Posted 12:35 am Sunday, January 13, 2013
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The Cookie Monster
By NELSON CLYDE
isitjustme@tylerpaper.com
The ads are all about weight loss. Even people who watch “Duck Dynasty” and “Here Comes Honey Boo Boo” — must need to lose weight.
isitjustme@tylerpaper.com
The ads are all about weight loss. Even people who watch “Duck Dynasty” and “Here Comes Honey Boo Boo” — must need to lose weight.
If you ask me, we’re getting to the post-holiday point where it is time for action. No resolutor can really be taken seriously who starts such new beginnings on the actual day of New Year’s, can they?
I’m not big on resolutions anymore but prefer resoluteness instead — no matter what the topic or desired new path.
Day one of a new year, or even a Monday, are terrible days to start anything new. In the interest of this line of thinking, it would seem to me this Tuesday, Jan. 15 probably would be the best day for anyone to consider the first day of their new season of tackling fresh frontiers.
There are some legitimate exemptions to this, including being afflicted with the flu, having children who are on weird school semesters, which have not yet begun, or suffering from some idiopathic syndrome not yet certified by the Centers for Disease Control as an approved illness to apply to your co-pay or deductible. If any of these conditions persist for you, then it may be best to put off your new plans until Tuesday, Jan. 22.
We live in a society of exemptions. This was evidenced well by a cartoon Elizabeth shared with me from a recent issue of Good Housekeeping of a woman sitting cross-legged (can we still say “Indian-style”) with a thought proclaiming, “Today I will live in the moment.”
Then a follow-up thought with “…unless the moment is unpleasant, in which case I will eat a cookie.”
It seems that most cookie eaters have taken up residence in Washington D.C. Our elected officials have fabricated a pseudo-deadline with the idea that in a few weeks they will actually be forced to avoid deep spending cuts to our military and health care to avert yet another “cliff.”
The only thing they could do to make anything believable would be if they put their own benefits, particularly rich retirement benefits, at risk in the event of no action. Can you imagine the productivity we would see from that bunch with their skin in the game?
I’m not big on resolutions anymore but prefer resoluteness instead — no matter what the topic or desired new path.
Day one of a new year, or even a Monday, are terrible days to start anything new. In the interest of this line of thinking, it would seem to me this Tuesday, Jan. 15 probably would be the best day for anyone to consider the first day of their new season of tackling fresh frontiers.
There are some legitimate exemptions to this, including being afflicted with the flu, having children who are on weird school semesters, which have not yet begun, or suffering from some idiopathic syndrome not yet certified by the Centers for Disease Control as an approved illness to apply to your co-pay or deductible. If any of these conditions persist for you, then it may be best to put off your new plans until Tuesday, Jan. 22.
We live in a society of exemptions. This was evidenced well by a cartoon Elizabeth shared with me from a recent issue of Good Housekeeping of a woman sitting cross-legged (can we still say “Indian-style”) with a thought proclaiming, “Today I will live in the moment.”
Then a follow-up thought with “…unless the moment is unpleasant, in which case I will eat a cookie.”
It seems that most cookie eaters have taken up residence in Washington D.C. Our elected officials have fabricated a pseudo-deadline with the idea that in a few weeks they will actually be forced to avoid deep spending cuts to our military and health care to avert yet another “cliff.”
The only thing they could do to make anything believable would be if they put their own benefits, particularly rich retirement benefits, at risk in the event of no action. Can you imagine the productivity we would see from that bunch with their skin in the game?
Better yet, we could insist any new tax increases on the general public be double on members of Congress retirement and current salary structure only offset by spending cuts with the savings applied directly to debt-reduction.
What seems good for the geese should be good for the gander. It also makes sense that each member of Congress should have to go through some training such as the consumer credit counseling services advertised to the masses in order to better prepare them for the fiduciary decisions they will make in the course of their “service.”
A real fiscal cliff would be tied directly to things impacting our leaders and their wallets. And they should have to start working on their priorities on Jan. 1 to set an example for the rest of us.
But in our “when the going gets tough, the tough pass the cookies” world there is not much hope for the bloat to recede due to any action on the part of our elected leaders in Washington.
We’ll know we’ve really gone off the cliff when Mrs. Fields announces her candidacy for Congress.
What seems good for the geese should be good for the gander. It also makes sense that each member of Congress should have to go through some training such as the consumer credit counseling services advertised to the masses in order to better prepare them for the fiduciary decisions they will make in the course of their “service.”
A real fiscal cliff would be tied directly to things impacting our leaders and their wallets. And they should have to start working on their priorities on Jan. 1 to set an example for the rest of us.
But in our “when the going gets tough, the tough pass the cookies” world there is not much hope for the bloat to recede due to any action on the part of our elected leaders in Washington.
We’ll know we’ve really gone off the cliff when Mrs. Fields announces her candidacy for Congress.
