...are getting enough food and losing weight. What a vicious circle. On the one hand, we need stuff like food stamps and free school lunches to make sure poor folks don't starve to death. On the other hand, the fattest Americans are the ones with the lowest incomes! What a country!

In point of fact though, the Safeway Amendment IS a step in the right direction, just coming at it from a hard-to-sell angle. Part of the reason America's so messed up is that we've completely removed all incentives for personal responsibility; people simply feel no reason to better themselves, and in a marketing-driven society where ease and comfort are sold as essential from the cradle to the grave, it's unrealistic to expect a Star Trek-like world where people better themselves out of a sense of idealism or personal pride. This is a big part of why so many Americans are tubbier than William Howard Taft.

Sure, Burd's plan is imperfect; poor Mr. Adonis with his low body fat, excellent muscle tone, high HDL, and live-forever personal shape will pay dearly for his high BMI unless a provision is made (call it the Mr. Universe Exception) so that the BMI requirement is waived if body fat percentage is below a certain level. Slide the scale so that there's less of a sharp distinction between a BMI of 29.9 and 30.0 (a matter of the weight of a chicken sandwich in one's stomach). Put incentives in there for healthy life choices and set the bulk of the discounts up so they're things that the poor can achieve without having to start shopping at Whole Foods (not that $2.49 a pound for organic apples is THAT much more expensive than junk food, especially if the latter is taxed or at least not subsidized by our idiot agricultural policies, which would accomplish the same thing and save the government billions besides.) Hell, speaking of junk food, how about not subsidizing Archer Daniels Midland when they create the high-fructose corn syrup that's been Public Enemy Number One when it comes to our obesity problem in the first place? Or take a page from Canada's book and get trans fats off the Generally Recognized as Safe food additives list?

Public health policy is only controversial if you're an industry lobbyist. If you've taken a Nutrition 101 class at any community college you'd know damn well that you don't have to be rich, famous, or tree-hugging in order to properly take care of yourself. Just sell the TV (and kill off couch potato-ism and barrages of advertising for stuff that's bad for you in one stroke), pick up a good layman's journal (Scientific American, Science magazine---yes, this means you'll have to read on a level consistent with the high-school diploma or GED Americans allegedly possess), and realize that Burd is right---the greatest public policy decision, not to mention the best plan for a better life, is to enforce responsibility on people across the entire income spectrum. And if you insist on your unhealthy lifestyle? Well, at least other people won't have to pay for it.

Yes, but you assume (incorrectly) two things: that overweight people have an unhealthy lifestyle (yes, many do, but not all do, some are simply pre-disposed to heavier bulkier frames and slower, less efficient metabolisms) and that thin people have a healthy lifestyle (some do, and some are potato chip eating, tv watching, coach potatoes blessed with a great metabolism - keeps them thin, but not necessarily healthy). And while there is a "connection" with higher weight and certain health conditions, so much judgement is placed on the overweight in our culture, that not much actual proof of "causation" exists. Just because a person who is overweight is more likely to have diabetes (for example) does not necessarily mean the weight is the cause. It could be that some underlying factor is causing both. Or that a pre-disposition to diabetes causes weight gain. Unless I've missed some big studies, it seems as though nobody wants to study that. Seems like there's a bit of "Post hoc, ergo propter hoc" (after this, therefore because of this) assumed in much of the medical research.