A supersized America

If you have looked in the mirror lately and wondered where those extra pounds came from, you are not alone.  A new study today showed what most of us already know… Americans are getting fatter… a lot fatter actually.

Last year the obesity rate in America rose in 23 different states, and did not decline in a single state. We have known for a while that American children are having a hard time with their weight, but adult obesity rates are on the rise as well.

Today’s report shows that adult obesity rates are greater than 25% in 31 of the nations states. This is up from 28 states the previous year. For children, it is even worse, with 30% of children between the ages of 10 and 17 being obese in 30 states. We are definitely becoming a fatter nation.

It is pretty easy to understand how it happens. Try to drive 5 minutes from your house and not pass a McDonald’s. Chances are, unless you are living in the woods, you will have a hard time not seeing the golden arches on your drive. American’s work a lot, and for a lot of us, we just dont have time to worry about eating healthy. It is much easier to grab that Big Mac than to go home and put together a healthy meal. We are a fast food nation, and it is catching up with us.

Of course it is unfair to blame it all on McDonalds. There are so many different fast food joints out there, but McDonalds just happens to be the biggest and most widespread across America and the world in general.

It is not a pretty picture, and with more and more fast food restaurants going up every day, it is hard to avoid the trappings of the fast and easy food. Maybe next time you decide to pull into a McDonalds you will think twice about what you are putting in your mouth.

I am not trying to preach… I love a good quarter pounder with cheese myself, but me and my wife are pretty good about staying away from the fast food, typically only eating it while we are on road trips and do not really have many other options. Having said that, I do realize that there is always a better option to fast food… so the next time you need something fast and easy, try to make it to a Subway instead, where you can at least get something that will not weigh you down quite as much as a Big Mac, large fries and super sized cola.

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Michael Jackson dead at 50 from cardiac arrest

Michael Jackson, the King of Pop has died today. Michael Jackson suffered from a cardiac arrest and died today in Los Angeles.

Jackson was 50 years old, and was hoping to rejuvenate his carrer this summer with a comeback tour. The King of Pop was once the biggest thing on this planet, but over the past 10 years he had definitely fallen out of the pop world. The last time Michael Jackson had a serious tour was back in 1997, and he had not released an album since 2001.

Through his musical career, Jackson definitely was on top. He sold more than 750 million albums world wide, and won 13 Grammys for his work.

Despite his amazing musical achievements, his carrer will always be tainted by all the accusations of child abuse that were made against him. In 2005, Jackson was acquitted of child molestation in California, and has rarely made his way into the public eye since.

Michael Jackson was divorced 2 times, and leaves 3 children behind.

Despite all the craziness around his personal life, Jackson was still very famous around the world, especially in Europe. He had scheduled 50 London concerts between July and March… and they all sold out in just a matter of minutes, proving that Michael Jackson was, is, and probably always will be considered the true King of Pop.

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Iran missile tests enter day 2

Yesterday Iran spooked the world when it test launched 9 missiles, one with a long enough range to hit its Middle East enemy Israel. Despite the harsh warnings to got in return, Iran has done more tests today involving more long range missiles.

The feud between Iran and Israel is nothing new, but tensions have definitely been increasing over the past couple of weeks, with Israel conducting war games in Greece last month that many believe is a precursor to an eventual attack on its Middle East neighbor. These games did not go un-noticed by Iran, which has vowed to destroy Israel and set American interests in the region on fire.

While you could list numerous reasons for the feud, the main one in the forefront these days is Iran’s nuclear intentions. Iran is insistent that its nuclear ambitions are for peaceful means (electricity), but Israel and America have been skeptical of such claims, and have insisted that the country is in pursuit of nuclear weapons.

Israel and America have both come out very vocally and stated that Iran must stop their nuclear program, or actions may be taken. The irony of course being that both Israel and America do posses the nuclear bombs.

Of course having a nuclear bomb is one thing, being able to deliver it is another. Short of walking into Israel with a nuclear suitcase bomb, Iran would first have to build accurate missiles to use to deploy the weapons.

And that is where we are today. Iran has been appearing to be developing its nuclear program for several years now, and now we are seeing missile tests.

The strange thing is that now America is actually down playing the country’s nuclear program, saying that Iran has not made any significant progress in developing nuclear weapons. I know its tough to believe that this is actually coming out of the Bush white house, but it is. What should we take from that? I’m not really sure… I will have to think about that one for a while.

For now it’s anyone’s guess who this will play itself out. Perhaps Iran is merely launching these missiles to get it a little more leveraging power in diplomatic discussion, or perhaps, and hopefully not, they have figured out how to produce the nuclear bomb, and are now working on a way to be able to deliver it should they ever decide that was the right move. Lets hope that is not what is going on.

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More warning signs over Iran

In a new report today, the International Atomic Energy Agency made its most straight forward statement yet over Iran and its nuclear ambitions.

According to the new 9 page report, the Agency stated that Iran has shown a willful lack of cooperation with efforts to inspect the country’s nuclear ambitions. The argument has been going on for some time now, as Iran insists that it is merely looking to improve it’s country energy while the West (especially America) insists that the country is looking to develop weapons of mass destruction with their nuclear endeavors.

The Agency’s report seemed to really be effected by documents that showed that the country’s military had definitely been playing a role in the country’s nuclear program, and that there was evidence that the Iranians have moved into working with explosives, uranium processing and a missile warhead design — activities that it said could be used towards eventually developing nuclear weapons.

Iran, of course, denied the reports and claimed that the documents were forged, which is no surprise coming from the country that has been refusing to let inspectors visit all of their nuclear research sites.

Whether or not you believe that Iran is actually pursuing nuclear weapons is up to you to decide, but the real question is what should the world do to move to prevent the country from getting the weapons that they may or may not be looking to develop? There are really only two options here. The first being to negotiate with the country to try to work out some way to convince Iran that nuclear weapons are not in their best interest. The second method is the one that George Bush has decided to take, which is to refuse to talk to the country at all, and hope that sanctions will prevent it from getting the weapons. Gee, if memory serves me correct, I think that was the same method Bush decided was the right way to go with North Korea too… and we all know how that worked out.

Unlike Bush’s policy (and the same one that McCain has promised to follow if he becomes the next President), there are a handful of large and powerful countries that have decided to have talks with Iran to try to prevent what I believe to be the inevitable entrance of the country into the nuclear power countries.

Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany are all looking to hold talks with Iran. Foreign ministers from all of those countries are going to be visiting Iran to try to work out a deal to convince the country to stop moving forward with its nuclear plans.

Which policy is the more effective one? Once again, that decision is yours to make… me personally, I think it’s always better to negotiate before a problem develops instead of waiting for the problem to be in your face, but who really knows. As for Bush, nothing will change his perspective, so at least while he is in office do not expect to read any news about America and Iran sitting down to discuss the problems between the two countries. The only way that will happen any time soon is if America wakes up and elects Barack Obama this November.

What are your thoughts? Should America try to work with Iran before a problem develops, or wait until after and then claim there was nothing we could have done? Maybe I am just missing something very obvious here, but from my point of view I, once again, just can’t seem to figure out what is going through Bush’s mind.

image from Meantoons

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China and Russia join forces to condem Washington

The new Russian President, Dmitry Medvedev, is currently on his first official foreign trip since taking over the Presidency of Russia, and he is currently in China. In a joint statement, both Medvedev, and Chinese President Hu Jintao, stated that the missile shield defense program that George Bush wants in Europe jeopardizes to undermine and any trust left between the two countries and Washington.

Washington claims that the shield is imperative to national security but China and Russia are afraid that the system could be used against them (and they are probably right). The Bush Administration continues to use the same excuses that it has used for the past 7 years whenever they are questioned about anything, stating that the system is necessary to protect itself from attacks from countries like Iran. Call me ignorant, but maybe they should look at options on how to convince Iran to not acquire nukes instead of ways to defend against them once they have them. But then again, it would weaken American’s position in the world if we were to actually try to communicate with countries that dislike us and work out our problems verbally.

OK, enough about that, I don’t want to get into a rant over Bush politics, let’s get back to the basics here, and what exactly all the fuss is over. The system that Washington wants to put into place would involve a radar base in the Czech Republic and an interceptor missile site in Poland. China and Russia have both been vocal in the past in their disapproval of this plan, but this marks the first time that the two countries have fused their feelings into one statement. Russian and American ties have already become very strained since Bush took office, and this is pushing the two countries even further apart.

Russia and China have both stated that the American plan to deploy this defense system would undermine any efforts that are currently underway at controlling global arms and weakens trust between the countries and America. Arguably these are the three most powerful countries in the world, so to have them teaming up against America brings back memories of the cold war, and no one wants things to return to those days.

In addition to the statement of the missile shield, the two countries also inked a deal in which Russia will begin to build a new nuclear power plant inside of China.

What are your thoughts on this issue? Do you think Russia and China are overreacting to Bush’s plans? Or is Bush stepping over the boundaries of trust here?

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