Top 10 signs of the coming apocalypse

#4-That there aren't just random hot dog inhaling contests and other competitions devoted to the glorification of gluttony (euphemism: "competitive eating") but that there's an actual "international federation" of gluttony and something called "Major League Eating."

American culture at its finest

I was watching CNN International's Inside Africa a few mornings ago; it's quality programming, which is why it doesn't run on CNN domestic. They were airing a story about the risk of a 'green famine' in Ethiopia

I think God clearly likes jabbing us humans with irony... because later that day, I read an article in the local daily about a nearby hot dog eating contest. It was a shameless exercise in glorifying gluttony. Not just the competition, but glowing FRONT-PAGE article.

I enjoy food. I enjoy good food. I even enjoy hot dogs... though no more than a few at a sitting.

But enjoying food has nothing to do with this. In fact, enjoying food gets in the way of so-called 'competitive eating.'

We're not talking about comfort or pleasure or even extravagance, but downright gluttony. And the daily had the nerve to celebrate this as though the competitors were gunning for some sporting achievement greater than Michael Phelps'.

The 'winner' (the opposite label seems more appropriate) inhaled 23 1/4 hotdogs in 10 minutes. And then he had the nerve to brag about his gluttonous prowess.

"I'm not even full," he snorted. "I'll probably go and eat some ice cream now."

It made me sick and I didn't even have a bite.

Too bad the hundreds or thousands of dollars wasted on this orgy of excess weren't donated instead to the World Food Programme.