Fat Americans...Whose Fault?

"Misfortunes one can endure. They come from outside; they are accidents. But to suffer for one's own faults--oh! There is the sting of life!"

     - Oscar Wilde (1877-1914), Irish writer, playwright

Why is obesity such a problem in our country? For clues, you may want to take a look at the latest issue of Time magazine. Its cover story, "How We Grew So Big," by Michael D. Lemonick, acknowledges that diet and lack of exercise are culprits but suggests another factor may be at work:

"...the ultimate reason for obesity may be rooted deep within our genes. Obedient to the inexorable laws of evolution, the human race adapted over millions of years to living in a world of scarcity, where it paid to eat every good-tasting thing in sight when you could find it."

Obviously, it was very hard work for our cave-men ancestors to find their vittles, good-tasting or not. The sheer effort involved in surviving and finding their food kept them slim. Then along comes better technology in food production and we no longer have to labor all day to get our grub. You don't realize what bad news this is.

You see, we continue to lust after good-tasting things because the cave-man in us is saying, "Fat is good to eat but hard to get." The problem with this is the first part of that equation is still true, but the second is not. We no longer expend any energy getting our food, consequently, we don't stay skinny as our cave-man ancestors did. I'm not real sure how we know they were skinny, but the point is, if you're fat now, it ain't your fault. It's those cave-man genes that still lurk in each of us that do us in. You don't agree?

Enter Radley Balko of the weblog The Agitator, Marion Nestle of New York University, and Kelly Brownell of Yale University. They debate the question, "Are You Responsible for Your Own Weight?" Balko argues along the lines of personal responsibility, while Nestle and Brownell lean toward putting the blame on the food industry and government. Both sides support their premise with what I suppose are logical arguments if you happen to agree with them.

Since you may not be able to access the Time articles unless you're a subscriber, the text of Balko's, Nestle's, and Brownell's arguments can be found in this post. Not suprisingly, Mr. Balko elaborates further on both his and his opposition's viewpoints and concludes with:

"It's crazy. If you aren't responsible for what you put into your mouth, chew and swallow, what's left that you are responsible for?"

I must admit, I'm with Balko on this one. I'd love to have someone or something I could legitimately blame for my expanding waist-line: cave-man genes, McDonald's, George Bush, or my wife, but alas, I fear the only person responsible stares back at me from the mirror as I shave each morning. Ugh. The unfairness of it.

Update: More (low carb) food for thought about "Who's to Blame?" at the ABC News website.

 

 

Octogenarianism

"No one grows old by living. Only by losing interest in living."

     - Marie Beyon Ray

George H. W. Bush, our 41st U.S. president, shares some of his thoughts about becoming 80 years old at the Forbes.com website. You may enjoy what he has to say, particularly if you're a senior as I am, or about to become a senior.

If you're only in your 20's, 30's or 40's perhaps you won't, but humor yourself and give it a shot anyway. Who knows? You may uncover some pearl of wisdom that will help you learn how to prepare for your own old age. At the very least, it may help you be a little more patient with the elderly people in your life who sometimes behave in ways that younger people find difficult to understand.

Update: Shortly after completing this post, I remembered another account on aging that I read about two years ago, searched my rapidly accumulating stack of books, and found John Jerome's work, On Turning Sixty-Five. Jerome has written a chronicle of the year leading up to his sixty-fifth birthday which is both entertaining and enlightening. If you're one of those people on the threshold of this stage of life, it would be a fun read for you.  

 

Who Woulda Thunk It?

"Clapping with the right hand only will not produce a noise."

      - Malay proverb

Susan Estrich, law professor at the University of Southern California, believes her new governor has returned bipartisanship to California government and cites evidence that his popularity extends to both sides of the political aisle:

"In a state where both houses of the legislature, both U.S. senators and every office under the governor are held by Democrats, the Republican governor's approval rating, according to a Los Angeles Times poll, was 64%. He has consistently earned favorable ratings from majorities of self-identified Democrats. And that was even before the unveiling of a new budget this month that was both on time and delivered on his pledge to balance it without new taxes."

In an op-ed written for USA Today, Estrich claims that what Schwarzenegger has accomplished in the past eight months is "remarkable." She is a life-long Democrat who was asked to serve on Arnold's transition team, and has witnessed first-hand the positive change in the political atmosphere across the state:

"The arithmetic in California is such that a Republican governor can't pass a bill or win an initiative without Democratic votes. On the other hand, given the need for supermajorities to raise taxes, and the power of well-funded minorities to take issues to the voters through initiatives, a Democratic governor could be blocked on almost anything he tried to do. The result has been that on many issues, you had war, or at least stalemate, leading most voters to see politicians through the most cynical blinders. Changing that perspective has been Schwarzenegger's biggest achievement, to date."

Ms. Estrich is obviously impressed with the governor's leadership style. Based on what she says is happening since he moved to Sacramento, I must say that I am too. I would be interested in getting some perspective from any of you who live in California. How is the "Terminator" doing?

Update: Thomas Lifson has posted an article over at The American Thinker titled "The Governator Rides High." It echoes much of what Susan Estrich has written about Schwarzenegger's political accomplishments in California.

Could We Talk This Over?

"An infallible method of conciliating a tiger is to allow oneself to be devoured."

   - Konrad Adenauer (1876-1967), West German chancellor

A recent email from one of my readers suggested it's time for us to withdraw from Iraq, that fighting terror militarily is a mistake and that negotiating with our enemies would provide a path to peace much more quickly than current U.S. policy will. I also have a couple of friends who hold the same view and have argued with me about mine, which happens to be about 180 degrees from theirs.

You see, I do not believe that al-Qaeda is interested in the slightest in sitting down over a cup of Starbucks with us and negotiating any type of settlement that would return the world to some semblance of normalcy. I think that they have no intention of stopping their campaigns of terror until every democratic government on the globe has been supplanted by an Islamic theocracy. I am aware of no evidence whatsoever that leads me to believe they can be talked out of advancing their ideology by any means at their disposal, up to and including the murder of millions of innocent Americans.

Appeasement and placation simply doesn't work with these madmen. We have a history of it throughout the 1990's when we were attacked time after time and didn't retaliate in a forceful way. And what did our pacifism buy for us? Only the murder of 3,000 of our citizens on September 11, 2001. I fail to understand how turning the other cheek after that disaster, or continuing to beg the United Nations to help us, or pulling in the reins after toppling the Taliban in Afghanistan, would have advanced the long-overdue message that the U.S. would retaliate, with armed force if necessary, against any act of aggression against our country, its citizens, or its military.

On the contrary, I believe that taking a law-enforcement approach with our attackers, as some have suggested, would only have emboldened them further, reinforcing their belief that they could do whatever they wished to us and get no more than a slap on the wrist in return. No, my friends, it is not by appeasement that the threats these people pose to our way of life will come to an end. It is by force. As far as I am concerned, every country in the world needs to understand that when we are attacked, we are going to hit back, and hard. That is to say, when we are attacked, someone's going down.

The Taliban discovered this shocking fact, as did Saddam Hussein. And unless Iran and Syria, who are pouring money, weapons and manpower into Iraq to fight us get the good sense to cease their assistance to our enemies, my hope is their leaders will soon discover our resolve as well, either through negotiations, or failing in that regard, via the full might of our military and the overthrow of their governments. Why be so harsh?

Because what we've done so far has sent a message to countries who provide funding, safe havens, and other support for those who wish us harm. And I believe they're nervous, still not sure about how far we'll go, mainly because of all the wrangling back and forth in our country about the rightness or wrongness of what we're doing in Iraq. But they're nervous. If insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan are eventually subdued, it bodes ill for them and their dictatorships and theocracies. If another of their governments should fall because of their support of terrorists, I believe that others in the same game will pause and say to themselves, "Geez, we have really pissed off the Yanks. Maybe we ought to ask al-Qaeda to find somewhere else to go. We could be next." They may be saying this already, based on what we've seen happen in Libya.

I do not believe in unnecessary war. I believe in peace. I always have. But when you have an enemy who is calling on his followers to kill Americans wherever they find them, and who has proven he has no compunction about murdering as many innocent civilians as possible, it's time to stop thinking about meeting with them at the neighborhood pub to talk over our differences and begin dealing with them with something they understand only too well--force. Turn the other cheek? It's kind of hard to do that if you're dead, and dead is what they want us. That's al-Qaeda's bottom line expressed for all to see--right here.

Only in America

"He who confronts the paradoxical exposes himself to reality."      

        - Friedrich Durrenmatt (1921-1990), Swiss writer    

A friend of mine sent me these humorous paradoxes and deep philosophical questions. I thought some of you might enjoy reading them:  

Only in America....do drugstores make the sick walk all the way to the back of the store to get their prescriptions while healthy people can buy cigarettes at the front.

Only in America....do people order double cheeseburgers, large fries, and a diet coke.

Only in America......do banks leave both doors open and then chain the pens to the counters.

Only in America......do we leave cars worth thousands of dollars in the driveway and put our useless junk in the garage.

Only in America......do we buy hot dogs in packages of ten and buns in packages of eight.
 
Only in America......do we use the word 'politics' to describe the process so well: 'Poli' in Latin meaning 'many' and 'tics' meaning 'bloodsucking creatures'.

Only in America......do they have drive-up ATM machines with Braille lettering.

EVER WONDER ...

Why the sun lightens our hair, but darkens our skin? 
 
Why do you park in a driveway and drive on a parkway?

Why women can't put on mascara with their mouth closed?

Why don't you ever see the headline "Psychic Wins Lottery?

Why is lemon juice made with artificial flavor, and dishwashing liquid made with real lemons?

Why is the man who invests all your money called a broker?

Why is the time of day with the slowest traffic called rush hour?

Why isn't there mouse-flavored cat food?

Why didn't Noah swat those two mosquitoes?

Why do they sterilize the needle for lethal injectionsYou know that indestructible black box that is used on airplanes? Why don't they make the whole plane out of that stuff?

Why don't sheep shrink when it rains?

Why are they called apartments when they are all stuck together?

If con is the opposite of pro, is Congress the opposite of progress?

If flying is so safe, why do they call the airport the terminal?

Lots to think about here...really. Any of you who have the answers might leave them as a comment so the rest of us may become more enlightened. Okay? 
        
 

The Undoing of America

"Four hostile newspapers are more to be feared than a thousand bayonets."

    - Napoleon Bonaparte (1768-1821), French emperor

After writing yesterday's post about the media's coverage of Iraq, I ran across another column related to what I was attempting to convey. Initially, I thought of adding it as an update to what I'd already said, but it's substantive enough to merit an entry of its own.

It was written by Mort Kondracke, Executive Editor of Roll Call and was posted on the RealClearPolitics website. Kondracke believes that Congress and the media are on a path to talking Americans into a defeat in Iraq:

"The media--unperturbed by mistakenly likening both the Afghan war and last year's invasion of Iraq to Vietnam--focuses overwhelmingly on the bad news coming out of Iraq. There is plenty of bad news--but there is also much good, and it is being almost completely ignored."

He contrasts what is now happening in the Middle East to what happened during the Vietnam conflict in the 1960's:

In 1968--by no accident, a U.S. presidential election year--the Viet Cong launched a massive countrywide offensive in South Vietnam, invading the U.S. Embassy complex in the process. By every military measure, U.S. and South Vietnamese forces devastated the Communist forces...Yet the U.S. media reported the episode as a U.S. defeat, helping convince the American establishment that the war was unwinnable. In this respect, there is a real danger that Iraq could become like Vietnam--a self-inflicted defeat."

Kondracke highlights some of the negative aspects of allowing this to happen:

"...if Congress and the media raise doubts that Bush can 'finish the job,' then Iraqis--who already have good reason to doubt American resolve, given our performance during and after the 1991 Gulf War--will lose all faith that they can have a stable country...The consequences of failure will be disastrous--not just for Bush, but for Iraqis, for America, for the Middle East and for civilization itself."

Yes, the media and Congress could turn this into another Vietnam.  Al-Qaeda and other terrorist organizations, as well as most of the middle eastern countries like Syria and Iran, already believe that the U.S. is a paper tiger, that we have no resolve for remaining in an extended conflict that becomes messy and politically complicated. The North Vietnamese knew that and used it to their advantage in the 60's, just as the terrorists in Iraq, Syria and Iran know it today and are using it to their advantage as we speak. They realize they can't win militarily, but believe they can prevail politically if they can hang on until we become impatient. If you watch the evening news or read the morning paper, you'd believe we're at that point already.

If Americans allow the naysayers in the media and those in Congress to convince us with their whining and negative reporting that we should pull out of Iraq before our mission is accomplished, it will be catastrophic. The Iraqis who supported us will have hell to pay, our country will lose all credibility with our allies, and we'll become completely vulnerable to those who wish us harm. As in the years prior to 9/11 when we were being hit time after time by our enemies and retaliating only minimally, every terrorist in the world will know they can be as vicious and destructive as they please with us and we will do nothing but stick our heads in the sand while they shove another nuke up our posterior.

That, my friends, will be the sorriest state of affairs we could ever find ourselves in, and our mostly anti-Bush media can stick out their chests and proclaim to the world that they have succeeded once again in achieving their objectives--provided the cities from which they spew their "fair and balanced" broadcasts still exist.

Where Do We Find The Good News?

"The man who never looks into a newspaper is better informed than he who reads them; inasmuch as he who knows nothing is nearer to truth than he whose mind is filled with falsehood and errors."

    - Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), 3rd U.S. President

I was talking with an old friend by telephone last night and after the usual pleasantries the discussion turned to our disenchantment with how most of the major media is covering the war in Iraq. Both of us tire of the constant barrage of bad news we're getting and yearn for more balanced reporting of what's going on over there.

Dean Esmay at Dean's World does too:

"It is alternately amusing and frustrating to those of us who know something about the history of warfare and military occupations to watch the news about Iraq. If you watch the news carefully, and ignore all the screaming and squawking...you know that Iraq has gone quite well so far, and much better than anyone had a right to expect."

Dean links to Australian weblog Chrenkoff, where blogger Arthur recaps positive accomplishment after positive accomplishment occurring in Iraq over the past year. The spread of democracy, the improving economy and higher standards of living, rehabilitation of orphanages and centers for the handicapped, the resurgence of education and improving healthcare are but a few of the achievements he writes about.

Glenn Reynolds at InstaPundit features a USA Today editorial in which Major Ben Connable, a Marine serving in the Middle East, talks about what he sees that the defeatists in this country don't:

"Just weeks ago, I read that the supply lines were cut, ammunition and food were dwindling, the 'Sunni Triangle' was exploding, cleric Muqtada al-Sadr was leading a widespread Shiite revolt, and the country was nearing civil war. As I write this, the supply lines are open, there's plenty of ammunition and food, the Sunni Triangle is back to status quo, and Sadr is marginalized in Najaf."

My friend asked me why the news doesn't report on the many good things that are happening. I would ask the same question. Why don't they? Mark Cuban at his weblog, Blog Maverick, has some thoughts:

"We are now in an era where media searches for stories that will generate media coverage of the story. Stories are written not for the value they bring the readers, viewers or listeners, but rather the volume of coverage they will bring."

If you suggested that this is the case to someone like Dan Rather, Chris Matthews, Peter Jennings or Bill O'Reilly, no doubt they would recoil in horror. They obviously do not see themselves in the same light as many of the American public do, choosing to ignore accusations that they're biased with pious, holier-than-thou claims of being fair and balanced.

Timothy W. Maier, writing for Insight On The News, says that Americans rate the trustworthiness of journalists at about the level of politicians and as only slightly more credible than used-car salesmen:

"Only one in four people believe what they read in newspapers. Chicago Tribune Editor Charles M. Madigan may have put it best when he offered this advice: 'If you are a journalist, you should probably just assume that you come across as a liar.' "

Ultimately, I believe, this declining lack of trust in news reporting will translate into a reshuffling of what constitutes major media today. The American people will not forever support an institution, be it a newspaper, or a television network, in which they have little faith. I believe we are hungry for, and would heartily support, a news outlet that would report the news without bias, airing all sides of an issue and allowing us to reach our own conclusions. Is such a thing possible? Probably not, but I can dream, can't I? 

It Will Be There Tomorrow

"All achievements, all earned riches, have their beginning in an idea."

 - Napoleon Hill (1883-1970), American motivational speaker

I've always been fascinated by men and women who take an idea and turn it into something far greater than they might have imagined when it first occurred to them. America has had more than its fair share of these people. Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, Thomas Watson, Bill Gates and Michael Dell, to name a few, all took their ideas and created profitable enterprises that provided many benefits for their customers, their employees, and themselves.

Frederick W. Smith, founder of Federal Express, is one of these innovators who had an idea, acted upon it, and transformed the manner in which business is conducted by providing overnight delivery of almost anything you can think of to practically anywhere in the world.  

Interestingly, the original concept came to him while he was a student at Yale University in the 1960's. He wrote a term paper about it and his professor gave him a "C" grade for his effort. Students were told that in order to get higher than a "C", their ideas had to be feasible. Though his professor was only minimally impressed, Smith nurtured his dream until the early 1970's when he started his company with 14 planes, 389 employees and a first night delivery of 186 packages. Today FedEx has the world's largest all-cargo fleet, handles 3.3 million packages nightly and employs over 200,000 people.

In this fascinating interview conducted by journalist Michael Robinson for The American Enterprise Online magazine, Mr. Smith talks about not only his business, but a host of other topics such as globalization, outsourcing, free trade, the U.S. economy, unions, the Vietnam and Iraq Wars, and as a bonus, shares his thoughts about George Bush and John Kerry who were classmates of his at Yale.

Even if you think you're not interested in entrepreneurship, I believe you'll find this interview a lot of fun to read. I certainly did, not only because of what Smith said, but because his company was one that we studied when the corporation I once worked for was striving to win the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. A part of that study included a trip to FedEx's Memphis hub to see how packages were received, sorted, distributed and tracked for overnight delivery all over the world. I believe they still conduct tours, so if you're ever in Memphis, make an appointment to drop by and see this amazing operation. You won't regret it.

A Grand Experience

"The influence of fine scenery, the presence of mountains, appeases our irritations and elevates our friendships."

   - Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), American poet

If I were told that I could play only one golf course for the rest of my life, I would be happy playing those rounds at the Mount Mitchell Golf Club. It's one of the best combinations of natural beauty and interesting golf that I've experienced.

It's situated in the South Toe River Valley just off the Blue Ridge Parkway on N.C. Highway 80 at the foot of Mount Mitchell, the highest peak east of the Mississippi River. I've often described it as a little green jewel set amidst some of the most scenic vistas you'll ever encounter.

Your adventure begins when you hit your first tee shot against the backdrop of the mountains, continues by the trout pool on #2 through narrow corridors of spruce, hickory and oak trees on #'s 3, 4 and 5 to an amazingly difficult green to putt at #7 and then to what should be easy pars on #'s 8 and 9, but often aren't. Over the years at least two of our group have fallen into the stream in front of #9, but always undeterred they've played on, wet clothes and all. An interesting aspect of the front nine is how flat it is. There's no elevation change, even though you're over 3000 feet above sea level.

Starting the back nine, you encounter your first elevated green at #10, and it's as devilish to putt on as was #7. Number 11 is a short downhill par 3 that falls off to the river on the right, then you're back on level ground at #12, an extremely tight par 5. Numbers 12, 13 and 14 are as beautiful a stretch of holes as you'll see anywhere, right up there with "Amen Corner" at Augusta. The club's signature hole, #14, a dog-leg left, is viewed as one of the best in the area, and is arguably the toughest on the course. Few in our group would disagree.

Until you reach #18, where the tee is about 30 yards above a wide fairway and a large green fronted by a swiftly moving stream, there's little elevation change. The fairway here is so invitingly huge that the temptation is to really try and rip it. This often results in a big hook or slice, putting you behind trees and making it virtually impossible to hit the green with your second shot, not that we haven't tried many times. 

Building this beautiful place was the brainchild of Jim Floyd and Lee King who saw the potential in the development of the property when no one else could. Blessed with some luck and the innocence of youth, they succeeded in creating something that people will be enjoying for years to come.

When my friends and I visit Mount Mitchell we rent one or two of the many private homes that surround the course and enjoy our non-golfing time as much as the hours we spend chasing the little white ball. Early fall is my favorite time to be there. The foliage is so gorgeous then that it makes the way you're playing seem of little importance. You just stand on the tee taking it all in and wondering how in the world you stumbled across such a magnificent place.  

Home Again

"The greatest sweetener of human life is friendship. To raise this to the highest pitch of enjoyment is a secret which but few discover."

   - Joseph Addison (1672-1719), British essayist

I'm finally home again after almost two weeks of golf, fellowship and fun. After returning from Santee, I repacked my bags and made a second trip, this time to the mountains of North Carolina with another group of buddies.

Why would I make two trips back to back? Well, the scheduling for one is done independently of the other, for the two groups don't know each other. I could have bowed out of one of them, but then I'd have missed seeing fellows I've known in some cases for over 40 years, and I didn't want to do that. It would have been another year before I'd have been able to see some of them again.  

And that's what these trips are all about anyway--seeing my old friends. The golf has become secondary for me. Most of us have gotten to the part of our lives when good shots are more rare than bad ones and whether we make a par or a triple-bogey, we laugh and tee it up again with a minimum of self-flagellation.

I've included some photos from the Santee outing in this post. I'll put the ones from the Mt. Mitchell trip into another. Yes, I do hang out with mostly senior citizens, but we are all young at heart and plan to continue getting together until we're no longer physically able--which I hope is many years from now.

For any of my readers who are golfers, you may be interested in where we played: Lake Marion Golf Course, Wyboo Golf Club, Beech Creek Golf Club, Santee-Cooper Country Club and Santee NationalGolf Club. 

On My Way to Santee

I'm leaving for Santee, SC, in a few minutes to join 23 other guys for 4 days of golf. This is a group I've been going with for over 20 years and we always have a good time, even when it's raining, which it's doing right now--by the bucketful. I'm hopeful that the sun will pop out on my way up there, about a two hour drive, and we'll have good weather when we get to the first tee.

I'll take some pictures while I'm there and share them when I get back for those of you who are interested.

In the meantime, if you haven't done so already, take a look at my "Older Entries." If you've already feasted on these in the past, then leave me a comment. If you've already done that, well...I don't know what to tell you except I'll be back on Friday. Have a great week.

Ron

Financing Your Retirement

"When prosperity comes, do not use all of it."

    - Confucius (circa 551-479 B.C.), Chinese philosopher

I think if there's one lesson I wish I had learned sooner in my life, it would have been knowing the benefits of saving a portion of each of my paychecks. Oh, I began saving during my career but not as soon as I should have. As it turns out, my wife began working after our children were school age, so that helped. Then my company offered us a 401-K plan to which they contributed if you were wise enough to sign up. That helped too. A lot of folks didn't sign up, which I never could figure out, since they were getting an immediate 50% return on their investment.

What I couldn't see very clearly then, but do now, is the power of compound interest over a long period of time. A little set aside on a regular basis becomes a lot if you leave it alone and allow it to grow for 20 or 30 years. I think most people know this now, but fail to act upon it soon enough. I know when I was younger, the wife wasn't working, we had children, there were bills and emergencies, so it was easy not to save and invest. Until the company I worked for made it easier for me to put a part of my salary aside, I languished in promises to myself that I'd get around to saving "one of these days."

That's part of the theory behind the proposal to allow workers to direct a part of their wages and salary that currently flows into Social Security to an individual retirement account--making it easy for everyone to invest on a regular basis. Larry Kudlow has written an article about this over at Townhall.com. It's worth a read.

Mr. Kudlow points out how the "return" on contributions to Social Security fall well below average returns on monies invested in the stock market, even if compared to the worst 20-year period for investors, 1929-1948. Yet, many people are still fearful of a plan that would put their hard-earned money into stocks or other securities. If you're one of these and would like some insight into how the whole thing would work, take a look at Kudlow's column. I don't know about you, but I, for one,wishsomething like this had been available to me when I was a younger man.

In the meantime, whatever you do, put aside some of your earnings each payday. Trust me, when you turn 60, you'll be glad you did, even though it might be a stretch for you today.