Out and About – Week of February 17th

There are some politicians who give other politicians a bad name. Years ago, there was a joke going around about politics in Chicago. Rumors about getting names of registered voters from the local cemetery to name just one. Back in the fifties, there were some parents who would have been proud to have a child who wanted to be President of the United States. I wouldn’t wish that on anyone these days. You have to look high and hard to find a politician that can be trusted. This brings me to the question of who might have been the most dishonest politician.

In 1928, in Liberia, Charles King, the incumbent, beat Thomas Faulkner, the challenger by

600,000 votes in the country’s presidential election. The only problem was that at that time, Liberia had only 15,000 registered voters. Charles King was declared the winner anyway. This reminds me that we do have an election coming up in the near future. Make sure you register to vote.

We are living in a time when most of us are very conscious of what we eat. We all want to eat healthy, but in most cases, a lot of the healthy foods lack taste. We usually favor foods that are labeled as being “natural”. Are they really that natural? Evidently, there are no federal guidelines governing the use of the word “natural”. As a matter of fact, some foods that are labeled natural can contain artificial preservatives, coloring, flavoring, plus other additives. One thing that some food processors might use, for instance, is to advertise a “natural American cheese” product. The cheese itself might be natural, but the rest of the product might contain artificial anything. Here are explanations for five food-labeling words:

SUGAR FREE: the product contains no sugar, but may contain other sweeteners that have calories, such as corn syrup or fructose.
REDUCED CALORIES: all this means is that the product must contain one-third less calories than a comparable food product.
LOW CALORIE: the product cannot have more than forty calories per serving.
NO PRESERVATIVES: they are no artificial preservatives, but artificial colors and flavors are permitted.
FORTIFIED AND ENRICHED: some of the nutrients that were processed out of the food have been put back in, but not necessarily all of them.
Eating healthy is getting more difficult everyday. At one time, consuming too many eggs was a very unhealthy thing to do. The diet I’m currently following, suggests I eat all the eggs I want. This can be very confusing. I guess the best thing I can do, and I strongly recommend it, is to eat in moderation.

The JOCO Center, 805 Wood Street, in Three Rivers, will host an American Red Cross Blood Drive today from 11:30 AM until 5:15 PM. There is always a need for blood donors here in St. Joe County, so be a good neighbor and do your part. You never know when you might be the one needing a transfusion.

I was enjoying lunch a few weeks ago at a local restaurant. I witnessed two other patrons nearby with their feet on their chair. This didn’t ruin my appetite, but it made me wonder if they sit that way in their own home. I felt sorry for the owner of the restaurant, because it wouldn’t be too long before that comfortable chair would need to be replaced, because too much pressure was being placed on the one side of the chair. I’m also thinking that this probably isn’t that great for the patron’s posture. It’s amazing what kind of material one can obtain by just watching others.

See you Out and About!

Submitted by Norm Stutesman