Lifestyle Stack Kicks Off the Show

RUSH: First some lifestyle stuff to start off today. It’s been about a month, two months ago maybe, that we had a report that being overweight is better for you than being skinny. You’re going to live longer if you’re overweight. New news: ‘When it comes to living longer, fitness may trump fatness, US researchers said on Tuesday. Men and women who were fit, as judged by a treadmill test, but were overweight or obese had a lower mortality risk than those of normal weight but low fitness levels, the study in the Journal of the American Medical Association showed.’ So, if you are a porker but you’re still fit and you can do well on a treadmill, you’re in much better shape than the stick sitting next to you, the thin guy who is not in good shape. But the thing that’s interesting, most people assume if you’re a porker you can’t possibly be fit, right? (laughing)

This is just more of this incredibly confusing, conflicting medical news that we get each and every day. ‘The findings are particularly relevant as people in the United States and many other countries live increasingly sedentary lifestyles and obesity rates remain high. At the same time, the populations are aging in many nations. ‘I believe we have an obesity epidemic. It’s a bad sign. We should not ignore obesity, but what happens all too often is we focus nearly exclusively on obesity and forget the activity and fitness part,” said one of the authors. So I guess you can be obese and be fit, which prior to today, was not possible. If you were obese, you were doomed, it was impossible for you to be in good shape. Now you can be obese, you can be a porker and be in good shape. That’s going to be uplifting, positive news.

‘People who start having sex at a younger or older than average age appear to be at greater risk of developing sexual health problems later in life, a new study suggests.’ Now, let me read this to you again, because it’s hard to follow, right? The minute I said, ‘start having sex,’ you forgot about what came next. You’re thinking about having sex. It’s natural, it happens, so let me read this to you again. It still doesn’t make any sense. ‘People who start having sex at a younger or older than average age,’ meaning, you’re doomed! Who is average on this? ‘If you start having sex at a younger or older than average age, you appear to be at greater risk of developing sexual health problems later in life. These findings cast some doubts on the benefits of abstinence-only…’ a-ha! (laughing) So you see we have a political movement out there disguised as a medicine report, disguised as a health report. ‘Abstinence-only, why, you’re going to get sick sexually later in life if you try that.’

‘Using data from a 1996 cross-sectional survey of more than 8,000 U.S. adults, the researchers found that those who started having sex at a relatively young age were more likely to have certain risk factors for sexually transmitted diseases (STD) — including a high number of sexual partners…’ really? Is this not just logic? ‘On the other hand, both ‘early’ and ‘late’ starters were at increased risk of problems in sexual function. This was true primarily of men, whose problems included difficulty…’ uh, you know the difficulty. I know there are probably kids listening here. Well, let’s see. ‘… difficulty maintaining an erection and reaching orgasm.’ The later you start, the bigger your problem. ”Although our findings support an association between early initiation and long-term (STD) risk, they also suggest a more complicated picture of sexual functioning,’ Sandfort and his colleagues write. Delaying sexual activity may ‘create health risks by impeding development of the emotional, cognitive, and interpersonal skills that are crucial to satisfactory sexual functioning and general well-being,’ they add.’

So, if you start late, you’re going to be a dud, not just physically but emotionally. You’re going to be a mess if you start late. ‘On average, respondents said they had sex for the first time around the ages of 17 or 18. Those who had their first sexual encounter at average age of 14 were considered ‘early starters’ and those who started at age 22 or older were considered ‘later starters.” So if you’re married and your guy is dysfunctional, ask him when he started and then go to the doctor and find out… (interruption) what? Well, that is the question. What can our schools do to take care of this? Mandatory start times, mandatory sex. We can’t have dysfunction physically and emotionally and mentally in men later in life. That’s going to lead to the divorce rate. At the early side, you’re either going to get STDs or get some kind of sick. So leave it up to the schools.

‘Just in time for runny nose season, new research suggests routine sinus infections aren’t really helped by antibiotics and other medicine that’s often prescribed. In the British study, people suffering from facial pain and a runny nose with greenish or yellowish mucous generally improved within about two weeks — whether they took the standard antibiotic amoxicillin, steroid nose spray or fake medicine.’ It didn’t matter. ‘The results, based on patients’ reporting whether their symptoms had improved, echo previous findings in children.’ Mr. Snerdley, on the phones, keep a sharp eye out for people from the pharmaceutical business who sell amoxicillin, to call this program and to dispute the findings. (laughing)

Worker productivity. How can this possibly be? ‘Worker productivity roared ahead at its fastest pace in four years over the summer, while wage pressures dropped sharply.’ And, by the way, all kinds of new jobs were created, 189,000. The ADP report is out today and it’s causing the markets to move up. ‘The Labor Department is reporting that output per hour was up at an annual rate of 6.3% from July through September. The number was far bigger than expected.’ It’s always bigger than expected. ‘The combination of stronger productivity growth and fewer wage pressures should ease concerns about inflation at the Fed and help clear the way for another cut in the interest rates next week to guard against the threat the economy could tumble into a recession.’ Tumble into a recession. They’re just hoping. The Drive-Bys are just hoping we get a recession, and they might. If what I’m hearing in the subprime crisis is actually true, if we’re going to bail out the lenders — Mrs. Clinton’s proposed all kinds of Nanny State stuff — going to bail out the lenders and to bail out the people, well, not bail ’em out, but prevent them from being sued and bail out the victims, so to speak. Well, if you held mortgage backed security, what she wants to do is convert those to asset securities. The Nanny State government messing up and getting involved, there are people getting involved here instead of letting the market work itself out, and it’s going to cost everybody a whole ton of money, and Mrs. Clinton’s already spent all the tax increases on the rich for 15 or 20 of her programs.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Anybody out there see the football game on Monday night, the New England Patriots and the Baltimore Ravens? The Ravens are fit to be tied over the officiating in that game, and now, ‘The NFL is looking into a post-game comment by Baltimore cornerback Samari Rolle, who contends an on-field official called him ‘boy’ during the Ravens’ 27-24 loss to New England [Patriots]. Rolle identified the official by his number rather than by name following the Monday night game, which was marked by several disputed officiating decisions. ‘The refs called me a boy,’ Rolle said, according to a transcript of post-game comments provided to the media by the Ravens. ‘No. 110 called me a boy.’ Now, Samari Rolle is black, and the official, Phil McKinnely, he’s also black. He’s 53,’ played in the NFL as an offensive tackle from 1976 to ’82. He spent five seasons with Atlanta and one each with the Rams and Chicago. ‘I will be calling my agent in the morning and sending my complaint,’ [Samari Rolle said]. ”I have a wife and three kids. Don’t call me a boy. Don’t call me a boy on the field during a game because,’ I said, ‘You’ve never played football before,”’ but the ref has played football, not that it matters. Samari, if you want quick action on this, take your complaint to ESPN. Absolutely, or put it… (interruption). What were you going to say, Mr. Snerdley? Well, the Justice Brothers aren’t going to move in on this because the official is black. The Justice Brothers aren’t going to touch this. It sort of makes the whole thing a little curious anyway, a black official calling him ‘boy.’ I guess it’s more a sign of disrespect. The officials are not supposed to have any kind of contact at all with the players, in that sense.

Get this: ‘A counterterrorism detective who says his failed drug test came because his wife had spiked his meatballs with marijuana has filed a lawsuit to get his job back. Anthony Chiofalo asked the court to declare that his firing in August from the New York Police Department was unreasonable and unconstitutional, to declare that a damning hair sample was improperly taken and to order his rehiring with back pay plus interest… [He’s] a 22-year veteran assigned to the Joint Terrorism Task Force, was suspended without pay in November 2005 after a random drug test found marijuana in his system. He denied using drugs and demanded a hearing. During an investigation, Chiofalo’s wife, Catherine Chiofalo, said she secretly put enough marijuana for about six cigarettes in her meatball recipe in July 2005, hoping a failed blood test would force him to retire…

‘Catherine Chiofalo, according to court papers, testified at the hearing that she ‘just wanted my husband not to die of a heart attack or get killed. I wanted him to be around to help raise my son.’ The couple later took and passed lie-detector tests about how the marijuana was ingested,’ according to court papers. ‘A police department spokesman, John Kelly, said in an e-mailed comment on Chiofalo’s firing, ‘The officer’s excuse was not credible.” It doesn’t matter how the marijuana got in the meatballs. They were in the meatballs, you fail the drug test, and the wife gets what she wants. The wife wanted him off the force.

Get this: ‘Heating equipment caused about 62,200 reported home fires and 670 civilian deaths nationwide in 2005,’ well, that’s more fires than in Iraq, folks, ‘with three-fourths of the fatalities due to space heaters, according to a report released Tuesday by a fire safety association.’ Sixty-two-thousand-two-hundred home fires! That’s more fires than we’ve seen in Iraq on television in the last four years.