health

Do Republicans Care about Kids?

/ skidaz / Leave a comment

No, I’m not asking for a friend; I’m asking as a fifty-year, professional educator. Do Republicans care about kids? For from what I read and watch, they don’t. They rail about abortion, pass legislation about “woke” curriculum corrupting our children, but they do everything in their power to dismiss, or avoid, dealing with the critical issues our kids face.

If Republicans truly cared about children, they would/wouldn’t:

  1. Accept them all. Not just the wealthy white kids, whose private education they finance with public monies, at the expense of public schools, who by law must do their best to provide education regardless of race, color, ethnic background, native language, homelessness, or disability.
  2. They wouldn’t cut and gut food stamps (SNAP) that benefit over 16 million kids, nor place bureaucratic burdens on school breakfast and lunch programs. They wouldn’t slash the Children’s Health Insurance Program, which provides health care for half of all American kids.
  3. They wouldn’t gut Head Start, which provides early childhood education, health, and nutrition to low-income children.
  4. They wouldn’t have confirmed Trophy Worm RFK, Jr., who boasted heroin made him smarter and proclaimed children’s immunizations are unnecessary. Who will pay for the Iron lungs when Polio comes to Disney World?

If my facts, have yet to convince you that Republicans don’t care about children, consider these:

A. Pedophilia? Who cares? Epstein? Fake news. (Or was His Highness an uncover FBI agent? BULL S#$T) An eleven-year-old gives birth? Her stepdad thought she was cute.

B. School shootings, AKA massacres of children. Who cares? It’s only happened 229 times since 2018. Not a big deal. Kids? Who needs them?

Well, Republicans, who’s going to wipe the drool from your chin in the nursing home when you’ve decimated our children, our future? Further, please stop sending me your requests for money. I’ve been a registered Independent for fifty-six years and have no interest in donating to TACO man’s “$15 to get into Heaven’s campaign.” Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Weight Loss

/ skidaz / Leave a comment

Fortunately, I have never been overweight, which is probably due to my bad habits and overactive foolishness. In contrast, my late mother went on a diet every Monday morning. My sibs and I knew our menu would be severely restricted for several days, until our dad complained about the lack of dessert and fried potatoes. By Friday, homemade chocolate chip cookies were our after school snack and a spaghetti dinner at an Italian restaurant followed. The food would remain marvelous through the weekend…until Monday.

I understand people’s obsession with weight because media has long touted slim, glamorous models. Overweight children have been subjected to bullying. In fact, McGuffey ‘s Second Eclectic Reader (1879), there is a selection entitled, The Greedy Girl.

It begins: Laura English is a greedy little girl. Indeed, she is quite a glutton. Do you know what a glutton is? A glutton is one who eats too much, because the food tastes well. The story concludes: I do not love little girls who eat too much. Do you my little readers? I do not think they have such rosy cheeks, or such bright eyes, or such sweet, happy tempers as those who eat less. (Talk about harsh in second grade!)

A myriad of trendy diets from the Mediterranean to South Beach hit the market. Then came the pills and the deadly side effects of Fen Phen. Yet the researchers forged on in search of drugs to satiate America’s thirst for skinny bodies. Ozempic, Wegovy, and Saxenda hold the new promise. Two of my acquaintances chose Ozempic, and their weight loss is undeniable. However, it is apparent to me they’re nothing more than walking cadavers; it’s as if they are playing How Low Can I Go?

Granted obesity is not healthy, nor is emaciation. Hopefully, those who use these miracle prescriptions can strike a happy, healthy balance, and once in a while enjoy Nonna’s Sunday pasta with gravy!

Don’t Dictate My Diet

/ skidaz / Leave a comment

On my return flight to Phoenix last week, I had a first class seat. Since it was an early flight, allegedly breakfast would be served. What I was handed was a cardboard box labeled: All Day Vegetarian Meal. When I opened the box, I was stunned.

Four grapes and two blueberries in a cup. A sliver of cheese, two crackers, a slice of Lemon Chia bread, a Chia energy bar, and Chia trail mix. (WTH is Chia anyway, and why is it good for me?) Since when did Americans become a nation of vegetarians? Of course, this event sent me on a search, and what I discovered is approximately 4% of Americans are vegetarians. The math is easy–96% of us eat some kind of meat.

I’ve a young friend who is so committed to her vegetarianism she won’t eat cheese if there’s also meat products on the charcuterie board. Another friend is overtly large, but a vegan. How is that possible? I’d starve to death! Now, I certainly don’t choose my friends based on their dietary habits. They can pick and choose what they eat when they’re at my house.

But the numbers speak for themselves. Why does the airline cater to 4% of the population? Why not, at least, provide a Slim Jim for the rest of us?

Measles?

/ skidaz / Leave a comment

I’m a septuagenarian, and I had it all. Chicken Pox, Mumps, and both strains of Measles. Thanks to a sugar cube I didn’t end up with polo. And while I managed to survive these childhood diseases, I’ve vivid recollection of being sequestered to my dark bedroom when I contracted the nine-day measles. The deadly one, which can also result in rheumatic fever and other serious complications, such as blindness. But thanks to modern medicine and a plethora of vaccines, these have all been eradicated until recently.

According to a recent CBS News report, at least 8,500 American schools have measles vaccination rates below the 95% threshold. The Center for Disease Control indicates that threshold is “crucial for protecting a community from measles.” Communities must have high vaccination rates to “maintain herd immunity and prevent outbreaks. Further, herd immunity protects those who can’t get vaccinated due to health issues like cancer.”

Among the reasons for the decline in vaccinations are: mistrust and misinformation via social media, political influences, and fear of vaccines. Further, some states allow exemptions for philosophical reasons! A fact I find absurd to put an entire kindergarten class at risk for a preventable, debilitating illness.

Several years ago, half of the schools in Maine were below the 95% immunity threshold from parents claiming religious exemptions. Thankfully, the churches joined a coalition of medical, pediatric, and teacher organizations to promote vaccinations. Rev. Jane Field, executive director of the Maine Council of Churches stated, “When it comes to public health, for us, it didn’t seem radical at all to say, in this instance, the way we love our neighbor is to get vaccinated, to protect the vulnerable, to protect the marginalized, the young, the very old, the sick.”

Perhaps, my pediatrician friend said it best. “Our practice does not treat unvaccinated, school-age children. We have neither the time, nor the patience to deal with ignorance.” In other words, Ain’t Nobody Got Time For That.