For years we tried to change how our milk was priced. We went to Washington and Harrisburg, talked to everyone who we thought could help write new laws to increase our mail box prices.

They were all fruitless. We lived with the hope that, someday we could get more changes in the farm bill to insure a higher return for our milk. The quality of our milk improved, we make sure our cell counts are low and bacteria counts are low, they are all changes in our laws we have to abide by for your benefit and the processors.

The point I am making here is we have to produce Grade A Class One Fluid Milk. The law is there for health and safety reasons and we don't expect to make anything less. However the price we get paid is a blend of different products made from our pure milk and we receive a lower than cost price. There was a saying, "If you can't beat them join them". I am sure at this stage of the game it is time for us to beat them at their own pricing structure. Instead of trying to change the laws, just dry up the amount of milk going into the market. I say this as a means of supply management in the form of being smarter, like other business. Only put the milk into the pipeline that is needed to keep the mailbox price up to where all of us can have a living wage.

If the few dairy farmers left only shipped the milk needed to make supply, then why milk more cows, flooding the market and lowering everyone’s pay. Milk less, feed less, vet check the same but ship only the milk needed; work smarter and beat them at the price structure.

Also, any farmer today has a computer and with a few minutes you all can communicate and control your pay price instead of milking more cows for less money. It would be good for America to keep the few dairy farmers left, who still want to make milk for the country.

Sincerely,

Peter A. Seman

Thompson Pa.

Please teach your kids respect of others property. It’s called trespassing. And they can be arrested for it or their parent.

When kids are asked to stay off my property they are supposed to do it. I asked two boys to stay off my lawn, and one of these boys put his bike down in the road and came back on the lawn and walked all over it. Then his mother came up and accused me of having guns. It shows me she has no respect of others or their property.

I have had my house and car hit with a baseball bat at 10:20 at night. I had to call the cops at 11:48 at night because kids were out on the road with their bikes and yelling when they should have been in bed.

I’m a mother, a grandmother and have watched many kids for others over the years. Now is my time, before I die, to enjoy my home and yard.

People with pets should keep them quiet and in their own yards, because people who don’t have pets don’t want them in their yard.

You Moms and Dads should teach your kids respect of older people and their property, because kids sure don’t show it and neither did that mother.

Sincerely,

Emma MacDonald

Oakland, PA.

“Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fattest of them all?” we ask. It's a contest everyone wanted to lose. Yet, despite the exercise craze, diet aids, artificial sweeteners, and low-fat foods, the mirror answered, “Americans are the fattest of all.”

No one doubts the mirror. There are just too many of us with excess baggage hanging over the belt, or jiggling around the hips, or flapping on the back of our arms. So how fat are we?

To get a reasonably precise answer, merely stepping on a scale isn't enough. We'll have to calculate our body mass index (BMI). For this we'll need a pencil, paper, and a calculator. BMI is calculated by dividing your weight by the square of your height in inches, then multiplying the result by 703.

For example, take a man of average height (5' 9”) and ideal weight (160 pounds). Multiply his height in inches by itself, that's 4,761. Next, divide his weight of 160 pounds by 4,761 to get 0.0336. Lastly, multiply this by 703. His ideal BMI is 23.6.

To find the BMI of a woman of average height (5' 4”) and ideal weight (120 pounds), multiply her height in inches by itself to get 4,096. Now divide her weight by this number to get 0.0293. Finally, multiply this by 703. Her ideal BMI is 20.6.

You can substitute your height and weight and compare it to the ideal BMI for a man or a woman.

However, ideal BMIs are like unicorns and flying horses, they don't exist. If you're within 2 or 3 of the ideal, that will account for individual differences and for you will be ideal.

But chances are you're like the overwhelming majority of Americans: overweight. How overweight? About 35 percent of adults have some surplus fat. To this add 34 percent who are obese; that is, they have a BMI of more than 30. And approximately 3 percent are morbidly obese; their BMI is a scale-crushing 45 or more.

And if you're just a little overweight, you're overweight.

Using your BMI it's possible to find exactly how many extra pounds of adipose you're carrying. For men, every 0.75 increase in BMI is equal to five pounds. For women, every 0.84 increase is BMI is equal to five pounds.

Most disconcerting is that even children are ballooning as they are blossoming. Almost 20 percent of children aged 6 to 11 are obese. One wonders what they will look like in their teens and later.

America is learning to live with its gut-busting self. Revolving doors went from 10 feet across to 12 feet. Some airliners will charge a passenger for two seats if one seat isn't wide enough. Shirt sizes went from large to large XXX. And customers can choose motorized shopping carts at supermarkets to carry them and their groceries.

Tellingly, hospitals have redesigned beds, toilets, wheelchairs, even operating tables, to accommodate the obese. One company makes triple-wide, reinforced caskets. Being overweight is more than a cosmetic problem; it is a debilitating and life-shortening condition.

In one study involving 90,000 adults, researchers found that an increase of five in the BMI caused a 30 percent increase in death. Heart disease, stroke, diabetes, went up in lockstep with weight. Diseases of the kidney, liver, and lung, as well as cancer, also took a dramatic toll on health and life expectancy.

On the other hand, those with an ideal BMI had the lowest morbidity and mortality.

We are in the midst of a pandemic of corpulence that is sweeping the nation and it's getting worse.

The National Health and Nutrition Examination surveyed the problem of excess poundage in 1965. It found 24 percent of adults were overweight. Ten years later it was 25 percent. And ten years after that it was 33 percent. Today, fully 70 percent of us have up-sized.

It's estimated that by 2030, 42 percent of Americans will be obese---not overweight---but obese.

The fat stats are incontrovertible. The mirror was unsparingly correct; we are fat. But we haven't answered the question, Why Are We So Very, Very Fat? That's next week.

By the way, your comments are welcome. Just e-mail the Transcript.

Sincerely,

Bob Scroggins

New Milford, PA

Always try to do the right thing, it will gratify some, and astonish the rest. Mark Twain.

I should state that I do understand, and accept most of the customs and laws we have. I believe its to keep us civilized, or to control the folks being ruled, from becoming the unruly. I am unruly. I will argue that the laws that are designed to make one conform, also have enough loopholes in them, that if you know the right ones, can be disregarded totally, or make criminals out of the citizens. Where is this going you ask? and so the tale begins...

If you are reading this, chances are you live in a small town, with small town politicians. I know that the small town politician must conform to the county politician, who conforms to the state politician, who conforms to the federal politician. I understand that at each layer of politician, there are the ones who make things happen, and ones who don't. Most of the activist activity is against the ones who don't yet they hide behind the office they are to serve with a piety of the pope, giving lip service to the citizen. I don't like to be blown off that way, and I know there isn't anyone who really wants to be a small town politician because it can and does turn into a clique of seniority. And who needs that? Still, if you get into the dirty business of being a politician, you are aware of that seamy under-belly.

It is at that time that a small town politician would realize, hey, if I am to be remembered for being a good small town politician, it is because there are times when the opportunity presents itself to do the right thing, even if you don't have 24 hour notice to hold a special meeting, to advertise it and to get in one room with the other small town politicians to sign a resolution. Heavens sake, these small town politicians can be found gathered in the parking lot, before meetings, and are deciding what they are doing before the public knows what's going on. I was told that is just bringing things up to speed. I call it a violation of the Sunshine act, and if not, it looks sketchy.

I just don't understand it. I requested permission to hang a banner in this small town, to celebrate one of its citizens’ outstanding contribution to the sport of gymnastics. This child is being groomed to be an olympic champion. She isn't the child you see on the sidewalk hanging around at the park. Well, I was told that there is a PennDot department, who deals with signs. I shuttered as usually at the higher levels of politicians, things get confusing. Well imagine my surprise when that went so smooth. The permit was already for faxing, with the exception of a small town resolution. I thought, this is cool, who wouldn't want to be a small town politician who just needs to sign a resolution, and show some support, and a little small town pride. Not. This will not cost the taxpayer money or anything other than the awareness of a gifted child in this town.

What was asked was for a signature. Only. I know I can be an unruly and hang the banner anyway. I know that secretly they agree its a good thing. And I know they don't have the intestinal fortitude to push for a coffee and donut meeting to sign a resolution for a banner to hang on a wire across a federal highway to let anyone know, that in a small town, there is a child who will be in the winners circle.

Well I guess there is no right way to do the wrong thing. And shame on the small town politician who would think it’s more important to advertise a meeting, than to take action. Especially when it is a good thing, and not some press for a small town screw up.

Sincerely,

Cynthia Allen

Summersville, PA.