childhood obesity Archives

Glenn Beck To Mike Huckabee – I Challenge You To A Duel

My dear sir, I challenge you to a duel!

These words most easily explain what is going on between Glenn Beck and Mike Huckabee. Mr. Huchabee, a 2008 Republican presidential candidate fell on Glenn Beck’s wrong side because of his support for First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move campaign which addresses childhood obesity. Mike Huckabee even went as far as saying, “I think we should thank and praise Michelle Obama.”

That support coming from a Republican to the Democratic First Lady caused Glenn Beck to call Mike Huckabee a “progressive!” Now normally, being called a progressive is considered a complement, but coming from Glenn Beck, progressives are considered scums of the earth! Mr. Beck even said on one of his shows, that progressives are like America’s cancer.

Mike Huckabee did not take this insult lying down. He fired back on his website, saying;

This week Glenn Beck has taken to his radio show to attack me as a Progressive, which he has said is the same as a “cancer” and a “Nazi.” What did I do that apparently caused him to link me to a fatal disease and a form of government that murdered millions of innocent Jews? I had the audacity—not of hope—but the audacity to give respect to the efforts of First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move campaign to address childhood obesity.

I’m no fan of her husband’s policies for sure, but I have appreciated her efforts that Beck misrepresented—either out of ignorance or out of a deliberate attempt to distort them to create yet another “boogey man” hiding in the closet that he and only he can see. The First Lady’s approach is about personal responsibility—not the government literally taking candy from a baby’s mouth. He seems to fancy himself a prophet of sorts for his linking so many people and events together to describe a massive global conspiracy for pretty much everything.

Sadly, he seems equally inept at recognizing the obvious fact that children are increasingly obese and that we now see clinical evidence of diseases in children that as recent as 20 years ago were found only in adults, such as Type 2 diabetes. The costs to our nation are staggering in increase health care expenses, but it even effects national security with now 75% of young men between the ages of 17 and 24 are unfit for military service primarily due to obesity! His ridiculous claim that John McCain and I collaborated and conspired in the 2008 campaign is especially laughable.

Is he not aware that McCain and I were competitors—not cohorts? Beck needs to stick to conspiracies that can’t be so easily de-bunked by facts. Why Beck has decided to aim his overloaded guns on me is beyond me. But he ought to clean his gun and point it more carefully lest it blow up in his face like it did this time.

Since falling off the media wagon, Glenn Beck has been left up to his own destructive devices. He has been fighting for recognition from the media, but for the most part, he’s been ignored. Consider this attack on one of his own as a way to be mentioned again, and for this brief moment, he got his wish… Glenn Beck. Moving on…!

Palin Vs. Michelle Obama. Conservatives say Palin Loses

: Image via Wikipedia

You can’t turn on the television or radio, or pick up a news- paper these days without seeing or hearing the name “Sarah Palin” plastered throughout an article, or her name being discussed as the potential next presidential candidate for the Republican party. But over the last few weeks, Mrs. Palin has decided to engage in a fight that has upset both Democrats and Republicans alike.

Mrs. Palin’s obsession-like paranoia with Mrs. Michelle Obama’s efforts to show kids a healthier way to eat has put her at odds with her own words in the 2009 State of the State address and the views of her own party.

The program the First Lady is advocating is voluntary and geared towards schools and parents to encourage kids to eat better and to make exercise a daily part of their routine.

Mrs. Obama’s childhood antiobesity campaign has received the approval of members of both sides of the political spectrum, except Mrs. Palin, who see these efforts as “too much government” and a “government take-over.”

In an interview with conservative host Laura Ingraham, Palin said the First Lady’s effort to curb childhood obesity amounts to a lack of trust that parents can make the right decisions for their children. Palin said;

Take her anti-obesity thing that she’s on. She is on this kick, right. What she is telling us is she cannot trust parents to make decisions for their own children, for their own families in what we should eat. And..and..and I know I’m going to be again criticized for bringing this up, but instead of a government thinking that they need to take over and make decisions for us according to some politician or politician’s wife priorities, just leave us alone, get off our back, and allow us as individuals to exercise our own God-given rights to make our own decisions and then our country gets back on the right track.

But these are not Palin’s first comments against Mrs. Obama’s campaign. She previously called Pennsylvania a “nanny state run amok,” when some schools in the state decided to serve more healthier foods to their students. Then, to show her disgust in these schools, Palin proceeded to hand 200 sugar cookies to a Bucks County school fundraiser. In her most annoying voice yet, Palin then said;

“I had to shake it up a little bit because I heard there is a debate going on in Pennsylvania over whether most schools condemn sweets, cakes, cookies, that type of thing. I brought dozens and dozens of cookies to these students.”

Palin’s On The Wrong Side

The Wall Street Journal, a conservative opinion page is often critical of the Obama administration on various policy decisions, but on the Palin vs. Michelle Obama issue, the Journal recalls Palin’s own words in her 2009 State of the State address, when referring to Health Care reform. She said;

” ‘Health-care reform on an individual basis is often just this simple: we could save a lot of money and a lot of grief by making smarter choices. It starts by ending destructive habits and beginning healthy habits in eating and exercise.’ “

The Journal continues;

“Mrs. Obama’s campaign is grounded in similar sentiments, and in that sense is unusual for this White House in emphasizing personal responsibility. Mrs. Palin would be more effective if she made some distinctions among the Obama policies that really are worth opposing.”

Even the conservative 2008 Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, is siding with Michelle Obama on this one. Asked on a recent radio show what he thought about Palin’s desire to attack childhood obesity, Huckabee said;

“With all due respect to my colleague and friend Sarah Palin, I think she’s misunderstood what Michelle Obama is trying to do, Michelle Obama’s not trying to tell people what to eat or trying to force the government’s desires on people, but she’s stating the obvious: that we do have an obesity crisis in this country … The first lady’s campaign is on target. It’s not saying that you can’t or should never eat a dessert.”

Sarah Palin has been the Republican golden child since John McCain anointed her the 2008 vice presidential candidate. She has since taken on a lot of policies decision by this administration and question, even lie about the effect of those policies. She has never been rebuked as a liar, except that one time when her “death panel” explanation was called lie of the year by PolitiFact – a political fact checking organization.

Now, Mrs. Palin is at it again and this time, she’s on her own. She was for healthy eating in her State of the State address, but now is against it because a Democrat in the White House is trying to educate children on healthy eating.

The politics of the moment dictates her moves. And the $100,000.00 speaking fees for criticizing the White House doesn’t hurt either.

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My dear sir, I challenge you to a duel!

Palin’s On The Wrong Side