Hal - Deliberately Basic

A new bill in Mississippi would make it illegal for restaurants to serve obese people. Three members of the state’s House of Representatives introduced the legislation. If the law is passed, and that is not going to happen, it would “allow health inspectors to revoke the license of any restaurant that repeatedly feeds extremely overweight people.”
I love this quote: J Justin Wilson, an analyst for the Centre for Consumer Freedom, a restaurant industry lobby group, said: “I’ve seen a lot of crazy laws but this one takes the cake. Literally.”

Apparently, the law was never expected to pass, but intended to draw attention to the fact the Mississippi has more fat people than other states. This worries me to death, and I’m glad someone had the foresight to inform me.

Every time I see a do-gooder trying to make more laws to save me from myself, I get more and more frightened - scared shitless would better describe how I feel. We have serous problems: the economy is going to hell, illegal immigration, religious fundamentalists nuts (Not to mention some Muslim groups too), internal attacks on the very foundation of our constitution, an ever-widening class devision, and… fat people.

What we actually have is WMD - more and more weapons of mass distraction.

If I gave this serious thought, and I did for a moment, because of my “mind your own fucking business” attitude I have, it raises certain questions. The primary concern is, who defines what obese means in real terms? For example:

• Weight is arbitrary. Is a 250 pound body-builder bulked with muscle, fat? By accepted standards, he is not.
• Body-mass index, or BMI? This is fraught with argument and exceptions the same as weight.
• A simple eye-ball exam, such as “No doubt about it, this ol’ boy is a fat-ass.” In fact, this may be the best method. If he ain’t muscle-bound, and BMI is not accurate, but you can see that he needs a chair for each cheek, he just may be a fat-ass.
• The medical definition of obese is generally taken as being 20% over ideal weight. Talk about loose, what is ideal weight? Insurance charts would have us all looking anorexic, and for many this is the case.

As for me, yes I could lose a few pounds and I know it. I do not, however, think of myself as obese. If I lost more than 20/25 pounds I would be too thin for good health. I don’t smoke, but don’t care if you do. The same applies to drinking, drugs, or whatever you choose to do with your body. And please, don’t tell me that self-abusive people will drive up insurance rates. Most of them probably don’t have health insurance, and corporate greed is what makes your rates high.

H

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