Another Study to Study...

Arthur Conan Doyle's fictional character, Sherlock Holmes once said: "There can be no question, my dear Watson, of the value of exercise before breakfast".

It's taken about a year of research, and I'm sure someone purloined some decent grant money in the process, but the talleys are in: Low-income residents in Allen County are more likely to smoke, have a stressful life, and suffer from depression. Aside from the "low-income" aspect (determined by what one perceives as LOW income), welcome to MY part of Fort Wayne...and a damn good description of living here.

The study sought to achieve goals pertinent to understanding what issues and problems these residents face, thereby deciding what resources need to be implemented and in what order. A "Low-Income" family was basically described as a family or four with $40K of income. The survey emcompassed 454 people living in central and southeast Fort Wayne (as I said...welcome to "US"). I just wish to hell someone would survey ME for a change...then they'd get to hear the truth (oh, I forgot, "they" can't handle the truth...I know Jack). The findings were that access to affordable prescriptions were lacking, and most sought routine medical care from private doctor offices in lieu of centers such as Matthew 25 and Neighborhood Health Clinics (or as I like to call them - freebie meat markets). If you ever have to go to one of these places, be advised they're not what you think...they're worse. Funny thing though...all the "NON-prescription" drugs seem endless. That's got to be worth a footnote in the tome called IRONY.

Here's where it gets interesting though. This study found that children were a risk for lead poisoning and obesity. Now I have to admit that I see VERY few zaftig kids waddling around the area. And "if" these kids are getting plump, maybe it's all the WIC money that's being tossed at whoever claims to be a parent. Or maybe it's this parental mentality that chronically fills the kids' pockets with enough "chump-change" to hit the local convienience store to and from school (daily) for that damn bag of Cheetos Hot Fries or On-Yums...'ya think? Perhaps it's all the FREE MEALS the schools are doling out daily (at the taxpayer's expense) that's contributing to this? Or maybe it's the fact that these "parents" aren't intelligent enough to learn to COOK a damn meal, instead of letting Chef Arby or Chef McDonalds provide sustinence (again, where is ALL this money for that coming from?), without burning a damn house the hell down.
It's called a STOVE...not an "auxiliary furnace", moron! Learn to use it for what it was meant for. If you take the cost of cooking for a family of four versus the cost of dining out (fast foor or whatever) the difference of money being spent is incredible. And that's money that COULD go for something else just as important like clothes, school supplies, toiletries (yeah, there are kids that SMELL when they come to school....simply deplorable), or even a decent car to run errands (unless you have a new SUV bought from drug money, but that's another post).

Maybe if "mom" would put her blunt down or get off her boyfriend-of-the-week for a few minutes, kids would get a fair shake (and a REAL meal). You can always tell the houses that people NEVER cook a meal in....look at the amount of TRASH in their bins on trash day. That says it all. A 96 gallon bin, overfilled with every fast-food bag and cup on the planet. If mom ever wants to take a trip to someplace she's NEVER been...screw the Bahamas...walk your ass to the KITCHEN!

Oh, and as for the lead poisoning (which explains a LOT of the people around here..."duh, duh duhhhhh")...stop the little buggers from GNAWING on window sills in older homes for God's sake! It's called BUY THEM A DAMN TOY instead of letting them chew on wood. And the landlords need to be taken to task over this....try lighting a fire under their lazy asses and hold THEM accountable for removing these lead-based paints from the houses. Better yet, just burn the damn places down (hmm...leaving that stove on sounds good now) and start the helll over! THAT should provide jobs for a while, right? Another problem solved!

The study DID say that providing SAFE walking routes to schools and physical activity during after-school programming would help.
OK...let's dissect this...By "safe" walking routes, you mean a route where a child won't get mugged, sexually accosted, shot, or run over by a speeder....yeah, that's doable..just not around HERE. Get the predators OUT of the damn areas. Get the speeders OFF the streets. Get the druggies with guns the hell OUT of the neighborhoods, and get the muggers locked the hell UP. Gee, but that would mean police intervention, right? Sure, and parts of the community, if they want their kids SAFE would have to shut the f$ck up when it comes to all this "profiling" crap. The police KNOW the difference between RACIAL and CRIMINAL profiling. It's just that 85% of the people in central and southeast Fort Wayne are of persuasions OTHER than WHITE, so get over it and move on. And stop teaching your kids that the police are not to be trusted and they are there to cause problems. THAT type of mindset does no good for anyone, and makes the officers' job a lot more problematic. And as far as physical activity in school....we called it PHYS -ED (PT for the military), and I swear we always got frustrated D.I.'s as our teachers. There is simply NO excuse to NOT being active in some manner these days (death being a good exception).

So...you want kids that don't smoke, are lean learning machines, and will contribute to the area...fine. I can live with that.
In the meantime, I'm going to have a cigarette to relieve my stress, and shoot off my pellet guns (at my basement "range") to keep from getting depressed....

Never hurts to "keep in shape", right?