Former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson has joined the list of candidates that I would have a hard time justifying voting for.¹ I am not sure that I can vote for a pro-choice republican, even as a vote against the democratic candidate who would be worse. I suspect it might be better, in the long run, if I were to vote instead for some 3rd party to help remind the republicans that they need “values voters” if they want to win elections.

The New York Times reports that there is a study released in the Journal of the American Medical Association stating that there are health benefits to being overweight.¹ Those classified as being “overweight” have a lower risk of death than any of the other 3 groups (”underweight,” “normal” and “obese”). Apparently such persons, at a Body Mass Index between 25 and 30, have a lower risk of death from some diseases, such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, infections and lung disease, that outweighs their risk of death from other diseases. These results apparently persisted even after factoring out smokers, which I am under the impression are the bulk of lung disease deaths.

Some researchers apparently think this means we should redefine “normal.” Others think that the differences in health short of death outweigh the likelihood of dying sooner. Go figure.