Michael vs. Michael (Fitness vs. Food)

France, Japan, Britain, Australia: this list catalogs countries with athletes participating in the Summer Olympics. But it also represents governments with officials who are increasingly viewing individual diets as a matter of public health. [snip]
But the athletes sent by each country to the world’s stage exemplify a different point entirely.

Consider Michael Phelps. Eating a diet loaded with so-called “junk” foods (white bread, fried eggs, and pasta by the pound), the famous Olympic champion downs an astonishing 12 thousand calories each day. However, at 6’4” and 195 lbs, Phelps is far from obese or unhealthy. [snip]

According to the Center for Disease Control, [obesity] would basically cure itself if children engaged in the informal outdoor activities that used to be normal.

Food cops, like Michael Jacobson from the Center for Science in the Public Interest, pay little more than lip service to these couch-potato habits that have become the norm in recent years. Instead, Jacobson and other “obesity” experts single out “junk food” as the culprit behind our burgeoning behinds.

Lets compare the two Michaels to see just what they do, and how they do it. Then we can force feed the nannies Twinkies until they explode.

It is when you get caught.

Drunken driving ‘tremendous error’

SALISBURY, Md. — Wicomico County State’s Attorney Davis R. Ruark apologized yesterday for his drunken driving arrest the night before, calling it “a tremendous error in judgment” and saying he hoped the community would forgive him.
Mr. Ruark, 52, was pulled over Friday night in Ocean City after officers observed him speeding and crossing the center line, police said.
After failing field sobriety tests, Mr. Ruark was arrested and taken to Ocean City police headquarters, where he agreed to take a breath test and was found to have a blood-alcohol concentration greater than .08 percent, Maryland’s legal threshold for drunken driving, police said. [snip]

We’re in the midst of an epidemic!

I do not believe in drunk driving. I don’t like smoky places either. However, I’m not about to tell one never indulge. You make your own choices, and live with them.

Regional agency head suspended after DUI arrest in Martin County

PALM CITY — The leader of a Treasure Coast-wide agency established to provide classes for people convicted of driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs was suspended from her job Wednesday in the wake of her DUI arrest Monday.

The Comprehensive Offender Rehabilitation and Education program will continue to operate normally despite the arrest and suspension of its executive director, Margot “Peggy” Cioffi, 59, of Palm City, program officials said.

The nonprofit agency serves about 5,000 clients per year in Martin, St. Lucie, Indian River and Okeechobee counties, providing educational services to people on probation for DUI and other misdemeanors, among other programs.

“I feel bad for Peggy because this is very out of character for her,” said State Attorney Bruce Colton, the president of CORE’s board of directors. “It’s bad for her and it’s bad for the public perception of the program. [snip]

Cioffi, whose blood alcohol level was measured in a breath test at 0.336, could not immediately be reached for comment. The legal driving limit in Florida is 0.08 percent. [snip]

“She grew that organization from just a DUI school into a four-county program that was not only educational, but also handled probation services,” Caudell said. “She has done a lot of good for the community over the years.”

With a snoot full this large, it is a wonder she’s alive to comment. In the U.S. of Nanny America, it is fun to see the preachers hung out to dry. The paper did a story on these classes up here called CRASH. The individuals holding these courses are believers that sinning through demon rum is automatic damnation. No camp meeting fire-breathing preacher ever out did them.

Legislature: Campaign finance put on fast track

In the interest of clarity, I’m not using a Venn Diagram to show who in the legislature are Fascist. If one belongs to the Progressive, the Jackass, the RINO, or the Liberal parties or any party of Big Government, you are so tainted.
Now with the term fascist comfortably defined, and individuals properly tarred, understanding why insuring incumbency through campaign finance reform is their cause cèlébre.
The first primary contest in any election is raising money. When the state controls the size of the contributions to a potential candidate, they control who runs against the incumbent.

With an election just 10 months away, the Legislature’s first order of business in the session that opens today is to rewrite and vote out a new version of a campaign finance bill that Republican Gov. Jim Douglas vetoed in May.

“I’m looking for it to be the first bill we actually move,” said Democratic House Speaker Gaye Symington of Jericho. [snip]

Rule #1—Fascists do not work. From the beginning, they seek political office, raising taxes to pay for growing government larger. Since this is so exhausting, they never have enough money for campaign funds.
A product of work is money. People with money usually are self-sufficient, not prone to donating to any party of Big Taxes and do not reliably vote. (Of course, they vote, but not the fascist mindset, which makes them unreliable.)
To counter this proclivity requires strict campaign finance controls, in which the amount of money given in campaigns “equalizes” the field and promotes incumbency. Is it not any politician’ desire to stay in office where one can exercise control over the electorate?

Rule #2—All fascists are nanny staters; all nanny states elect fascists.

Understand, fascists believe no one is capable of monitoring their self well-being. From smoking to trans-fats, everyone needs the kindly guiding hand for the overseeing state.
To reach this end, they must be in power in sufficient numbers. Keeping vetoes of unpopular legislation from occurring requires total control of the legislature. The simplest method is to kill off the campaign money, a partial birth abortion to democracy.

Lawmakers tried but failed to override the governor’s veto in a special one-day session in July. The House tally came up one vote short. Now legislative leaders say they will move a new version within the first weeks of this session so new rules on campaign contributions could be in effect for the fall election. They are rushing because some candidates — including Douglas — are already raising money for their campaigns. [snip]

Gov. Douglas said the bill would have set contribution caps too low, making it hard for challengers to raise the money they would need to take on incumbents. [snip]

Rep. Christopher Pearson, P-Burlington, said he and other Progressives would be uncomfortable increasing contribution limits significantly…

“We are well on record being concerned with the impact of money in politics,” Pearson said. “I don’t think Vermont is well served having national party money pour in at the last moment.” [snip]

“I do want it to take effect in 2008,” Symington said.

Of course she does, why take a chance on losing.

I guess the UK NHS has a problem to solve about issuing fiats.

‘Patients to lose weight before NHS treatment’

Patients could be required to stop smoking, take exercise or lose weight before they can be treated on the National Health Service, Gordon Brown has suggested.

In a New Year message to NHS staff, the Prime Minister indicates people may have to fulfil new “responsibilities” in order to establish their entitlement to care.

Size zero epidemic as hospitals face huge rise in patients with eating disorders

The number of patients needing hospital treatment for eating disorders has soared, it has emerged.

The findings are sure to renew concerns about the effect “size zero” models and celebrities are having on the body image of many youngsters.

I don’t know whether to eat tofu or a bag of high fructose sugar solids, while watching this all play out.