A Porky Farm Bill, And A Fitness Test

THUMBS UP TO:

Phys-ed for adults
The latest weapon in the fight against flab is a version of the Presidents Council on Physical Fitness test designed for adults. Most of us remember the test from our childhood. We were obliged to run, to perform sit-ups, pushups and pull-ups, and to demonstrate our flexibility. The results were supposed to indicate whether we were in reasonable shape.
Fast forward a decade or two, and the nation’s young people are in much worse condition. And American adults have gotten pretty soft, too. Some scientists are even urging government leaders to fight obesity in a manner similar to the fight against smoking. That might be a bit heavy handed.
But this new physical fitness test is a voluntary affair; individuals decide whether to take part. Using the test, adults can compare their fitness scores to their peers of the same age and gender. It provides a benchmark upon which to build. Check out the test at AdultFitness.org.

Honoring veterans and police officers
It must have been a good week to pay respect to those who serve their fellow man in some manner. The Sullivan County Historical and Genealogical Society recognized the veterans of past wars at a ceremony in Blountville. And the Optimist Club of Bristol celebrated the accomplishments of two police officers, Brandon Barr of the Bristol Virginia Police Department and Michael Still of the Bristol Tennessee Police Department. Barr is a dog handler who helped apprehend four dangerous felons. Still was selected for his attitude, described as “excellent.” We offer our salute to all who have served in the past and all those who continue to serve.

A sensible revision
Open-government advocates can breathe a sigh of relief. One of the most detrimental proposed changes to Tennessee’s open records law is history. A commission spent more than a year studying the state’s open records laws, before making recommendations to the General Assembly. Not all lawmakers were ready to climb aboard the government transparency bus.
Some tried to insert a poisonous requirement that public officials be notified any time their records are requested under the Freedom of Information Act. This requirement would have accomplished little, but it could easily have intimidated state residents so that they backed away from such requests. Good sense prevailed and this change was stricken.
On the good news, bad news front, it appears the state’s lean budget will prevent full funding of the open records ombudsman’s position. That’s a shame. We hope Gov. Phil Bredesen will not leave this on the back burner for long.

THUMBS DOWN TO:

A pork-laden farm bill
Congress approved a five-year, $307 billion farm bill this week by a wide enough margin to override an expected presidential veto. Normally, we’d applaud Congress for managing to work together, but this bill is a bloated, bipartisan disaster that preserves a farm commodity subsidy system whose time has passed.
President Bush had sought to sharply limit government subsidies, particularly to high-income farmers and to big agribusiness, at a time when commodity prices are at a near-record high and demand for grain is soaring around the globe. Bush was right to pursue subsidy reform.
Instead of pursuing reform, lawmakers sought to load the bill with all manner of taxpayer-funded goodies intended to sweeten the deal for their constituents. While some of the programs are worthwhile (like increased funding for food stamps, land conservation and vegetable production) they should be addressed on their merits not grafted onto a bill that primarily lines the pockets of agribusiness.