Posted on 04/19/2006 9:31:36 AM PDT by Psycho_Bunny
Goodbye, war on smoking. Hello, war on fat.
In a span of two months, smoking bans have been imposed in Scotland, enacted in England, Denmark, and Uruguay, proposed by the government of Portugal, and endorsed by the French public. China has banned new cigarette factories. In Virginia, our third most prolific tobacco state, senators voted to ban smoking in nearly all public places. The Arkansas legislature, backed by a Republican governor, passed a similar ban and voted to extend this policy to cars in which a child is present. Tobacco companies have won a skirmish here or there, but always in retreat.
So, we've found a new enemy: obesity. Two years ago, the government discovered that the targets of previous crusades—booze, sex, guns, and cigarettes—were killing a smaller percentage of Americans than they used to. The one thing you're not allowed to do in a culture war is win it, so we searched the mortality data for the next big menace. The answer was as plain as the other chin on your face. Obesity, federal officials told us, would soon surpass tobacco as the chief cause of preventable death. They compared it to the Black Death and the Asian tsunami. They sent a team of "disease detectives" to West Virginia to investigate an obesity outbreak. Last month, the surgeon general called obesity "the terror within" and said it would "dwarf 9-11."
(Excerpt) Read more at slate.com ...
I thought moonbats WANTED humans to die off in order to give the planet back to the plants and animals. What happend to that? The moonbats should be PROMOTING unhealthy living habits.....sheesh...when are they ever going to get it?
And what better way to reduce greehouse gases than for humans to die off in droves?
Thank God we're doing something about this. I live in a city where exercise comes as part of a way of life, as in it's pedestrian friendly and easier to walk than drive. You see less obesity. If we're going to make it where you have to drive more and more we need to do something about the poison people are clogging their bodies with.
Good to be here at FR.
The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule.
-H.L. Mencken
What comes after banning unhealthy food? Requiring us to eat organic, since it is theoretically healthier?
I agree with John Stossel, "A government that can control what you eat can control who you have sex with." If I can't have a snickers bar because of my health risk, we absolutely have to deny pre=marital and homosexual sex. One candy bar can be made up for in the gym. You can't compensate for HPV, AIDS, etc.
"Thank God we're doing something about this."
Yep, cause if there's one thing us conservatives like, it's handing over all control of ourselves to the government. What would we do if Uncle Sugar weren't around to take care of us. Hell, instead of 165, I might weigh, I don't know, 162.
Welcome to FR. I have to wonder, though, what it is about "we" that gives us the power to tell someone else what FOOD to eat? There's a fine line there. We can encourage and educate, but "do something about"? What do you mean? I mean there are people who swear that virtually everything people routinely eat is "poison".
Is that because the alternative is to cry?
The government is eventually going to cede all power to special interest groups that claim to know how to live your life better than you do.
Allah Snackbar!
You ought to love it here where we cover both sides of every subject; go here for the opposing viewpoint http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1617603/posts
How about myob...
Now, now.
I'm convinced a full 1/3 of people here at FR have no idea what conservatism means. They think government control of our lives is a good idea.
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