Thursday, October 09, 2003 :::
 

Right Here In River City

Congratulations California! You made R-node governor. It could work, I guess. Minnesota didn't evaporate from having another cartoon character, Jesse Ventura, as governor. And of course we have Bush the Younger as president. It must be the times. Back in the 80s there was something called The Peter Principle where it was surmised that everyone eventually gets elevated to a position that they are entirely unqualified for. A lot of Peter's seem to be in positions of authority. Why give any thought to education, experience, dedication…any of those old-school values, or even pure intelligent? Go for the one who mirrors the glib-talking Harold Hill in "Music Man." "And it rhymes with "T"…
We grew up on cartoons. We like cartoon characters. HOMER SIMPSON for PRESIDENT.
And you think I am kidding. Doh!

::: posted by bite me, kick me, make me scream at 8:36 PM

 

Obese Children in America: The Ultimate Solution

R.A.Barrington

What a tragedy we have occurring right under our noses and in our faces. Our children have grown plump and are getting chronic diseases, such as diabetes, at an alarming rate. Stop it! Wake up people! Our children are our legacy and we have become neglectful. We have lost all common sense.
Why is that? Why is it that adults seem so overwhelmed and unsteady that we can't see the glaringly easy answer? How do we reverse this devastating trend?
All we have to do is look to our own history.
During WWII and the Korean War this country put food rationing into effect. The people learned to eat little and subsist. When the war ended in the late 40s and the men returned from the war they were given a passport to prosperity. Housing developments sprung up and a family could get a nice two bedroom for no money down and a small monthly payment. Food of all sorts was available and the women cooked healthy meals, which included a meat, vegetables, and a dessert. Good schools were built and a fine education was available to all. It was a golden beginning after the darkness of war.
This 1950s model, which included mandatory inoculations against dreaded diseases and fluoride treatments in the water, produced a crop of the healthiest people that ever existed in America, the Baby Boomers.
This model continued until the late70s when things started to fall apart. The seminal moment of downturn, I believe, occurred when the elderly President Ronald Regan, during a time when greed became a good thing and money was being made in profusion, declared ketchup a vegetable in the school lunch program. With that national declaration came an attitude that the children could be dismissed. And what is a country's most valuable treasure? It's children. How the children are treated matters. For a culture should always be improving itself to become better and better. We crawled out of the cave and move forward, hopefully. That ideal was suspended when ketchup became a vegetable and has been on a downward trend ever since. Many values have been discarded. We, as a society, have become cheats, liars, brusque mental midgets who only care about our little world, our toys, what we have.
So time to change. Stop the nonsense.
Here's how:
Get the corporations out of schools! No more ala carte. No vending machines. No soda. No candy.
Return to the 1950s food pyramid. Think meat, potatoes/rice, another veggie, fruit, dessert, milk or water.
Get back to physical education as required every school day and a mandatory shower afterward.
All of this is mandatory. No excuses unless you have a doctor's written exceptance.
Enough of this, "Oh darling you only need to do this if you want to." Stop coddling the young.
And after school get the kids outside. They can skateboard, participate in sports, walk around, anything other than sitting around.
There. That's it. We need to get back to a better time. We need to start to care.

::: posted by bite me, kick me, make me scream at 9:00 AM