Maybe it won't be all that bad

On the brighter side of ObamaCare...

It used to be that the question of whether your butt is too big was between you, your bathroom mirror and your significant other. Now, some say government has an interest in how snugly your jeans fit.

Your weight is the government's business, those who believe in nanny government say, because it's a public health issue. Overweight people cost more in health care expenses, so government is justified in using the power of the state to tax and regulate food production, marketing and consumption.

Besides, it's for your own good. Behind every proposal to place a special tax on Twinkies or ban soda on school grounds is this assumption: Average Americans aren't smart enough to make good choices about what they eat. For decisions of that kind, you need a specially educated bureaucrat.

Despite our goofing, the advent of ObamaCare does indeed usher in a new age of collective interest. We're no longer just concerned with the size of our own ass but other's as well.

Being a scold as to one's diet and resulting girth will no longer be considered a breach of etiquette but that of civic responsibility.

As such, those bumper stickers that will soon be adorning our hoopdie are not a result of crude misogyny but rather a spirit of unity, oneness and patriotism.

No Fat Chicks: It's the Law

It's come to this

If it will bend the cost curve downward, then we suppose everything is on the table... or off the table as the case may be.

H/T: Weasel Zippers

Obesity is killing Americans

Finally. Here is the opening paragraphs of a news article titled “E-mails suggested Fort Hood suspect subpar for Army” which shines a light on just exactly what it was that caused poor Nidal Hasan to snap and kill 13 of his colleagues at Ft. Hood:

Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, charged in the Fort Hood shootings, was too fat and "chronically" unprofessional during his psychiatric training, according to internal e-mails exchanged by his superiors.

The communications are the latest in a series of early signs that showed officers had reason to suspend Maj. Hasan's training, and perhaps re-evaluate his suitability as a military physician, but failed to do so.

That Hasan being an out-of-shape schlub was the reason for him killing those people at Ft. Hood rather than being an outright jihadist will come as a big of a surprise to us as it will to you. We all reserve the right, though, to be smarter than we were before.

No wonder there is a growing demand for healthier eating all around.

For many, a night out at the movies would not be complete without the sound of popcorn and chocolate wrappers from the stalls. One of the most powerful studio bosses in Hollywood, however, would like to see cinemas selling healthier snacks.

Michael Lynton, chairman and chief executive of Sony Pictures, says that audiences would be better off nibbling on granola bars, fruit salad, yogurt and vegetable crudités with dips. “I can almost imagine the Romans eating popcorn and drinking Coke at the Colosseum 2,000 years ago,” he told a convention of cinema owners in Las Vegas. “But by bringing healthier snacks into your concession stands you would be helping our country meet an urgent public health need.”

Preventing a rash of cineplex massacres is reason enough for us to buy into eschewing the popcorn in favor of organically-grown arugula.

If only Hasan’s superiors had enforced better eating and exercise habits for him, we might have been able to avoid that unseemly occurrence.

Seconds, anyone? These peoples' livelihood depends on it.

We’re it not for attached article on weight discrimination, we would’ve never known there is an online journal “Obesity” and something else called the “The International Journal of Obesity” and something else still called The Obesity Society.

Weight discrimination is on the rise and a few people who work at the fine institutions mentioned above and similar believe something needs to be done about it.

Lynn McAfee, director of medical advocacy at the non-profit Council on Size and Weight Discrimination in Mt. Marion, N.Y., is not surprised by the findings.

"Until we clean up language like 'war on obesity' and have authorities speak out about it, discrimination will continue to increase," she says.

and..

"Weight discrimination is a very serious social problem that we need to pay attention to," says Rebecca Puhl of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale University, a co-author of both studies.

Its hard-hitting analysis and solution-based problem-solving such as this is precisely what will turn the tide in this national pandemic.

The IJO claims that among severely obese people about 28% of men and 45% of women claim they have experienced weight discrimination. We imagine this would make for some rather awkward moments in canvassing….

“Excuse me, ma’am. Have you recently experienced discrimination because of your weight?”

“Uhhh….. Why do you ask?”

H/T: Hot Air