Would You Like To Fly

“Ohio saw a hefty jump in its ranking for adult obesity, moving from 17th last year to 10th this year.”We are number 10, with a bullet – and a slice of pie on the side, please.
I know I did my part this past year and, by god, I believe we can reach number 1. Kentucky may be ahead of us for now, but we will eat their lunch!

In other local news, The Archdiocese of Cincinnati will not allow inflatable rides at their festivals anymore. Southwest Ohio has a big mass of Catholics, and Church festivals are their major form of Summer entertainment. A lot of the catholic churches are old buildings with no air conditioning. I imagine that when the weather gets hot, people stop going and the tithing stops flowing. So festivals are a way to raise money.

And money is the reason the inflatable rides are out. One recent Sunday in Middletown one of those rides flew away with a small boy on it. Other rides around the country have also become possessed and exorcism isn’t working “The increase in injuries and even fatalities led the archdiocese's insurance administrator to warn of potential liability, which in turn prompted diocesan officials to ban the rides this year.”

You read that right, according to the reporter, the injuries did not lead to the ban, the increased liability did. So, here in Southwest Ohio, kids are going to bed without having ridden an inflatable ride because of the insurance industry.

President Obama needs to address this amusement industry crisis of soaring prices of insurance for soaring rides. We need national amusement ride insurance like they have in Canada and Europe. Sure it might mean kids will have to stand in line longer for the rides and there will be greater delays in amusement, but these colorful, inflated bouncy things are a fundamental right guaranteed by the Constitution:

“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Beer Booths, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the prize Raffles, and secure the Amusement at Festivals to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”

Of course, if the number of obese children in Ohio keeps swelling, the Archdiocese won’t have to worry. The rides won’t beable to get off the ground with our kids on them.