Former Senate Leader, Cat Torturer Bill Frist: America is Too Fat to Fight
Because no supposed social problem can't not be twisted into some sort of military-preparedness issue, here's former Senate Majority Leader and admitted cat torturer Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) talking about how a nation of butterballs can't win the future (WTF) with all that wheezing and skid-marked-stained underoos and whatnot:
"Childhood obesity is something much larger than something that just hurts and pulls back and restrains our economic strength. It threatens our security, our national security as a nation," Frist said on Tuesday at the "Building for a Healthier Future" summit held in Washington, D.C.
"Between 1995 and 2008, over 140,000 potential military recruits failed their entrance physicals, failed them because they were too heavy," said Frist. "That's 140,000 young men and women who were motivated enough to enlist but, because of being overweight, could not. They were the ones who wanted to serve their country, who were willing to put themselves in harm's way, and they were told, 'No, you're too heavy to safely be trained.'"
The French Marines, one presumes, could not have gone over the top if they were fat loads. Word.
I for one miss the old America, where being fat was discussed in terms that did not immediately gravitate to collectivism such as national preparedness, like tubbys around a donut giveway.
The healthier future "summit" and broader agenda (yes, this conference evokes visions of Kruschev and LBJ meeting at the old Glassboro State College, dunnit) is heavy on making tot-sized porkers move more and eat less, especially at school. Because, you know, schools really already waste too much time not teaching kids how to read, write, and add.
FWIW, obesity rates among kids and adults in most of the Western world (including the U.S.) have leveled off in a way that seriously annoys what Jacob Sullum has called "professional fat alarmists."
Take it away, Stripes, the ultimate tribute to the hollow Army that somehow managed to destroy the Soviet Empire despite the Coms having folks like the just-deceased 350-lb.Olympic weightlifter Vasily Alekeseyev: