Supreme Court Health Care Decision: Americans Angry About Obamacare Tweet About 'Moving To Canada'

                So as many of you know the U.S Supreme Court upheld President Barack Obama’s healthcare plan, dubbed “Obamacare” in a 5-4 decision. This immediately elicited a flurry of angry Tweets from Americans stating that they were promptly moving to Canada. @wallyweldon tweets “I’m moving to Canada, the United States is entirely too socialist,”.

                I (and many others I know) got quite a good chuckle out of the Twitter threat of a mass exodus to Canada, especially when it’s being prompted by a decision that Canada has instated (in some provinces) since the 1950’s. Not to mention the fact that Canada has legalized same-sex marriage. It never ceases to amaze me the difference within a country so close together. 

                To get all patriotic, it makes me happy to live in Canada when the biggest thing we argued about was Blockbuster closing (a terrible decision) and the fact that Tim Hortons was an American company (ack!). Not to say that our issues are never on such a large scale as a health-care reform; we just happened to have tackled all the hot button issues already…and came to a decision that everyone in Canada seems pretty ok with.

                So for all of you in America who are hell-bent on moving to Canada to escape your “commie” (as tweeted by @VanSummers) country, please come on over! In the words of my friend Shannon Hawke, “Please enjoy our free healthcare and equal marriage rights! We encourage immigration and multiculturalism! Here is your complimentary basket of maple syrup, beaver tails and hockey pucks. We hope you enjoy your stay, but if at any point you disagree with our open, liberal values, we apologize for the inconvenience and may we suggest you suck up your bigoted views and stay where you are. Thank you!”

Information taken from :
Supreme Court Health Care Decision: Americans Angry About Obamacare Tweet About 'Moving To Canada'  by  Ron Nurwisah of the Huffington Post

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2012/06/28/supreme-court-health-care-move-to-canada_n_1634157.html#slide=1157296

Obese man's sons being put up for adoption

I first read about this story when the man was trying to garner media support for his cause because the courts had not come to a solid conclusion. Now it seems that this man will not have custody of his children because courts have ruled his obesity too large of a hindrance with what’s needed to raise his boys.

First off, this is a completely controversial topic; with there being some level of substance abuse/ anger management issues in this man’s past that he apparently sought treatment and therapy for. During the court ruling, the judge brought up his weight as his main issue for having custody of his boys, stating ‘it would be a full-time job to lose weight and another full-time job to care for the two active boys.’

This brings to light a major question as to what qualifies a fit parent. Can someone be too fat to be considered a “good” parent? Is weight a determinant of good parenting? If so, who will determine those guidelines and whether or not the size of your waist outweighs your want to parent?

This originally was going to be an article break down, but anyone wants to start a discussion please feel free to comment. What is are repercussions of this decision for the future of Child and Family Services? Do courts really have the power to dictate if you’re too fat to parent?

All information taken from news article by CBC News, author unspecified
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/story/2012/06/21/ottawa-obese-father-loses-custody-children.html

Ford to give key to city to McDonald's Canada founder

Before I get into this article, for clarities sake, I am not referring to George Cohon (Founder of both McDonald’s Russia and Canada) being undeserving of the honour he is being giving. This article is solely dealing with decision made my Rob Ford in the current health environments. For the record, George Cohon is very deserving of recognition for all of the work that he has done in the charity world.

                It is widely known that Canada and Ontario specifically are dealing with a surge of obesity and health-related issues. Public Health Ontario’s Taking Action Report and the 7 More Years report both outlined steps that need to be put in place for a healthier, happier Ontario; with a large focus being on healthy eating habits. Now, what does that have to do with the key to the city? Those golden arches are widely known and marketed for the fast-food that has become a staple to drunk/hung over young adults and kids and their families everywhere. Although McDonald’s has made a big push for ‘healthy’ options, films like Super Size Me and health studies have shown negative images of these health-filled options.

                Rob Ford’s decision is puzzling, after very publicly not doing well with his “Cut the Waist” challenge and having more than one meltdown over it; his next move is to honour an affiliate to one of the largest and fast-food organizations in the world. The first key to the city sets a precedent, this precedent gets muddled up in the slew of pro-health research that has very recently been brought to light.

                What’s best to be described as a string of very terrible PR blunders, Rob Ford still makes very, to put it bluntly, stupid decisions and then is upset at public uproar. The jokes and ridicule for this decision the day after the major flop of the Cut the Waist challenge has Rob Ford almost literally painting a yellow arch shaped target on himself. Here’s waiting for the next one.

Information has been taken from the Toronto Sun Article by Don Peat.
http://www.torontosun.com/2012/06/21/ford-to-give-key-to-city-to-mcdonalds-canada-founder

A little introduction

Hello all!
First let me give you a little introduction.
My name is Kaileigh, I'm a 4th year media studies student in Public Relations. The reason that I've started this blog is basically through my internship, they require me to amass clips (media articles) and there are so many stories in the media that I wanted a way to go through them.

Thus! This blog was created! It will contain my opinions on articles or news stories, sometimes just random things that I'm thinking. I appreciate all of your comments and thoughts as well. If you want to contact me please do so at kaileigh.russell@hotmail.com and I would love to keep conversations going!

Have a good one!

K.