YOU NEVER KNOW WHAT THE ASSOCIATED PRESS WILL DEEM NEWSWORTHY

As I was reading the paper this morning, this news article caught my eye. In case you missed it, I felt obliged to include it on my blog:

700-pound Mexican man makes rare trip out of house with aid of forklift, platform truck

MONTERREY, Mexico (AP) _ A 700-pound (310-kilogram) man once considered the world's most obese person left his home for the first time in five months Sunday with the aid of a forklift and a platform truck.Manuel Uribe traveled to the shore of a lake in northern Mexico without ever leaving his specially designed bed. A forklift hoisted the bed onto the truck, which then hauled him to the lake, where he snacked on fish and vegetables and joked with a local boat operator.Looking at the boatman's small craft, Uribe joked, "Too bad I can't get on it — it would sink."Once considered the world's fattest man when his weight hit over half a ton, more than two years of steady dieting had helped Uribe drop to about 700 pounds (310 kilograms) as of June — 550 pounds (250 kilograms) less than his former Guinness record weight of 1,235 pounds (560 kilograms). He did not say what his current weight is.

While somewhat bothered by the summer heat, Uribe appeared to enjoy Sunday's outing. He is still unable to walk, and his last planned outing in March was aborted after the platform carrying his bed got stuck under an overpass.His last successful trip outside his home was in March 2007, when six people pushed Uribe's wheel-equipped iron bed out to the street as a mariachi band played and a crowd gathered to greet him.Before that, he hadn't left his home in five years.

After seeing this article, I am left with these questions:

1) Why is this newsworthy? After a quick internet search, I determined that many daily papers across the nation carried this article today.

2) How would a person let themselves get to this point? Did you notice that at his "high" point, he weighed 1,235 pounds? That's as much as a cow! How could a person weigh that much? At what point do you not notice that things are getting a little out of hand? What kind of an existence can you possibly enjoy, laying around in your bed in a sheet all day, every day? Who are these people in your life who are enabling you to eat this way? Somebody has to keep supplying the tacos, right?

3) There will be no risk of an illegal border crossing with this hombre grande. OK - that's not a question - just an observation.

4) Could you imagine having all these little kids gathered around your big ol' bed while you make this beach pilgrimage? Were they well behaved, or did they shout "cerdo! cerdo!" as he passed by?

5) Again, why is this newsworthy??