Do I look fat in this Obamacare amendment?

"While investigating the strange odyssey of the missing nude 'posture photos,' I found that the issue is, in every respect, a very touchy matter — indeed, a kind of touchstone for registering the uneven evolution of attitudes toward body, race and gender in the past half century," wrote Ron Rosenbaum in a titillating NYT Sunday Magazine article back in 1995, "The Great Ivy League Nude Posture Photo Scandal." Wellesley alumna Judith Martin, aka Miss Manners, told the author she was "appalled in retrospect" that the college forced the practice on its freshmen, adding "Why weren't we more appalled at the time?" The creepiness of it all came to mind in light of the latest invasions of privacy proposed by the Federal Fat Police (see below).

Rep. Ron Kind (D-WI-3) is ogling the nation's nubile young lovelies. He wants to know the height and weight of all 18-year-olds. For their own good, of course. In a proposed amendment to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare), he ventures where no man should ever go [h/t Red State]:

A bill introduced this month in Congress would put the federal and state governments in the business of tracking how fat, or skinny, American children are.

States receiving federal grants provided for in the bill would be required to annually track the Body Mass Index of all children ages 2 through 18. The grant-receiving states would be required to mandate that all health care providers in the state determine the Body Mass Index of all their patients in the 2-to-18 age bracket and then report that information to the state government. The state government, in turn, would be required to report the information to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for analysis.

"Anorexia (an-oh-REK-see-uh) nervosa isn't really about food. It's an unhealthy way to try to cope with emotional problems. When you have anorexia nervosa, you often equate thinness with self-worth," according to the Mayo Clinic website. Image from "A 2 Z of Health, Beauty and Fitness."

We guess it depends upon what your definition of "children" is. Beyond the fact that such information is none of the creeping nanny state's business, we're betting that if those 18-year-old women get wind of what Big Government is up to, they'll put their vote where their BMI is. It would be a welcome wake-up call in light of the results of a recent Pew "Political Rhetoric Test":

"Socialism" is a negative for most Americans, but certainly not all Americans. "Capitalism" is regarded positively by a majority of the public, though it is a thin majority. Among certain segments of the public -- notably, young people and Democrats -- both "isms" are rated about equally …

Reaction to "capitalism" is lukewarm among many demographic groups. Fewer than half of young people, women, people with lower incomes and those with less education react positively to "capitalism."

Open your eyes, ladies. Rep. Ron Kind and his fellow nanny-staters have revealed the slavering maw of socialism. Let's throw the bums out. Term limits by other means. Dan McLaughlin at Red State points the way:

This, ladies and gentlemen, is government without limits or a sense of personal space. It’s Michelle Obama’s and Ron Kind’s America.

Kind’s district is the classic sort of district that has been safe in years past (it went 51% for John Kerry, 58% for Barack Obama), but is rated D+3 by Charlie Cook, which puts it within reach if the GOP wave this fall rises high enough. If you’d like to help, there are two GOP candidates in the district: two-term State Senator Dan Kapanke has blasted Kind over Obamacare, and … tea party candidate, businessman Bruce Evers. However the party primary turns out, voters in Wisconsin’s Third District will have to decide if they want Uncle Sam ogling their children and nagging them to put down their cheese and bratwurst.

To get your juices flowing in the right direction, take Angela Lash's advice on Twitter:

HAVE YOU SEEN THIS? Tim Burns attacking a 50 ft. Nancy Pelosi jump started my day. LOL

See also Stacy McCain's fact-filled, up-to-the-minute, on-the-scene coverage of our own Scott Brown's guest appearance at a Tim Burns for Congress rally at 1 p.m. today at the Washington County Courthouse in Washington, PA. As Scott Brown and Tim Burns go, so goes the nation?

Update: Blog buddy Stoutcat of Grand Rants follows the logic in the comments:

Well, since they can stay on Mom and Dad's health insurance until they're 26, why not track their BMI until that age, too? What's that you say? They might not like that much intrusion? But it's for their own good, dontcha know!

Update II: We couldn't agree more with Gayle Miller's late mother:

My late mother had an iron-clad rule: "My age and my weight are my own business!" and she never wavered from that.

Crossposted at Liberty Pundits.

Comments

[Stoutcat]

Well, since they can stay on Mom and Dad's health insurance until they're 26, why not track their BMI until that age, too?

What's that you say? They might not like that much intrusion? But it's for their own good, dontcha know!

[Gayle Miller]

My late mother had an iron-clad rule: "My age and my weight are my own business!" and she never wavered from that. She adamantly refused to get on the doctor's scale (he was somewhat portly himself and her stance was always "after you") and lied about her height! In fact on the last time she was admitted to the hospital, she told the intern taking her information that she was 5'3-1/2" tall (that's how tall she WANTED to be) and he dutifully wrote it down - ignoring the fact that she was at most 5'1". As a consequence on her death certificate, my late mother is 5'3-1/2" tall! I may be the only daughter who ever laughed uproariously when receiving the death certificate of a beloved mother!

[Teresa]

Step one:
Revise the ideal weight downward - (check) done a couple of years ago many thousands of people were suddenly declared obese.

Step two:
Gather up everyone's height and weight. (almost a checkmark in this column) they're working on it now.

Step three:
Once all is collected, look at the overall picture and revise the weight to height downward again.

Step four:
Call it a crisis and insist the government must regulate food for your own good. (almost a check here) a bit out of order Michelle Obama has jumped the gun and is already trying to regulate the diets of all children... for their own good.

Step five:
A starving populace doesn't have the strength to fight those in power... not even on an intellectual level. People trying to find food to eat are only interested in that - everything else takes a back seat.

Step six:
America no longer exists as a free country. All for our own good of course.

[Nolanimrod]

It's like promoting discussions with our enemies while cutting our long time friends as a way to promote harmony:

Engaging with Anorexia.