As if it were some sort of actual revelation, last month the Centers for Disease Control announced that obese people die earlier than others. That is the "duh" statement of the year, and one we didn't need to spend millions in order to validate.

But here's where it gets interesting: CDC director, Dr. Jeffrey Koplan, said that overweight and inactivity cause 300,000 premature deaths each year, "second only to tobacco-related deaths."

Which leads to the real problem: this is sure to bring big government into the fold, targeting those who market fat foods to the overweight public. Watch out Ronald McDonald, because you may soon go the way of Joe Camel! While the latter was disputed as marketing to teens, the former was absolutely and positively created to draw millions of small children into the fast food fold.

When will states realize what a gold mine this is, and sue all fast food joints, as well as Lays, Nestle or Hershey. These companies obviously make their billions by killing people! Like tobacco the public knows the dangers but continue to eat fattening foods, despite the fact that they will die at age 60 from heart disease! We must stop these murderous companies now! Americans can only eat fruits and vegetables, as well as drink only water and juices (but only those without sugar), and even Coca-Cola won't be able to hide behind a shield of "Diet" drinks.

The holocaust these fattening food manufacturers unleash on America must stop here and now!

Earlier this week, Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush had a slight problem with naming four leaders of countries around the world. He could only recall the first name of one leader of a "hot spot."

While every other candidate, as well as the President, shrugged off the Governor's ignorance, Vice-President Al Gore went on the attack.

Gore's campaign was a bit harsh in its assessments of Bush's answers, saying the vice president could have answered all four questions correctly.

      "I guess we know that 'C' at Yale was a gentleman's 'C,"' said Gore spokesman Chris Lehane. Bush has said he was a 'C' student while he was in college.

Gore has been criticized many times for speaking down to the audience in public appearances, and for having elitist friends and associates.

Doesn't he remind you of the snooty kid in class? The one who couldn't wait to raise his hand and give a correct answer to show up a classmate who didn't know the answer?

A Gore spokesman added, "Does the American public want to take a chance in 2001 with a president who needs on-the-job training?"

That's funny. I recall countless similar comments being made concerning a future president in 1992, one the vice-president deemed one of the best this century.

Senator Jesse Helms, labeled a bigot and heartless isolationist by the Left, is also a longtime Castro foe and staunch supporter of the U.S. embargo on Cuba.

In October, Helms interceded to help a severely ill 7-year-old Cuban boy gain entry to the U.S. for lifesaving surgery. Raudel Medina Alfonso has portal hypertension, a potentially fatal disease that produces high pressure in blood flowing from organs to the liver.

After being made aware of the situation by the liberal Pullen Memorial Baptist Church in Raleigh, N.C., Helms asked Sec. of State Madeleine Albright for emergency humanitarian visas for the boy and his mother (Idalmis Alfonso).

Raudel will be taken to the U. of North Carolina hospital in Chapel Hill, where fees have been waived by the hospital and doctors. Cuban Pres. Fidel Castro personally authorized the departure of the mother and son, saying the although the boy could have obtained treatment he needed in Cuba, the parents had insisted that the child get care in the U.S.

The media is continuing to be controlled by interest groups that have convinced the people who produce the news to use terms favorable to those to the Left of the center of the political spectrum, while shunning terms used by those on the Right.

I bring this up because lately the Left has convinced the media to nix the term "partial-birth" abortion, instead using the dull and uninspired "certain type of late-term" abortion. What pro-abortion advocates have done is to attempt to sway those who are ignorant of the matter by making sure no one knows that the baby is delivered to the neck, then the brain is sucked out of the head before fully delivered, thus somehow it is abortion and not infanticide. Should the mother suck her child's brains out ten minutes later she would go to jail for life and be crucified by those on the Left as well as the Right.

This isn't new. Years ago the same pro-abortion advocates convinced the media (or the liberal media convinced themselves) to use the terms "pro-choice" for pro-abortion foes and "anti-abortion" for pro-lifers. This is incredibly slanted to the Left argument because who wants to limit choice in America? But using the "anti-" for those of us who oppose killing babies automatically infers a negative thought on those who would rather be known as for life.

This extends to the rest of the political spectrum. Any time a Republican is mentioned in the media, somehow the terms "right-wing" and "extremist" and "far Right" are thrown in as adjectives. But you'll never hear "far Left" or even "liberal" attached to Democrats. Slanted? Yes.

With all this talk about Al Gore being advised by feminist Naomi Wolf to be an "Alpha" male instead of a "Beta" male, she isn't making much headway. And how is a feminist telling Gore how to be a 'real man'?

Listening to Gore in the debate with Bill Bradley last week and on the stump, he comes across as begging for the people's votes. "If you'll only give me the chance..." is not being a strong, confident man. It is appealing to emotions, something the sensitive 90's guys gave up long ago when women decided men should still be able to use their testosterone.

Even worse, Gore only speaks like this on the road to sound like his mentor, President Clinton. However, Clinton is able to pull it off; he sounds and looks like he genuinely cares. Gore, though, looks and sounds like a phony.

Women should be offended that a feminist and the vice-president are working together to swindle women voters. A man is not "remade" after spending an entire life in Washington, D.C.'s beltway.

For those who think former Senator and Democratic presidential candidate Bill Bradley is a dry, monotonous public speaker, check out this headline from the USA Today: "Bradley earned $2.7 billion in speaking fees in 2 years."

Yes, it's a typo. He only earned $2.7 million.

Finally, we're going to learn something. Have you ever wondered why we use some unusual phrases? Why we tell someone to "break a leg" to wish them good luck, for example? Check out some explanations given by the website Origin of Phrases:

Break a leg: It was once common for people to believe in Sprites. Sprites are actually spirits or ghosts that were believed to enjoy wreaking havoc and causing trouble. If the Sprites heard you ask for something, they were reputed to try to make the opposite happen. Telling someone to "break a leg" is an attempt to outsmart the Sprites and in fact make something good happen. Sort of a medieval reverse psychology.

Pee like a racehorse: Horses, it turns out, don't always feel comfortable urinating just anywhere. Show horses and racehorses spend a great deal of time in their pens and come to feel safe and secure there. They don't like to urinate outside of those pens and in many cases won't. In fact show and racehorses are frequently returned to their pens to allow them to urinate. Hence racehorses are often walking around outside of their pens with an urgent need to urinate. .

Smart alec: Dr. Smart-Allick was a character in 'The new boy at Narkover', by J.B. Morton. Morton was a British humorist and writer.

Skeletons in the closet: Comes from the fairy tale of Blue Beard and his closet. He gave all the keys of the house to his wife when he left on business, forbidding her access to only one room, a closet at the end of a long corridor. She opened it, of course, and there she found the dead bodies of his previous wives.

With a grain of salt: Salt is now an inexpensive and readily available commodity. But it was once very valuable due to its high demand as a food preservative and relative scarcity. Salt was thought to have healing properties and to be an antidote to poisons. To take (eat or drink) something "with a grain of salt" was to practice preventive medicine. One would do this if they were suspicious that the food might be poisonous or may cause illness.

Square meal: British war ships in the 1700s including the HMS Victory did not have the best of living conditions. A sailors breakfast and lunch were sparse meals consisting of little more than bread and a beverage. But the third meal of the day included meat and was served on a square tray. Eating a substantial meal onboard a ship required a tray to carry it all. Hence a "square meal" was the most substantial meal served.

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