My mother (yes I have a mother) received a call from a poll taker concerning the new law in her state that would prohibit smoking in public places. My mother had been a smoker, as was the majority of her generation, for many decades. "You can take Salem out of the country but.......you can't take the country out of Sa-lem" (Its really sick that I remember that because I was VERY young when cigarette ads were on TV). Its also been decades since she last lit up a cigarette.

The poll taker is getting all the right answers from her, yes cigarette smoking is bad for you, yes second hand smoke is bad, yes its stinky where people smoke. Yes, she thinks the law is good in that people who don't want to smoke don't have to breathe second hand smoke...

The pollster thanked her for her time, and momma said "Wait a minute, I would just like to say a few things that are not on your survey"

Pollster: OK

Momma: "Back in my day this would not have mattered about second hand smoke 'cause EVERYBODY smoked".

Pollster "Well, now we know its unhealthy, we are making progress"

Momma: "Ok, but back then very few people were obese, and people weren't nearly as stressed out".

Pollster: Silent

Momma: "Now everyone is on stress pills, and fat as a house. People are eating themselves to death. How do you know it wasn't better when people smoked.

Pollster: "Thank you very much for your time, goodbye"

As usual, momma was right. I am not saying smoking is a good thing, its very bad. But as momma said, EVERYBODY smoked. A lot of them paid the price. But it was everywhere, all the stars smoked in movies. There were more tobacco ads on TV than any other kind of ad.

So what now? All the food is bad. Its loaded with processed sugar. In the 1950's when everyone was a chimney, coke came in a 6 1/2 oz bottle. The Double Gulp at 7-11 is 64 oz. Since 1950, soft-drink consumption per capita has quadrupled, from about 11 gallons per year to about 46 gallons in 2003--nearly a gallon a week per person.

I am not knocking soft-drink manufacturers, no more than I would knock cigarette manufacturers. Yearly sugar consumption per capita is now between 150-160 pounds Its not just soft drinks, its everywhere. All foods are full of high-fructose corn syrup, its in everything, particularly anything that is "low fat".

I believe we have just traded one drug for another. Or, the food industry has chosen it for us. Each generation over indulging in something they know must be bad for them. But its ok, look at Homer Simpson, he hasn't aged a bit in the last 20 years and watch how he downs those donuts. Just downs and downs those donuts. He just goes crazy for those candy bars in the commercials. Look how he tries to choke the life out of his son when he can't get his candy. Yuk, yuk yuk.

Sorry, I gotta go and load my truck with 160 pounds of sugar - about equal to my total body weight. Don't ride the white horse baby!