Bullshit mass index

A death match between the twin heads of the hydra of doom may be brewing. Which head will win - powerful government officials, or even more powerful fast food corporations?

I personally feel the "obesity pandemic" is mostly a media creation designed to draw attention away from government scandals and to shift blame for America's health care crisis onto the victims. One of the main reasons the obesity rate appears to have increased is that the government redefined obesity in the late '90s by using the body mass index.

I call it the bullshit mass index. According to the new BMI rules, I'm well within the overweight category. After I realized in high school that I could hide behind classmates and make myself invisible to avoid the many objects that seemed to fly across the room, I find that to be preposterous. I also find it odd that the media plays up the "obesity pandemic" while ignoring real pandemics like those that ferment in America's filthy, virus-laden school buildings.

But officials in Los Angeles apparently think the "obesity pandemic" is real. A City Council member wants to ban fast food restaurants from opening in a 32-square-mile section of the city.

I'm suspicious of corporations, but I still occasionally buy fast food. I know the quality of fast food has declined precipitously in this decade, and I boycotted Taco Bell because of its enslavement of agricultural workers - but it wasn't long ago that you could get an adequate meal cheaply at a number of fast food outlets.

Are folks in L.A. supposed to go to fancy suit-and-tie restaurants instead?

I can understand a city criticizing a fast food restaurant if it abuses workers or disrespects animal welfare. But what's going on in Los Angeles sounds more like a "for your own good" measure that simply falls flat.

The L.A. proposal sounds like a Prohibition-style move that wouldn't do any good for the public. And it smacks of class warfare, for most working-class people like you and me are less likely to be able to afford anything fancier than fast food.

If you want to tackle the city's health woes, consider that L.A. is one of the smoggiest regions of America. Why are more and more inefficient gas guzzlers encouraged to choke the city's freeways to transport wealthy exurbanites to their spacious mansions 30 miles out of town?

And doesn't Los Angeles still have its school calendar problems that the media hailed as so innovative? That likely spreads disease, which would be as much of a health threat as fast food is.

So who's going to win this Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robot match - the fast food industry or City Council?

In fairness to city officials, they also want to encourage grocery stores to move into the neighborhood where fast food will be taboo. I'm all for more grocers, but the city can at least wait until grocers move in before keeping restaurants out.

(Source: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121668254978871827.html)