Hey Fatty

The reasons are embedded in our modern busy life styles, but when you look at things in perspective, children have easy access to sugary and fat laden foods.

In some countries and cultures, free school meals are something of a tradition and considered as normal. This has enabled the assurance that a child will receive, at least once a day, a good healthy meal. This approach to eating has no-doubt improved national health and reduced social differences in the countries that embrace the system.

Over the last few years the situation has gotten a lot worse. Children are more drawn to fizzy drinks and food with low nutritional value. At home, family meals are unheard of and family ties are a thing of the past. Instead of fresh home cooked meals families rely on instant microwave foods and snacks.

The world is getting fatter. In 12 year old boys obesity has almost tripled in one generation. Before this boys of this age would have been doing sports or other activities to burn of the calories they have taken on board. Today, youth is found slumped in front of the X-Box 360 or PS2.

It is clear that obesity is not just an issue of nutrition and unhealthy dietary habits, but the problem lies embedded at home and school. Parents and schools need to provide children with delicious and cost effective meals. The whole problem is the direction our society is heading at.
More blame on the obesity crisis has to be placed on the parents and the homes. It is safe to say that the vast majority of the nation will not be able to gather for the five o'clock tea.

What families need to ensure is to do the minimum of dining together over the weekend. Children can be involved in the cooking from an early age. This way children will grow to value and appreciate the food and the family from an early age.

We are headed towards a new class divide. Fraction of the families will deal with dining honourably and will bring up a generation that is by far healthier and knowledgeable than its predecessors. Dysfunctional families and young families will eat unhealthy meals or have unhealthy dietary habits. The children may have fluctuations where they will go without meals for days and then binge and gain masses of weight. This will also lead to bullying in more cases than one.

Obesity and healthy dietary habits are a delicate matter. People need to be aware that over educating will evoke rebellion in children, it is also advised to over exaggerate issues. Everyone has a right for a treat every now and again.

Vietraq

Many of the 60's and 70's generation is sure to remember the scenes when thousands of anti war demonstrators stormed through Washington in opposition of the war in Vietnam. Iraq today, is looking much like the disaster of Vietnam. George W. has promissed that he will withdraw from Iraq, but with dignity. No one sees a clear route to a dignified pull out.

In a great nation, there can be many views and expressions. The flurry of demonstrators itself is a colourful group. The harsh truths are that bloodshed in Iraq continues on a daily basis, and the Bush's reputation has collapsed. The State of The Union speech of last week has not received any acclaim and no one has defended it.

Opposing the war in Iraq has received two international faces. Jane Fonda, fondly named "Hanoi-Jane", rose back up on the barricades. Hilary Clinton attacked Bush's Iraq policy when she officially announced she would run as a Democratic candidacy in the next election.

Any non Rebublican politician wishing for a shot at the White House will ride high on the wave of Iraq criticism. Up untill now, Clinton has avidly supported Bush's actions that the nation accepted after the tragedies of 9-11.

Criticising the occupation of Iraq is easy, but withdrawing is extremely difficult. The congress can deny to fund the troops promissed by Bush, but the truth is that 21,000 troops will not solve the crisis one way or the other. the congress is preparing a statement, which is rumoured to attack Bush's policy and initiatives.

The Democrats are petrified of being labelled as the party who stabbed the president in the back, when the road to a deserved and earned victory has already opened its gates. Similar propaganda was spread by Hitler in his time. Bush is a crippled duck, but he will hobble his term till the end. The surgent troops in Iraq don't have the same power of force as the Vietkong when it forced the yanks to the roof of its embassy to wait for a chopper.

George Makes Bids Against Time

George W is trying to buy time in Iraq, by sending in more troops, but can he find enough men and women who are willing to die?

In his last address regarding the war in Iraq, he used his familiar words to gain support for adding troops. Some of these words included: Victory, Freedom and Terrorism. However for the first time he admitted that he had made mistakes with Iraq, but at the same time he rejected plans put forwards by a committee, appointed to find a resolve in Iraq. Instead of recommendations, Bush is sending an additional 21,500 troops to Iraq.

The situation is starting to take Vietnam like features all the time. More troops were sent in stages, and then when the public turned against the war, it was “vietnamised”. A few years after that, the final American troops were evacuated via chopper from the roof of the embassy.

Even though the USA is not facing an ‘enemy’ supported by great communistic superpowers or an ‘enemy’ that has a clear and concise leadership, but are facing a number of ethnic and religious groups. The mystified al-Qaeda is seen more as a way of thinking than an organisation.

The USA seem to be drifting into war on three different fronts. The troubles in Afghanistan are mounting up to a serious conflict and to top it all off USA is engaged in a conflict with Somalia as well.

On all three fronts it seems that USA is fighting it’s much publicised number one enemy: Muslim extremists. Maybe the cowboy/world police attitude will only result in an uprising against the USA and the US troops.

One thing that the Yanks do have at the moment is war machinery and dollars, but do they have enough willing men and women, who are willing to die for a cause that people are losing their faith in? The military cannot set high standards for new recruits, as all willing and able bodies must be shipped off on a tight schedule. One option the USA need to consider is national service, that George W cunningly escaped during the Vietnam war.

Everything that the USA is doing is plagued by the appalling knowledge of foreign cultures. Not all nations in the world understand to ask for Bush’s freedom offers. Many in fact are happy with the order that the extreme Islamists have installed. Though they paid a high price for this in Afghanistan as well as Somalia.

Bush is trying to buy time and the democrats are afraid to ask for Bush to admit defeat. PR stunts wont be enough for securing a victory over time.

The Hummer Is Stuck In The Sand

Back home, when my car got stuck in the masses of snow, I had to put some bark or branches under the wheels to get going again. In a desert you can’t find bark, nor branches and the car must be equipped by sand ladders if it gets stuck in a dune. This is the current state of affairs for American’s in Iraq and George W. Bush can’t extend a helping hand. James Baker’s report confirms that a hummer is pretty much useless in sand. It can’t go forwards, nor reverse. The wheels are running on empty.

However the deepest problem with the situation is the new conservative missionaries. Democracy must be implemented to the whole of the Middle East and of course in the truest American form. Revolutionizing a society is a bad product to take abroad as nations and societies need to choose their respective paths by them selves.

Even before the Baker report was published the new defense secretary, Robert Gates, said that USA is not winning the war in Iraq. It is however, painfully difficult for a superpower to retreat from Iraq, without losing its face.

Baker suggests that responsibility should be transferred to Iraq’s own government. Undoubtedly this reminds many, who have studied history or lived at the time the Vietnamisation of the South East Asian war in the 70s. Troops of Saigon crumbled fast and the last yanks flew off with a chopper from the roof of the embassy.

In Iraq the USA does not have the similar threat as Vietnam, where a communist regime would capture power. After the American’s pull out, Iraq might be torn in a bloody power struggle between the Kurds, Shia muslims and Sunnies. As harsh as it may seem this may be the best solution. The main problem of this is the equal distribution of the wealthy oil reserves between the three.

Bush is against the ideas that Baker put forward and was hugely upset by the Israeli, Palestine conflict and its effect on the Muslim community. When Iran and Syria jumped into the talks, Bush set a number of suggestions, much of which were to divert discussions to other subjects. On the other hand the Democrats are avoiding a strong attack against Bush as they are afraid of being stabbed in the back.

So here we are then. The Hummer might be stuck in the desert sands of Iraq until 2008. The bloodshed will most likely carry on a daily basis, as a reasonable resolve will never be reached in Iraq. It is with heavy heart that the president to follow Bush into the office has to admit the whole disaster we know as the war in Iraq

Dictators

During the turmoil in Russia during the 1990s a little know general called Aleksandr Lebed became a name to fear. He was a general who, during the dying phases of Soviet Union kept order with an iron fist. Lebed allowed for his soldiers to sharpen the ends of their spades, so that great masses would be easily controlled.

For some reason Lebed admired the late Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet. He said that by sacrificing the lives of ‘only’ 3000 people, Pinochet restored order back into the country under the reign of communism and claimed that Pinochet saved the lives of atleast 30,000. That is usually the minimum number of casualties where ever communism was implemented as the ruling form of politics.

When general Pinochet passed away last week a handful of people in Chile mourned for him, but the world judged and condemned him even after his death. The intellectuals of the wesk wont admit that perhaps Pinochet with his coup de dat and dictatorship saved Chile from an even worse communist terror state.

If you line up Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Castro, Pol Pot or any eastern European communist country, under which people were systematically butchered, only Hitler can compete with the amount of atrocities committed. Franco and Pinochet were good Samaritans compared to the fore mentioned and their only defence is that after their deaths or fall from power flourishing democracies were formed.

Today Chile is the wealthiest country of Southern America, were the Peso has been devalued many times. Dictators have the edge over communist tyranny, from likes of Stalin, that they have left the trying middle class alone. After Lenin was done with the upper class, he went after the middle class, the engine of every thriving society. Without this engine, not a single society will work. Stalin had the farmers murdered. It can still be seen from Russia, that after 15 years since the fall of the Soviet Union it has not been able to establish a solid middle class or wealthy farmers. The former superpower of agriculture has become a leech to other European countries.

Communist dictatorship have been far worse for its people than say your Pinochet’s, because you simply cannot remove a communist dictatorship. Where ever communism has risen to power they have always built a regime where those who do not agree are systematically murdered. People could not fight power of this magnitude. It is just like East-Germany’s secret police was far bigger that Hitler’s Gestapo.

Southern American revolutions were co-ordinated by Soviet Union’s massive networks of KGB agents, whose core were professional revolutionaries, who escaped from the Spanish civil war to Soviet Union. The Soviets set up boarding schools for the children, so that their mothers and fathers could take the revolution in to all Hispanic countries.

It is risky to write about Franco and Pinochet, or of any dictator for that matter, or compare who was worse. All of the dictators have committed horrible atrocities against humanity and have all deserved the title, Dictator. Even though Franco, before his fall from power arranged a king who respected Democracy into Spain and Pinochet, after losing the election bowed out from the seat of power. The fact is that without Franco and Pinochet, Spain and Chile would have been the next Cuba or Cambodia.

Big Brother Teaches Us So...

The reality TV Behemot Big Brother has offered us countless of valuable lessons that we can really learn from. One competitor long gone and forgotten once said he could "forget all other jobs and could only focus on TV-shows." Though the sad state of affairs is that Big Brother is not really work. People who sit, drink, fight and fuck on live TV can't really be called workers.

At schools children should receive secure basic education, which will help them get places in life. But in the light of the Big Brother phenomenon, or any reality TV phenomenon for that matter, the department of education should reconsider what to teach children. What do they care about mastering the English grammar and spelling, when they spend more time trying to imitate their reality TV idols.

What good is learning about DNA or biology if you sit at a dinner table wearing a hat, burbing and you laugh at your loudest farts of all time. Is there any point in reading classic novels or analyse art/poetry when participants reflect their views on life from the various marketing strap lines.

I think the Department of education is teaching kids the wrong things don't you?
Another great lesson Big Brother has offered us over the years is the increase in divorces. The reason being only in man's stupidity and nothing else. If some one wants to get busy with some one else rather than their girlfriend or wife you do it and don't get caught. Or then you can go the Big Brother way: go live in a reality TV house and exercise bed wrestling with an airhead blonde and hope that no one sees. It only goes to TV.

People's Wonder

A young CEO is starting his first day on the job. He marches proudly into his room and finds his predecessor packing his things. As an enthusiastic learner the new recruit asks if the older more experienced CEO can give any pointers to start the company running on a solid base.

The older, CEO looked at the new recruit tiredly and wearily. “I’m not giving you any tips now, but you will get three numbered envelopes. When you feel you are under pressure open one and you will get proper instructions.”

The first year went how it went and the new CEO started to feel under pressure. The company wasn’t producing as expected and the board of directors wanted an explanation.
The CEO opens up the first envelope. The advice was: Blame your predecessor.

And the CEO did as instructed. The board was ecstatic and encouraged the new CEO to take radical actions. As a result two hundred employees were laid off and the stocks took off.

This only lasted for a while though. Soon the CEO found himself with another envelope in his hand. Initiate organisational restructure, was the advice. Soon full blown chaos took over the whole office. No one did what they were supposed to, but work did seem like work.

Another year on the young CEO looked twenty years his age. The board wanted more effective actions as the investors ideas and profitability was not up to scratch. So he opens the third and final envelope. It read: Prepare three envelopes for your successor and pack your things.
International companies’ CEOs lifespan is on average 2.7 years. Is it a surprise that the business world lives like it is the last day on earth. Shit happens, as they say.

The latest example is the ever struggling gas and electricity industry. British Gas lost a bundle of money and customers as it hiked up its prices in the early part of the year. The rationale was that the company would lower its prices in the future and the price hike was only a temporary solution. But what happened? The people rose up and ditched the company, in what looked like a revolution.

Businesses do not operate or adhere to natures laws. It is a system created, controlled and corrupted by humans. If a company wishes to perform ethically it requires an ethical CEO and an ethical board of directors. And the more aware that the public are of the company’s action the healthier the company’s future will be.

Now companies across the globe are polishing its ethical armour. It is a powerful marketing tool to advocate ethics and an equal, greener world. This will unfortunately face the same ending as Communism did. Free competition in an industry luckily means that the public has freedom of choice.