more and more "Americans" seem to think that is the answer. Sad.

Yosemeti Sam| 5.27.10 @ 1:19AM

LOL.

Folks, eat plenty of beans - then express yourselves in the Blazing Saddles campfire manner of salutations.

AmenBro| 5.27.10 @ 2:47AM

When is Michele gonna shed those post first ladydom inches added to her already bulbulous bottom.

And I unabashedly mean INCHES. Broad adds new meaning to BROAD.

Musta been from working in the garden.

Myob| 5.27.10 @ 3:49AM

When I was a kid we were thin and healthy, and Americans grew the food, picked the food, and sold the food. We bought fresh and bought local. Food, like clothing and everything else was precious. Nowadays kids are fat, food is cheap, and everything is disposable garbage because third world produce and meat is "fresh and local", and slave labor does all the work. How about we kick out the illegal slave labor, hire American farmers and workers, and quit importing contaminated crap from China and every other shithole nation in the world.

MattZ| 5.27.10 @ 7:27AM

Don't worry everyone; the author's healthy, so there's no problem. Crisis averted. America's really not too unbelievably fat.

Unbelievable arrogance. Even more proof that the mantra of the modern conservative movement is little more than "I got mine. You don't matter."
MZ

Crusader| 5.27.10 @ 11:32AM

No, d!psh!t, the mantra is "here is your freedom, what you do with it is YOUR business, until your actions infringe on others' freedoms."

Being fat isn't a crime. Should it be? It certainly seems that's the direction we're heading. What will be labeled "criminal" after that? Having too much money or land or cars? After all, if I have a nice house on 40 acres I guess "I got mine" right? Should the gubmint come and take some of it away from me to give to you, since you don't got yours?

Nick| 5.27.10 @ 12:44PM

MikeyZ,

You messed that up. It's "I got mine. Liberals don't matter."

Fuzzlenutter| 5.27.10 @ 11:14AM

Michele Obama should focus on her own fat butt and no one else...

Philip| 5.27.10 @ 5:07PM

The irony is that the mass of fallible asses who make up government believe that the fallible masses are asses.

fkdi| 7.1.10 @ 4:00AM

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