While individually there are many steps you can take, these are matters of public health. Why do we have an explosion of obesity rates and diseases related to metabolic syndrome. These have the very real potential of bankrupting Medicare and destroying the medical system. Some of these policies should be easier to impose, some will require a lot of work and funds.
We will also need to deal with the utterly individualistic attitudes of many American parents, who will oppose some of these changes. …
There was some surprise in the result of the recall. Let me clarify, not that it failed, I expected that. The surprise came in the numbers. In some places, the governor over-performed over the 2018 election. If anything, he is now the leading candidate for the 2022 election.
So is Larry Elder, even though he likely would be defeated by similar numbers since the state is rejecting Trumpism. In fact, Donald J Trump was on the ballot and was defeated again in the state. As I said, it is the numbers of this shellacking that surprised me. …
Do you know how you can tell when a Republican is not expecting to win? When he says, before any ballot is counted, that the election is rigged. Now, this is exactly what former President Donald Trump did as well. This is the big lie abs it is a direct attack on our Democratic system.
This is part of an authoritarian trend, and attacks against liberal democracy. The far-right, of which Elder is part, does not believe in democracy. They believe in raw power.
For some people this is funny. But none of this is. This has become part of…
I usually stay outside the prediction business since it’s fraught with errors, self-assurance, and predictions that never come to be. However, the science is here, and we have a long-standing obesity epidemic, as well as metabolic syndrome. Obesity is a disease, not a moral failing. It is caused by the standard American diet, portion-sized that are out of control, and a food industry intent on business as usual.
Unlike the low-fat craze that came from faulty science, Americans will have trouble complying. Why? The white stuff is highly addictive. Not only that. This will quickly expand globally and will be…
Trigger warning. If you have suicidal thoughts there is help. This is the suicide helpline.
A conversation over the Jewish New Year dinner triggered some less than pleasant memories. It also told me it was time to write this. Why? Many people who are overweight eat out of emotion. It also gets in the way of portion control. Why? Especially if the food is pleasurable and full of simple carbs, it’s harder to stop. It literally can help drown your feelings.
No, I mostly don’t eat my emotions anymore. Over the years and decades, I learned not to. Mostly I…
You may have noticed if you spend time on social media. Many Republican elected officials are quoting Biblical passages on social media. It is not just Marco Rubio any longer. What is the problem with this? First electeds took an oath to the Constitution which includes the Establishment Clause of the first amendment. Meaning, the government will not establish any religion, or lack off, above all others. The government is not in that business. Elected officials give the wrong impression when they start quoting scripture as to what faith is preferred.
Why did they find their Bibles so attractive all…
I have written at length about how diet affects your health and weight. This was partly driven by my own success in the battle of the bulge. However, this matter is not just about your personal weight issues, or body image, or health status. This is also about ecology, the health of the land, and climate change. We not only have a global obesity epidemic, but also a global food system that is sick.
Part of these issues come from a cheap food system. Yes, dense, industrial calories are cheap and easy to fill stomachs, even if they make the…
Editor’s note: All these photos are by Tom and Nadin Abbott over the course of years. They are file pictures, but may very well have been captured this year.
I remember having discussions with other media types about climate change over ten years ago. Even after Katrina, it was a story with little editorial interest. Partly, I was told repeatedly, the public is not interested. They think we are preaching to them. They think we are liberals. They think…and the excuses continued to build.
The job of the media is to educate and inform, even if the public is in…
It’s over. The long war is over. The last military casualties of the long war were babies, or yet to be born when the war started. They were the last soldiers to die in the course of this long war. We lost our way early in the war. Somewhere along the way, we decided we could establish democracies in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Yet, we do not understand either country, and there are still some troops in Iraq.
This was hubris and American exceptionalism. Afghanistan has defeated great powers because it is not a centralized society. …
Most of us have been here at some point, We gained a few or many pounds. We were told by doctors and friends that it was important to lose weight. Chiefly, we were told a cute one that originated with the food industry, eat less, move more. To be honest, losing weight is one of the most challenging things I have ever done, however, it was not the exercise. For that matter, it was not eating less of the wrong types of foods. I tried a few times before I succeeded. However, there are a few things that happened along…
