"During his speech in Salt Lake City on Mondy, President Bush for the first time mentioned the number of U.S. soldiers who have died there"
I was not aware that much combat was taking place around Salt LAke City
As someone with a sociology background who is very interested in the stigma of fatness, I am so sick of the junk food issue being raised exclusively with the issue of childhood obesity. It is harmful for 2 reasons:
1) It focuses too much attention of fat children, to the point that we are hyper conscious of them, which in turn causes them to be far more self-conscious than they need to be. They also become scapegoats and are blamed for why the rest of the kids can't enjoy treats. Nor should they have to live with being set up as examples of what can happen to someone who drinks too much coke. There is no reason fat kids have to hate their bodies. Body hatred has been used as motivation for weight reduction for an entire century and anyone who can't see it as counterproductive has their heads in the sand.
2) Secondly, fatness is not the only reason why soda
is bad. Too much sugar, caffeine, brittle bones, artificial sweetners are bad for all people, not just kids who happen to be over some arbitrary height weight charts. We should broaden the focus to nutrition period.
Until we curb the hysteria and realize what a complex issues this is, and stop using the same old tried and untrue counterproductive attempts at solutions, we will get nowhere.
Might this be merely a red herring designed to take some of the heat off of George W. Bush at a critical time in his Presidency? Anyone who doesn't believe that our higher gas prices are not directly tied to our involvement in the Middle East is not thinking clearly. Taking some of the heat away from Bush and placing it on Hugo Chavez and Venezuela, would seem like the kind of "side-stepping" the Bush administration has been famous for.
The commercial (for the Army Reserves) that really gets my goat is the one where the father and son are playing pool and the father is totally against it, until his son explains that he'll be eligible for good training and be able to stay close to home until he's called up (which seems to be ASAP these days). Then the father changes his tune. I suppose if he's well-trained and he dies, then it'll be ok.
Jeffrey Brown
6-year veteran, United States Navy,
North Las Vegas, NV
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