You could go to jail if your kid gets too fat

This is an odd story coming out of the South - which is known for it's less that calorie-crunching diet. From CNN...

At our morning meeting, a story that is attracting national attention also sparked a lively discussion in the newsroom when someone asked the question: Should the parents of children who are dangerously overweight face criminal action?

Back in June, authorities in South Carolina arrested Alexander Draper’s mother, charged her with criminal neglect of a child and custodial interference and put Alexander in foster care. He was 14 years old and 555 pounds.

Two things ... I blame a lot of parents for allowing their kids to get fat because they simply don't have the backbone to cut off the Twinkies or make them go outside and do chores. I mean you see some FAT kids these days and if you're a parent how can you keep sending them to school like that to get made fun of, and how can you expect them to lead normal, healthy lifestyles? I mean you're kind of putting them at huge disadvantage by letting them eat whatever they want.

Now it seems that we're becoming more "accepting" of our larger brethren... leading to that previous paragraph to be somewhat of a mute point. In a society that is trying not to be critical of large people - teasing, mocking, all that bad stuff - aren't we essentially feeding the pig (hehe, pun)? I mean if it's perfectly okay to look like Jabba the Hutt's stunt double, than why would anyone try and work out? When you go to a gym do you see any fat people trying to work out and lose the weight? Maybe a few, but the overwhelming majority of people are in shape and good looking.

So if we're getting to the point where we have to through parents in jail for letting their kids get to fat, maybe we should look at the root of the problem - laziness, ease of food (trust me, I'm chubby, I know) and lack of social disgust (Big thanks to my friend Anna for always making fun of my back fat, without her reducing me to tears on a daily basis, I'd probably weigh 400 pounds now). It's not the parents fault, its this country's fault.

Remember what happen to Rome when all the Romans got fat and comfortable?