BadWolf

<Grin> Major Benefit of Having a Living Prophet!!!

Wow! Okay,Im not the only nervous one!! Especially after the ages were lowered at conference, and how giddy everyone here seems to be (even other new folk, with kids older than mine)... I figured I'm probably not the ONLY freaked out parent in the church, but maybe one of, say, 3. It's really great to hear the positive exp & excitement as well. Unbelievably good. I rationalized that I enlisted at 17 (and playing with explosives is probably NOT on the mission approved list + rather a lot more supervision and accountability on mission than military life... So I'll have less -in theory- to worry about with my son than my parents did with me ; ) ... It's just so far out of my realm of 'normal expectations' (what id loosely outlined... grad, college, may e a gap year, etc.) for my son up until this point... That it all seems a bit surreal!

Neither for nor against. There's been a lot of SciFi on this over the years: - Friday - Heinlein - gattica - Movie ((Opposite concepts, btw... Heinlein APs 'artificial persons' were bread as soldiers, whores, pilots, womb surrogates, radioactive waste disposal, etc. and were considered not to have souls/ were not 'real' people, were property of the lab that created them until they sold them then the property of whomever bought them... And follows one such AP. Gattica, meanwhile, the natural born were the low class undesirables prone to diseases, disorders, short lives, etc.) But there are hundreds of books, and a good dozen movies that explore various aspects, both positive and negative. My 'gut' response is 'Noooooooo'. My heart response (if I could have saved my son his pulmonary problems???) is YES! My head response is "Undecided : Exciting AND Terrifying on both the individual and sociocultural levels". My spirt response is keeping silent on the subject. Will it happen? Barring the end of the world as we know it... Absolutely. In fact, its probably already been done, but we just don't know it, yet. Even if not, it will happen eventually, in my lifetime or my Grandkids. "We have the technology". I think I'll reserve judgement for the time being.

Hugs! Sometimes ya just can't win for losin! (Family saying. We're gallows humor types.) Now... I don't know you or your history at all... But have you ever been seen for depression? If your son is suicidal, it stands to reason that it may be a genetic thing. Depression (and several other disorders) often hit women at pre-menopause, or become HUGELY worsened as our hormone levels start to fluctuate. (Women. Sheesh. Menses onset, monthly cycles, pregnancy, menopause. The only consistency is the inconsistency! It's a wonder we ever get a routine down!) Point being... Even if you've never had a problem with depression/anxiety/etc. in the past because you've always been able to shoulder on and chin up, another joy of 40s may mean needing help. If your son is in the hospital, then you qualify for assistance from the Social Work department... Which a big part of their job includes family support and finding resources (counselors or doctors, sliding scale or grants, etc.) both in house and out of house. Social Workers often get confused with CPS... But MSWs are faaaaaaar more than that. Licensed counselors, librarians to just about everything locally offered for med & psych care, case managers, etc.

Free Will, or capacity to exercise free will? (Defining Capacity as : Slavery in various forms, neurological/mental or emotional disorders or deficiencies, born only to die in infancy, etc.)

I've got a few years to get used to the idea... But quite frankly it freaks me out. I'm not against it by any means, but this was also not something that was ever on my radar. Like. Ever. Even modern battlefield deployments get more than 2 calls per year (and yes, I can see the wisdom in transitioning into manhood)... Oy. I'm reeeeally grateful I have time to shove my stomach out of my throat / maybe even get excited (gulp, cringe, maybe!) but it scares the daylights out of me. Thoughts? Experience? Culture shock just sneaks up and hamstrings me from time to time.

Sigh. I homeschooled my son for 5 years. I miss it like I miss my right arm. Something to consider, however... Many (36? 38?) states have a 'dual enrollment' program. This allows highschool students to take classes up at the community college for free up until they're 18 or graduated from highschool. (Still have to buy books). So the highschool student only attends highschool on a part time basis / has different grad requirements OR (lesser known fact) most community colleges offer 'high school completion' courses OR (I promise, no knives for 19.99) You CAN homeschool VIA the dual enrollment program. This is what most HS'ers I know do in highschool. The kids EITHER use their CC transcript as their highschool transcript for applying into the Ivies OR simply pass Go (and she'll out significantly more than $200) and start their State University as a Junior. Using their AA/AAS/AS as their ticket to ride (no highschool diploma is needed after a 2 year degree, and its never needed if you cite 'Homeschooler'. They just want a portfolio or that AA/AAS/AS Transfer degree. Just a thought.

To the best of my knowledge: Abraham wasn't told to mind the flood, Noah wasn't told not to look back at S or he'd be turned into a pillar of salt. At no point in my studies (torah, ot/nt) have I ever come across the concept that our Heavenly Father was done speaking now, and had shared everything we'd ever need to know. Instead, over and over is the concept that all is yet to be revealed. Indeed, a proverb from the same region (middle east): "If every tree on earth was a pen refilled by the sea, and seven more seas besides, the word of God would not be exhausted. God is all knowing. All wise." I do not believe that g-d is limited by man's writings, nor by 'publication dates'. I hardly believe that just because the editorial deadline had passed for the collation and publication of the NT tha g-d would be constrained by such an arbitrary construct. What you believe is your own business, however. "We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may." The Articles of Faith Which loops us back around again... Not even our missionaries (whom some might see as dedicating 2 years of their lives to 'convincing') walk into another man's home and tell him which god to worship, or how. They do not threaten OR try to convince. They invite. Convincing isn't in our purview.

A man convinced against his will is of the same opinion, still.

Just thought to add... I actually got in an argument with the mission president not long ago on the subject of my not dating. I finally broke down in frustration (Im sure he was trying to be kind, but he was NOT 'getting it'), laughed, and said: "Look, right now my standards are so low that I wouldn't know a good man if he walked up and hit me with a stick. Or rather, that's when I'd finally realize he wasn't a good man."

Sweetheart... I mean this kindly, and from experience... When the same thing keeps happening over and over: The common denominator is ME. I have a certain 'type' of man that just sparks my eyes. The problem with that type is that they tend to be abusive. That doesn't mean all men are abusive, that just means Im ATTRACTED to the very subtle signs in a person that hallmark an abuser. Bad JuJu. And is in no small part why I've sworn off dating for several years. My husband was abusive. My last few boyfriends before him were abusive. Says NOTHING about men in general. Says a LOT about ME. So I've called a moratorium on dating for the foreseeae future. Otherwise Im just repeating the same mistakes over and over, expecting different results. _____ What I'm hearing from you is a lot of blame & fear. From experience, neither is very useful. You can pick apart other people's marriages, even though they might be perfect for Each Other, you can blame your mom for staying with your dad/ or leaving him (Did you note that you said her resentment affected you, but not his abuse? That's a big red flag, sweetie, that you're still in fight or flight mode... Blaming the victim instead of the assailant makes us feel "safe" because if its their own fault they got hurt, then we can just NOT do what they did, and not get hurt. Life doesn't work that way though), you can blame one person for the thoughts of another... But the only thing that will give you is a false sense of security and superiority, and bitterness... Meanwhile making you a choice target for every predator out there. Because predators can smell the denial and the fear... OR set you up to become that which you fear the most. It's no great leap that a child raised in an abusive home will be attracted to the same kind of chaos and dysfunction they're familiar with. Until you work on YOURSELF, that attraction isn't going to alter. But it's not "women". It's "women I'm attracted to". Big. Big. Big. Difference. A very good counselor can really help you deal with the Family of Origin stuff you're struggling with. You're justifiably in a lot of pain. But here is the GREAT news: When the common denominator is ME, then I CAN fix that. :D __________ ((My background isn't FoO, but its just as annoyingly predictable. All the men I dated before this event/period in my life were really GOOD men. After this event/period in my life, my 'type' shifted. So I'm lucky in being able to see the difference really clearly. For those with FoO stuff, it requires a LOT of bravery, because there generally isn't the comparison to make. Instead they have to start completely fresh and with a lot more discomfort.))

Science v Religion is harder. For me, its easy. It's not knowing about other people that makes it hard. I have something of a perpetual queasy fear about being stoned or burned at the stake. (Ahem. I've got both Catholic & Jewish in my background... Which comes along with a super power: I can feel guilty about almost anything.) For Me'self: Science and Religion don't conflict. Because they're answering 2 different questions. How? & Why? Or FAR better spoken: "The beauty of a living thing is not the atoms that go into it, but the way those atoms are put together." - Carl Sagan "We are all connected. To each other, biologically. To the earth, chemically. To the rest of the universe, atomically." - deGrasse Tyson ((Ahem. That's is usually my signature line on forums. My phone won't let me edit my profile, though. And my computer is getting fixed. Still. Or so they say. I am beginning to doubt.)) "If you want to bake an apple pie from scratch... You must first... Invent the universe." - Carl Sagan. "The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not “Eureka” but “That’s funny...” - Isaac Asimov "There is much to be learned." - Carl Sagan TO ME... One of the most exciting things about science is glimpsing g-d. Seeing how something works, might work... Using that knowledge for the betterment of all (The Adam has to toil, section, as well as the entire concept of being on Earth to begin with... To learn) figures rather strongly in this sense of wonder & privilege. But that's just me. And I worry that my excitement in 'What IF?' and the stunning beauty, intricate and subtle, the explorations and adventures, coming to know, striving for better understanding, etc... The diverging of two questions...how each adds to the other, instead of competes against each other...isn't generally held. To me, my science and my religion are completely intertwined, but don't conflict. If I don't know the how or the why... Given enough time... Everything makes sense. Through discovery, revelation, or both. If that makes sense?

Oh, hon! Lets the courts take the sandpaper to him! Snap a photo with your phone, then call 911. If you're in WA the picture may or may not be able to be used in court (Washington is a 'consent' state, meaning that someone can film you beating your wife, but if you didn't consent to being filmed in advance, it cannot be used.) it depends on how public the area is, and how bad his lawyer is... But it'll be more than enough for the cops to arrest. And with the photo, they usually confess (saving the admissibility issue). In Wa, yes. You COULD be charged with varying degrees of assault. Even if something is CLEARLY self defense... That person can still have assault charges brought on them. And unless he's attempting to get bodily fluids on you (which is assault as well, and sometimes assault with intent or with a deadly if he's got HIV). Which is point # something. Yuck! Yuck! Yuck! That's icky. Don't TOUCH that man. What if you CAUGHT something??? Eeeeew. So. Not. Worth. It. Lets the cops rubber glove him straight to jail. In other states, the answer will be different. Assault (and almost everything else varies state to state).

The threat of physical violence, plus the actual physical violence = physical abuse If someone is punching and kicking walls "and stuff", its no great leap to have it be yourself. It's threatening violence against a person by acting out violence in proxy. It's also know as 'escalating' or 'training' behavior. Nearly a wife beaters and child abusers start out on 'stuff'. Then, when either the threat is no longer enough to cow their victims OR the person happens to be standing too close during a temper tantrum.. It progresses onto physical violence against the person themselves. It's classic abuse modeling. Which makes me VERY afraid for the physical, emotional, and mental well being of anyone in your care. Far from unwarranted... It's like seeing a drunk careen down the street. Chances are, they won't wreck. This time. Or maybe even next time. Or the time after. But when you see someone driving drunk, you'd be a fool not to connect the dots. You have problems with anger, justifications, and impulse control. That's picking up the bottle. 'Punching and kicking walls and stuff' is climbing behind the wheel and putting it in drive. Quote from your first post. Rather buried, but from someone whose worked in this area a lot, its like a Giant Glowing Neon Sign: " First of all, I have wronged her in the past. I have yelled, I punch and kick walls and stuff when I’m angry, and have stormed off for an hour or more..." Secondly... The adultery thing? STDs are not only passed via sex. They're passed by blood on blood contact, and via semen and other bodily fluids, and certain types just by direct contact/friction. Hint: All the 'you can't catch AIDs from' places? You CAN catch other STD/STI's from. You and your mistress were each having sex with 2 people (that you know of. She could have been betraying her husband with more than one man, and he could have been betraying her in kind with the entire state). Heaven only knows how many sexual partners were actually involved in your adultery. 4 at a minimum, and possibly hundreds. I am more than reasonably worried about the health of all those involved. In no small part, because kids cut themselves ALL the time, but also touch sticky things, put things in their mouths (teething, bit tongues, bit lips creating open wounds for transfer of all STDs, including the normally difficult HIV virus) , etc. a parent who has a known STD lives a VERY different life with their children than most parents... Because its soooooooo easy to pass things onto kids. Not only HIV... But sharing towels passes along genital warts (from sloughed skin of the warts), herpes virus is another easy to catch one, and then you've got the 'treatable' ones... That few people test a 6yo for. A good 10 years with chlamydia or gonorrhea ... And there is infertility at best, major organ or brain damage at best. I pray for those kids, that none of the adults in their lives have made life even harder for them, by passing on STDs/STIs to them. So I believe I'm warranted in being afraid for everyone in your present or future care.

Egypt's Easy: The way Egyptian time was measured (in part) was by inundations (also by whomever happened to be ruling, and stars... Just as an example... There were a couple weeks every year that belonged to NO year. Similar to our Feb 29th, it kept the calendar going). Saying that they arrived while Egypt was underwater is like saying they arrived in a snowstorm. (A pretty way of saying Winter). There was typically more than ons inundation of the Nile every year, so its more of a descriptive (like snow)... That described what was going on than a calendar reference. ALSO (geek'ing out here)... - Egypt was known as 'Black Land'. The surrounding wastes were known as 'Red Land'. Egypt wasn't the rectangular country we think of today... But JUST the narrow strip bordering the Nile. The desert was reserved for the dead (by and large, mining etc also happened, but the 'nation' of Egypt was the Nile. And the Nile flooded. Rayher a lot. :) - When it rains in Egypt... It POURS. That's how archeologists have found many if not most tombs. It rains so hard (couple times a year) that the rain causes mudslides, imprints rainarkings on soft soft sand stone... And floods the Nile. Big time. - Prehistory the Sudan & the Sahara & Norghern Africa in general were quite habitable. The whole region was a LOT wetter than today. We're not talking green fields, but we are talking ground water and smaller deserts (more easily crossed). As the deserts expanded whole covilizations were wiped out or absorbed (as they moved to regions with water)... But KMT (Egypt, was still 'The Nile'. Split into Upper & Lower from time to time, with outposts or conquered nations paying tithe and tax to the rulers of Egypt... But KMT = Black Land = Nile - Lower Egypt (northern, the Nile delta) IS one big pestilential swamp. Back when, it was probably even larger (today it's about the size of Oregon). Swamp to the north, wastes to either side, cataracts (rapids) along the course of the Nile), inundations, flooding from torrential rains. Quirky place :)

Nope. Don't pay it (or it will take 6mo-6years to get repaid). 1) Tell you insurance co it was a billing code error (over the phone = write the persons name or ID # on the bill / copy for your records 2) Send bill in marked "Incorrect Billing Code / Disputed" on the bill 3) Have your doctors office rebill under the correct code ((This is usually reeeeally easy. "Hey Jane, my physical last week was billed as an infertility consult. Can you fix that?")) 4) Check with your insurance co next month to confirm it was altered in their system. HIGHLY UNLIKELY: In the bizarre turn of events that your insurance company doesn't immediately change to the correct code AND sends you to collections... ALL you have to do ( snort. "all". Sorry) is dispute within 2 weeks (by email) and it will stay off your credit report for 6mo while the error is sorted. EVEN MORE UNLIKELY: If it ends up on your credit report, you just email both sets of info: Original person you spoke with, and disputing claim, and the credit beauro erases the claim like it was never there. That it would reach that point is keeeerazy unlikely. But if it did, your credit is protected. DISPUTE LETTER On 0/00/0000 my doctors office accidentally miscoded 'infertility consult' instead of 'annual physical'. We are not currently even trying to get pregnant. It was a clerical error that is in the process of being rectified. I do not owe $000, as my insurance covers annual physicals at 00%. I owed $00. Which was paid in full at time of service. ___________ My exhusband changed jobs 3x during our sons hospitalization. I had over 70 service dates (and hundreds of coding) errors I had to wade through. Ugh. By and large 'fat fingering' a code happens so often that its as easy to fix as 2 phone calls. In the event, though, that things go nuts... You can bog down their beurocracy / make it work for you until its a moot point and the error is corrected.

@ RMGuy. ::blushes:: Aww shucks. In the realm of being new (on the continent of 'so I keep messing up', and the hemisphere of "Oh No Not Again", on the planet of "Yikes". x_X), its nice to hear I may have either done some things right, or at least done the wrong thing gracefully. @ rameumptom. Bwahahaha!

I can personally attest to this one, having grown up in Japan. Also, that even without a military, Japan still tried on numerous occasions. Also take into mind that ghe US military is - our nations largest employer - that during budget cuts we averaged 100,000 US Casualties per YEAR during peacetime (safer to enlist during times of war than peace. No small percentage of which is due to (insert invective here) equipment ... Creating 'training accidents'. Cannibalized choppers, rain gear from the 50s, faulty instrumentation due for gutting 10years ago, etc.). - responsive for sooooooo much more than tactical operations (educational, medical, humanitarian, disaster & emergency readiness, etc.) Dismantling the offensive capability of ghe military also cripples us on the domestic front, as well as the international stage.

Better no marriage than a bad marriage!!! Just a word of caution: If you think no one will ever want you, that puts you in the very bad position of having extremely low standards in others / what you are willing to accept. I've been around the block a bit... And something I've found is that there's NOT someone for everyone. There are several someones. Having enough respect for yourself not to make a bad match out of desperation / belief that no one ELSE would want you is key. Also in not throwing away the best woman ever just because she does love you, or someone else comes around later, or, or, or. I know returned vets who are horribly disfigured (60% burns), para and quadrapalegics, other physical issues, 400 pound computer programmers, 90 pound wirey (or not) guys. Jocks with Rocks, artsy is more masculine, impotent, mental illness, hygiene challenged, obnoxious, 2 dimensional... The list goes on. For those with physical issues, their spouse -quite simply- doesn't care and is turned on by their heart or mind, OR finds those 'issues' yummy in and of themselves. For those with mental, emotional, or mannerism issues: ditto. You might not appeal to the majority of women out there... But there will be millions left in the minority who either dig what you've got, or don't care a whit about the so-called "problem". Now, if your in prison for life / have a month to live/ are a hard drinking atheist type wanting an LDS girl/ asexual identifying/ member of a penguin cult/ are agoraphobic and never leave your home/ Etc... Then you may be right. So what're your issues (other then low self esteem, btdt)? Some are 'fixable', some you would never in a million years WANT to so-called-fix, and some are just the way things are.

There's a saying that Men Are Like Busses: You wait and wait and wait... Then 4 show up at once. The same is also true about women.

I wanna know about LDS-UK! I have family over there, but they're Anglican... And last long visit was before I converted. I keep toying with the notion of finishing my education over there. (Weather is practically identical in London & Seattle... But there's public transportation! Lol, and about a gazillion other things. But last time I was there that's what stuck. It's as bis-rable icky out there as here, but the weather doesn't keep people all unsocial at home; dashing from house to car to 'place they were going' to car to house. Seriously. It's filthy out, but one is almost never more than 5 minutes in the drizzling mists, so no worries. And there are so many amazing things to do!! The weather KILLS me here in Seattle. Loathe it. Mostly because being inside 10 months a year is so boring. Um. OP do do do note that about Seattle. Raising kids here means a LOT of time indoors. And not a lot of interesting things to see/do indoors. There's a reason why coffee houses and Videogames are so huge in this area. Kinnect. Kinnect is unexplainably wonderful. )

1) Is that a bad thing? (Like only having frankincense or myrrh, but not both) 2) Did I do the right thing? Or is there a better way to handle this in the future? Sunday, last row, 3 of us... When it came time for water to be passed there were only 2 cups left. The boy had a rather horrified expression on his face (he was also dead last to not be finished & lined up at the front. So I just took it and passed to the couple beside me. Only the deacon and I knew (couple had a new baby that was about a molecule away from meltdown they were pouring "Don't lose it, yet! Don't lose it, yet!" into).

While we dove into the well proven correlation of being poor and either grossly over or underweight... There are also the other common causes of 30+ pounds of weight gain that preclude being on a rigorous exercise program for most (but not all). - Pregnancy (should new moms have no healthcare while pregnant and that first year of life?) - High Risk Pregnancy (wheee... Bedrest ) - Injury (particularly knee and back injuries, but increasingly amputees as well) - Medical Injury (aka postoperative) - Medical Genetic (congrntial heart problems, pulmonary problems, thyroid, etc.) - Medical Illness/Infection (pneumonia, staph, etc.) - Medical Disease (cancer, liver, kidney, heck... Pick an organ) - Medication (steroids for asthma, antidepressants, etc.) - Primary caregiver of child with severe medical needs (if you've never spent 6mo in the hospital with a sick child... It's murder on your waistline. Most parents either drop or gain 50 pounds, depending on how their body reacts to the daily stress/ fear of your child dying). - Grief (death of your child, spouse, etc.) - Depression & other neurotical issues - Genetic predisposition towards endomorphism (Polynesian, Linebacker types, etc.) - Athletes (wait a sec, right? Athletes, due to dense musculoskeletal systems for rigorous use, by numbers only -aka what an insurance co would look at... Are almost all 'overweight'. Models weigh significantly less than ballerinas. 350lb linebacker v 350lb computer guy. And athletes usually sit out a couple months a year due to sustaining injuries.) ... The list goes on. There's a psychological self defense concept called "Blame" or "You & I" How it works is like this: YOU slipped because you were careless. I slipped, because even though I'm very careful, I stepped on an icy patch." YOU'RE fat because you're lazy or ignorant I'M fat because my child is in the hospital dying / I have a knee injury and can't walk for 6mo/ my thyroxine is off / the asthma meds I'm taking have a side effect of 40lbs weight gain / I'm working 3 jobs in order to pay rent/ I run 20mi a week, and work out everyday for 4 hours, but my ancestors are Vikings...this is just how Im built / I had to choose between Suma cum Laude and the gym / my husband died and I fell into a depression for several months/ I eat the free breakfast and lunch ar school (bagels and cream cheese and mac n cheese) every day, I tried to kill myself, I used to be anorexic, I have a heart condition from getting scarlet fever as a child, I stepped on an IED... So... Numbers wise... YEP, being overweight is CORRELATIONALLY linked to more healthcare costs. But in school in the anti-bigot class (nickname, it was technically called Medical Ethics Qtr 2 :'Ethics in healthcare: Removing commonly held medical professional to patient bias)... One of the MANY parts was about 'fat people'. (Another I put down on the bottom of this page). One exact topic being the correlation between health needs and overweight people. THE CORRELATION is there, but rarely the cause. Instead, we learned that more often than not, being overweight is a SYMPTOM of something else... And that our job was in part to look for those medical needs. Telling an anorexic in recovery to work out is as dangerous as telling a person with a congenital heart defect to work out (plus all the stuff above, med, psych, etc.). I'm making up this stat (instead of looking it up), but my RECOLLECTION is that the percent of people who are obese with no direct cause (aka cause = laziness or ignorance) is apx 8%. The rest have true and discernable cause that may or may not be addressable. So a thing to keep in mind is that someone who is fat may BE so (better than average chance) because of a pre-existing medical cause). <grin> PART of that class, btw., included people who have priests come perform blessings!!!

I'm hearing some very scary, and quite frankly unchristian things... Just summing up; 1)- Poor people/uninsured do not deserve the same healthcare, nor legal rights as wealthy &/or insured people. .... To add on: An uninsured family goes to the doctor. Their child's eye is superglued closed by the doctor on accident. Despite that it will cost them hundreds of thousands of dollars over many years, and despite that no insurance company will ever take their child for/because of this serious pre-existing condition, now... They shall have no legal right to seek recompense. Even though they will have no way to pay for ghe ocular surgeries needed, nor ongoing therapies, and their child will just have to learn to live blind, and too darn bad. (Actual case) .... And if a poor person or their loved one dies due to medical malpractice, well, we're not even going to give you the 10k to bury them, MUCH LESS money for attorneys fees. Since you are unable to pay for insurance, you should really have a spare $250k laying around for the attorneys fees involved in a medical malpractice case, right? ((The argument : Well the hospital/clinic/doctor should pay for mistakes is WHY they have medical malpractice insurance to begin with. First guilt has to be proven (but poor people are now unable to do that, because no lawyer will take them). THEN the doctor has to pay, out of pocket... Ongoing care ALONE run into hundreds of thousands if not millions... Much less lost income/legal fees/pain & suffering/etc. which are all part of a compassionate/balanced/just system. It's a circular argument. In order to be ABLE to pay, they need malpractice insurance.)) 2)- Fat people do not deserve the same healthcare, nor legal rights as thin people or people who can afford (financially & physically) to be in a rigorous exercise program. ... Doesn't matter if you're fat because you're poor (and cannot afford healthy food), or because you have an injury that precludes you from exercise (hey all you vets who've lost a limb, go climb a tree... Ditto former athletes who've been injured, firefighters and police & other physically demanding jobs... You get injured and can't workout and get fat: we don't care about you), a medical condition (noninjury, such as a heart condition, cystic fibrosis, certain cancers, the list here gets reeeeeally long), or you just had a baby, or you're genetically predisposed (regardless of health, endomorphs are often extremely healthy: Think Polynesian or Linebackers), or in grief (widows/widowers, parents of lost children, children who have lost parents, rape victims, etc.), taking medication that makes you fat (steroids for asthma, antidepressants, etc.), are recovering from an eating disorder (anorexics & bulimics tend to be 50lbs OVERweight for 5+ years once they start living healthy), or are single parents working 2-3 jobs, are kinship & or foster parents, are parents of children with severe medical issues that need round the clock care..... We plain and simply do not care about you. Because you're fat, you don't deserve the same treatment a thin person does. 3)- 40,000,000 people without health insurance should have NO access to healthcare, much less quality healthcare. That's the more than the total combined populations of New York, Boston, Chicago, LA, Frisco, Seattle. As a visual image. ALL of those cities filled with millions of uninsured people. Every single occupant. The ER is the last ditch place where people can receive medicines and care necessary to live. And NOT ALL. The numbers of oncology patients dropped (and so they die of their treatable cancers) are wretched. The number of people who dies of the common cold and flu (50,000 on average in the US every year, mostly uninsured children & uninsured elderly... Which is a pretty key point, already the 2 most vulnerable populations for illness dying of a gosh darned COLD). Now the ONE hospital that MAY accept you in the ER (private hospitals can and do turn people away, as they are NOT required to take you, even if you're bleeding out... The only hospital required to take every patient are 'County' hospitals)... Sorry. We'd rather have you die than create more overhead for hospitals to pass on. ____________ I come from a family of doctors & nurses & researchers. I've worked in healthcare for years. YES there are some massive problems with the system: But denying care to people, trying to say who 'deserves' healthcare, is NOT the solution.

1) I think you mean fructose, not sucrose, specifically high fructose corn syrup 2) The obesity problem is a multifaceted issue, not a single / causal one. SOME of the issues at play are: - Babies who are being transitioned off breast milk & formula too soon - Dieting during adolescence, particularly for women. In school we read a 5 generation several hundred thousand participant HUGE study that showed that girls who dieted duri g the year prior to the start of menses (when girls typically pudge out 15-30bs for 6-12 mo), typically struggle with being 15-30 pounds overweight until menopause. Meanwhile those who do NOT diet to lose weight, the added weight melts off with no effort in 6-12mo, and the maintain a healthy weight in general until menopause. - Children being fed low fat / high fiber diets (healthy adult diets being very UNhealthy for kids who need a high fat diet for their brain & neuro development, as well as protein and mineral rich for bone and muscle development). The chronic malnutrition caused by imposing an adult diet on growing kids = setting their bodies into being constantlu hungry with the filler rich diet slowing metabolisms & hoarding calories as far storage. ((At least for women, and possibly both sexes, there appears to be 'base metabolic rate & body composition periods where the body sets 'normal'.)) - (Sugar overload) High concentration of carbohydrate rich foods (the old 'bottom of the pyramid'), sugar rich foods, particularly out of season availability of fruits, high fructose corn syrup, & pre packaged foods (cereals for example), which are both simple carb and sugar coated (along with chips/ crackers/ noodles/ etc.). Not only sucrose, but also fructose, lactose, galactose, dextrose, etc. (pick an 'ose' any 'ose'!). Also an increasing alcohol consumption (which metabolizes into sugar... Alcohol has a number of other problems: liver enlargement, etc that w.o.w. just nixes). - (additives & laboratory created foods). High fructose corn syrup has already been mentioned, also aspartame (the synthetic version of the chemical created when one adds milk to bananas... In the long term aspartame causes cell membranes to become less permeable. Which both makes the body 'hungrier' as cells aren't able to access readily available nutrients, and also makes it harder for the body to use stored energy (fat). Also highly saturated fats/glycerides, margarine, - (Poverty). A huge percentage of Americans are at or below ghe poverty line... Which lowers foot quality (high sugar/high fat/low protein foods being the cheapest foods available). This INCLUDES underbugeted schools serving low quality food to students. - (scarcity / lowered metabolisms) Starvation and yoyo dieting, lowered activity levels (sedentary schooling and working days), necessity for motorized transport (cars, primarilly... But also trains and other forms of public transportation. Few Americans walk 5+ miles per day, meanwhile most 1st world countries with similar diets BUT little to no obesity ... Citizenry walks 5+ miles per day), strollers (children previously walking or being carried are now rolled about; impacting both their own expenditure and muscle tone as well as those who would have previously been carrying them). - (genetic diversity) Certain ancestries are more prone to certain body types (France more prone to ectomorphs, Polynesia prone to endomorphs, just as 2 examples). In the US we have such a genetically diverse base that we see families being 'obese' (endomorphs) with extremely healthy diet and lifestyles, and people being underweight (ectomorphs) even with extremely unhealthy diets and lifestyles. I think that's what? About 40 facets so far? And. The. List. Just. Keeps. Going. The media can blame high fructose corn syrup till the cows come home. The media is just wrong. There is no single cause, but a combination of factors are in play.