NOT ONLY NO, BUT HELL NO

Dennis Kucinich and I are on the same page on the House Heath Care bill, he voted no and so  would I.  This link explains why he was against this bill.  Primarily the reason for a no vote is that bill leaves the insurance company profit centers in tack and infact mandates that more people kneel at their alter.  I truly would rather see no bill than this one.

THE ATTACK OF THE SKINNY PEOPLE!

This must be the week of the attack on the overweight people in the good ole US.  My post the other day about the Pentagon saying 75% of 17 to 24 year olds are unfit for military service , 35 % of them for having a BMI over 25.  I complained that BMI is another formula (like Wall Street Formula) that is totally misleading. HERE’S THE LINK TO A PDF OF BELOW CHART IN LIVING COLOR. This list will show that damn near every roll  model we present to the kids to follow is according to the BMI overweight.

Seems to me grown ups can never be happy, when I was very young they threw my butt in the hospital because I was too skinny.  As I recall they strapped me down and stuck needles in my veins and pumped sugar water into me for 10 days to fatten me up.  Needless to say it didn’t work, all it took was 30 or years or so and my weight would have made them happy.

Let’s attack the reasons kids are overweight.  First and foremost in my book (and you won’t see this mentioned anywhere else) (because they are chicken to do so)  .  Nobody is home to supervise the little darlings when they get home and prepare and serve meals that might be healthy.  Since the 70’s when declining wages and jobs drove the homemakers into the work force to make ends meet there was nobody at home to take care of business.  As parents we know how reliable kids are when it comes to doing what’s best for them.  I had that demonstrated a few times by one of my kids.  As far as that goes when I was a kid working at the corner store I ate so many Twinkies and drank Yohoo soda and good ole sugar coke I should have been dead at 18 according to some.  Now I’m not blaming this on women,  but you would have to agree it’s some bodies job and now there’s nobody there to do it , everything is rushed into the few hours you have between work and sleep.  In the beginning of all this women got the short end of the stick, they got a 9 to 5 job and the homework too.  Such a deal , they tell me that  men have finally been trained to share the burden.  Tell me girls is that true??

On top of all that everything a kid does today is inside some organization, be it baseball, soccer , ballet, piano lessons , martial arts, you get the picture.  So dear ole Mom generally gets to rush home from work, pick up the kids and their gear and rush to the playing field.  So now it’s time to eat, well hell we’ll just stop at Big Mac’s on the way home pick up a Super Sized burger, a huge order of fries and top it off with a 55 gallon soda. Then it’s off to 4 hours of homework (and probably another monster coke or two to stay awake) and then to bed. Over and over again.  I guess I should be thankful that at least some are doing physical stuff , else they would probably weigh a ton.  Then we adults get to bad mouth them for being fat.  (not many of which have looked at themselves in the mirror lately)

Now we get to go to the average sit down restaurant. The plate they set before virtually everywhere is bigger than an NFL linemen (avg BMI 36) could eat.  People are funny (and kids even funnier) they try to eat what’s put in front of them and a study shows that the test group did not detect that the plate was doubled, they just ate the whole thing.( which in my day Mom always said clean your plate) (I was really good at it too) Even when you order the Senior size it’s way more than I can eat and I’m no slouch when it comes to eating.

This is a perfect example of the Free Market theory, we as parents all know better than to feed our kids that way, but we do , because it’s a big competition to see which joint serves the biggest plate.  Even good ole Kentucky Fried came out with a new sandwhich(THE DOUBLE DOWN) recently , the bread was two pieces of deep friend chicken , with the usual (today) of tons of cheese, bacon, a couple of old shoes and whatever else they could throw on it and called it a healthy sandwhich.  The KFC sandwhich is a perfect place for Sen Joe Wilson to scream (YOU LIE)..  MORE LIKE OTHER ESTIMATES OF 1280 Calories and 31 g’s of fat.  Gotta stay competitive you know (good ole Free Market ) competition ,the other competitors are in the 1000 to 1200 calorie class, add that to a big order of fries and a 64 ounce sugar loaded soda and you have your whole days eaten done in record time.  Just what we need another time saver.

We could do ourselves and our kids a favour by cracking down on these servings by doing it ourselves.  If you want fast food buy a good pocket knife go buy that super sized raft and cut it up in front of them 3, 4 or 5 ways and watch how fast they lower the size.  I would suggest quit blaming the kids, we are the guilty ones.

 

Men’s Body Composition – Sort on % Fat
Developed by Jim Grizzell – MBA MA Certified Health Education Specialist – grizzell@cyberg8t.com
Group                                         Weight Height                   % Fat                    BMI       Lean BMI
Sedentary, 59-75 yr olds                                                      172          69.2             29.7%                    25.3         17.8     MSSE, v27, n5, p776
Sedentary, 61-68 yr olds                                                      180          69.3             28.6%                    26.4         18.9     MSSE, v24, n7, p832
Average, 66-74 yr olds                                                        170          67.0             25.8%                    26.7         19.8     MSSE, v31, n8, p1182
Football, NFL Offensive Linesmen & Tight Ends                                 299          76.4             24.7%                    36.0         27.1     JSCR, v12, n3 p146
Sedentary for >/=2 years, 29-39 yr old,                                       185          70.5             24.0%                    26.2         19.9     MSSE, v26, n4, p515
VO2max=25 ml/kg/min, LOW FIT 25 yr old                                        180          70.3             23.7%                    25.6         19.5     MSSE, v30, n10, p1521
BEFORE strength training, 1hr 4d/wk 12 wks, 19-29                             174          70.5             21.8%                    24.7         19.3     MSSE, v29, n5, p706
Football, NFL Defensive Linemen                                               279          75.6             20.3%                    34.4         27.4     JSCR, v12, n3 p146
Physical activity, LOW LEVEL 25 yr old                                        190          70.0             19.7%                    27.3         21.9     MSSE, v30, n10, p1521
Physically activity, MEDIUM LEVEL, 25 yr old                                  187          72.8             18.7%                    24.9         20.2     MSSE, v30, n10, p1521
AFTER strength training, 1hr 4d/wk 12wks, 19-29                               174          70.5             18.7%                    24.7         20.1     MSSE, v29, n5, p706
VO2max=34ml/kg/min, MEDIUM FIT, 25 yr old                                     177          73.9             18.5%                    22.9         18.6     MSSE, v30, n10, p1521
BEFORE Running training 30min 3xWk 2 mo, 21-23 yr olds                        140          65.3             18.1%                    23.1         18.9     JSCR, v2, n3, p46
Sedentary, 22-23                                                              185          70.1             17.9%                    26.5         21.8     JSCR, v8, n4,p251
Physical activity HIGH, 25 yr old                                             184          71.9             17.4%                    25.1         20.8     MSSE, v30, n10, p1521
Sedentary, 23-29 yr olds, <30min/d & <2d/wk                                   168          70.1             17.3%                    24.1         20.0     MSSE, v24, n7, p832
AFTER running training 30min 3xWk 2 mo, 21-23 yr olds                         138          65.3             17.1%                    22.8         18.9     JSCR, v2, n3, p46
Football, NFL Linebackers                                                     249          73.5             15.3%                    32.4         27.5     JSCR, v12, n3 p146
Olympic Weight Lifters, Competitive, 20 yr old                                188          67.7             14.7%                    28.9         24.6     JSCR, v13, n1,p58
VO2max=44 ml/kg/min, PE Activity class students, 20-26                        184          70.1             14.7%                    26.3         22.4     MSSE, v29, n3, p416
Ballet dancers, 16-21 yr old                                                  144          68.8             14.5%                    21.4         18.3     MSSE, v23, n5, p528
Strength tng; >3yr, 5sets; 5-10reps, 3-4d/wk; 23-25                           197          69.8             14.4%                    28.5         24.4     JSCR, v8, n4,p251
BEFORE starvation diet, 20-39                                                 153          70.5             14.0%                    21.7         18.7     AJCN, v52,p953
VO2max=45ml/kg/min, HIGH FIT, 25 yr old                                       183          69.8             13.1%                    26.5         23.0     MSSE, v30, n10, p1521
Rodeo, Ropers, 21-23                                                          165          69.9             13.1%                    23.9         20.7     JSCR, v7, n1, p22
PROTEIN ENERGY MALNUTRITION, 20-39                                            137          70.5             13.0%                    19.5         16.9     AJCN, v52,p953
Football, NFL Offensive Backs & Wide Receivers                                210          70.8             12.6%                    29.5         25.8     JSCR, v12, n3 p146
Football, college                                                             200          71.9             11.9%                    27.2         24.0     JSCR, v3, n4, p101
AFTER 12 wks starvation diet – 50% of required, 20-39                         127          70.5             11.0%                    17.9         16.0     AJCN, v52,p953
Football, NFL Defensive Backs                                                 206          73.1             10.7%                    27.2         24.3     JSCR, v12, n3 p146
Swimmers, ~34 mi/wk, 19-21                                                    163          71.6             10.4%                    22.4         20.1     JSCR, v4, n2, p31
Basketball Players NBA                                                        189          74.0             10.3%                    24.3         21.8     reference not available
Strength training, 4 mo-4 yr experience, 23-35                                171          70.0             10.0%                    24.5         22.1     JSCR, v4, n2,p48
Run ~30mi/wk or cycle 5 hr/wk, 22-30 yr olds                                  153          70.5              9.7%                    21.7         19.6     MSSE, v24, n7, p832
Triathletes; 11mi/wk s, 44 mi/wk c, 28 mi/wk r; 19-21                         163          72.0              9.5%                    22.1         20.0     JSCR, v4, n2, p31
Pro Baseball, 20-27                                                           199          70.6              8.9%                    28.2         25.7     JSCR, v6, n34, p207
Runners, ~63mi/wk, 16-22                                                      135          70.3              6.4%                    19.3         18.1     JSCR, v4, n2, p31
AFTER 24 wks starvation diet – 50% of required, 20-39                         116          70.5              6.0%                    16.5         15.5     AJCN, v52,p953
Body Builders, competitive, 22-33 yr old                                      189          70.4              5.9%                    26.9         25.3     JSCR, v3, n3, p37
Cycling elite mtn bike, 25-33 yr old                                          157          69.3              5.8%                    23.1         21.7     MSSE, v29, n8, p1090
Cycling elite road bike, 20-26 yr old                                         160          71.7              4.7%                    21.9         20.9     MSSE, v29, n8, p1090
High and Medium Risk Groups have Red Text                                        2 or 3 measures at high and medium risk
College Students are in Light Blue Cells
Percent Body Fat (high risk)                                     <3% or >19.9%
Percent Body Fat (medium risk)                                        >16 – </=19.9
Body Mass Index (BMI) (high risk)                                                                 <19 or >/=30
Body Mass Index (medium risk)                                                                 >/=25 – </=29.9
Lean Body Mass Index (BMI) (high risk)                                                                                  </=17
Lean Body Mass Index (BMI) (medium risk)                                                                                  >17 – </=18
Percent Body Fat (healthy range)                                           3% – 16%
Body Mass Index (BMI) (healthy range)                                                                    19 – <25
Lean Body Mass Index (BMI) (healthy range)                                                                                    >18

PG AND E LOVES IT’S LOW ENERGY USE CUSTOMERS

In fact they love us so much they are they are asking the utility Commission for a 5% increase per KWH to it’s low energy use customers.  This would mean about a $1.32 montly increase for the first in my case 230 KWH with a future expectation of a 2.5 to 5% reduction for high energy users. Future expectations  put it in the rate change request that we get it now or withdraw the app.  Unless they completely change their billing all of us are going to be paying more for the base load amount.

Why you might ask?  Why to give their large use customers a price decrease ).  So the basic idea here is too charge more to the customers who conserve the most and or the ones who can least afford the rate hike.

Here’s a stock tip (BUY VASELINE )  .

When is this kind of crap going to stop.  On their web site they encourage reducing your usage and now we find out why, they will charge you more for your efforts.  The average KWH usage for all of California is 750KWH per month (the lowest in all 50 states.  Why is that easy answer we have been screwed before.  Many households have installed solar systems based on saving on their electric  savings, (good luck with that if they win).  The plain facts of the matter is PG and E is going all out to stiff it’s residential users.  If their is any doubt left in your   mind about SMART METERS being a savings tool for you and me forget it. They will be used to charge us more.  I think it’s time to make it a MUNICIPAL UTILITY STATE WIDE!!

HERE’S THE STORY

ANOTHER STORY AND A LINK TO THE UTILITIES COMMISSION

 

SO WHAT?

CONTENT OF A RIGHT WING SPAM EMAIL BELOW Too bad none of the below mean a damn thing.. There are only two ways to become president by election.  Win a majority of the electoral votes and or be appointed by the Supreme Court (who ignored law) to appoint GW Bush. JUST ONCE I WOULD LIKE TO SEE A REPUBLICAN RANT BASED OF FACT OR GOD FORBID THE TRUTH. JUST HOW DID THE PROFESSOR DETERMINE THE  ECONOMIC WELL BEING OF THE VOTERS , RICH OR POOR A VOTE IS A VOTE.  HELL HE COULD HAVE WEEDED OUT THE MUSLIMS, BLACKS, SINGLE MOMS,MEXICANS,  OLD FOLKS.  THEY WOULD LIKE TO JUST COUNT RICH GUYS. I WOULD SUGGEST THEY READ THE CONSTITUTION BUT I KNOW THEY WOULD GET IT WRONG.  THEY WOULD PROBABLY CHANGE THE WORDS AS THEY ARE TRYING TO DO IN THE BIBLE. THIS WILL CURDLE YOUR BLOOD & BREAK YOUR HEART Interesting  Statistics Professor Joseph Olson of Hemline University School of  Law, St. Paul, Minnesota , points out facts of 2008  Presidential election: Number  of States won by: Democrats:  19 Republicans:   29 Square  miles of land won by: Democrats:  580,000 Republicans:   2,427,000 Population of counties  won by: Democrats:  127 million Republicans:  143 million Murder rate  per 100,000 residents in counties won  by: Democrats:  13.2 Republicans:   2.1 Professor Olson  adds: “In aggregate, the map of the territory Republican won by Republicans was mostly the land owned by the taxpaying citizens of the country. Democrat territory mostly encompassed those citizens living in government-owned tenements and living off various forms of government welfare. Professor Olson believes the United States is now somewhere between the “complacency and apathy” phase of Professor Tyler’s definition of democracy, with some forty percent of the nation’s population already having reached the “governmental dependency” phase. If Congress grants amnesty and citizenship to twenty million criminal invaders called illegal’s and they vote, then we can say goodbye to the USA in fewer than five years. Pass this along to help everyone realize just how much is at stake, knowing that apathy is the greatest danger to our freedom

DIE FOR WALMART AND TAKE A BUNCH WITH YOU!

Here’s a link to the sick leave policy at your local friendly Walmart reads like  boot camp or some prep school.  Demerits for calling in sick while at the same time telling you to stay home if you think you have the Swine Flu.  Be sure to read the comment section , seems like Wallyworld  isn’t alone out there. All this kindness for $1o /per hour, short  hours, little or no health care, oppressive management.  SUCH A DEAL!

LITTLE TO THEY KNOW THIS IS THE KIND OF STUFF THAT UNIONIZED AMERICA IN THE PAST.  iT CAN AND WILL HAPPEN AGAIN AND SOON I HOPE.

Unaccountable Elite – I DIDN’T DO IT!

Oh crap , yes I did.  So I will take the blame for the evil doings mentioned in this POST.

30 differently than he saw.

The actions of the 5 presidents mentioned plus all the financial crooked dealing of the last 30 years , how could he expect them to act differently.  The kids just have to look around. They see coal companies blowing off the top of mountains to get to coal and destroying every living thing near them.  They see their brothers and sisters going to two wars that they know are bullshit, and coming home either dead, maimed , or mentally ill with talk of even sending more troops to the slaughter.

They see their parents lose their jobs, lose their retirement , lose their dignity all in the name of globalization .  They know that’s bullshit and they know it probably will be worse for them. We dumb them down in our school systems by cutting stuff out of their books they should know.  We removed  from the curriculum history, social studies, civics , you know all the stuff they need to make better decisions of what’s right.  They have to go to TV shows to get real news (John Stewart and Stepehen Colbert) are their Walter Cronkite.

Trust me, it ain’t their fault ,BECAUSE YOU AND I DID IT TO THEM!

SPECIAL PRIVILEGES FOR BANKSTERS

The Swine Flu serum is of very limited supply so this story really pisses me off.

The CDC guidelines for distributing  the vaccine are as follows:

Dr. William Schaffner, a flu expert at Vanderbilt University, said allocation of limited vaccine is tricky. CDC guidelines provide a list of patients who should be at the front of the line: children and young people through age 24, people caring for infants under 6 months, pregnant women, health care workers, and adults with health conditions such as asthma and diabetes.

Please tell me how Goodman/Sachs or Citigroup or any other financial group fits into the above guidelines.  While those who are on the high priority list go begging.  UNBELIEVABLE    !!!!

THE POWER OF ONE

In recent months we have seen the power of a single individual in congress stomp their little feet and get their way.  Olympia Snow during the health care debate forced Dirty Harry to remove most of the progressive features of the bill.  Then there was ole Senator Joe of Conn. who saw all the attention MS. Snow got and started throwing hissy fits if he didn’t get the attention he so desperately wanted.  At least these two were sort of in the news every night but:

Here’s one that you never heard about.  Senator Coburn has put a personal anonymous hold on a Veterans bill and this is not the first time.  This bill is a compromise to get around his objections to the first two bills and he’s still blocking it.  Here’s the Vets side of the story.

To hide in the closet (I’m beginning to think there a lot of republicans in the closet) (think Larry Craig) on any legislation should not be allowed . yeah I know it’s legal, but it shouldn’t be.  What ever happened to “BY AND FOR THE PEOPLE”  and in this case the republican slogan (and that’s all it ever has been) “SUPPORT THE TROOPS”  .  Sure looks like this Senator is supporting them and their dependants. All we can hope for is that Coburn never decides to support the troops , God knows what would happen.

 

TOO FAT-TOO DUMB-TOO SICKLY

There is one other choice, THEY MIGHT JUST BE SMARTER THAN YOU THINK.  This article claims that 75 % of 17 to 24 year olds are unfit for military service mainly for being obese.  (35%) drug use (8%), mental (10%) , too many dependants (18) , criminal records (5%).

The medically unfit mostly fall into the obese category (they use BMI numbers) to judge this , a BMI over 25 is overweight.  I’m here to tell you that the BMI measurement is a bunch of bullshit . It’s another of those false standards like a lot of other things beamed up by government, lie CPI, unemployment, Inflation, Productivity  Ok every number published by government agencies is pure crap, if you read this blog regularly you have seen the evidence.   Besides boot camp is and always has been about getting you into mental and physical shape to serve.

Mentally unqualified (10%)  .  Hell that’s not too bad , 30 % are republican and we know they are all mentally retarded, they prove it everyday.

Drugs (18%)  ,  what an easy way out, OOOOOHHHH  I Smoked pot , I’m not fit.  What bullshit!

Too many dependents (18%)  , this has always been the easy way out.

Criminals (5%) Didn’t matter much when the economy was good.

Not too very long ago they were taking old men (over 40) , criminals, mentally retarded, dope pushers and users in fact if you had a body temp of over 80 degrees you could get into the service.  Remember the stories coming out of Iraq about the ghetto gangs now now as soldiers taking over neighborhoods in Iraq.  When time were good and recruiting was in the tank any warm body would do.

The whine continues , only 12% of the kids show any interest in serving in the military and they blame the kids for that.  I would suggest a look in the mirror you will see the culprit .  For instance what do you think the likes of Colin Powell would see in that mirror look.  I know one lying son of a bitch , who lied his ass off from the beginning of his career in NAM , to his performance at the UN on Iraq and their weapons of mass destruction.

Perhaps if we fought wars that a kid could look at and say , I’m willing to give up 4 years of my life or my life period for this cause.  How many of the last 3 or 4 could you actually say you would go.  My answer is 0. Now were pushing for an increase of troops in Afghanistan , even our history poor youth know that this war cannot and will not be won.  The General say it will really take 500,000 troops to control the country and he’s asking for 40,000 US troops and the rest will be provided by our Nato allies.  I know what he sees when he looks in the mirror.  ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. The mirror will shatter , it knows bullshit when it sees it.

HERE’S THE ORIGINAL STORY

WHY? WHY? WHY?

For 30 years I have been pondering the question of why corporations and the Powers That Be set out to destroy the American Middle Class.  Nothing I heard or dreamed up made a lot of sense to me.  There are conspiracy theories by the hundreds out there and some even are at least partly true.  Greed and the fact that rich is never rich enough to the superrich of the world so they outsourced our labor to points of the cheapest labor.  When that spot got a little more expensive they moved to another country.

Crazy (like a fox)  Ross Perot told us exactly what would happen when treaties like NAFTA,GATT, WTO were entered into “The sucking sound Ross was referring to were our jobs going elsewhere and our wages headed to the basement.  Meantime the residents of the palaces on the hill were singing the praises of  Free Trade and the wonders of Trickle Down Economics. (What they didn’t tell us that the trickle was warm and salty) and smelled just like pee.  We bathed in the bullshit like it was the word of God.

So , none of the theories worked for me and I’ve been wrestling with the answer for many years.  The other night while I was thinking about the post I had just written All About Productivity it hit me.

HERE’S THE REASON I THINK IS THE DRIVING FORCE BEHIND THE DESTRUCTION OF MIDDLE CLASSES EVERYWHERE.  THE WORLD POPULATION IN ABOUT HALF THE WORLD IS AT A MERE REPLACEMENT VALUE AND LOTS OF THESE COUNTRIES THE WORK FORCE IS AGING.  WHEN THE LABOR FORCES GET SMALLER THE COST OF LABOR GOES UP AND LORDY THAT CUTS INTO PROFITS.  (CAN’T HAVE THAT) SO BEFORE THEY WOULD ALLOW THAT THEY INTEND TO DRIVE US ALL TO THE LEVEL OF PEASANTS THAT ARE UNDER EDUCATED  , AND INTO FIGHT FOR MERE SURVIVAL THAT WE WON’T HAVE THE ENERGY OR BRAINS TO FIGHT BACK.  THEY BELIEVE THAT MACHINES WILL REPLACE THE TALENTED WORK FORCE OF THE FUTURE AND WELL BE BACK OUT HOEING BEANS.  THAT’S MY THEORY.

You see evidence of this everywhere including the military.  The future wet dream of the military brains are for an all robotic army, navy and air force.  The examples exist today, drones, unmanned helicopters, unmanned air planes, robot machine guns and more we probably don’t know about.  That  may sound appealing when you think of no manpower on the battlefield, but wait, who do you think these robots will be shooting at.  Duck you dummy it’s you and me.

The evidence is clear today, busted unions and workforces forced to work for survival wages.  Just think a minute about CAptain Sully of Hudson river fame.  Working after 30 years in the cockpit for 60 % of his former wages and a destroyed pension.  Or the Boston commuter air pilots that recently crashed both flight officers working for 20K or less.

So ignore all this if you dare the power to turn this around is in our hands, so far we have done nothing.  Just keep on shopping at Walmart , and buying all that imported food, clothes , shoes etc or you could work harder and spend a little effort to buy American , it can be done. The surprise so far for me is the difference in quality of the clothes I have purchased.  I would not in the end be surprised if it isn’t actually isn’t cheaper in the long run.

Navy Chief on unmanned Naval craft and one size fits all nonsense .  Remember Robert McNamara from my Navy days , he was a one size fits all kinda guy.  They didn’t and ended throwing a lot of money down the drain.  He not only was stupid, but also a liar and knew that Nam could not be won and pissed away an additional 50,000 lives or so.  HERE’S THE TALE

ANYWAY , THAT’S THEIR PLAN YOU HAVE A CHOICE .  YOU CAN PLAY WITH THEM OR YOU CAN PLAY WITH ME.