"Steptember" Health Initiative

Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling announced yesterday his plans to participate in the "Steptember" initiative to help Virginians lose weight. The LG plans to lose 30 pounds by the end of the year. Good for the LG. I hope others follow his lead.

Here are two releases about it:
Lt. governor urges residents to join effort to create a leaner state

The Steptember Initiative - Statement of Lieutenant Governor Bolling

The best part about it is that it does not use state dollars - it's a private partnership with America on the Move and the YMCA of America. As I commented not long ago, I don't think obesity is a government problem. That's why this -

In a study performed by the University of Baltimore, researchers looked at what states are doing to treat obesity as a threat to public health. The study revealed that Virginia received a D for state efforts to control obesity and an F in state efforts to control childhood obesity.

- doesn't bother me. In fact, the state should put forth zero effort in the way of tax dollars to "control obesity." It's a shame that people are obese, but it's not the role of the government to protect us from ourselves becoming overweight.

That said, don't wait until the beginning of the year to make a resolution to meet your fitness goals. Those are often about as meaningful as a UN resolution - not very. Make the decision now to get in shape. Join the LG in his worthwhile effort and make Virginia healthier.

Virginia Conservative Convention

It's still early, but if you haven't already heard the Virginia Conservative Convention is coming up on November 11 in Richmond. I have not signed up yet, but I will definitely be there.

Personal protection

Every time I hear about an abduction, break in, home invasion, or similar occurence it only strengthens my conviction that people should take their personal protection seriously. Recently there have been a number of tragic stories where sick people have taken the lives of others. Unfortunately, it's really not anything new, but some of the recent cases have hit a little closer to home than usual.

My wife and I both have our concealed handgun permits. I would encourage anyone reading this to do the same. Find a good trainer, take a safety course, and practice, practice, practice. I also think it is important to mentally prepare yourself for bad situations. The police cannot always help us and ultimately your protection comes down to one individual - you. That responsibility should be taken seriously.

Random Friday Thoughts

• I didn't post a recap of the last TMG meeting due to lack of time, but one of the speakers was talking about school choice. He said (I'm not sure if it was intentional) that those in private schools were getting the treatment. That made me wonder, are those in public school getting the placebo? In most cases I think so.
  
• The Reds are in a tie for first. Keep your fingers crossed we stomp the Giants, Dodgers, and Padres.
  
• Marcus Allen has a brother that plays in the CFL? Who knew?
  
• We have a water cooler at work and now we have a picture of General Jack Ripper with the quote "And as human beings, you and I need fresh, pure water to replenish our precious bodily fluids" over the top of it. Is that the best quote to use? And if you aren't reading Richmond War Room, you should.
  
• It's nearing the end of summer and Edgar Winter still has a better tan than I do.
  

AFP kicks off Taxpayer Trust Tour

Americans for Prosperity kicked off their Taxpayer Trust Tour yesterday at a press conference at the Patrick Henry building in Richmond. I was able to sneak out of work for a little bit and made it downtown. Whitney Duff did an excellent job. Americans for Prosperity Foundation’s Executive Vice President, Michelle Korsmo, was also there from AFP and did an outstanding job as well. Delegates Chris Saxman and Chris Peace were there as well. They both did a good job too.

AFP will be in Virginia Beach today followed by Charlottesville, Harrisonburg, Staunton, Winchester, Fairfax and Fredericksburg the rest of the week. The entire schedule can be found here.

Whitney made some good points:

It is clear to us at Americans for Prosperity Foundation that without substantive changes in the culture of spending in Richmond, Virginia taxpayers will likely face this same scenario every 2 years, which is why we are here today to kick-off our state-wide Taxpayer Trust Tour.

One very basic example of this out of control spending culture is evidenced by the allocation of nearly $37 million in pork-barrel grants to more than 300 museums, theaters, tourist attractions and other pet projects across the Commonwealth this year.

For example. $5,000 for the Franconia Museum. $87,500 for the Virginia Museum of Transportation. $500,000 for the Richmond Ballet. $1.25 million for Wolf Trap.

Over the last decade there has been $200 million spent on earmarks. As Del. Saxman said yesterday, that is money that could have been used towards congestion relief. Spending money on a transportation museum would be hilarious if it were not so sad.

The event was well attended by the media, but up to this point the Washington Examiner is the only place I could find that has it online. A quote of interest:

“Eighty percent of the budget is comprised of education, health care, debt service on funding prison construction, car tax rebate and the rainy day fund. If they are proposing cuts in any of those five, I’d be interested to hear what they are,” said Del. Brian Moran, D-Alexandria.

He said the commonwealth has been named the best-managed state by the Government Performance Project, the best place to do business by Forbes, and ranks 41st highest in the nation for its state- and local-tax burden on citizens, according to the Tax Foundation.

I wonder, what percentage of the budget is comprised of "debt service on funding prison construction"? Is it really that large of a percentage? I doubt it. I suppose he is required by some sort of law (or Democrat party oath) to make people think that if the state were to attempt to cut spending (or at least reduce the rate of growth) that prisoners would run the streets.

Also, if you have any ideas about ways to improve the state, keep them to yourself. Governemnt Performance Project and Forbes have ranked Virginia number 1. Apparently that means there are no further improvements that can be made. Shut down the ideas people. Government is as efficient as it is going to get. Open your wallets and shut your mouths, any mention of reform will be mocked. Pay your taxes and like it baby.

Surely Del. Moran can't be serious. Does he really believe government is as efficient as it can be? Our representatives should attempt to be good stewards of our tax dollars. AFP is doing good work helping educate the taxpayers of Virginia. The standard lines about "paving the streets with textbooks, prisoners running the streets, etc" used by the big government types are really getting old.

State surpluses

Sorry for the light (nonexistent?) blogging lately.

Government Bytes, the blog of the NTU, has a post up asking, So where's my refund? Here are the important numbers:

states ended fiscal 2006 with $57.1 billion in surpluses, up from $45.8 billion the previous year

Imagine if consumers and businesses had that money in their pockets. Wouldn't that seem to be the wise thing to do? I don't understand the big government mindset. Between these types of surpluses at the state level and ridiculous spending at the federal level taxpayers are being taken to the woodshed and I'm afraid most don't even know it.

Is Obesity a Government Problem?

A while ago I stumbled across this article - Jobless or Overweight. Additionally, I am on an email list that frequently includes recent developments in the world of health and nutrition. In those emails the USDA, FDA, and other government agencies are somewhat frequently mentioned.

That got me thinking about what, on the state level, the government is doing (or attempting to do) for us in the way of health. This led me to the Office of Health and Human Resources. I am a somewhat health conscience person. Despite that you probably can't tell, I enjoy working out and I usually eat fairly healthy. In my opinion it is my responsibility to take care of myself. It is certainly not the problem of the government.

Without a doubt there are many overweight Americans and Virginians. While finally reading through some of the budget document (Part B of the 2006-08 Biennial Budget) I noticed one of the objectives for “Local Chronic Disease and Prevention Control” is to reduce the percentage of the adult population who is obese from 23.7% (in 2002) to 22% (by 2007).

A worthy goal? Certainly. The job of the government? I don’t think so. Doing a search of just Part B of the budget document turned up nine instances of the word “obesity” and three instances of “obese”. Granted, it is an 894 page document, but think about it for a moment - is that a word that belongs in a government budget document? Is educating people about obesity and having the goal of reducing obesity the necessary and proper role of government?

I have two big issues with this. The first is that regardless of how much money is being spent on fighting obesity, it is too much. People should take personal responsibility for their weight. I do not care how much you weigh and neither should the government.

In elementary school I was a rather hefty kid. Between 6th and 7th grade I took it upon myself to lose weight. The primary reason is that I wanted to play football, but I also knew that I was overweight. If a 6th grader can come to the realization that they are overweight, take action with no government help, and lose 15 pounds during the summer then I think most adults are capable of the same, again, without government action.

The second issue I have is that I do not believe the government can be effective at promoting this type of change. I would be willing to bet that television shows like Biggest Loser, books like Body-for-Life, and all of the advertising done by corporations are for more effective than anything the government can do.

A government program is not going to cause the clouds to part, the sun to shine, the heavens rejoice, and those who the government considers obese to experience some sort of epiphany and suddenly see the light. Any change in the percentage of obese Virginians is not going to be related to government.

The only context in which the word obese belongs in relation to the government is that, the government itself is obese. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I am going to enjoy a big bowl of ice cream.