I'm curious to hear the right-wing spin on this one

The basic gist of this story from Forbes that notoriously soft-hearted bastion of PC-liberalism is Drive More, Exercise Less, Get Fat.

When cities spread out, so do waistlines and rear ends. For proof, you can visit Charleston, W.Va., or Fort Wayne, Ind.--the U.S. cities with the highest obesity rates, both with less than 3,000 people per square mile. Or you can refer to recent studies published in the American Journal of Public Health and the American Journal of Health Promotion.

I visited New Zealand a few years ago. I returned via Los Angeles, deplaned and was walking down the airport corridor when I simply started to laugh. Especially by comparison with New Zealanders, I felt as if I was walking through a world populated by people out of paintings by Botero.

Comments

[TM Lutas]

Well, you asked for it...

http://www.vehiclechoice.org/mobil/wilson.html

The car and its enemies.

[Dave Parker]

TM, you present the article by Professor Wilson as the typical knee-jerk right wing spin on the issue of cars vs. public transportation (and urbanism vs. suburbanism), but reading the article I found it reasoned and full of good points. It's true that the private automobile is helping make Americans fatter, but it's also true that nothing is going to persuade Americans to give it up.

[Brian Miller]

I think Bill Maher had another interesting perspective on this issue (I like his Blog a lot) He pointed out that Americans have been sold on the idea of quantity over quality. Our food portions are much larger than those, in his example, of the French. Americans think they are ripped off if they can't buy something "supersized." Is it a fundamental cultural differnece: bargain hunting versus "quality"?