Being Healthy Is An Act Of Terrorism
by digby
TPM has the stupidest story of the day (so far):
First, the Daily Caller's headline read: "First Lady's anti-obesity campaign could be causing more pedestrian deaths." Then, later, they hedged a little:
"Highway safety spokesperson blames pedestrian deaths on first lady's obesity campaign."
This, as you might imagine, piqued our interest. Here's what happened:
This morning, the Governors Highway Safety Association released a report noting that the number of pedestrian deaths has slightly increased. The group, which looked at the first six months of 2010, made two hypotheses as to why: One, that pedestrians and drivers are more distracted by cell phones and the like; and two, that there are simply more pedestrians these days.
"A focus on liveable communities, or 'get moving' health and fitness programs may
increase walking and pedestrian-vehicle conflicts," the report reads.
The Daily Caller and the Washington Examiner jumped on that part of the report, claiming it was an attack on First Lady Michelle Obama's "Let's Move" campaign.
It was complete bullshit, but that's par for the course for the Daily Caller and the Examiner.
I have to say that this jihad against Michelle Obama for trying to fight childhood obesity really shocks me. If it weren't for the fact that their snotty and juvenile Grizzly Mama was leading the charge against healthy eating I'd think accusing the campaign of killing people because more people are walking was beneath even the GOP.
As far as I'm concerned, agitating against exercise and nutrition has to be the most nihilistic thing they've done and that's saying something. It's bad enough that they want to launch wars at the drop of a hat or that they don't care if the food supply is poisoned. But to not give a damn that American kids are sick and getting sicker due to this obesity crisis is just beyond my ken.
But hey -- as I wrote the other day, it will certainly solve any niggling problems with social security funding. This generation of Americans (who won't have decent health care either, if these people have their way) won't make it to 65, so I guess that's good news.
Eating vegetables and talking a walk didn't used to be a political act in this country, but I guess it is now.
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