Thursday, April 07, 2005
10 minutes with NPR: Kiddie BMI
A semi-regular feature where your humble commenter, uh, comments on what he heard on National Public Radio during his 10 minute drive to work.
Subject: Concerned recent legislation introduced in the Texas Legislature by State Sen. Leticia Van de Putte which would require schools to calculate each child's Body Mass Index ("BMI"), a measure of body fat based on height and weight, and to include the information on the child's report card.
The Take: The commentator was against the proposal as originally worded on the grounds that placing BMI information on report cards would cause stress to overweight kids and would compound the ridicule they receive from other students, which is bad. What was the basis for the commentator's opinion? Well, it seemst that the commentator's children were actually "blessed" with good genes and her ever-watchful eye for healthy living so they had no weight problems, but she did have a friend who had a "husky" boy. The commentator wasn't worried about her friend's son, because her friend kept an eye on his diet, but what about all of the husky children without such stellar parents? Something must be done. Fortunately, Sen. Van de Putte has amended her bill so that the BMI information is sent directly to the parents. Evidently, this is the law in Arkansas and is being currently debated in Georgia and New York.
My Thoughts:
1. Leticia Van de Putte has got to be a fake name.
2. This entire commentary was geared opposing a bill that had already been amended, and then stating that it's current form was acceptable. "Damn, that bill sucked, and you should all oppose it, except it's OK now, you know, so, like, forget what I was saying . . . Man, I am sooooo wasted." Very compelling.
3. Leticia Van de Putte is a Democrat. I don't have to look.
4. Can the smiley-faced saftey Nazis and whiney nanny-staters just leave well enough alone for once? Do they have to turn every bad idea or insipid concern into regulatory legislation? How far up my waste chute does the government have to be before they are required to buy me a nice steak dinner and take me dancing?
5. Letica Van de Putte looks to be a few Twinkies this side of "hypocrit" on this issue.
6. Is this even a problem? I mean, I know childhood obesity is a problem, but is sending the parents BMI information really benefiting anyone? Does Sen. Van de Putte believe there are parents of fat kids out there who don't know their children are fat? Did she see "The Nutty Professor" too many times? Does she think parents think their fat children are just muscular ("Hercules! Hercules!")?
7. Seriously, the only designer clothing Leticia Van de Putte owns has
printed on them.
8. Perhaps the Senator is on to something here. Isn't it about time we started using shame as a character-building tool again? Perhaps we could make the little butterballs wear a scarlet F on their chests or perhaps we could find an appropriate symbol instead.
9. The road to hell is paved with legislated good intentions.
Subject: Concerned recent legislation introduced in the Texas Legislature by State Sen. Leticia Van de Putte which would require schools to calculate each child's Body Mass Index ("BMI"), a measure of body fat based on height and weight, and to include the information on the child's report card.
The Take: The commentator was against the proposal as originally worded on the grounds that placing BMI information on report cards would cause stress to overweight kids and would compound the ridicule they receive from other students, which is bad. What was the basis for the commentator's opinion? Well, it seemst that the commentator's children were actually "blessed" with good genes and her ever-watchful eye for healthy living so they had no weight problems, but she did have a friend who had a "husky" boy. The commentator wasn't worried about her friend's son, because her friend kept an eye on his diet, but what about all of the husky children without such stellar parents? Something must be done. Fortunately, Sen. Van de Putte has amended her bill so that the BMI information is sent directly to the parents. Evidently, this is the law in Arkansas and is being currently debated in Georgia and New York.
My Thoughts:
1. Leticia Van de Putte has got to be a fake name.
2. This entire commentary was geared opposing a bill that had already been amended, and then stating that it's current form was acceptable. "Damn, that bill sucked, and you should all oppose it, except it's OK now, you know, so, like, forget what I was saying . . . Man, I am sooooo wasted." Very compelling.
3. Leticia Van de Putte is a Democrat. I don't have to look.
4. Can the smiley-faced saftey Nazis and whiney nanny-staters just leave well enough alone for once? Do they have to turn every bad idea or insipid concern into regulatory legislation? How far up my waste chute does the government have to be before they are required to buy me a nice steak dinner and take me dancing?
5. Letica Van de Putte looks to be a few Twinkies this side of "hypocrit" on this issue.
6. Is this even a problem? I mean, I know childhood obesity is a problem, but is sending the parents BMI information really benefiting anyone? Does Sen. Van de Putte believe there are parents of fat kids out there who don't know their children are fat? Did she see "The Nutty Professor" too many times? Does she think parents think their fat children are just muscular ("Hercules! Hercules!")?
7. Seriously, the only designer clothing Leticia Van de Putte owns has
F.jpg){kind=link}
printed on them.8. Perhaps the Senator is on to something here. Isn't it about time we started using shame as a character-building tool again? Perhaps we could make the little butterballs wear a scarlet F on their chests or perhaps we could find an appropriate symbol instead.
9. The road to hell is paved with legislated good intentions.
Centinel 12:34 PM #