Politics and Fitness

#11 more thoughts on becoming physically fit...

2004-11-01T20:18:00.000-08:00

Don't allow myself to re-gain weight.

I give myself one parameter: five pounds.

If ever I approach five pounds above my goal weight, I take action to reverse it.

FIVE POUNDS... not "well, other people are fatter..." or "I can still wear my sweater...”

Be diligent to be fit.

#10 more thoughts on becoming physically fit...

2004-11-01T20:15:00.000-08:00

Eating is an emotional outlet.

Start recognizing my emotional attraction to fats and calories and non-stop eating.

Emotional emptiness should NOT be replaced with food. Replace it with something else.

Preferably, friends and a life.

DO YOU REALLY BELIEVE PRESIDENT BUSH?

2004-11-01T20:01:00.000-08:00

Or do you simply ignore the facts?

Can you really believe Bush invaded Iraq because he knew there were Weapons of Mass Destruction?

Can you really believe Bush invaded Iraq because Saddam Hussein provided the support Osama bin Laden needed?

Can you really believe Bush invaded Iraq because they had acquired an atomic bomb?

Can you really believe the mission was accomplished hundreds and hundreds of deaths ago?

Can you really believe Bush is smarter than the weapons inspectors, U.N. investigators, and several of our allies?

Can you really believe the faulty information from our intelligence services wasn’t in response to Bush’s pre-determined intention to invade Iraq?

Can you really believe Bush’s charge that the problems confronting marriage are the fault of gays wanting to marry?

Can you really believe Bush’s tax breaks for the rich resulted in more jobs in this country?

Can you really believe there will be no draft just because Bush extends the stays of our honorable "weekend warriors" fighting in Iraq for months and months longer than ever before?

Can you really believe Bush doesn’t know who betrayed the CIA agent married to someone who criticized him?

Can you really believe Bush doesn’t know that “the finest health care system in the world” means nothing to the thousands and thousands who have lost their access to that system?

Can you really believe Bush did not personally promote the crazy accusation that Kerry “didn’t bleed enough” as a war hero, in order to distract from Bush’s own superficial service?

Can you really believe Bush cares for you if you’re not a well-to-do straight WASP?

It’s time to believe again…

Believe in John Kerry.

Clearly, George Bush will not tell you the truth. He does not feel obligated to be honest with us.

Remove Bush on Tuesday!

#8 more thoughts on becoming physically fit...

2004-10-30T18:10:00.000-07:00

I need to write down what I eat.

Just the act of writing down everything I eat and munch on will slow me down.

But, further, seeing a list of what I eat will begin to show me the destructive patterns that I've developed.

Include on my list every item I eat, when I ate it, and calculate how many calories, grams of fat and carbohydrates. Write it in my log.

#9 more thoughts on becoming physically fit...

2004-10-30T18:08:00.000-07:00

Vegetables, fruits, berries, grains, nuts... lean poultry, lean fish, very little red meat... prepared naturally, without oils, fats, gravies, and sauces.

If I pay attention to any item of food that fits into a smart diet, I'll discover that it is also a nutritional and healthy food for my body.

Weight loss is not a stand-alone item in my life. It will affect my entire health, stamina, longevity, and emotional systems.

I'll probably live longer, and certainly enjoy living longer.

Ethno-centric blindness

2004-10-30T17:46:00.000-07:00

George Bush’s illusion of leadership bares the gaping hole in his ability to appreciate differences between cultures.

In all of his actions, George Bush is blatent about his presumption that middle-class straight American WASPs are the only creators of the benefits of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

He flip-flopped his way through a litany of lame and false excuses for invading and occupying Iraq, when in reality, he has consistently been shown that he always—long before 9/11—intended to find a way to attack Saddam Hussein.

It is clear that his only thought was to vindicate his father’s legacy in Iraq, to correct what many thought to be a short-coming by not removing the dictator when we removed Iraq from Kuwait. Indeed, even Colin Powell has lamented, in retrospect, the American failure to support Hussein’s citizen enemies.

The great thing about America is the voice we citizens have, and it was the voice of U.S. citizens—NOT George Bush—that eventually determined the only justification for occupation of Iraq (long after the lies used to justify the invasion were laid bare) was to bring freedom to Iraqis.

George Bush has to echo that, because U.S. citizens would not have it any other way.

We are occupying the nation and our national integrity demands a legitimate vision of high purpose to justify our presence there.

George Bush would not have taken action to bring freedom to Iraqis or anybody else.

George Bush has built an arrogant America that is distrusted and hated throughout much of the world.

Before 9/11, George Bush alienated many nations by his arrogant refusal to participate in years-in-the-developing treaties and policies. He turned the U.S. in the direction of isolationism, thumbing his nose at the rest of the world.

Until 9/11.

At that point, employing the same level of arrogance, without humility or mercy, he then bullied nations around the world into coming to our aid...on his terms. He declared that anybody who was not for us, was against us, in our perception and practice of the war on terror.

He then cobbled together a coalition by bullying and bribing.

He alienated and ridiculed the countries that said the justification for invading Iraq was wrong.

Of course, those countries have been proven to be right. The justification was a sham, the result of Bush’s pre-disposition to attack Hussein, the result of his bullying and bribery.

Bush’s flip-flopping on his litany of convenient pretexts for the invasion have given way to the only justification allowed by our gallant citizenry: bringing freedom to Iraqis.

But that is not George Bush’s style. He would not do that on his own.

What is his style when it comes to the rest of the world?

According to the White House Advisory Group on Public Diplomacy for the Arab and Muslim World, under the Bush administration, “We have failed to listen and we have failed to persuade. We have not taken the time to understand our audience and we have not bothered to help them understand us. We cannot afford such shortcomings.”

But George Bush doesn’t believe he has any shortcomings. He is blinded by his perverse ethno-centrism. He makes it clear that he believes, deep down, that only middle-class straight WASPs can expect to benefit from the blessings of life, so he sees no problem with any of his actions.

His behavior makes it clear that when he thinks of human rights, he thinks it means everyone has the right to behave like a middle-class straight WASP. Those are the only rights he seems interested in preserving.

How does this affect the world?

An American-raised man in Islamabad anguished over the 9/11 attacks, but eventually found himself losing empathy with the U.S. Why? He believes that Bush is so fixated on a policy of “security,” as only he will define it, that he has turned a legitimate battle against terrorism into a campaign of hatred against Muslims.

Most of the rest of the world can plainly see that the pretext for George Bush's invasion of Iraq had nothing to do with the war on terror. Only Bush followers, blindly following their leader, believe in a direct connection between the invasion of Iraq and the war on terror. Unfortunately, much of the rest of the world believes that it's a policy against Muslims...and with George Bush's obvious ethno-centrism overriding everything he does as a leader, it's easy to see why they have that perception.

See “In Pakistan, U.S. Policies Foster Suspicion and Hatred,” L.A.Times, Saturday, October 30, 2004, Page 1, by Times Staff Writer Evelyn Iritani. (http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-backlash30oct30,0,4657943.story?coll=la-home-world)

Can we afford to keep such a President? No.
REMOVE GEORGE BUSH on Tuesday, November 2.

#7 more thoughts on becoming physically fit...

2004-10-28T13:32:00.000-07:00

LEARN about food.

I’m surprised to discover things like: avocados are dense with fat, but the fat is excellent for me.

Peanuts are dense with fat, but it's not such a good fat.

Iceberg lettuce is NOT a nutritional, healthy item! It's low in nutrition, low in fiber, has negligible health benefits and usually serves merely as a conduit for the amazingly fatty salad dressings poured over it.

Red meat is high in fat, high in calories, high in cholesterol, has serious negative implications for my digestive system, and is tied to causes of cancer.

Learn this stuff. Don't just grab one hearsay bit of information and let it affect my life, but actually pay attention and study it. It’s THAT important.

Inarticulate Mutterings of a Poor President

2004-10-28T13:08:00.000-07:00

George Bush is incapable of intelligently discussing anything.

It is clear to me that he truly believes the only purpose the English language serves is for the emotional manipulation of others, and to spawn spoiled-child-like adulation for himself.

He says any words he wants, and is surprised when anyone evaluates those words for CONTENT and MEANING, rather than just kowtowing to his whims and buying into his knee-jerk reactions.

On Wednesday, he said “A political candidate who jumps to conclusions without knowing the facts is not a person you want as commander in chief ... that is part of a pattern of a candidate who will say anything to get elected.”

Those words were meaningless to him; he intended them solely to carry forth his preposterous reactionary charge that Kerry “will say anything to get elected,” a ridiculous charge that's applicable to Bush himself, not Kerry.

But that’s the only kind of charge Bush can make. Poor Bush, he doesn’t have the intellectual capacity to find anything other than meaningless platitudes and knee-jerk reactions to use as a defense against Kerry. He has no other hope than to rely on the zombie-like qualities of his followers to merely absorb his comments and not intelligently analyze what he says.

The best part, however, is that when intelligent people actually find content and meaning in Bush’s inarticulate mutterings, those words serve to prove his incompetence.

Kerry agrees with Bush.

John Kerry said, “George Bush jumped to conclusions about 9/11 and Saddam Hussein. George Bush jumped to conclusions about weapons of mass destruction and he rushed to war without a plan for the peace. George Bush jumped to conclusions about how the Iraqi people would receive our troops. He not only jumped to conclusions, he ignored the facts he was given.”

“Mr. President, it is long since time for you to start taking responsibility for the mistakes that you've made.”

Kerry is absolutely right.

American citizens must help George Bush take responsibility for the mistakes he has made.

FIRE GEORGE BUSH on Tuesday, November 2.

#6 more thoughts on becoming physically fit...

2004-10-27T20:06:00.000-07:00

Don't stress out over it.

If I fixate on trying to lose weight, and if I get angry because I want to stay fat or have to fight others who want me to stay fat, then I’m going to be frustrated and uncomfortable.

Yeah, lots of people in my life will discourage my attempt to become fit and healthy. Strange, but true.

Be cool. Just be amused, and continue toward my goal.

The Most Arrogant President

2004-10-27T19:59:00.000-07:00

"There is no denying that this race is mainly about Mr. Bush's disastrous tenure. Nearly four years ago, after the Supreme Court awarded him the presidency, Mr. Bush came into office amid popular expectation that he would acknowledge his lack of a mandate by sticking close to the center. Instead, he turned the government over to the radical right. "

George Bush is so arrogant that he believes he has a mandate from God... God, yes, because, of course, he had no mandate from the citizens.

By the way, the first paragraph is from the New York Times editorial endorsing John Kerry for President.

Read it at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/17/opinion/17sun1.html?ex=1101441600&en=9173e7ba734cf188&ei=5087&nl=ep&rd=hcmcp?p=048Cbv048CZf4AJPt012000m5_MF5_Lb

The only mandate George Bush deserves is to be ousted from office by the citizens.

#5 more thoughts on becoming physically fit...

2004-10-26T20:55:00.000-07:00

It's NOT "a diet."

I never think of myself as "on a diet." I know I am changing my life for the better.

I never think “I will finish the diet" and then go back to eating the same poor way I had been.

I want to change my life.

I absolutely love cheesecake. Now that I chose to lose weight and become physically fit, I know I am changing my life. And one thing I know: I won’t eat cheesecake again. And that’s not bad at all. I will be happy and won't miss it.

It’s either cheesecake or being healthy and fit! Not a difficult choice.

Sweet ladies at work tell me I "just have to try this cake..." I smile and politely say "I can't." When looking at their sweets and desserts, I keep thinking to myself, "Why would I want to stay fat?"

The Nixonian Administration

2004-10-26T20:38:00.000-07:00

The return of the polarization of the Seventies.

George Bush reaches back to the Seventies to build a society of fear, polarization, alienation, and war.

He flailed about, searching for a new theory that he could use to justify his intended war in Iraq. He wanted a new “Domino Theory.” Never mind, of course, that the Domino Theory used by hawks to keep America in the Vietnam War was entirely contrived and absolutely wrong.

The theory, you might recall, said that if America left Vietnam, then all of Asia would fall to the Communists (just like a row of dominoes).

That was a lie contrived by war mongers, but many common citizens bought it, abdicating their need to evaluate the leadership of this country, choosing instead the lazy, simple path of believing that politicians “know what is best for me.”

Other citizens fought hard to protest the destructive and wrong approach, but were entirely ignored by the Nixon administration, even to the point of Nixon delighting in political skullduggery against his “enemies”…U.S. citizens who disagreed with him were enemies, on a private list, attacked by U.S. government agencies!

George Bush has pursued a new Nixonian administration.

Fishing for his own “Domino Theory,” he flip-flopped among several theories, including ‘Iraq sponsored Osama bin Laden,’ ‘Iraq acquired nuclear weapons,’ ‘Iraq stockpiled weapons of mass destruction,’ ‘Iraq was going to invade America’… oh wait, not even George Bush could try a lie like this last one. That one was just a little too big for even George Bush.

Personally, I believe the failure of our Intelligence services was the direct result of the administration’s mind-set and bullying attitude. It’s one thing for the Intelligence services to fail; it’s quite another thing for them to fail in a way that produced reports that supported the President’s predisposition to invade Iraq.

Like Nixon, Bush’s goal is to build a “silent majority” of followers, citizens who become zombie-like in their belief that he is right and everyone who criticizes him is wrong. Like Nixon, Bush does not try to solve problems with creativity and cohesion among citizens; instead, he strives to build an environment of fear so that some citizens will blindly follow him, perceiving that he is their only hope for safety and comfort.

Like Nixon, the idea of civil rights is annoying to George Bush. He makes it clear that every U.S. citizen has equal rights: that is, the right to behave like a middle-class white male. He makes it clear that he feels some citizens, of course, are just more equal than others! And those who aren’t in that “Rep-ugh-lican Approved” group are not worth listening to. He always leans toward steps that REDUCE our civil rights, rather than creative solutions to the problems that face this country.

For instance, when he arrogantly cries out that free elections will be held in Iraq regardless of the reality in that country, he immediately hoisted the idea in this country of postponing OUR elections with another of his “terrorist threat” claims that he uses to keep his followers full of fear.

George Bush always appears delighted about his alienation of the citizens of this country. He is president, it appears, solely so he can enjoy the adulation of those people who are like him, those who are his buddies. He ignores everybody else. That’s most obvious when he is in front of the media. He hates that the media do not bow down to him, and he is outwardly annoyed by that. He behaves as if all he thinks about is that his “enemies”—U.S. citizens like you and me--might be watching and evaluating what he says.

Ironically, the media is more corporate and Rep-ugh-lican than ever before, but not enough yet to make George Bush comfortable.

George Bush has wrongly led this country into a war.

He is building a culture of fear in this country.

He misleads and manipulates us.

He bullies the rest of the world.

He counts on zombie-like citizens to support him out of the fear that he is their only hope to be safe and comfortable; they are his equivalent of Nixon’s “silent majority.”

We need to throw away this Nixonian era and elect John Kerry.

#4 more thoughts on becoming physically fit...

2004-10-26T19:06:00.000-07:00

Failure is not applicable to dieting.

"Stumbling" is. I must be patient with myself … and my body.

Sure I will screw up once in a while.

GET OVER IT!

If I mess up the plan today, then I shall start again tomorrow.

This is THAT important, so don't throw it away because of frustration.

#3 more thoughts on becoming physically fit...

2004-10-24T11:51:00.000-07:00

My body will not make a smooth transition from overweight to svelte.

It will stall, it will drop, it will plateau, it will gain... but over the course of WEEKS, I will see progress.

Not today vs. tomorrow, but this month vs. next month.

A five pound drop is a good achievement.

Then, repeat it.

The anti-gay Amendment

2004-10-24T11:31:00.000-07:00

There are 27 amendments to the Constitution

Until George Bush, they were all designed to enhance the rights and liberties of the citizens of the United States of America.

The worst experience our country has had when taking the extreme step of modifying the Constitution was the eighteenth amendment that prohibited alcohol. Prohibition proved to be a social disaster instead of the social panacea its supporters had envisioned. It was a noble cause, though wrong-headed, and demanded correction. It was repealed via the twenty first amendment.
http://www.house.gov/Constitution/Amend.html

Modifying the Constitution of the United States is serious and solemn business. But George Bush and his followers want to trivialize it and mess with it because they are annoyed and personally offended by the thought that gays might marry each other.

As is common for George Bush, he is wrong-headed and won’t think. Instead, he embraces the knee-jerk reactionary process in order to manipulate his followers. He says we need to take the drastic step of messing up the Constitution with the first ever Amendment that will discriminate against our own citizens. He says such a move is necessary to protect marriage.

Protect marriage from what?

Last year, there were 2,187,000 marriages. The marriage rate was 7.5% of the population. THE DIVORCE RATE WAS 3.8%...more than half the marriage rate! How wrong-headed is it to blame the possibility of gay marriage for the destruction of marriage? And that’s just divorce.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/divorce.htm

What about spousal murder, or physical abuse, or mental and emotional abuse? What about children who are killed, crippled, or abused by parents? What about families destroyed by financial catastrophes? Because George Bush believes everything is simple and black-and-white and requires no thinking, becuase he is insulated and privileged, he lets his bigotry against gays rule his strategy. George Bush exploits the bigotry of his followers in order to manipulate them. As a politician, he lies and says he’s not bigoted against gays, but, like all political lies, his actions loudly betray him.

The problems with marriage are not from gays. The problems with marriage are from heterosexuals.

I know many friends—and myself, too—whose marriages have been destroyed. Not a single one of them was destroyed by a gay marriage.

If George Bush really is concerned about protecting marriage, why is the most meaningless concern of all – some dreaded, imaginary “threat” by gay marriage – being pushed forward as requiring a Constitutional Amendment? Why not things that really have an impact on saving marriages: a Constitutional Amendment that provides housing? A Constitutional Amendment that requires emotional preparation prior to getting married? A Constitutional Amendment providing minimum health services to families so that they don’t go bankrupt over health care? No. None of that. George Bush embraces the anti-gay hysteria and wants to codify it into the most dramatic legal change possible: a Constitutional Amendment, the United State’s first discrimination Amendment.

And that brings up an issue about gays themselves.

How can a gay person support George Bush? Gays who vote for George Bush are traitors to their community. George Bush wants to codify his knee-jerk reactionary fear into the highest possible law of the land. He spreads that evil mind-set throughout the land by giving it the credibility and imprimatur of the Office of the President of the United States. Then he lies to gays and says, “Hey, nothing personal…”

“Log Cabin Rep-ugh-licans.” They’ll probably be holding sewing bees to create the pink triangles that are the next logical step after passing the anti-gay Amendment.

George Bush is offended by gays. Gays—and all citizens—should be offended by him and VOTE HIM OUT OF OFFICE.

#2 more thoughts on becoming physically fit...

2004-10-24T10:45:00.000-07:00

I’ve discovered that fat is AN ACQUIRED TASTE AND TEXTURE, and I can reverse it.

Eliminate oil, butter, gravy, milkfat (2% is still a lot of fat), etc., and I slowly discover that I like the taste of the food itself, sans the fat.

Olive Oil, by the way, is a fantastic substitute for all oil uses...it is uniquely HEALTHY for me.

Spray-on non-fat butter products ARE good, instead of melting butter and drizzling all that fat on my popcorn, toast, etc.

After I reverse my addiction to fat, I almost gag on it when I do eat it. I wonder why anyone would want to ingest it.

The Texas Cowboy

2004-10-23T14:12:00.000-07:00

Every little boy in Texas, especially the sheltered and privileged ones, must have dreamed about being a cowboy.

Our president is a lucky person; he gets to live out his fantasy of being a cowboy. The horrible part of that, though, is it’s at our expense. His fantasy is causing great trouble for our country.

He’s playing the archaic and childish game of “cowboys and Indians,” with his child-like belief that the rest of the world is what he considers the “bad-guy Indians.”

And just like a child in that childhood game, he doesn’t really accomplish anything. He played “cowboy” while in the National Guard, and he plays “cowboy” while president. While he’s convinced in his own fantasy world that he’s riding the huge stallion, wearing the bright white hat, and riding off with the pretty girl, he’s just leaving the usual debris and distress in his wake that every child leaves behind while playing.

This is the man who, just like his cowboy fantasy, gets up and shouts that “We will get Osama bin Laden wherever he is!” Then, when he can’t find him, he decides he better get SOMEBODY, so he goes after his favorite target over there in Iraq. Every child knows that a cowboy needs to have something--anything--to show to back up his boasting.

And like classic childhood play, he has no lack of nerve about getting bin Laden, who is somewhere in the most desolate parts of the planet, but when it was time to find someone within HIS OWN ADMINISTRATION who is guilty of revealing CIA agents in order to punish people for not playing the George Bush game, then the president says “We may never find him…”

Huh? The cowboy is positive he will find the man on the other side of the planet, but gives up on finding the man inside his own White House?

It’s simple, of course. Cowboys love loyalty. In their childlike view of the world, they get so confused that they think loyalty is more important than honesty, integrity, and competence. And he admired the loyalty of the person who destroyed the "disloyal" CIA agent's family.

George Bush will always be on the side of someone who is loyal to him, and he does not care about the country and the damage done to it by people who are dishonest, who have no integrity, and are incompetent… but who ARE loyal to George Bush.

George Bush is a cowboy who needs to ride off into the sunset! It’s time to elect John Kerry and save this country from childish cowboys.

Some thoughts on becoming physically fit

2004-10-23T13:01:00.000-07:00

Set a goal weight, preferably the standard "ideal body weight" for my height, and track my progress weekly.

Don't claim to be "big-boned" or some other silly thing; aim for being LIGHTER.

If I can’t do two sit-ups, then it’s time to change my life.

The average waistline for men is 32 inches; if I'm not within 15% of that, then it’s time to change my life.

If I have to stop to catch my breath while others continue on, then it’s time to change my life.

REAGAN IS DEAD

2004-10-22T21:13:00.000-07:00

Reagan is dead. It’s time for his wrong-headed but successful campaign turning “Liberal” into a dirty word to die, too.

It’s been the highest fashion for two decades among the knee-jerk reactionary set. An entire generation has grown up under the brain-dead mantra that “liberal” is a dirty word. Right now, the poster-boy for everyone who hates to think, George Bush, resorts to the same old brain-dead mantra of using “liberal” as if it’s a dirty word. That’s how he attacks John Kerry…the silly schoolyard taunt of “nyah, nyah, he’s a liberal!”

Let it die. Liberal is not a dirty word. Forward-thinking, tolerance, wisdom, and compassion are not evil qualities, regardless of how strongly they are opposed by conservatives. It’s so much simpler to be a non-thinker, to merely react like Pavlov’s dogs to simpleton urges. But this is a great country, and we need great leaders, people who can think rather than resort to simplistic name-calling.

We are citizens who want honest leadership rather than abdicating our citizenship in the hope that our current leaders somehow “know more than I know...” even when things are obviously wrong and out of control.

Liberals have let this silly “liberal is a dirty word” marketing campaign run for too long. Being tolerant and thinking, we sat back and ignored the brainless taunts. But now the time has come to take back the validity, integrity, and honor of being “liberal.”

It’s time to squash this spiraling descent into schoolyard name calling and take back our country. It's time for us to lead America to a greater position of honor, integrity, strength, safety, and honesty.

It’s time to rid ourselves of the annoying gnat-like buzzing of “nyah, nyah, you’re a liberal” and move on to intelligent and compassionate and wise leadership.

It’s time to elect John Kerry.