Matt Metzgar

Disney

This year marks the 50th anniversary of Disneyland.  We took a trip there the other week, and had a nice time.  Here's a few pics from the weekend.

Arnold

As governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger seemed to get off to a solid start.  This year he was quite ambitious, drafting four initiatives meant to straighten out the state's finances as well as some other domestic issues.  Unfortunately, all four initiatives went down to defeat this week.

After a couple of days of reflection, Schwarzenegger stepped forward today announcing that he will engage in more cooperation with the legislature rather than taking them on through special elections.  In his press conference, he remarked that, "I operate with a different mentality," and cited the need for more patience.  In my opinion, his mentality is a better one, and the selfish attitudes of lawmakers in California (or most anywhere else) are the problem.

For example, one of the initiatives that was defeated would have allowed a panel of retired judges to perform redistricting, not the legislators themselves.  Legislators obviously have a biased interest in redistricting, and both parties have been known to stack the deck in their favor, given a chance.  However, much to my amazement, this initiative failed.  For the life of me, I can't figure out why people would vote against it - it's simply wrong on principle.

With the defeat of all Schwarzenegger's intitatives, the Democrats are drooling at the thought of knocking him out of office in 2006.  They shouldn't get their hopes up.  Plenty of other California governors have hit low points in approval ratings.  Besides, these people should realize how driven Schwarzenegger is.  He already has a massive war chest, and has no intentions of leaving office.  A year from now, Arnold will still be the governor and California will be better off for it.   

Pirates???

When I saw the headline for this article, I thought it was a joke.  Apparently, a group of pirates attakced a cruise ship off the coast of Somali and attempted to board it.  The ship changed courses and escaped the two boats of pirates armed with machine guns and grenade launchers.

Who would have thought that there are still pirates in this day and age?  I thought pirates disappeared back in the 1800s!  As I've said, it's unbelievable that with all the progress in society there are still these types of incidents.  You would think that with the technology of GPS satellites, law enforcement could track and capture thugs like these.  What's next, maybe train robbers will make a comeback?

The Kooks are Defeated

When I first started this blog, I mentioned how supporters of "intelligent design" were trying to push their bogus theory into the schools.  Now, voters and science have struck back, ousting eight of nine board members. 

Thank God that concerned citizens still get involved and care about the community.  Society needs to continue moving forward and not waste time coddling those who can't differentiate science from religion.

Benefits of Leanness

As if there weren't already enough reasons to stay in shape, new research shows the mental benefits of staying trim.  For the first time, research shows a concrete link between being obesity, dementia, and Alzheimer's disease.  What causes the relationship isn't exactly clear yet; the researchers believe that the high cholesterol of the obese may slow brain function.  Whatever the reason, this shows that keeping the body lean has a profound effect on mental ability on later years.

A Billion People in Trouble

Underscoring the problems society is facing, the World Health Organization recently released a report showing that globally, one billion people are now overweight or obese.  Being above a healthy weight puts people at risk for multiple conditions, such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, stroke, and cancer.

If this isn't an epidemic, what is?  And given my prior post on weight and fertility, who will be reproducing if everyone is overweight?   

I think it's time for some drastic government action, such as putting a tax on fast food.  The government regulates alcohol, tobacco, and drugs, so why should food be exempt?  Over time, people will accept this as they have other government regulations, and society will be better off for it. 

Everything's Better But People

It's hard to ignore the constant progress that's taking place in society.  Almost all consumer goods are getting better: computers are getting faster and cheaper, cars are becoming more reliable, houses are getting bigger and better-built, and on down the line.  But what about people themselves?  Are people improving at the rate of other things, or improving at all?

This question contains an inbuilt assumption: that people need to and should improve, and that this is somehow "better".  I will put this issue aside, except to mention that many people naturally have a desire to improve themselves, and that this improvement can have spillover benefits onto others.

I fear that people in general aren't improving, and that this is due to weakened social bonds.  Robert Putnam's book, "Bowling Alone", shows that people are socializing less nowadays than they used to.  And this lack of social interaction has consequences, because proper socialization is where good behavior can be learned.

For example, today in Las Vegas someone fired gunshots at a school bus full of kids.  You would think with all of society's progress, these things shouldn't be happening.  We can put a man on the moon, we can connect millions of people through the internet, we can ship products all across the globe, yet society is still left with basic problems that don't seem to be going away.

What's also uneasy is the growth of the so-called "gold collar workers".  These workers are described as 18 to 25 year olds who have little interest in improving their lot, but instead spend their money on expensive consumer goods and live at home with their parents.  I see a good bit of this in Las Vegas, young people spending their money on decorating a car that barely runs instead of spending the money on something with long-term benefit (like education). 

What's the answer to improving this mess?  I'm not too sure.  Capitalism and democracy go hand-in-hand and further, Americans don't like to be told what to do.  The government seems unwilling or unable to step up in many of the problems facing society.  Two-thirds of the population is overweight, and all the government does is revise the Food Pyramid that everyone ignored anyways.  What about individual responsibility?  Well, it doesn't seem to be working that well so far.  And in our system, when someone defaults on their individual responsibility, others can pay the price.  When lunatics are shooting at school buses, this becomes everyone's problem.  We can lock criminals away, but the smarter move is to stop them before they start - before they can hurt anyone else.  Some type of collective action seems necessary, because many people left to their own devices aren't doing very well.

Meat-Eating Genes

A new study shows that when humans began eating meat, they developed special genes to offset the high intake of cholesterol.  A natural question then, is why do so many meat-loving Americans have high blood cholesterol and cardiovascular disease?  The study's author suspects that this is due to constant eating of fatty meat, while our hunter-gatherer ancestors had to work hard just to find lean game meat.  I also suspect that the low intake of fruits and vegetables of most Americans is a contributing factor as well.

Weight and Fertility

For some time now, researchers have noticed an increase in fertility problems for both men and women.  Now new research shows that being overwight or obese is a primary cause of fertility difficulties.  In men, being overweight reduces sperm count and also damages the sperm.  In women, being overweight can reduce the efficiency of ovulation and also increase the chances of miscarriage.  All this is just another reason for people to watch their weight.