Taxing Fat People

There is a growing push in this country to excise taxes against 'bad' foods as means to quell the so-called 'obesity epidemic'. Supporters like to point to the drop in tobacco use after the application of heavy taxes as proof that taxing unhealthy foods could help bring our spiraling health care costs under control. While this is all fine and dandy in theory, the reality is that this is an overly simplistic view of an extremely complex problem.

Why do we consume unhealthy foods such as partially hydrogenated fats, high fructose corn syrup, and refined sugar, even in the face of overwhelming data indicating how we are slowly killing ourselves? There are a couple of reasons. First, our access to abundant food resources (re:high fat) have only recently come about; so recent that we have not been able to adapt our pre-programmed needs to consume what we can while it's in front of us. While those needs can be curtailed by flexing some will power, not everyone has that level of self control. Second, unhealthy foods are by and large cheaper than their healthy counterparts. This is the point that most proponents of additional taxes on food seem to overlook. Someone living in Harlem on food stamps will probably have a tough time justifying organically grown chicken when they can get a double cheeseburger at McDonald's for a dollar. And lastly, there is the issue of taste. Sugar make things taste better. So does fat. And so does salt. Most people will make that argument all day long, no matter how much you try to dissuade them.

This whole argument really only comes down to one thing: money. People who are able to stay in good health do not want to pay for those who for whatever reason cannot. Taxing unhealthy food (and using that money to subsidize health care) could help shift the financial burden of treating obesity related diseases to those who are more likely to develop them over time. However, those people more than likely are not in a position to lead a healthier lifestyle in the first place. And just to play devil's advocate for a moment: what happens if someone who is perfectly healthy develops coronary heart disease? Or Type-II diabetes? The bottom line is that each individual is different. Adding a tax to the cheeseburger someone grabs in a hurry is not going to solve our national health care issues; rather, it will only place a bandaid on a system that is fundamentally flawed.

It's Summer Already, But...

...it's not 100 degrees yet here in the desert. What gives? Sure, I enjoy highs in the low 70's just as much as the next guy, but the lack of heat this late in the year has me worried. Not because my electricity bill has appreciated the air conditioner sitting idle. Rather, because after growing up in the Midwest, a cool start to the summer usually means only one thing: the rest of the summer is absolutely miserable. And when you are in the desert, that means 115+ degrees. At least there is no humidity, and it cools down at night. But still; 115 degrees is 115 degrees no matter how you slice it.

Obligatory Classic Rock

If you do not like Bob Seger, then I don't trust you. Period. Even though 'Against The Wind' was released in 1980, it could technically be considered classic rock now (especially since Red Hot Chili Peppers have been getting play on classic rock stations). Every time I hear this song I think of some guy heading off into some great unknown, pickup truck half-filled with the remnants of unfulfilled dreams, trying to pick up the pieces of his life and make sense of it all. Sometimes the pickup even has a gun rack. Why? Because that is what I grew up with. Note: all the live versions were of horrible audio quality, so this is the best I could do. Enjoy.

Tiananmen Square

Today marks the 20th anniversary of student protests against government repression at Tiananmen Square in Beijing. For many people this event can be summed up in one statement: tank man. Even though I was in elementary school at the time and did not completely understand what all the fuss was about, the image of someone willfully being run over by a tank was enough to realize that something was wrong. Of course, the Chinese government denies that anyone was hurt during the protests.The enusing two decades have seen some interesting changes. While China has embraced captilism, they continue to maintain strict Communist rule over their citizens aided by technology. Case in point: a quick search on Google for ‘tiananmen square’ turns up several photos of tank man and other protest-related images. However, using the same search on google.cn (Google China), one cannot find any references to the “June 4^th inicident”, rather an almost blank screen due to ‘site maintenance’. And when questioned about the events of June 4^th, Chinese students who are roughly my age had no idea what they were being asked about. Somewhere George Orwell is turning over in his grave.

Obligatory Classic Rock

In the interest of having at least a weekly update (and to prey upon my laziness), I am going to start posting embedded clips of classic rock. So this week will feature arguably the greatest guitar player ever, Jimi Hendrix, performing one of my favorite songs ever, All Along The Watchtower. This is actually a cover of a Bob Dylan song. Interestingly enough, Dylan credits Hendrix with improving the song, even going so far as to perform the song more like Hendrix as time went on. Enjoy.

The Gym

Once upon a time, I used to love to exercise. That was during high school and college, though, when I had hours of free time to pick and choose when to work out. Now that I am in the real world my time has been severely constrained and working out in an empty gym is not an option anymore. And while public gyms do have their benefits (nice equipment, lots of eye candy), they harbor several of my exercise pet peeves.

Cell phones: If you can't put down your cell phone for an hour or so, you don't need to be at the gym. Go home and quite hogging the equipment I have been waiting 20 minutes to use.

Huge bottles of water: Unless you're running a marathon, you don't need to drink a gallon of water in less than an hour. There are water fountains everywhere, so you won't die of dehydration.

Beach muscles: If your arms are bigger than your thighs, you're not well-muscled; you're a douche. There are these things called squats. You might try them sometime.

Groups: I understand that most people like to exercise with a partner (I don't). But this is a gym, not a social club. It doesn't take 15 minutes to do two sets of curls, so shut up and actually work out.

Maybe one of these days I will have the space available for a home gym. Until then, I will just have to deal with the idiots at the gym who claim to work out.

The Clash = Genius

One of the finest examples of song writing...ever. (The original video can be found here.)

GFC Winter '09 Update

Man, am I way behind on keeping everyone up to date with what's going with kickball. After making an appearance in the March issue of Southwest Airlines in-flight magazine, the GFC finished with their second consecutive regular season without a loss (a tie is not a loss). For those who are keeping track at home, that brings the streak up to 19 straight regular season games (17 wins and 2 ties). Even though another team went 8-0 to capture the regular season championship, we have already punched our ticket to Vegas and can play spoiler to other teams that have yet to secure a bid. Also, after two weeks of smack-talk and covert decorating of people's houses (re: getting Fawed), we managed to beat our incestuous arch rivals the Valley Girls in what was probably one of the most well-played games I have been involved in.

Monday brought the start of the playoffs for this season. Since we were first in our conference, we were matched against the last-place team in the other conference, Cobra Kai. Even though they had not won a game all season, rumor had it that they are a much tougher team than their record reflected. This time, the rumors were true. While we did not play bad, we did not play good either. In the end we did just enough to secure a 5-0 victory, moving on to face O! in the second round next Monday and what should be a double-header for us.