Beer in the Headlights

Poverty is a mental disorder

Some of the fattest people in America are among the poorest.

And with food prices rising, the problem is likely to get worse.

Tianna Gaines, who describes herself as impoverished and obese, knows this. At 5-foot-3 and 242 pounds, she lives on public assistance in Frankford and eats junk food because it's cheap and more readily available in her neighborhood than carrots and apples.

The opening line says it all but is put forth from the absolutely wrong paradigm. Poverty most often stems from abject laziness. Not coincidentally so does obesity.

The root cause isn't necessarily that junk food costs less than carrots and apples. The problem is that daytime television - the staple of the American ignoramus - is sponsored primarily by junk food and trial attorney advertisements.

The reason the local stores carry the junk food in lieu of produce and other staples is that the former sells better than the latter. These losers want junk food.

While it's true that most middle class folks can't afford to shop the hallowed aisles of Whole (Paycheck) Foods, healthy eating isn't a luxury afforded to the well to do. Take a look at the acceptable foods under the WIC program. Cheetos, Pizza Rolls, Doritos and Kool Aid aren't on the this. Milk, meats, grains and dairy products are on the list.

Obesity, like poverty, is the result of the sum total of decisions that affect those conditions. If some welfare brood mare that decides that exercise consists of moving between the couch, the fridge, the bathroom and her bed do shag some random loser that will inseminate then abandon her then there really isn't any hope for that individual or her offspring.