Listen, My Children...

Government-controlled Food

Re: all those discussions about restaurants changing cooking styles (here, due to the threat of future government action; elsewhere, due to actual government action -- see also: alar):

Basically, while I don't think the government should have control over what (non-deadly -- strychnine sodapop can still be illegal) items private restaurants can serve to self-selected consumers, or over any other private decisions, I see they have a point.  As long as the government is footing the bill for public healthcare for people who make private decisions to incapacitate themselves, the government should do everything in its power to keep those costs down.  Where there is money, there is control.  (Like the colleges that blow a gasket when it's suggested that, in order to keep federal funding, they should allow government recruiters on campus... or my librarian-school classmates who, while staging protest marches (I wonder why those don't make the news?) about proposed cuts to government funding of libraries, also throw fits over any government intervention in the way the libraries are run.)

Which, of course, doesn't have to be an argument for nanny-stateism; it could also be seen as an argument against government-funded free healthcare....

War on Decongestants

Vodkapundit complains about the War on Drugs going after Nyquil. 

To an extent he has a point.  There's a reason prohibition was repealed, and all that.  On the other hand, it does appear to be working -- I don't have the specifics on hand, but they did run a piece on the news a few days ago about how, in the areas where they've cracked down the most, the prevalence of meth labs has gone down over 70 percent.  (That leaves unanswered the question of whether it's worth it, whether it works or not: Red Russia had a low crime rate, in some areas, but most of us would agree it wasn't quite worth it.)

However, he leaves undiscussed the other reason manufacturers were already reducing their use of pseudoephedrine: health liability from normal people.  True, they wouldn't have dropped it nearly so fast (or, depending on the number of lawsuits, at all) without governmental pressure, but there has still been a significant number of cases of people -- such as myself -- who don't realize until after they've taken Sudafed that it does very bad things to their heart.  (Yes, it's similar to that stuff they've removed from many diet pills, in that case due to liability rather than to governmental pressure.)  With more and more brands adding it to their standard mix (why sell plain Robitussin?  let's add pseudoephedrine to it!), it's rather a relief to some of us to find it losing its shelf space! 

Soybeans

Sure, it may be trendy to replace other oils with soybean oils, but it's becoming increasingly impossible for people allergic to soy to buy any food at all.

(But it's not a fashionable allergy, like peanuts! You can't be allergic to soy -- we're replacing all peanut oil with soybean oil because of allergies! Yes, yes, I know, I've heard it all. Including a PeTA member claiming that no one is allergic to soy, that only anti-vegetarian activists would claim something so dishonest.)

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Weight Loss Success

The Large Scary Classmate I mentioned last fall is now the Slim Slightly-Scary Classmate. 

He must have lost a hundred pounds since fall; according to those who met with him when he was shopping for graduate schools, he must have lost at least two hundred in the past two years.  He can now shop in regular-size off-the-rack stores, and he looks great. 

What's his secret?  Diet and exercise.  He's very dedicated, constantly going to the gym or playing super-active sports (including, I believe, squash).  And no fancy diets -- just eating healthy and having small healthy snacks to keep hunger from building up.  I must confess I was skeptical when I first met him and he mentioned his goal of getting into Banana Republic's spring line of clothes, because of so many other huge people who give up after a week; oh ye of little faith, take notice of the power of a firm will.

I've lost thiry-five pounds since graduation.  My secret? diet and exercise.  No fancy diets, just Cooking Light and other healthy food, and first Krav Maga and now the less-knee-intensive and more stinky-guy-free Curves.  I'm not as dedicated as the Scary Classmate, but I have much less far to go.  Another fifteen and I'll be optimal.  I've got the German genes -- the one time I dropped under that level, in 12th grade, I started to look gaunt; the redheaded Kid Sister, full of Irish genes, would start to look plump about ten pounds lighter (and two inches taller) than I would look gaunt.  Genes are odd. 

But yes: it's quite possible to be healthy and trim and fit without living on only oranges and mineral oil (which was method of the DuBarry Success Course in 1943 when my gorgeous grandmother (remind me to put up a picture of her!) took it), without liposuction, and without any other crazy and unmaintainable measures.   It definitely helps to have a support group -- if you have an eating problem, just like if you have a drinking problem, having someone there to physically take the problem out of your hands may be what does it.  (Having someone who does the opposite isn't good, though -- Bob tells me of a patient in hospital for something related to huge obesity; her family would bring in buckets of fried chicken for her and take off just the fried skin to feed to her.  That's not a good support group.)

It can be done! 

Unacceptable

It's finally made a paper that's not WND, so I'll take a moment to point out a story of a woman with, if her family history's anything to go by, at least a 10-15 year life expectancy, whose living will states that she is not to be dehydrated to death, whose granddaughter has procured power of attorney for herself (I have no idea how legal things work -- it's been said in Wizbang and elsewhere that the judge never actually went to law school or passed the Bar; is that possible?) and decided that it's time for her grandmother to die.  (Again, I am not a player in the story, I do not have first-hand knowledge, I'm just passing on what others have reported.  A Freeperthread says that she's actually just been refusing to eat, and the nephew's never cared for her before, etc.  Regardless of the true facts of the story, it's the people who have seen only the facts as presented above and said the granddaughter's right that worry me.)

I've heard economists and medical-related people (no doctors yet) argue that we should cut off healthcare for people over a certain age.  They'll cite all sorts of statistics, saying that we spend such-and-such amount of money in medical care in the last 6 months of people's lives, and if we just cut them off, we could do so much more with that money.  A good portion of Europe, apparently, if these advocates are to be believed, does that.

I've also got a priest, right-wing as anything, who argues that it's immoral to provide medical treatment for old people with pneumonia, because that's such a nice and easy way to die. 

I must say, I wouldn't want my job to be telling the people, no, sorry, I don't care how much you want the treatment or how much you're willing to pay, you're over the mandatory retirement age, so we've decided it's better for you to die now. 

(Of course, this is not new; there have long been complaints about hospices and hospitals, in this country and elsewhere, where they don't provide the care they contract for (on the basis that the person's going to die so they won't care), or someone (often a nurse who gets in trouble) hurries along people who they decide really should die sooner.  And there have long been problems with living wills, such as in the case of Marjorie Nighbert, who then had second thoughts and asked for food and water, but was told that it would be illegal to be fed in opposition to her own living will.  None of this is new.  It's just getting more attention, which is a good thing.)

UPDATE: I seem to have left an open tag at the end, sorry.  And, word on the street is, the woman referenced at the top has been moved to a hospital and is being given food and water again. 

Eat an Animal for PETA Day

I may just go to this (any other takers?)... why?

Because everybody around the country does steak. You're eating just a fraction of an animal that way. in fact, using modern medical techniques, you could theoretically carve a steak out of a cow and it could a live a normal and healthy life afterwards.

Meal Ticket

Incidentally, in fall of 1942, the bill for two steak dinners at Delaney's ("an expensive restaurant visited by some of the Beat writers on special occasions" and now a Greek restaurant) was $3.50.

Poppies! Poppies will put them to sleep!

I've heard from my friend in Afghanistan about the debate over poppy eradication. (Incidentally, at least according to my old copy of Trivial Pursuit, Afghanistan's the largest source for non-drug poppy products as well, including perfumes and poppy seeds for rolls and such.) He supports the programs to encourage replacing poppy crops with other things that grow well there, such as raisins and almonds (IIRC). Not knowing enough about it to form an independent opinion, I'm inclined to agree with him.

Of course, this issue's perfect for the everything-Bush-does-is-wrong crowd -- poppy production goes up? Look, the US is hypocrites and don't care about drugs! Poppy production goes down? Look, the US is destroying native economies!

Good eats in NYC

Incidentally, I've just learned that my grandparents ate here just two months before that review was penned. Got one of the postcards, too -- "We came for steak but had chicken -- c'est la guerre!"