Altitude Sickness, Or What?
Well, I am visiting Colorado, and it has been interesting to see what goes on here in the way of health. I mean, like everyone here in Boulder seems to be a health nut. They all look like little pieces of gristle to me.
And, they all want to make this fat boy skinny. It ain’t going to happen. I like being on the lovable hefty side and enjoy my pipes and tobacco, which I have done for the past 40-plus years. The belly comes with me, see.
My point is this: I an beginning to recognize a trend here. Maybe I am the last one on the planet to notice, but we are in the midst of a rising Nanny State.
I plan to write more on this in the future, but here is what has gotten my attention. The other day in one of the nation’s best newspapers, the New York Times–my apologies to those of you who think otherwise and find it too liberal for your tastes; but the NYT is the best there is today, along with the Washington Post–and there was a piece about how much salt we consume.
Now, the antis and the health freakies are saying we eat too much salt. There’s another side that says we are eating just the right amount, not to worry. The antis hate any kind of food that has salt. They would have us eat twigs and weeds, like many of the folks seem to do out here.
I hail from the South. I have seen work clothes after a day’s labor have so much salt residue that you could start a salt factory with them.
We grow up eating ham that is half salt. Sausage and biscuits with red-eye gravy, yeah, and eggs and bacon along with buttermilk. Every day, seven days a week. It’s enough to clog every artery in your body, and we wouldn’t have it any other way. You won’t find too many Nanny boys in the South.
Now the antis are after our salt intake. Imagine that? Next they’ll come after our dogs, and then the shooting will begin.
So, I asked a friend out here in this cold, cold state about their healthful living. You have to be fit to live here, and they are, I suppose, until they get run over while riding their bikes, ski into trees, or drop off one of the mountains they climb.
But, that doesn’t count. See, they like doing those things out here. Risky, yes, but they enjoy riding something they call a bicycle, running in the snow, climbing 14,000-foot mountains, skiing down the sides of steep slopes, smoking the hills like white rockets. They live here to enjoy that sort of lifestyle.
Is anyone getting my drift?
It’s okay to suffer a traumatic head injury from a fall or getting your skinny buns warped into a pretzel around your skinny bike. That’s fine. Part of the statistical side of living a life in Colorado style.
But let me want to enjoy my pipe and tobacco? Oh, no, you can’t do that. It’s bad for you. Let’s raise the excise taxes on your enjoyment, but not mine, right?
I jest, but I trust you my point.
And you will have to excuse me. I’ve either had too much salt, or it could be that I am coming down with altitude sickness from being out here.
More on the Nanny State later.
Selah
Well, I am both a pipe smoker and an avid downhill skier of many decades. I’ve even been recently chased by an old Ski Patrol nanny that felt I should not be allowed to smoke on the slopes! She could not catch me! She was out of breath yelling at me.
I’ll pay my excise tax for smoking and skiing (if it comes to that) but old Ski Patrol Anti’s chasing me on the ski slopes will not be tolerated. Catch me if you can!
I am both an avid pipe smoker and downhill skier. I’ve even been recently pursued by an old Ski Patrol Nanny on the slopes that chased after me yelling “you shouldn’t be smoking on the ski hill”!
She could not catch me. I’ll pay my tobacco tax and I’ll pay my skier tax, too (if I must)… but, Ski Patrol Nanny’s will not be tolerated!
I agree totally with this article. The nanny state is getting larger and most people do not see it. All they see is the “good” that supposedly comes from it. But they are not thinking for themselves. I laugh everytime I see a commercial, a tv program, article, etc that has someone in it claiming to be a “free thinker”, “unique” or “being themselves”. Ironically, every last one of them is trying to be like their neighbor. It’s common sense to take care of yourself, but to take it too far and not enjoy life is a waste. Being a blind sheep follower is a waste. The libs and the socialists out there can have their scare tatctics and their “free thinking”. I’ll keep the real thing and my personal freedoms.