On the plus side, the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro are providing a nice distraction from the relentless 2016 presidential campaign that has now been with us for two long summers and all the time in between. Not only are the athletes wowing us with their always amazing feats of skill and strength, but there is an edifying moral example being set by the drug-free competitors who are shaming the few among them who have been found guilty of using performance-enhancing drugs.
On the minus side, though, there is this: The physical perfection of all these gymnasts and runners and swimmers and soccer players presents a stark contrast to our own all-American summer bodies. In winter, we can hide our bloat and doughiness under sweaters and hoodies and, in the case of people like Donald Trump, expensive tailored suits and ultra-long red ties. In the hot months, it is harder to hide.
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la-1491523602-y7ephyarj1-snap-image (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times)
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la-1491368625-0bgh58ihw8-snap-image (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times)
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Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times)
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Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times)
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Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los angeles Times)
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Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times)
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Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times)
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Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times)
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Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times)
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Top of the Ticket cartoon. (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times)
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Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times)
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Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times)
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Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times)
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Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times)
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Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times)
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Top of the Ticket cartoon. (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times)
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Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times)
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Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times)
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Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times)
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Trump inspires millions to take to the streets -- to oppose him. (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times)
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Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times)
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Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times)
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Top of the Ticket cartoon. (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times)
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Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times)
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Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times)
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Top of the Ticket cartoon. (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times)
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Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times)
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Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times)
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Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times)
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Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times)
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Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times)
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Cartoon caption contest winner at the DENT conference in Sun Valley, Idaho: Jon Duval, executive director of the Ketchum Community Development Corporation. (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times)
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Old radicals and big media descend on Selma (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times)
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Horsey imagined the creation of the Ann Coulter phenomenon in this cartoon from 2007. (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times)
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This David Horsey drawing is a reconfiguration of a cartoon he first published in 2006. (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times)
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Donald Sterling, owner of the L.A. Clippers, should give Cliven Bundy a call. After Sterling loses his NBA franchise and the deadbeat Nevada rancher loses his cattle, the two old racists will both need a buddy. Maybe they can team up together and open an all-white rodeo. (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times)
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Besides sending a chill up the spine of the international community, Vladimir Putin has accomplished one other thing by seizing Crimea and threatening the rest of Ukraine: Putin has brought back the bear. (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times)
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The right-wing insurrection at the Bundy ranch in Bunkerville, Nev., has taken another weird turn with new revelations about the family history of Cliven Bundy. (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times)
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David Horsey / Los Angeles Times (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times)
Right now, I’m enjoying the sun by the shore of a lovely lake in central Washington state where I have to periodically remind myself to hold my gut in. Here, and on lakes and riversides and beaches all across the United States, bodies are bared and the ravages of fast food diets, alcohol, soft drinks and processed foods are on display. We modern Americans, released from the physical rigors of earlier eras, now spend our days sitting at desks staring at computers, then sit in cars that transport us to homes where we sit in front of other screens until it is time to lie down for a night of sleep. When summer comes and we are released into the wild — or into a water park or resort or onto a boat dock — we strip down and spread our excess flesh like sea lions on a rocky strand. It’s not always a pretty sight.
If only we could all be Olympians — lean, hard and sleek. But, then, if all of us spent our days training and eating right, who would do all the office work?
Apparently, a capitalist economy is built on the flab the workers. Karl Marx should have written a diet book.
David.Horsey@latimes.com
Follow me at @davidhorsey on Twitter
