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The Daily Dose/July 13, 2011
By Gaylon Kent
The Writer's Shack
Notes from around The Human Experience...
REFLECTING GREAT CREDIT ON HIMSELF AND THE MILITARY SERVICE: This nation awarded its highest military award Tuesday, with President Obama awarding the Medal of Honor to Army Staff Sergeant Leroy Petry, the ninth recipient from Iraq and Afghanistan, and just the second that wasn't awarded posthumously.
Don't Mess With Us…We're Effing Americans: Petry was serving as a weapons squad leader with D Company, 2nd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, and along with some fellow Rangers was looking to kick some enemy ass in Afghanistan one day in May, 2008 when they found themselves being shot at by the enemy with Petry and another suffering leg wounds.
Not Our Day...Yet: Then they found themselves under grenade attack. One landed nearby and wounded two fellow Rangers and when a second landed a few feet away Petry, who could've scurried behind a wall to safety, picked it up and threw it back!!!
Eff This Noise: We are not making that up! Petry picked up the grenade and returned it to sender. Or tried to. The grenade exploded, costing Petry his right arm below the elbow,
FunFact: Petry is now one of two Medal of Honor recipients still on active duty, and since the service takes care of those who earn The Medal, Petry will be allowed to stick around as long he wants, and he won't have to worry about throwing grenades back either because the last thing the Army wants is having a Medal of Honor recipient die in combat. You've won The Medal, you've paid your dues, and as long as Petry doesn't steal from the PX or impregnate the Secretary of the Army's daughter, he'll remain in the army as long as he sees fit.
Dry, Technical Matter: The Medal was established in 1862 and has now been awarded 3,474 times to 3,455 people, meaning 19 people have won it twice, though five recipients received both Army and Navy Medals of Honor for the same action.
Oh Yeah: The other two Medal of Honor recipient on active duty is Colonel Gordon Roberts, who earned his Medal of Honor in Vietnam. Roberts was actually out of the army for 20 years, was commissioned in 1991, and he currently serves in Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Salvatore Giunta, the only other living Medal of Honor recipient from Iraq/Afghanistan, left the army last month.
SUPER SIZE ME, DAMMIT: A recent report by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, titled F as in Fat, shows the United States isn't getting any thinner.
How About Some More Butter With Your Grits: The fattest state is Mississippi where 34.4 percent of adults are obese.
Fly In The Gravy: The rate at which this nation is getting fatter is alarming, a word we don't throw around too often here at the Writer's Shack. Consider this: fifteen years ago Mississippi's obesity rate - still the highest in the nation - was 19.4 percent, which is lower than the current lowest ranking, Colorado at 19.8 percent.
FunFact: Colorado is the only state below 20 percent.
The Race Card: Like with most things in this country, it helps to be white. Only four states, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi and West Virginia, have obesity rates over 30 percent for whites. Meanwhile 41 states have obesity rates over 30 percent for African-Americans and 23 states have obesity rates over 30 percent for Latinos.
Oh Yeah: The poor are fatter than the rich. High school dropouts are fatter then college graduates.
Come To Mama: Children who were breast fed are trimmer than their bottle fed counterparts.
Drat: Figures on adults who are breast fed weren't available.
FunFact II: Twenty years ago, no state had an obesity rate over 15 percent. Now everyone does.
Be All That You Can Be At The Buffet: Almost a third of Americans ages 17-24 are too fat to join the service.
Please Pass The MRE's: Nearly two-thirds of active duty military are classified as overweight.
This Can't Be Related, Can It: Meanwhile, two-thirds of this nation's households have at least three televisions, and an average home has a TV on for six hours and 47 minutes a day.
HELL NO, WE WON'T GO: Three days of riots begin in New York City on this date in 1863, protesting Civil War conscription. Among the rioters rioting points was the fact someone, usually wealthy and white, could pay $300 (about $5,200 in today's dollars) for a substitute to take his place.
Going…Going…Gone: Babe Ruth of the New York Yankees becomes the first player to hit 700 home runs in the major leagues on this date in 1934.
Ruth - who became the major league's all-time home run leader in 1921 - was so far ahead of his time the second person on the all-time home run list on this date in 1934 is teammate Lou Gehrig with 321 home runs. It would be 1940 until someone else, Jimme Foxx, hits 500 home runs and 1969 until Willie Mays hits his 600th home run.
Thought For The Day: One may talk of peace only with those who are peaceful. To talk of peace with him who holds a drawn sword is foolish unless one is unarmed, then one must talk very fast indeed. - Louis L'Amour, The Walking Drum
Answer To The Last Trivia Question: Women first played at Wimbledon in 1884.
Today's Stumper: What is the shortest amount of time it took one person to earn two Medals of Honor? - Answer next time!
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