HEALTH QUESTION
& ANSWER SESSION HEALTH QUESTION & ANSWER SESSION
By Susie Petra
Erick Fralick in Ames
sent this on to me. It's good readin' about good eatin,' at least, according to
the conservatives. Q: I've heard that
cardiovascular exercise can prolong life; is this true?
A: Your heart is only good for so many
beats, and that's it... Don't waste them on exercise. Everything wears out
eventually. Speeding up your heart will not make you live longer; that's like
saying you can extend the life of your car by driving it faster. Want to live
longer? Take a nap.
Q: Should I cut down on meat and eat more
fruits and vegetables?
A: You must grasp logistical efficiencies.
What does a cow eat? Hay and corn. And what are these? Vegetables. So a steak
is nothing more than an efficient mechanism of delivering vegetables to your
system. Need grain? Eat chicken. Beef is also a good source of field
grass (green leafy vegetable). And a pork chop can give you 100% of your
recommended daily allowance of vegetable products
Q: Should I reduce my alcohol intake?
A: No, not at all. Wine is made from fruit.
Brandy is distilled wine, that means they take the water out of the fruity bit
so you get even more of the goodness that way. Beer is also made out of grain.
Bottoms up!
Q: How can I calculate my body/fat ratio?
A: Well, if you have a body and you have
fat, your ratio is one to one. If you have two bodies, your ratio is two
to one, etc.
Q: What are some of the advantages of
participating in a regular exercise program?
A: Can't think of a single one, sorry. My
philosophy is: No Pain...Good!
Q: Aren't fried foods bad for you?
A: You're not listening....Foods are fried
these days in vegetable oil. In fact, they're permeated in it. How could
getting more vegetables be bad for you?
Q: Will sit-ups help prevent me from getting
a little soft around the middle?
A: Definitely not! When you exercise a
muscle, it gets bigger. You should only be doing sit-ups if you want a bigger
stomach.
Q: Is chocolate bad for me?
A: Are you crazy? HELLO Cocoa beans! Another
vegetable. It's the best-feel-good food around!!
Q: Is swimming good for your figure?
A: If swimming is good for your figure,
explain whales to me.
Q: Is getting in-shape important for my life
style?
A: Hey! 'Round' is a shape! !
Well, I hope this has cleared up any
misconceptions you may have had about food and diets.And remember: "Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with
the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but
rather to skid in sideways - Chardonnay in one hand - chocolate in the other -
body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming, "WOO HOO, What a Ride!"
Reposts of Fralick and Lindsey ColumnsEric Fralick and Tom Lindsey wrote great columns this past weekend. Fralick's was in the Register, Lindsey's on Political Fallout. Fralick first, then Lindsey
What Bullying is All About: In Commentary or Teen Culture, Gay Slurs are All About Bullying
By Eric Fralick
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When Ann Coulter, speaking at the Conservative Political Action Committee conference last week, called presidential candidate John Edwards a faggot, she raised predictable tuttings from establishment conservatives who, once again, had “no idea she’d go that far.”
A few more newspapers canceled her column, and she got a tremendous amount of attention from practically every media outlet in the country, whatever their politics.
Her word choice, which has since been taken up by several right-wing commentators, most notably James Taranto of the Wall Street Journal and, of course, Rush Limbaugh, might have seemed mysterious, considering Edwards’ well-known record of public service, his wife and children, and his lack of a Ted Haggard or even Newt Gingrich moment. It makes sense only if you know that George Bush and particularly Dick Cheney (yes, they are the president and vice president of our country) have been calling Edwards “the Breck Girl” since the summer of 2004, around the same time the Swiftboaters were brought around to sink the Democrats’ election chances.<!--[endif]-->
So, for some, this is what politics has become: If you can’t win on the issues — and Edwards has been right on domestic issues and foreign policy about as often as anyone in the country — then you try to destroy them personally, by questioning their patriotism and, with increasing frequency, their sexuality.
Here in Iowa, our new Legislature has taken heat from some local bloggers for passage of a schoolhouse anti-bullying bill that, along with banning racial and religious insults, specifically includes gay slurs. The idea is to inject some fairness into a teen culture where the most used put-down is “that’s so gay” and where the perception of being gay, true or not, can and often does lead to the adolescent version of gang violence. It’s not difficult to make the connection: Bullying is bullying, whether it happens in a high school locker room, on a Web site or on national television. It’s resorted to by those who can’t win a point any other way and so are insecure about themselves and worried about their lack of natural superiority. Like Cheney, Limbaugh and Taranto, self-appointed arbiters of American masculinity, none of whom look much like California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger or even Senator Edwards, bullies are pathetically dangerous creatures, blustering, self-righteous and so out of control that they might say or do anything to keep the world from seeing them as they are.
The Iowa Legislature has had enough of this; so should we. Whether you agree with a person or not, some slurs should not be tolerated. They should be opposed, loudly, every time they are spoken. We’ve all been too polite about this.
The next time John Edwards comes to Iowa, we should all turn out to welcome him. Give him a standing ovation for tolerating mud of a smell that no one should ever have to endure, with courage, grace and, yes, style. And then ask him where he stands on the issues. Because that’s what politics, and life, should be about.
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And, at least in Iowa schools, it’s now the law.
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ERIC FRALICK is a writer and producer who lives outside of Ames.
Clean Election’s Price Tag for Restoring Democracy By Tom Lindsey, Political Fallout With our VOICE (Voter Owned Iowa Clean Elections bill: HF 805) on life support, struggling for it’s last gasp of clean air in a House Appropriations sub-committee, our newly elected Democratic Majority is making their priorities clear, and it appears “Clean Elections” may not be one of them. I hope Iowa’s 82nd General Assembly doesn’t intend to follow their predecessors’ mantra: “Now that we have the majority rule, let’s use our new powers to insure that we maintain it.”
From what I’ve gathered, the only barrier impeding VOICE’s move forward is funding. The price tag for creating a Clean Elections startup fund is $10 million (approximately less than .01% of our state’s annual budget). Rep. Dave Jacoby, one of the three members of the House Appropriation sub-committee who will decide upon VOICE’s fate, contends there’s not enough funding for this bill. There are funding mechanisms written in the bill that will help replenish the fund each election cycle; some of these include an optional income tax check off, private donations to the fund, seed money and qualifying fees collected by candidates who volunteer to participate, and a funding stream collected from unclaimed or abandoned property. The latter funding mechanism brings in an estimated $12 - $15 billion and would cover the entire fund. Jacoby pointed out this funding mechanism is allocated from the state’s general fund, which means something else would have to be cut. So the big question is how much of a priority is the Democratic majority willing to make Clean Elections?
This is the question all of us need to pursue with our representatives, the Democratic leaders, and the three members of the House Appropriations sub-committee. The bill hasn’t been scheduled on the docket as of yet, so there’s still time to contact all of the aforementioned people. We cannot afford for this bill to die in committee, so share your voice by urging VOICE forward. In the meantime, let’s take a brief commercial break, brought to you in part by Political Fallout, exposers of political absurdities and hypocrisies:
The Center for Media and Democracy Presents "The Falsies" By Sam Garchik
The CMDP is currently taking "The Falsies,"
a list of 14 slick moves companies or government organizations puled on
the public to hide shameful actions. I guess it's true - there is a lot
of money in PR.
The
other great thing about "The Falsies" is that it's global. For example,
the Maldive islands, home to resorts and Diego Garcia, are apparently
hiring a PR firm to cover up all the nasty things the government does.
And someone put out a new first-person shooter game showing people
killing U.S. soldiers - the only thing is it's a copy of some game that
was once called "Quest for Saddam." And why is Tom Daschle's picture up
there?
At any rate, remember to vote for the most blatant self-promoting PR move of the year at The Falsies.
Come one, come all... help us celebrate the first year of Progressive Action for the Common Good. If you have been unable to come to other events, come to this one and bring your friends, bring your family members, but most
importantly, bring yourself!
Friday, May 12th 6 to 10pm Palmer Student Union Hall 1000 North
Brady St Davenport, Iowa (look for signs with balloons attached to direct you thru all of the
construction)
The "Metrolites" will play for us from 7 to
10pm
Free soda, water, snacks, cash bar, and "groovy" door prizes
- bring an appetizer or finger food to share
The theme of our party is "PEACE" so wear something "groovy!"
There will be a separate room for
quieter conversation with a slide show presentation featuring all of the great moments of the past 18 months, as well as 4 large collages. The level of activity on the ground has been unbelievable!
For those who are ready to "boogie", be
sure to wear your dancing shoes.
First, a death and a birth. Who's Makin Bacon is quitting the business.
It will be sad to see him go. The rest of us will try to
carry on as best we can. The birth comes from Iowa Progress, which
launched what they claim was "the first progressive podcast in the
state." Check it out.
Once again,
you can check out all the Iowa Blogs I subscribe to via Feedblitz,
which consolidates your surfing and sends the posts to you daily via
email.
Look forward to a post, with pictures, on the Feingold visit to Iowa City later today.
Lies and the Lying Liars...W's National Guard Time Memorialized
MinutemanMedia.Org – op-ed voices of reason
by Donald Kaul
Donald Kaul recently retired as Washington columnist for the Des Moines Register.
Things have not been going well in the House of Bush
recently - his agenda isn’t doing well in Congress, investigations keep turning
up embarrassing facts, foreign elections are being won by people who hate
us - but there have been some happy developments, too.
For instance, the National Guard Association of the United States
unveiled a life-size bronze bust of the young Lt. George Bush, memorializing
his time in the Texas Air National Guard during the Vietnam War. One can only
hope that someday it will grace the George W. Bush Library.
It’s an important monument because it’s almost the only
record we have of Mr. Bush’s Guard service, during which he went Missing In
Alabama for a year and finally just stopped going to meetings.
Maybe this year on Veterans’ Day he’ll lay a wreath at the
Tomb of the Unknown Deserter.
Don Kaul is a two-time Pulitzer Prize-losing Washington
correspondent
who, by his own account, is right more than he's wrong.
MinuteManMedia provides articles free of charge to try to counteract the effects of a one-sided, far-right main stream media.
From "The Onion"…'SCIENTIST HAS NAGGING FEELING HE LEFT PARTICLE ACCELERATOR ON'
"Chicago - University of Chicago particle physicist Matthew Sharp drove
halfway home before he was struck with the fear that he'd left the
Argonne Tandem Linac Accelerator System running…'I think I powered it
down after smashing those 9-GeV electrons into 3.1-GeV positrons, but I
don't specifically remember flipping the switch,' Sharp said.
'Not only does a nine million volt electrostatic tandem Van de Graaff
injector accelerator cost a lot to run, it's also a pretty serious fire
hazard.' Sharp almost turned his car around, but didn't, because
the past three times he's gone back to check on the accelerator, he's
found it off."
This from the tongue-in-cheek "The Onion Presents Embedded in America
Volume 16, America's Finest News Source, Complete News Archives" 2005
Published by Three Rivers Press, page 123
Don't forget your local responsibilities…CPR : CONSERVE/PARTICIPATE/RECYCLE
*IBLTV is a group of citizens from the Iowa City/Cedar Rapids area who are concerned about the decline in the quality of local television. Fight local media consolidation, as it leads to an unaccountable medium that enriches itself while disregarding the need to serve the public good.
*The rational counter to 'The Point,' 'The Counterpoint' critiques and corrects the daily editorial by Sinclair Broadcasting's corporate vice president, Mark Hyman, that is broadcast on all Sinclair-owned television stations across the country
PACG Birthday Bash Tonight! 
Lies and the Lying Liars...W's National Guard Time Memorialized
OH, THAT SHORT TERM MEMORY!