Unbelievable

As I have already confessed, I get much of my news from The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. I appreciate that they report the news in a way that doesn't make me want to kill myself..and that is with sarcasm and parody, which you have to admit helps you choke down the ridiculous pill that is the news. But just because they present news stories in a way that makes you laugh, doesn't mean they aren't true. I give you this story that was on last week:

There was a Congresswomen, Kathy Dahlkemper, who was trying to take a bill that she wrote and get it turned into a law. The bill gave discounts on health insurance premiums to people who exercise. Now that makes sense, yes? The Democrats liked it because it was preventative care. The Republicans liked it because of it's low cost. So why didn't the bill ever get made into a law? Who would try to squash this great idea? You might think that big tobacco or the fast food industry, right? Nope. It was the American Cancer Society, the American Lung Association and the American Diabetes Association. That's right. Take a minute to think about that. And not only did they each try hard to kill the bill, but they cooperated with each other to put pressure on the House to kill it.

Now, I ask you this question again (I asked it last October during breast cancer awareness month.) Do these public health charities really want to help us all be healthier or do they want to continue to rake in billions of dollars under the guise of teaching us how to make healthier lifestyle choices? What possible explanation is there for not wanting us to have monetary incentives to exercise? The truth is, of course, that they want us to be unhealthy. That way they can not only continue to collect money after a person dies when their families take "contributions to the American Diabetes Association in lieu of flowers." Or on education of us complete morons on how we can "prevent this disease." Or on "raising awareness" walks or campaigns where you pay them to walk "for the cause" and get some stupid color-coded ribbon to show how much you care. These organizations explained their position in this way; that some of the people they represent cannot make these lifestyle changes and they are simply sticking up for those folks. Are you kidding me? Everyone can do some kind of exercise. Even fully disabled quadriplegics could have help doing passive exercise with a physical or massage therapist. Everyone else can do something.

Now this Congresswoman no longer holds a seat. I don't know why, but I wonder. She said on the show that the charities mentioned contacted her when they discovered she was going to be on the show. But since she doesn't hold a seat anymore, they didn't have a way to threaten her I suppose, so she went ahead with it.

If you think that the public health charities give a rip about public health, then by all means, give them all your money. I am not going to give them one red cent.

I have some more information about some other folks that care not about our nation's health. I'll write about that later. I need to go take a walk!