Living off the fat of the land

The New Neo Posted on by

It’s come to this, I’m afraid. Social engineering against obesity in England has reached new heights (depths?):

In Manchester, Britain’s third largest city with half a million people, residents will begin carrying electronic tracking tags that log how far they run or cycle each day. The tag will even help track how many calories residents burn. Those who hit the running trail every morning will be rewarded with coupons at stores and even days off work.

Although this new program may sound a bit Orwellian, in Manchester and eight other towns throughout England the British government is banking on it to help rein in the nation’s obesity problem.

They’ve got their literary references wrong, I think. The only Orwellian part is the technology; the rest is straight out of Brave New World.

If the program is successful it will be expanded, so that the waistlines of Britain can be contracted. This seems to encroach on liberty, although supporters will no doubt argue that it’s voluntary and only positive reinforcement is used.

But I am wary of government getting so heavily into the weight-reduction business. Would that government itself would go on a diet.

The candy corn chronicles

The New Neo Posted on by

Halloween is so over. But the candy corn goes on.

Unless you get rid of the excess, as I did.

I’ve already written of my seasonal candy corn addiction, here. What I hadn’t mentioned is the post-Halloween temptation of the fantastically reduced bags of the stuff that they were practically giving away the day after. Who could resist? Certainly not me.

But at a certain point enough was enough. And yet, and yet, there was still a lot of candy corn left in the bag, calling to me with its siren song. Continue reading →

Maybe now the Democrats won’t be able to pull a Vietnam redux

The New Neo Posted on by

One of the main reasons I voted for President Bush in 2004 was that I wanted to give Iraq the chance that Vietnam never had (see this and this for details of the endgame in Vietnam and the role our Congress played).

One of the few comforting things about the last four years is that this hope of mine may have been realized. If we can credit these sources (and I think we can), Iraq may just be strong enough now that even those many Democrats who wanted so badly to declare the surge a catastrophe before it ever happened—and who, like President-elect Obama, still wish the surge had never occurred—may have been thwarted.

It may be very difficult for them to mess it up now, although they certainly tried hard enough in the past. In this the Democrats are the ironic beneficiaries of the policies of the man they so despise. Their earlier fears that they would be the ones to preside over shameful and terrible scenes of helicopters on the roof, this time in Baghdad, will probably never be realized.

But don’t expect them to give thanks where it’s due. Unlikely.

Good question: how to get the conservative message across

The New Neo Posted on by

Now here’s a good question:

How do we restore integrity to the republican causes of fiscal responsibility and limited government?…

The present crop of republicans has discredited the message by their short-sighted and greedy actions from the president on down. The only spot they seemed to get it right on was on the War on Terror. Their lack of credibility harms that cause too.

I would love to see you post on and begin a thread about how we begin to remedy the situation. I can’t speak for anyone else, but I’m up for some good ideas.

So am I, and I welcome suggestions in the comments section. But first, here are my thoughts on the matter. Continue reading →

Now it can be told

The New Neo Posted on by

Now that Obama has been safely elected on a campaign of false and/or misguided promises, the truth can start to be allowed to seep out. Surprise, surprise—raising taxes on the wealthy is not a good idea in a recession or depression.

See also this, another “now it can be told” story. Turns out it may not be so easy for Barack to just say no to Guantanamo. Continue reading →

Cycles of the crash: hope springs eternal

The New Neo Posted on by

The other night I watched this PBS program on the Crash of ’29. It was made four years ago, so there were no tie-ins to the present crisis. But the mind can create them easily enough.

Each downturn was preceded by a long bull market, lulling investors into thinking that such was the natural state of things and would continue. How could people be so dumb? Just try them. The show made the point that crashes tend to happen in cycles because it takes a while for a generation to grow up that doesn’t remember the last one. Continue reading →

On Veterans Day

The New Neo Posted on by

Yes, indeed, I am that old—old enough to remember when Veterans Day was called Armistice Day. The change in names occurred in 1954, when I was very small, in order to accommodate World War II and its veterans.

Since then, the original name has largely fallen out of use—although it remains, like a vestigial organ, in the timing of the holiday, the Monday closest to November 11th, which commemorates the day the WWI armistice was signed (eleventh hour, eleventh day, eleventh month).

I’m also old enough–and had a teacher ancient enough—to have been forced to memorize that old chestnut “In Flanders Fields” in fifth grade—although without being given any historical context for it. I think at the time I assumed it was about World War II, since as far as I knew that was the only real war. Continue reading →

One of a dying breed

The New Neo Posted on by

Who would have thought that Greta Van Susteren would be one of the last journalists with integrity? It’s all the more surprising because she’s a lawyer, too:

I never used to watch Greta’s show when it consisted of interminable yammering about interminably sensationalistic court cases. But I noticed that, throughout this long and sorry campaign, Greta was one of the few journalists that seemed to hold to some journalistic standards.

[Hat tip Ace.]