Richard Simmons Out in Front of Mandating Physical Education Classes in America

This morning on my radio program of choice (Howard Stern), I tuned in to find a guest that has appeared many times before. He's also a popular guest on programs like The Tonight Show and Late Night. That guest was Richard Simmons. Richard is a popular guest because he's usually enjoyable to listen to/watch as he hams it up for the host and the audience. It appears that he knows his niche and he's parlayed that to a pretty sizable empire. This morning, in addition to the "Which guy(s) are you dating?" jokes, Stern also chatted with Simmons about the "Strengthening Physical Education Act of 2007".

Before Simmons scurried out after an insensitive joke, he spoke about how the "Leave No Child Behind" act is squeezing out physical education classes from America's schools. Much like there are standards for reading, writing, and arithmetic, Simmons bill would amend NCLB to provide a national guideline for minimum standards for health and fitness in our schools.

Take him for what he is (which is pretty laugable!), but this is a sound issue and one that I support. He's asking folks to write their congressman and he's even provided an Astroturf'd letter on his website. Obesity is an epidemic in America and a lot of it starts with our kids. Ensuring that all kids who are able are required to meet some established health and fitness standards, is a great step in the right direction. We provide D.A.R.E, let's mandate and fund P.E.