Contempo Magazine Blog

The Center for Disease Control has just released the latest data on the increasing epidemic of diabetes in the United States. Now 8 percent of the U.S. population (24 million people) has diabetes and another 57 million have a pre-diabetes condition. Hispanics continue to have a high risk of diabetes with 10.4 percent overall and specifically 11.9 percent for Mexican-Americans.

For the state of Texas there was an overall worsening by about 3%. Hidalgo County had over 27,000 cases making up about 6.5 %, Cameron County had over 19,000 making up about 8.1%, Starr County had 2,700 making up about 7.4%, and Willacy County had about 1000 cases making up about 7.8% of the population. It is the writer’s belief that the true number of diabetics in the Rio Grande Valley was probably significantly underestimated because of lack of access to health care and poverty in our region. It does not make sense that Hidalgo County which had at least an 89.5% Hispanic population in the 2000 Census would be below the national average.

Diabetes is characterized by the body not responding appropriately to increased levels of sugar in the bloodstream. There is a form of Diabetes Type I that occurs in youth where the body stops making insulin the protein which controls the use of sugar. The most common form and the most preventable form is Type II which usually occurs in middle age or beyond where the body becomes resistant to insulin. This is the type of diabetes that is increasing severely.It is usually associated with obesity and lack of exercise in a person who has an inherited tendency to acquire diabetes. According to the CDC, diabetes has now become the 7th leading cause of death leading to heart disease, stroke, kidney failure, lower extremity amputation, and blindness.

The great tragedy of Type II Diabetes is that it is mostly preventable and when diagnosed early can often be controlled. In it’s early stages diabetes can have absolutely no symptoms despite there being ongoing internal damage to the eyes, kidneys, and heart. This is why it is very important for Mexican-Americans with a family history of diabetes who are obese to undergo screening for diabetes. Testing may determine that a diabetic precondition is present which can be reversed if proper exercise and diet are followed. If diabetes is diagnosed then with proper treatment the chances for complications like heart disease, blindness, and amputation can be significantly reduced.

Many studies show that Mexican-American children are twice as likely to be obese as the rest of the population even by age 3. Texas State Senator Leticia Van De Putte in 2006 urged that parents be taught the principals of good nutrition and exercise. Another disturbing trend is for adolescent Latino males to “get big” (slang for obese) because in the jail influenced hip-hop culture this is considered macho.

A 2006 study showed that a shocking 72% of people living in the South Texas in Region 11 were significantly overweight.

Our society must redouble it’s effort to fight obesity and recognize the warnings of diabetes. The problem is not that we enjoy Mexican food. A well balanced Mexican diet is as good as any on earth. We must educate our society on proper lifestyle so that for our children diabetes will become a rare event.

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I can remember as a youngster attending David Crockett Elementary School of McAllen in the early 1960’s that once in a while the principal would come to the class to take with him some unfortunate wayward student who was scheduled for the “paddle”. The “condemned” would carry a defiant facial expression as he was escorted out of the room. Punishment itself was usually done in a private setting although occasionally there would be a public paddling for especially egregious offenses such as severely disruptive behavior on a repetitive basis. When the punished returned to the class almost predictably there would be a denial that there was pain and declaration that he could take it again without concern. Sometimes there appeared to be almost a contest to see who could be the “baddest” boy.

Now we are 50 years later and seeing that Cameron County Precinct 6 Judge, Gustavo Garza, has an injunction against him for giving parents the choice to give their children a spanking in the courtroom instead of fines or incarceration. It now appears further investigations and lawsuits will be forthcoming.

Is Judge Garza a hero or is he misguided? What are we to think about parents who were quick to spank their kids instead of paying a fine or allowing them a very short incarceration? Is corporal punishment appropriate or is it detrimental?

Although spanking has been a common practice in much of the world for thousands of years there have really only been scientific studies on its effectiveness in past 20 years. Repeated scientific studies have shown that spanking is not more effective than “time-out” restrictions for children with resistance to discipline. More importantly, once spanking is started, the effectiveness of lesser forms of discipline control such as ‘time-out” become very weak.

The American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Psychological Association both feel that spanking may lead to more violent behavior in adult life. Spanking children teaches them to solve problems later on in life with violence.

The real problem with spanking is that more often than not it represents frustration and anger on the part of the authoritative figure (be it parent or teacher) rather than being a well planned approach to a discipline problem. The truth is that promoting proper discipline in children requires a lot of patience, consistency, and level-headedness. Families now frequently have both parents working and so many pressures that they often ignore discipline problems until they become very prominent. Then at that point, the easiest thing to do is to spank.

As the parent of three children, I cannot say I have never spanked my children when they were very young. My wife’s sage advice educated my ignorance. To raise children without spanking them requires a saintly amount of patience and the dedication of a marathon runner. We need to be more involved with our children. They will not raise themselves. Parents and teachers need to communicate frequently and effectively about a consistent plan for behavior problems. There may be times when instead of spanking our children we need to let them suffer “natural consequences”. Most importantly we need to be involved in our children’s lives and giving them “positive reinforcement” when they do right not just “negative reinforcement” when they do wrong. Getting involved with your child’s life only when he or she has done something wrong and spanking them will only make that child worse. Your child will never “respect” you because you have spanked them.

Most of the modern countries of the world have eliminated corporal punishment and so should we. Whatever, Judge Garza’s intentions were we cannot know, but a judge should not encourage spanking.

As energy prices continue to rise another blow to the American economy was struck by Congressional Democratic leaders who blocked the consideration of H.R.2784 in committee. This bill called the National Environment and Energy Act would have removed the longstanding restrictions that are on 80% of potential offshore oil and gas reserves of the continental shelf of the United States.

The bill recognized the state governments as having the right to primarily control the first 25 miles of coastline from shore and would give them the option to block exploration from 25 miles to 50 or 100 miles offshore. In addition, the federal government would share revenue from offshore drilling with the states and in effect is increasing the amount of territory offshore which falls under state control.

President Bush, Senator John McCain, Senator John Cornyn, and our local congressmen Henry Cuellar and Rueben Hinojosa all support this measure. Everyone agrees that we need to develop alternative energy but if we do not maximize our domestic fossil fuel production we are crippling our economy. Although it will take several years for the production to be significant just the fact the the United States is attempting to reduce it’s dependence on foreign oil by increasing domestic production will likely act to stabilize prices say many oil market experts.

The highly respected Rasmussen Reports polling service reported yesterday that 67% of Americans now believe that offshore drilling should be resumed and that 64% believe it will result in lower prices. The United States Department of Interior has predicted that there might be over 86 billion barrels of oil in offshore areas. With over 40% of the United States trade deficit now due to just foreign oil imports it is ludicrous not to pursue this course of action. Technology has improved significantly and one need only look to the success of British North Sea oil operations to see the potential.