- June 3
- , 2012
Like it or not, fat people are at war. I’m not hyperbolizing or dramatizing. If you don’t believe me, Google “War on obesity”. Tonight HBO premiered its new documentary series “The Weight of a Nation”. On the premiere page it says “Obesity in America has reached a catastrophic level. Almost every aspect of our lives is threatened. The first step toward ending the damage is learning how to fight back.”
I spend a lot of my time politely asking people to please stop oppressing me. I don’t apologize for that, nor do I begrudge it – it’s proven to be a very effective way to create change and I think that people deserve to be given the benefit of the doubt and the support they need to shift their thinking, and it’s a reasonably pleasant form of activism. I will continue to do it.
But I also have to acknowledge that there is a war being waged against me because of how I look, by people who have been given every opportunity to know better. In concert with HBO’s documentary, I received a Tweet letting me know that Kaiser Permanente is launching the “most aggressive anti-obesity campaign in history.”
They know that there are healthy fat people and unhealthy thin people. They know that not a shred of research shows that any method of weight loss works in the long term. They know that research shows us that we could vastly increase health by providing access to healthy foods, safe movement options, and affordable/free evidence based health care. Nobody is obligated to be healthy or thin; however, I wonder how many people would make different choices if they knew they just need 30 minutes of moderate movement 5 days a week? If they knew that people who choose simple healthy habits have very similar health outcomes regardless of weight. What would people choose if they knew they could abandon the goal of weight loss completely and they could still pursue health. America could be a successful role model for giving people access to health, but instead they are choosing to be a failed role model for thinness - waging war on people based on their appearance for tremendous profit and actively blaming the casualties of the war for the war’s massive failures.
Let’s be clear - they are pathologizing a body size. It doesn’t matter if they say that we need to seek solutions environmentally instead of at the individual level, or if they say that we should have “compassion” for fat people – they are still telling people that is is not ok to exist in fat bodies and that they should see fat bodies as a threat to America. There are tons of thin people who eat unhealthy foods and are sedentary (which is completely their right), but as far as the government is concerned, as long as you are thin you’re part of the “solution,” feel free to do whatever you want. They want people to look at me (and you, if you’re fat) and think “She is part of a catastrophe. She is threatening almost every aspect of our lives. The first step toward ending the damage is learning how to fight back against her.”
I say that if they want a war, I will damn well give them one.
They Want A War, Let’s Give Them One - By Ragen Chastain (via redefiningbodyimage)(via roboticonography)
- June 3
- , 2012
It’s 2012, but did you know that women are still paid less than men?
On average, full-time working women earn just 77 cents for every dollar a man earns, a wage gap that exists regardless of personal choices like education or occupation. Over the course of her career, a woman with a college degree will earn hundreds of thousands of dollars less than a man who does the same work.
This substantial gap is more than a statistic — it has real life consequences. When women, who make up nearly half the workforce, bring home less money each day, it means they have less for the everyday needs of their families, and over a lifetime of work, far less savings for retirement.
President Obama supports passage of the Paycheck Fairness Act, which Congress puts to a vote on June 5. This comprehensive and commonsense bill updates and strengthens the Equal Pay Act of 1963, which made it illegal for employers to pay unequal wages to men and women who perform substantially equal work. …
- June 3
- , 2012
- June 3
- , 2012
A New York appeals court reversed decades of rulings today, deciding that false statements about sexuality are no longer defamatory, and therefore not legally slanderous. Referring to someone as gay was previously considered slander (as was calling someone black, once upon a time), but the court ruled unanimously, “These appellate division decisions are inconsistent with current public policy and should no longer be followed.” Such a precedent, they said, was “based on a false premise that it is shameful and disgraceful to be described as lesbian, gay or bisexual.” Hear that, high schoolers?
- June 3
- , 2012
Harry & Bess.. (This seems unreal.) Harry Truman was a different kind of President. He probably made as many, or more important decisions regarding our nation’s history as any of the other 42 Presidents preceding him. However, a measure of his greatness may rest on what he did after he left the White House.
The only asset he had when he died was the house he lived in, which was in Independence Missouri . His wife had inherited the house from her mother and father and other than their years in the White House, they lived their entire lives there.
When he retired from office in 1952 his income was a U.S. Army pension reported to have been $13,507.72 a year. Congress, noting that he was paying for his stamps and personally licking them, granted him an ‘allowance’ and, later, a retroactive pension of $25,000 per year.
After President Eisenhower was inaugurated, Harry and Bess drove home to Missouri by themselves. There was no Secret Service following them.
When offered corporate positions at large salaries, he declined, stating, “You don’t want me. You want the office of the President, and that doesn’t belong to me. It belongs to the American people and it’s not for sale.”
Even later, on May 6, 1971, when Congress was preparing to award him the Medal of Honor on his 87th birthday, he refused to accept it, writing, “I don’t consider that I have done anything which should be the reason for any award, Congressional or otherwise.”
As president he paid for all of his own travel expenses and food.
Modern politicians have found a new level of success in cashing in on the Presidency, resulting in untold wealth. Today, many in Congress also have found a way to become quite wealthy while enjoying the fruits of their offices. Political offices are now for sale
Good old Harry Truman was correct when he observed, “My choices in life were either to be a piano player in a whore house or a politician. And to tell the truth, there’s hardly any difference!”
I say dig him up and clone him!
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That great piece was Dan Wicklund
I so agree with Dan, we need more Harry Trumans! Our politicians should make Harry as their example. Unfortunately I don’t ever see that happening!
(via dduane)
This was the single funniest thing I have ever seen a president do.
I’M STILL LAUGHING.
I will never not reblog this.
(via tenhoursinthelab)
On the heels of recent Humane Society undercover investigations into chicken cruelty, pig cruelty, and Tennessee walking horse cruelty, a Mercy For Animals hidden-camera operation at a livestock auction in L.A. has revealed “an ongoing pattern of cruelty, egregious violence, and severe neglect,” including:
- “Downed” animals — those too sick or injured to even stand or walk on their own — being left to slowly suffer and die without food, water or veterinary care.
- Sick, injured and dying animals being kicked, pushed and dragged into transport trucks to be sold and slaughtered for human consumption.
- Workers throwing, beating, stomping on and kicking animals in the face and body.
- Baby goats being carelessly picked up by their necks and then kicked or tossed around.
- Workers grabbing, dragging and throwing animals by their heads, necks, ears, horns, tails, and legs.
- Birds stuffed into bags and goats, sheep and other animals overcrowded into small pens, forcing animals to stand on and even trample each other.
After reviewing the footage, Temple Grandin, Ph.D., an animal welfare advisor to the USDA, wrote: “The handling was very rough and kicking animals is not acceptable. If this auction had been a federally inspected meat packing plant, they would have suspended inspection and shut them down.”
MFA’s exposé has prompted a further investigation by law enforcement, and seven employees and the auction’s owner have been charged with a total of 21 counts of animal cruelty. The case is ongoing.
(Heads up — footage is graphic.)
- June 2
- , 2012
- June 2
- , 2012
- June 2
- , 2012
Please SIGN and SHARE. It’s an under-reported story, but it has massive implications. Find out more details about the voter purge here.
THIS NEEDS MORE NOTES
(via zionangel)
Chagas Disease: Poverty, Immigration, and a ‘New HIV/AIDS’
Is this protozoan, Trypanosoma cruzi, causing a silent disease emergency? The insect-borne sickness, termed Chagas disease, can lead to heart enlargement and cardiac failure in as many as a third of those infected.
With as many as 10 million people worldwide infected, most of them in tropical, poverty-ridden locales, maybe it’s time to pay close attention to this emerging danger? Maryn McKenna has a great write-up of how “immigrant bias” might be giving public health officials an excuse to keep the sufferers at arm’s length. The problem is that Chagas is already in the U.S., and its hotspots (like Texas) aren’t requiring blood donor screening.
To fight an epidemic, you must first recognize that it’s beginning. Prejudices against the gay community prevented a head start against HIV, and we should make sure that doesn’t happen again with Chagas.
(via Wired Science, you can also read the original paper in PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases)
(via dduane)
