When Did Rich People Become Skinny and the Poor Get Fat?

I assume I am talking about my strange country. In much of my travel, I have not observed such a trend. But, there is something counter-intuitive happening in the good old US of A. Here in Marin County California and certainly in many other places which suffer from affluenza, the women especially, tend to be rail thin. Often the kids are also which looks weird to me. Kids should be round and strong and have rosy cheeks and scuffed knees, right?

And as I go about my day, I pass exercise places, then yoga studios, then gyms, then pilates studios, then hair and nail places, then plastic surgeries, then hair removal places, then clothes places selling thinning, tightening pants, then shops selling no fat ice cream! No fat almost anything. And no sweeteners! And it costs more, much more, to have less of everything. Is this not strange?

Think about it. In a poor country many of the folks spend all day getting enough to eat. Most people do a lot of walking. Often work is physically demanding. Fat is not a problem. A lot of places with affluence have traditional foods which are relatively balanced. Fat is not a problem. Skinny often means ill or starved and signals some big problem.

In some countries I can eat a whole meal without anyone commenting on the amount of salt or carbs or protein or trans fat or whatever is in the meal. I can often enjoy a big dinner without having anyone remark that they are 'bad' if they eat butter or dessert. And I can enjoy being with people who enjoy their food.

We have tons of real food issues in this country, like GMOs and pink slime in hamburgers, but I suspect that we might get healthier if our ideal were something other than starved, tucked, hairless, dyed, pinched, over muscled, heroin models. I think it is the moral duty of the very rich to get fatter. I really do. They are setting a bad example which is causing an incredible imbalance in the natural order of things.

How to fix the VA, by genius Julie.

Just a thought that has been swirling around in my imagination:

Apparently there are some huge problems with the VA. This can not be news to anyone. Those poor soldiers have been telling us this since they started coming home from Vietnam. They took about 40 years to admit that Agent Orange cause health problems! They might have checked with some millions of Vietnamese. Or the thousands and thousands of soldiers reporting their problems.

Actually, if you think about it, war causes health problems. Mental health, bodily health, spiritual health..all screwed up. Depleted Uranium in Iraq? Funny, that shit, like Agent Orange can't figure out who are the good guys and who are the bad guys. Look up possible effects of toxic levels of uranium. It is pretty frightening.

Story after story has been dribbling out about returning soldiers who can't get medical help. Maybe the VA is trying very hard. Maybe there are some huge cover ups going on. Maybe the money is being skimmed off by evil people. Maybe this is a big push to privatize the VA so Haliburton can get all the money, whatever is going on, it is a problem. A big problem.

One of the reports I read states that the systems don't work. This is where I got my idea. Instead of having a billion meetings to rehash the problems with the same old people who created the systems and covered it up when they didn't work, why not go to high school or college kids  and have them invent completely new systems? Young people today who are into tech stuff seem to be absolutely amazing at making systems. I am not a fan of trying to adjust and rework stuff that doesn't work. Sometimes it isn't just about the money spent, it is about solving problems. Some solutions can be simple and elegant. That is my thought for the day.

We owe it to the vets. There is a lot about war and its effects that can't be fixed. We must fix what we can. The father of my friend Joan just started to get compensation for a brain injury he got in WW11. Ain't that a pisser...70 years.

Hi there...

Catch up news;

Haven't smoked for something like 50 days but have been using every other kind of nicotine delivery system known to man. I think I just overdosed on Nicarette gum. Is that possible? Got a serious buzz on.

I moved to California. I signed a 7 month lease on a tiny apartment in Corte Madera. Nice view of Mt. Tamalpais. Pretty California suburban. Cars everywhere. It was really weird saying goodbye to Ashland. I have been there and mostly not been there for quite some time, 7 years, maybe? A tremendous lot of coming and going. Have wonderful friends there.

Got my health back. Never did figure out what was making me so sick. Richard Stanley told me the other night at a Nica in Ashland gathering (Tucker, Melissa, Moi, Stanleys, Gretch and Georgene,) that I should get checked for arsenic poisoning. Some problems with the Granada water delivery. I had told my doctor, Flash Gordon (no shit!) that I felt like I had been poisoned but today I am disinclined to get more tests. I will buy some charcoal tablets. I miss Nica and think of Sonia every day. She is quite ill.

My hard-to-get-through book right now is "JFK and the Unspeakable: Why He Died and Why It Matters." Fabulous book. It makes sense of those times and everything since.

I have no more idea about who I am and what I am doing than I ever did. This is my homeostasis.