Healthy Fellow

I've been trying to keep my weight down and lower my cholesterol. Last year when I had a physical, my doctor warned me about my weight and cholesterol level. I had gained 30 pounds in the past few years. So for the last year, I have been dieting and following diets such as the South Beach Diet. At my physical, I found out I had lost 23 pounds. My cholesterol was still a bit high although lower than last year. I'm always looking for websites to help maintain my health. I recently checked out this health blog. There were a lot of entries that I found interesting and informative. There were entries about things I had never considered before such as Coconut Water. Apparently there are studies that show it can lower cholesterol. The opinions expressed in the article are intelligent and well reasoned. I recommend visiting this interesting blog.

Ricci

I like George Will's take on the Supreme Court's decision in Ricci. It's actually understandable why New Haven felt a need to invalidate the results of their promotion exam since they feared a lawsuit over it, because of the 1991 Civil Rights Act. The problem here is with the 1991 law which created liability for hiring criteria that have a disparate impact. This inevitably leads to qualified people being denied a promotion or job they earned based on objective standards. Because of the 1991 Act, the statutory basis that the Court uses is a bit murky. Although some have praised the court for showing restraint in not relying on the 14th Amendment, it seems to me to be the clearer basis. The bottom line is that the firefighters were denied equal protection of the laws in this case whereas the statute could be used to defend either result depending on which provision was used. Since the 1991 amendments were adopted after the original 1964 Act, arguably they should have precedence over the earlier provisions.

What's wrong with Bombs Bursting in Air?

Michael Kinsley viciously attacks our national anthem today in the Washington Post. If that isn't a prime example of liberal lack of patriotism, then what is? I almost wonder if he was trying to write a parody of the limp-wristed, politically correct liberal. I mean what red-blooded, real American doesn't like "bombs bursting in air"? What's better than a national anthem whose music was taken from a drinking song?

False Equivalences

Charles Krauthammer justifiably criticizes Obama for continually equating wrongs done in the West with those in the Muslim world. Some of them are incredible. How could any sane person compare the treatment of women in the West with that of the Middle East. Women can't display their bodies at all, drive by themselves, and they if they charge someone with rape they run the risk of severe punishment. The US wasn't that bad a hundred years ago.