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6A Daily News – Monday, November 28, 2011 Opinion Too big for our britches D NEWSAILY RED BLUFF TEHAMACOUNTY T H E V O I C E O F T E H A M A C O U N T Y S I N C E 1 8 8 5 Greg Stevens, Publisher gstevens@redbluffdailynews.com Chip Thompson, Editor editor@redbluffdailynews.com Editorial policy The Daily News opinion is expressed in the editorial. The opinions expressed in columns, letters and cartoons are those of the authors and artists. Letter policy The Daily News welcomes let- ters from its readers on timely topics of public interest. All let- ters must be signed and pro- vide the writer's home street address and home phone num- ber. Anonymous letters, open letters to others, pen names and petition-style letters will not be allowed. Letters should be typed and cannot exceed two double-spaced pages or 500 words. When several letters address the same issue, a cross section of those submit- ted will be considered for publi- cation. Letters will be edited. Letters are published at the discretion of the editor. Mission Statement We believe that a strong com- munity newspaper is essential to a strong community, creating citizens who are better informed and more involved. The Daily News will be the indispensible guide to life and living in Tehama County. We will be the premier provider of local news, information and advertising through our daily newspaper, online edition and other print and Internet vehi- cles. The Daily News will reflect and support the unique identities of Tehama County and its cities; record the history of its com- munities and their people and make a positive difference in the quality of life for the resi- dents and businesses of Tehama County. How to reach us Main office: 527-2151 Classified: 527-2151 Circulation: 527-2151 News tips: 527-2153 Sports: 527-2153 Obituaries: 527-2151 Photo: 527-2153 On the Web www.redbluffdailynews.com Fax Newsroom: 527-9251 Classified: 527-5774 Retail Adv.: 527-5774 Legal Adv.: 527-5774 Business Office: 527-3719 Address 545 Diamond Ave. Red Bluff, CA 96080, or P.O. Box 220 Red Bluff, CA 96080 Unlike financial institutions that are too big to fail humans are more likely to die prematurely than their right-sized peers. If you are one of the millions of Ameri- cans who consumed mass quanti- ties of food on Thanksgiving and expect to eat more than usual dur- ing the upcoming holiday season now is an appropriate time to appreciate the dire consequences of such behavior – particularly on children. A recent study of 5th, 7th, and 9th grade students by the UCLA Center for Health Research reveals that childhood obesity rates in California are over 38%. This means that nearly two out of five students are grossly over- weight as numerically defined by a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or higher. To calculate BMI multiply weight in pounds by 703 and divide by height in inches twice. At 250 pounds and 6 feet, my BMI is (250 x 703) / (72 x 72) = 33.9, placing me among the 23.6 per- cent of Tehama County residents considered obese. As a result I am now also diabetic like over 2 mil- lion Californians and nearly 8 per- cent of the residents of Tehama and Butte County - rates that have doubled in the past 15 years. To leave the realm of the obese I must cut my weight to 223 pounds. You can calculate your obesity thresh- old by multiplying your height in inches by itself and by 30 and divide the total by 703. The latest reports on child obe- sity point out the alarming rate with which child obesity has increased in American kids. From 6.5% in 1990s to around 20% in 2011, the overall childhood obesi- ty statistics have shown a three- fold increase. The most obvious factors that have resulted in such a high number are sedentary lifestyles, mushrooming con- sumption of fast and processed foods, and a lack of concern and guidance from parents. The psy- chological and health impacts of obesity are of greater concern to medical professionals than those that effect appearance. They put children at increased risk of dia- betes, high blood-pressure, cardio- vascular disease, depression, and other ailments, increase medical costs, and may diminish academic performance, self-confidence and self worth. It is more important than ever for parents and schools to provide environments and education to help children maintain healthy lifestyles. This is a challenge for many families where overweight parents exhibit neither concern nor will power to appropriately man- age their own eating and exercise levels, particularly during the holi- days. For this reason schools are now redoubling their efforts to ensure healthy school lunches and banning vending machines that dispense sugary drinks and other fattening foods. It is regrettable that local parents objected to the attempt to ban unhealthy foods from school events and bake-sales, choosing to place higher priority on fund-raising than the health of their children. The other side of the obesity problem is a lack of regular exercise, as many Americans adopt sedentary lifestyles bereft of any aerobic activity. Every- one should devote at instead find myriad ways to busy our lifestyles in unhealthy ways. In our Richard Mazzucchi Positive Point least 30 minutes or more each day walking, riding a bike, or engaging in some sport or physical activity to burn calories, clear the mind, and detoxify their bodies. Unfor- tunately many schools are drop- ping physical education and sports from their programs due to fund- ing shortfalls, leaving students to sit idly by playing video games, texting, and inanely wasting their time on social networking. All too many of us fail to devote the time necessary to estab- lish a healthy exercise regimen and new world of frenetic activity, access to unlim- ited calories, manipula- tive advertising, and every labor saving con- venience it is no wonder that many of us are eat- ing ourselves to death while failing to give proper priority to regular exercise. and vegetables. At least we can give credit to Michele Obama for doing all she can to promote public health with her "Let's Move" campaign encouraging exercise while promot- ing healthful food choic- es including more fruits I've taken her to heart by replacing my pizza and ice cream diet with salads and fruits and doing yoga and aerobic classes at least five times a week. It is long past time, but never too late, for all of us to get on board by watching what and how much we eat, get regular exercise, and help our children do the same before we all become too big for our britches. Richard Mazzucchi can be reached at living-green@att.net. Your officials STATE ASSEMBLYMAN — Jim Nielsen (R) State Capitol Bldg., Room 6031 Sacramento, CA 95814 (916) 319-2002; Fax (916) 319-2102 STATE SENATOR — Doug LaMalfa (R) State Capitol Bldg., Room 3070 Sacramento, CA 95814 (916) 651-4004; Fax (916) 445-7750 GOVERNOR — Jerry Brown, State Capitol Bldg., Sacramento, CA 95814; (916) 445-2841; Fax (916) 558-3160; E-mail: governor@governor.ca.gov. U.S.REPRESENTATIVE — Wally Herger (R), 2595 Ceanothus Ave., Ste. 182, Chico, CA 95973; 893- 8363. U.S. SENATORS — Dianne Feinstein (D), One Post Street, Suite 2450, San Francisco, CA 94104; (415) 393-0707.Fax (415) 393-0710. Barbara Boxer (D), 1700 Mont- gomery St., Suite 240, San Francis- co, CA 94111; (510) 286-8537. Fax (202) 224-0454. Books can be very relevant, predictive Commentary For summer vacation reading, rather than escapist, romantic, humorous or lighthearted material, I chose books on weighty issues that have interestingly become rel- evant to current events. A fellow at the beef jerky booth, next to our Republican booth at the 2010 Tehama District Fair (note to date- tinkerers: swamp coolers in the Tyler Jelly commercial building do not cut it in July), loaned me a book called "Socialism Inevitable" by Godfrey Wilshire, published around 1910. He was an unflap- pable advocate, as his title sug- gests, for socialism as the undeni- able solution, the unstoppable eco- nomic wave, for then-evolving industrial capitalist systems in the west. His book collected years worth of his essays and columns using every conceivable aspect of man, nature and science to point to the, well, inevitability of property, sys- tems, industries and economic decisions gravitating to the control and ownership of the state. Only by placing it all in the wise, trained, scholarly hands of technocrats and administrators, could the multitude of economic elements be fairly, equitably distributed. Within 100 pages, Wilshire recounted a chance meeting with a Mr. Rockefeller, as in John D., at a spa. Engaging each other in respectful debate, Wilshire laid out what he thought was the indis- putable core of his logic: the irre- sistible compulsion, greed you might say, for profits under the competitive, free market, capitalist system would inevitably lead to massive unemployment when workers were shed to maximize revenues. Mr. Rockefeller then responded that, in fact, workers were highly employed, wages were quite ade- quate, and the general welfare and economic conditions were relative- ly prosperous. Wilshire had to agree with Rockefeller and admit that the catastrophes he predicted had certainly not, as of 1910, occurred. Consider the 1920 bank crash under Harding when taxes were cut, insolvent firms were sold to the financially sound and pros- perity returned. After the crash of '29, however, government, regula- tions, and taxes grew; failed busi- nesses and unions were propped up, resulting in the Great Depres- sion. Liberals believe, evidenced by the messages and signs of the left- ist Occupy movement and writers on this page, that income inequali- ty and the unfair distribution of wealth should be corrected by, apparently, a more powerful and progressive tax system, and expanded entitlements for those less well off. In this case, they are unable to point to examples of countries or states or times when expropriation and confiscatory tax- ation, combined with growing wel- fare entitlements, produced an expanding economy and prosperi- ty for all. That has consistently pro- duced only an equal level of mis- ery. My past Thanksgiving columns meticulously recounted the first economic lessons of privation, misery and want that followed the collectivist, "from each according to ability, to each according to need," approach first tried by the Pilgrims. Only when people and families had personal, private prop- erty to work and produce the necessities of life, was abundance shared by all, under the admoni- tion: "Whosoever will not work, will not eat." The way I see the "Occupy-ers", if I can't accept the messengers, I can't accept the message; if the movement becomes abhorrent and repulsive, the goals become discredited. This is what has transpired with the Occupy move- ment. One book I could not get around to reading is Ann Coulter's "Demonic: How the Lib- eral Mob Is Endangering America." The civil rights movement, for instance, was not a mob but rather citizens demonstrating for fair treatment under the law. They brought about legislation to codify their redress of grievances. On the other hand, the antiwar movement of that era engaged in a multitude of lawless and anti- social mob activities to defeat America's efforts to defend South Vietnam as a free country. A contrasting book I did read Don Polson The way I see it restraint by spending within its means, limit intrusion on our liber- ties, and abide by our Constitution in its laws. Because those laudable principles are antitheti- cal to the statist, collec- tivist expansion of con- fiscatory taxation and redistribution to non- earners, it has been sub- ject to withering defamation and demo- nization, including bla- tantly fabricated stories of racial epithets and spitting at black con- gressmen in 2010. Nothing, however, has been fabricated about the many Occupy movement encamp- ments and activities. Look up "OccupyWall- Street: the rap sheet, so far" to see well over was "Give Us Liberty: A Tea Party Manifesto" by Dick Armey and Matt Kibbe of Freedom Works, a conservative organization that helped many Tea Party groups develop organizational techniques. Armey's group did not create, or "astroturf", previously nonexistent citizen complaints, as the left con- tended at the time. Unlike mobs, the Tea Party movement simply demonstrated massive sentiment, shared by most Americans, for government to practice fiscal 300 linked reports of violence, sex, drugs, assaults and other perfidy. Look up "Just like the Tea Party: A list of Occupy Mayhem sorted by type" to see the hundreds of reports listed under categories: Arson, Assault/Threats, Drugs/Dealing, Fraud, Illness/Death, Murder, Public dis- turbance, Rape/Sexual assault, Sedition, Suicide/Overdose, Theft and Vandalism. If you're not seeing a "frothing degenerate mob" (S. McCain) on TV, you're being fed pro-Occupy propaganda. "The Occupy Wall Street movement reflects values that are dangerously out of touch with the broad mass of the Ameri- can people (D. Schoen)." Don Polson can be reached by e-mail at donplsn@yahoo.com.