The Military's Gay Dilemma

Blake Benson’s December 3rd, 2010 blog post, titled: "So...WHY is this still in effect again?" regarding the military’s mystifying “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, presents a couple of excellent arguments in favor of this convention's removal.  He mentions the painfully obvious reality of it as a bigoted and antiquated practice that is bereft of any practical application.  I am in complete agreement with this assertion, as it does seem random that an individual who is fully qualified, physically capable and desirous of serving his/her country should have to endure enforced secrecy and fear of removal based on a totally unrelated topic, like who he/she finds sexually attractive.  Blake expands beyond his contention of moral outrage, however, and mentions a relevant practical error inherent within “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”: the frittering away of precious government funding on replacing “outed” gay soldiers.  Blake states: “We're already in debt; why waste more money dismissing PERFECTLY able-bodied soldiers because they happen to be homosexual?”  Good question.      

Curing the Scurge of American Obesity

In my former life as a child suffering from acute junk food deprivation, I would go to massive lengths to acquire a Fruit Rollup.  I slowly and methodically ate the Froot Loops glued to my school art projects (which were displayed on my family’s refrigerator) so that my Mother would not be alarmed by the mysterious bare spots accumulating on the construction paper background.  I manipulated my Grandparents into buying me M&M’S, and, at my lowest point, turned to a life of crime that had me absconding with the Tic Tacs and Bubble Yum that were displayed at impulse racks in various grocery store check-out lines.  Of course, at the tender age of five, I had not yet perfected the art of petty thievery, and was always caught and made to return whatever stolen item (in shame) to the cashier.  My Mom shopped at Whole Foods before it was cool, and our packed lunches always consisted of embarrassing “hippie food."  At the time, this childhood lot felt like a liability that robbed me of tasty “normal” food while sealing my fate as an eccentric weirdo in the eyes of the other kids at school.  But, looking back on it from the vantage point of adulthood, I realize that this early training with food not only protected my health as a child, but also positively shaped my relationship with food for the future.

I consider it to be excellent news that the House of Representatives passed the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, and that the bill now only awaits President Obama’s signature to become law.  With the dire problem of childhood obesity so rapidly increasing that it has tripled in the last thirty years, this legislation will provide assistance in healing this epidemic by more tightly regulating fat and calorie content in school lunches, and imposing nutritional guidelines on foods that can be sold in school vending machines, thereby decreasing young students’ easy access to unhealthy snacks.  It will help feed children grappling with poverty by enabling the utilization of census and Medicaid research to qualify individuals, as well as entire schools, for free lunch programs.  It also addresses the issue of food quality by providing $40 million of funding to facilitate the creation of school gardens, as well as the purchasing of local produce.  While the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act may not be the answer to all of the nutritional ills that currently plague the U.S., like hormone-packed meat and bioengineered vegetables, it will, at the very least, present another option to the young and impressionable.