Fat Santa Claus Is Coming to Town

The other night while viewing the evening news on ABC, I saw a report stating that at a time our nation is concerned with our overweight children, the festive image of a fat, jolly Santa could be sending out the wrong message in the fight against obesity. The report said that some Santas out there are absolutely huge - weighing up to 300 pounds.

When I was a child, Santa Claus smoked a pipe. Several years ago, one of Santa’s elves persuaded him to give up smoking because it was harmful to his health and set a poor example for the world’s children. Now, in the state of Mississippi, “Mrs. Claus has a Cause” is a tobacco awareness program designed for first grade students in public and private schools. A volunteer, dressed as Mrs. Claus, reads the story of the efforts of Bizzy Bubble, Santa’s littlest elf, to get Santa to quit smoking his pipe. This program was started because Santa is often depicted smoking in children’s storybooks, coloring books and comic strips. In this special Christmas story, Santa is made aware of the role model he is setting for children. He learns that children want him to quit smoking his pipe and support clean air and lungs. Bizzy becomes the hero in the story as he teaches Santa to blow bubbles out of his pipe rather than smoke.

Now it is time for Santa to lose some weight in order to set a good example for today’s children. At about six feet in height with a 50-inch waist and a weight of 300 pounds, Santa has a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 40.7. A BMI of 30 or greater places one in the obese category. Santa, I am really concerned about your weight and what it means for your health. Have you had your blood pressure taken lately? Have your arteries been X-rayed, MRI'ed or scanned? We can't have you getting a stroke. You need to start watching your diet and exercise more. Your exercise program should be gradual. Get a good pair of walking or jogging shoes and start doing at least three miles a day. Let people see that you're doing something about your weight. Take some time to enjoy the holiday decorations. Increase your cardiovascular strength. Release some endorphins. A nice walk in the fresh air is just the thing to get rid of the stress of the evening. And lay off the milk and cookies when you deliver those presents.


When you get to our house this year, don't expect a treat of milk and cookies. You don’t need them. You’re too fat already. Instead of milk and cookies, I am leaving you a glass of tomato juice and a platter of carrots, broccoli, and red peppers with a low fat dip.

So what do I want for Christmas, Santa? I want you to trim down to about 180 pounds and lose that bowl of jelly you carry around your middle. I want you to get your BMI into a healthy range; I want you to exercise at least an hour every day; I want you to trim down to the point where no one will ever have to rescue you from a chimney that was just a little too small. Oh, and don’t forget to eat your five servings of fruits and veggies every day.

VIDEO: ABC News - Should Santa lose weight?



VIDEO: This is a parody of Jolly Old St. Nicholas by Sam Stokes.



VIDEO: At the suggestion of RHolt, I am posting this video in which seasoned reporter John Johnson interviews some members of an organization dedicated to keeping St.Nick thick.



QUESTION:

Do you like the traditional Santa just the way he is, or would like to see him trimmed down for next year’s Christmas?

Outsourcing Christmas Greeting Cards

Now I have heard everything about outsourcing. First, we had some busy American families outsourcing their Christmas home decorating to outside companies. The latest news now is that some busy Americans are outsourcing the sending of Christmas greeting cards to friends and relatives. Last month, one busy attorney turned over her Christmas card list and the message she wanted on each greeting card to a company that designs, hand-addresses, and mails the cards. To add a personal touch, she was allowed to select masculine or feminine penmanship. For this service she paid up to five dollars for each card. Since this attorney had over 100 cards sent out, her outlay for the service could have been as high as $500 or more.

I am not a great fan of greeting cards. I think some people are so busy that they don’t take the time to choose their cards carefully. As a result, so often one gets a perfunctorily chosen generic card that has no special significance to it. Receiving one of those cards is like getting a handshake instead of a hug. One of the card companies uses the motto “Handwritten cards, all the love, none of the hassle.” When people send me a greeting card showing their love, I would expect them to deal with the hassle of personally choosing it especially for me.

I know a couple of men who have been friends for years. About 20 years ago, each of them bought a Christmas card and sent it to the other. The next year the men wrote the greeting “Merry Christmas” on the same card they had received the previous year, a short personal handwritten message, and the date of the year they were mailing it. Then they mailed the cards to each other, a practice they have continued to this day. As each year goes by, the recycled cards become more significant and more precious to them. Not only does this practice save a lot of money on meaningless greeting cards, but the sending of the cards also has become a tradition and an annual reminder of their continuing and growing friendship. Imagine some day looking at those greeting cards with all those personal messages that they have recycled to each for over fifty years. Wouldn’t that experience have a special meaning attached to it?

QUESTIONS:

1. Do you or would you outsource the sending of your Christmas greeting cards?
2. Are you or would you be insulted if someone sent you an outsourced Christmas greeting card?
3. What are your thoughts about sending and receiving free e-mailed Christmas cards?

It Depends On What the Meaning of the Word “Sex” Is

Perhaps you remember these famous quotes from our past 20th century presidents:

“The world must be made safe for democracy.” ---Woodrow Wilson

“So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself …” --- FDR

“And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.” ---JFK

"It depends upon what the meaning of the word 'is' is." William Jefferson Clinton

“I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Monica Lewinsky." ---William Jefferson Clinton

Now let us consider this quote of Clinton: “I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Monica Lewinsky.”

Cal. Penal Code § 289.6. Public entity employees, officers or agent; sexual activity with confined consenting adult defines "sexual activity" as
(1) Sexual intercourse.
(2) Sodomy, as defined in subdivision (a) of Section 286.
(3) Oral copulation, as defined in subdivision (a) of Section 288a.
(4) Sexual penetration, as defined in subdivision (k) of Section 289.

Here are some anecdotal reports in the media about oral copulation among teenagers:

An April 1997 article in The New York Times asserted that high school students who had come of age with AIDS education considered oral copulation to be a far less dangerous alternative, in both physical and emotional terms, than vaginal intercourse.

A July 1997 Washington Post article described an "unsettling new fad" in which suburban middle-school students were regularly engaging in oral copulation at one another's homes, in parks and even on school grounds.

Talk magazine in February 2000 reported on interviews with 12-16-year-olds. These students set seventh grade as the starting point for oral copulation, which they claimed begins considerably earlier than intercourse. By 10th grade, according to the reporter, "well over half of their classmates were involved.”

In April 2000, another New York Times article on precocious sexuality quoted a Manhattan psychologist as saying "it's like a goodnight kiss to them" in a description of how seventh- and eighth-grade virgins who were saving themselves for marriage were having oral copulation in the meantime because they perceived it to be safe and risk-free.

Deborah Roffman, a sexuality educator at The Park School in Baltimore, asserts that "middle-school girls sometimes look at oral copulation as an absolute bargain—you don't get pregnant, they think you don't get diseases, you're still a virgin and you're in control since it's something that they can do to boys (whereas sex is almost always described as something boys do to girls)."

Again, according to Roffman, the issue of just how voluntary oral copulation is for many girls came up repeatedly, especially when the act is performed "to make boys happy" or when alcohol is involved. Roffman relates the experience of a guidance counselor who, after bringing up the topic of rape in this context of coerced oral copulation, was told by female students that the term did not apply to their situation, because fellatio "is not really sex."

Another study by Susan Rosenthal reports that "Oral copulation is clearly seen as something very different than intercourse, as something other than sex." She also mentions a generational shift in thinking, noting that "if you were to query older women, oral copulation might be perceived as something more intimate or equally intimate to vaginal sex (and which frequently happened later on in a relationship); for the teens, oral copulation appears to be much less intimate or serious than vaginal intercourse."

Several girls were reported to have said that some of the advantages of having oral copulation over vaginal intercourse are that “I can make my boyfriend happy, I won’t get pregnant, and I will still be a virgin when I get married.”

Bill Clinton claimed that he had not perjured himself because he "did not have sexual relations with that woman, Monica Lewinsky.” He had, in fact, had something else—oral copulation.

QUESTIONS:

1.Do you think that Clinton was engaged in a sexual relationship with Lewinsky?
2.Do you think that the teenagers involved in oral copulation are engaging in a sexual activity?
3.Do you consider a girl who participates in oral copulation but not vaginal sex to be a virgin when she marries?

You might wish to view one or more of the following Clinton videos:

VIDEO: Clinton denies the Lewinsky affair:



VIDEO: Bill Clinton's speech at Harvard's 2007 Class Day in June, 2007. I posted this video because I found it refreshing to listen to an intelligent former president who can put more than two sentences together without using a prompter or making a verbal miscue. In fact, Clinton can put together a whole speech without extensive notes because he speaks from the heart. In spite of his peccadilloes, I like this man because he is a good-hearted, authentic human being.



VIDEO: VIDEO: President Bill Clinton goes on FOX NEWS for an open interview with slanted journalist Chris Wallace. And Wallace goes right with the Right Wing echo chamber lie that Al Qaeda is Bill Clinton's fault. Clinton just destroys Wallace and does a great job! Another black eye for the main propaganda outlet of the Bush Administration, and they're trying to spin it the other way! Classic!

Bringing Home the Bacon

The American family is undergoing great changes. We now know that after only three decades of working in the mainstream workforce, one out of every three wives is earning more money than her husband. Those wives with MBAs are doing even better, with nearly 60% earning more than their husbands.

Now we learn that 20% more women are graduating from college and entering the managerial ranks every year. This earning power of women is bringing about a shift in gender roles and putting a twist on the term “purse strings.” Many marriages are being restructured as husband and wife act with flexibility, switching back and forth between roles.

The old hunter-gatherer model of marriage had the husband bringing home the bacon and the wife frying it in a pan. Now it appears that there is a movement in some circles to return to that model. In an attempt to reduce the number of divorces in the Bible Belt, the southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary has designed an elective course only for females to instill a Biblical model for managing the home and family. This course will concentrate on teaching child rearing, constructing clothing, cooking, and managing time in the home. Incorporating many of the ideals of the Southern Baptist faith, the course attempts to clearly define the roles of husband and wife as it follows a doctrinal statement titled “The Baptist Faith and Message,” adopted in 2000 by the Southern Baptist Convention. This doctrinal statement is based on certain Biblical passages such as the following:

1. (1 Corinthians 15:24-28; Hebrews 2:8). “But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man…”
2. (1 Corinthians 11:3). “It is just as wrong for a woman to take man’s place as it is for man to take Christ’s place.”
3. (1 Timothy 2:12; Corinthians 11:3). “…it cannot be denied that the Bible also plainly teaches that women are subject to men.”
4. (Genesis 3:16). “…and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.”
5. (1 Corinthians 11:9). “… Neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man.”
6. (Titus 2:5) “…[To be] discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.

When I read these passages to my wife, she arched an eyebrow as she smiled at me and said, “I have only one thing to say to you - it’s a good thing you are not a Southern Baptist.”

While it is true that the women in this course are going to be the wives of pastors, these women are not allowed to get a degree in divinity. (1 Timothy 2:12 ). “But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.”

While some women support this model for the role of women in a marriage, other women are much more critical, saying that replacing careers with tradition could set back by decades, if not centuries, the advancement of women in the United States. This model, they say, reflects the subordinationist theology of the patriarchal society of the first and second centuries. Those women who support this model counter by stating that, although they understand how difficult it has been for women to advance in the workplace, they think that following the role assigned to them in the Bible helps to bring a proper balance to marriage and the home.

Here is the result of a Gallup Poll conducted in September of this year:

Sept. 6, 2007 -- If you were free to take a job outside the home or stay at home to take care of family and house, what would you prefer?

The Gallup Organization posed that hypothetical question to about 1,000 U.S. adults last month in a telephone poll about work.

Among women, 58% said they would prefer to work outside the home, 37% indicated that they would rather stay at home, 3% said they wanted to do both, and 2% expressed no opinion.

The percentage of women who would prefer working outside the home is slightly higher than the 54% who voiced that preference two years ago.

QUESTIONS:

1. What about you as a woman? What is your preference?
2. What about you as a man? How do you feel about your wife having a career outside the home? If your wife brings home more “bacon” than you, are you bothered by that fact? How many of you husbands are now frying the bacon in a pan?

Video: "Ain't Nuthin' But A She Thing"
--- Salt-N-Peppa

How Much Freedom of Speech for Bloggers?

Last week a blogger was arrested for a comment he made in November on a blog about Wisconsin politics. James Buss, a Milwaukee high school chemistry teacher and former president of the local teachers’ union, made the comment on a conservative blog in what he claimed was a sarcastic attempt to discredit critics of education spending. The comment was made under the name of “Observer” and in the context of a blog discussion of teachers’ salaries only after some of the conservative bloggers made comments complaining that teachers are underworked and overpaid.

Buss, in his comment, sarcastically wrote that teacher salaries made him sick because everybody knows that teachers are lazy and work only five hours a day. He went on to praise the teenage gunmen who killed twelve students and a teacher before committing suicide in the Columbine High School incident in 1999. He said in his comment that those gunmen knew how to deal with those overpaid teacher union thugs one shot at a time. He added that the gunmen therefore should be remembered as heroes.

One teacher was so disturbed by the threat of the “one shot at a time” comment that he called the police, who later arrested Buss at his home. After spending an hour in jail, Buss was released on bail of $350. Now a local district attorney is considering whether to charge him with “disorderly conduct and unlawful use of computerized communication systems.”

A university professor and expert in free speech claims that Buss is protected by the First Amendment in his exercise of free speech. One has to consider intent, he said. Buss’s tongue-in-cheek comment was intended to make a point, not to incite violence. Bloggers and free speech advocates are calling on prosecutors not to file charges.

My question is this: If Buss was arrested for his sarcastic comment on a blog, how about this unsarcastic comment made by Pat Robertson in regard to his calling for the assassination of Hugo Chavez, the leader of a sovereign nation. Should Pat Robertson, a man who claims to talk with God, also be arrested and charged with inciting violence?