#reform

Of all the dangerous ideas that health officials could have embraced while trying to understand why we get fat, they would have been hard-pressed to find one ultimately more damaging than calories-in/calories-out. That it reinforces what appears to be so obvious - obesity as the penalty for gluttony and sloth - is what makes it so alluring. But it's misleading and misconceived on so many levels that it's hard to imagine how it survived unscathed and virtually unchallenged for the last fifty years. It has done incalculable harm. Not only is this thinking at least partly responsible for the ever-growing numbers of obese and overweight in the world - while directing attention away from the real reasons we get fat - but it has served to reinforce the perception that those who get fat have no one to blame but themselves. That eating less invariably fails as a cure for obesity is rarely perceived as the single most important reason to make us question our assumptions, as Hilde Bruch suggested half a century ago. Rather, it is taken as still more evidence that the overweight and obese are incapable of following a diet and eating in moderation. And it put the blame for their physical condition squarely on their behavior, which couldn't be further from the truth. ↗

— Gary Taubes

#conservatism #conservatism-in-the-us #gluttony #health-and-fitness #health-care

In every age poets and social reformers have tried to stimulate the people of their own time to a nobler life by enchanting stories of the virtues of the heroes of old. ↗

— Alfred Marshall

#enchanting #every #heroes #life #nobler

I know there's a great deal that Arnold Schwarzenegger could teach me about making movies. There's a great deal I could teach him about the fiscal reforms that are needed - desperately needed - to set California back in good order. ↗

— Tom McClintock

#arnold #arnold schwarzenegger #back #california #could

The health care reform legislation passed by the U.S. House of Representatives last night clearly violates the U.S. Constitution and infringes on each state's sovereignty. ↗

— Bill McCollum

#clearly #constitution #each #health #health care

I have stood on the front lines of the health care system as a doctor, patient and concerned parent. Those experiences have served as my guideposts throughout the struggle to reform America's health care system. And it's those same experiences that tell me that fear and election hysteria should not overshadow the reality of reform. ↗

— Jim McDermott

#care #concerned #doctor #election #experiences

Now that this legislation has passed the House, I look forward to the vote in the Senate that will bring us to Conference, where we can resolve any outstanding issues and make this postal reform reality - for the Postal Service and for all Americans. ↗

— John McHugh

#any #bring #conference #forward #house

There is an analogy between conservation and education reform. The coalition around education reform is the biggest bipartisan thing going in this state right now. We need to recapture the big bipartisan spirit for conservation. ↗

— Rob McKenna

#around #between #big #biggest #bipartisan

The important thing about tax reform is you make the tax code less complicated, easier for people to understand. ↗

— Grover Norquist

#code #complicated #easier #important #important thing

The question is: How do we reduce spending from 25% of GDP, which is where Obama put us? The focus is on total government spending. Can we bring it down, in a reasonable and politically acceptable way? That's what the Paul Ryan plan does. It puts us on a gradual reform path to reducing the size of government. ↗

— Grover Norquist

#bring #does #down #focus #gdp

The tax issue is the most powerful issue in American politics going back to the Tea Party. People say, 'Oh, Grover Norquist has power.' No. Grover Norquist and Americans for Tax Reform focus on the tax issue. The tax issue is a powerful issue. ↗

— Grover Norquist

#american politics #back #focus #going #issue