Tuesday, February 08, 2005

HOORAY! OBESITY WARRIORS HIT

Nothing is going to stop people getting fat. The money could definitely be better spent elsewhere. And the costs of obesity have been vastly exaggerated

"Obesity prevention schemes and agricultural subsidies will be targets of sharp falls in funding when President Bush delivers his budget today. The President said over the weekend that the programmes to be slashed "were not getting the job done". He said: "It's time to be wise with the people's money."

The government agency that controls and prevents disease will have its funding cut by 9 per cent, if Congress approves the budget document. One of his most controversial proposals is to slash the Health Department's spending by 2.4 per cent to $68 billion, including a public service programme that prevents and controls obesity, which is at epidemic levels. Already it costs the nation more than smoking.

However, Mr Bush will also seek an extra $2 billion for community health centres, to achieve his goal of having a clinic in every poor county. He wants $718 million to push for more children to enrol in health insurance programmes...."

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IMMIGRATION: BRITS SOLVE A PROBLEM THEY DON'T HAVE

It is illegal immigrants and "asylum seekers" that are the problem so Britain is attacking legal immigrants!

"Strict new controls for migrant workers involving compulsory fingerprinting and an Australian-style points system will be announced today. Charles Clarke, the Home Secretary, will tell MPs that would-be migrants must prove that they will bring economic benefits to Britain before they are allowed into the country. The initiative is widely seen as an attempt to outflank the Conservatives, whose immigration policies have struck a chord with voters.

However, the Tories, who are proposing also to limit the number of asylum-seekers, insisted that voters would still have a clear choice between policies. They claimed that Tony Blair had a long history of making promises on asylum that he had failed to keep. David Davis, the Shadow Home Secretary, said that the asylum system was out of control. "After eight years in power, and just months before an election, Mr Blair claims that he can fix Britain's chaotic asylum and immigration system. It's all talk."

Mr Blair, writing in The Times today, calls his plans "strict controls that work". The Prime Minister acknowledges public disquiet over asylum and immigration, calling it difficult and immensely complex. He denies that ministers wish to avoid a debate on the issue and attacks an annual quota solely on practical grounds. "The Tory pollsters will have told them it's a hot issue for the public, as ours tell us," he says. "They will also have told them that the public believes the politicians won't discuss immigration and asylum for reasons of political correctness.... The reason this area of policy is difficult is nothing to do with an absence of political will or political correctness. It is because the challenge of immigration and asylum is immensely complex. Every wealthy country in the world has it."

At the heart of the strategy, set out in a five-year plan being published today, are a points system to prove that immigrants would benefit the economy and fingerprinting for two million people with visas to stop them destroying documents and disappearing into the black economy. The decision to embrace a points system puts Labour policy close to that of the Tories, the chief difference being that they want an annual cap on numbers, including refugees, while Labour proposes limits based only on economic need.

The key to the proposals, is tough new controls on "chain migration" when immigrants who enter legally are followed by their extended family".

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