Michelle Obama: Obesity is a National Security Threat

#1
PKT_VOL

PKT_VOL

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Michelle Obama: obesity is a national security threat Independent Journal Review

“From my perspective, the number one greatest national security threat that we have is obesity,” Oz asked the first lady in an interview broadcast Wednesday. “Do you ever think about it that way?”
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“Well absolutely,” Obama replied. “Shocking information, I do a lot of work with military families, and spend a lot of time on military bases and the the number one thing that prevents young people from the ages of 17 to 24 qualifying for the military is obesity.”
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At first glance, you would think her statement is utterly retarded. Then, if you think about it on a deeper level, I think she could be somewhat right. Just not in the manner she articulated it.

What say you? Is it plain stupid or does it have some merit?
 
#5
#5
Stupid. If she's so worried about Obesity, she should start with all that junk she has in her own trunk. It's kind of like taking advice form someone who is in worse shape than you are.
 
#6
#6
It's certainly no national security threat... however, we ARE the fattest country in the world.

To those responding defensively, what needs to be done?

ALSO: Obesity costs much more than one would think. One could certainly argue that it played a role in how progressively screwed up the old healthcare system/pre-existing condition problem became. We're talking billions per year.
 
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#7
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DinkinFlicka said:
It's certainly no national security threat... however, we ARE the fattest country in the world.

To those responding defensively, what needs to be done?
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Fattest and growing into one of the more lazy. Those two go together.

Not sure, but we sure don't need a nanny state telling us what food choices to make.....
 
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#8
#8
Maybe, maybe not. I would argue for social services to intervene in situations involving overfeeding and child obesity. That's what disgusts me more than anything else.

It's most definitely a serious, growing problem.
 
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#9
#9
Cartervol said:
Stupid. If she's so worried about Obesity, she should start with all that junk she has in her own trunk. It's kind of like taking advice form someone who is in worse shape than you are.
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??????

Compared to other 48 year old black women, she gets an A+.
 
#10
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Cartervol said:
Fattest and growing into one of the more lazy. Those two go together.

Not sure, but we sure don't need a nanny state telling us what food choices to make.....
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Wow, take the blinders off for a second. This is first lady fodder. This is their role. She could be talking about the jets coming from Russia I guess.
 
#11
#11
Here is my only issue, and I'm not a fan of the gov taking care of citizens, but the restrictions that have trickled down into the public school lunches because of this are ridiculous. We had taco salad at school last week and our kids literally got 3 chips. Mashed potatoes (something kids will actually eat) are a sin to serve. Instead last week it was 1/2 of a new potato for elementary school kids.

I am all for teaching our kids healthy eating habits, but when school lunch IS the only real meal many of these kids get, it's just troubling to me.
 
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dukes_of_maggard said:
Obesity is expensive
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This my mindset.

Obesity is an social epidemic. Obesity leads to all sorts of health problems. This driving up the cost of healthcare. People nowadays feel healthcare is a right. Healthcare is exploding in cost. If a person can afford health insurance, it eats a big portion of their income on average. If they can't afford it, the government is forced to pay for it. Hence, Medicare and Medicaid.

The biggest national security threat is the growing deficit. The biggest and fastest growing part of the deficit is healthcare related. Come full circle now, our health problems (obesity) is thus driving our most dire national security threat.

For the record, this is a different angle than what the First Lady alluded to. I don't believe the government has the right to dictate human behavior like the outrageous New York law. However, the government should not be forced to pay for the healthcare of fat f**** because they could not practice self control by keeping their pie hole shut and exercise.
 
#13
#13
Blame it on Ipads, Playstations and TV's, computers too. I know kids that don't hardly ever go out. It's a changing society. Without exercise, the only way to fix obesity is to simply eat less... No matter what you shove in your pie hole, unless you burn it off it's going to be there...
 
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#14
#14
I do not see it as a national security threat. Further, I think it would be reasonable for one to take her argument and turn it on its head.

She bases her statement that it is a threat on the "fact" that many do not qualify for the military because they are obese. The implicit second premise would have to be, "The larger military we have, the safer we are". If those premises are accepted (A and B), then her argument appears to go through.

However, I could see the following argument being since the founding of our nation:
A: Military intervention in foreign nations leads to greater risk of attack at home.
B: A large standing military makes it easier for the government to deploy forces in foreign military interventions.
C: The less obese individuals that exist in the U.S. results in more qualifying for the military.
D: The more individuals that qualify for the military, the larger the standing military will be.

Therefore, E., the more obese individuals there are in the nation, the greater the risk of attack at home.

I cede that many of these premises are fragile, at best; however, they are no more fragile than saying that we are at a greater risk because too many obese individuals do not qualify for our military when our military is large enough to fight two unnecessary foreign wars, simultaneously.
 
#15
#15
Look at her argument this way - the total military force is just over 2 million people including reserves. The fact that some people in a nation of over 300 million are too fat to be in the military is trivial when you only need 2 million.
 
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#18
#18
I would say one reason we are obese is we don't understand food. The food pyramid was adopted by the USDA with little scientific justification, IMO. The fact that we call fat "fat" ensures a strong association in our minds between fatty foods and obesity, but carbs are bigger contributors to obesity, IMO.

breadmakesyoufat.gif
 
#19
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n_huffhines said:
I would say one reason we are obese is we don't understand food. The food pyramid was adopted by the USDA with little scientific justification, IMO. The fact that we call fat "fat" ensures a strong association in our minds between fatty foods and obesity, but carbs are bigger contributors to obesity, IMO.

breadmakesyoufat.gif
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High frutose corn syrup is also a contributor to obesity.
 
#21
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DinkinFlicka said:
It's certainly no national security threat... however, we ARE the fattest country in the world.

To those responding defensively, what needs to be done?

ALSO: Obesity costs much more than one would think. One could certainly argue that it played a role in how progressively screwed up the old healthcare system/pre-existing condition problem became. We're talking billions per year.
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Basically as long as we foster an entitlement mentality on our children, NOTHING can be done. A child's self esteem is worth more than the child now. We can't have PE because it hurts fat kids feelings. We can't force a kid to do anything anymore than they don't want to do. When we finally figure out that CHILDREN need to do what they are freaking told and not the other way around we can make changes, until then, they run their lives until they are 18 or so and then it is up to the taxpayers to support them there after. Some of them break the mold, but fewer and fewer every year. The big push in the last decade or so has been making HS's go to Block Scheduling. This is where they play like they are in college. The teachers in my family think it is a farce. There is no way that a kid can absorb in one semester what was taught in a year in the past. Also, with block scheduling, there is no time for P.E. Another dodge by the NEA and the teacher's unions. They teach half as much and then help the kids do the homework at the end of class. Ergo, no studying at home. Just another way America is being dumbed down.
 
#22
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volinbham said:
Look at her argument this way - the total military force is just over 2 million people including reserves. The fact that some people in a nation of over 300 million are too fat to be in the military is trivial when you only need 2 million.
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Truly. .45% of the nation has been committed to the current conflicts, compared to 11% in WWII. We can find that number of qualified recruits when we need to.

That said, living in the 4th most obese county in the nation it is clearly an expensive problem that we need to tackle.
 
#23
#23
Cool story that wasn't needed......sorry. Just sick of the current hypocritical administration and making it sound like fat kids aren't fat parents responsibility but the responsibility of the nanny state.
 
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#25
#25
YorkVol said:
Truly. .45% of the nation has been committed to the current conflicts, compared to 11% in WWII. We can find that number of qualified recruits when we need to.

That said, living in the 4th most obese county in the nation it is clearly an expensive problem that we need to tackle.
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Have we not needed to find more recruits?

Isn't the number of times our men and women has been deployed the last 10 years absurd?



Obesity is a major problem in the US.
I have no problem with the first lady bringing attention to it.
 
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