The Center for Science in the Public Interest has sued McDonald's in California over the fast-food giant's use of toys as come-ons to kids to purchase their products.

According to an NPR dispatch, "The lawsuit asserts that under California's consumer protection laws, McDonald's toy advertising is deceptive. It targets children under 8 years old who don't have the ability to understand advertising."

In addition to an edited, 7-minute interview (very nicely done by Lara Davy and Harry Powell), three other videos I've added to YouTube show me reading short excerpts from the text. This one is from Chapter 7, in which I talk about my spiritual journey:

Sue Shekut, the owner of Working Well Massage in Chicago, riffs off a Men's Health article and gets to the question of what's causing the US obesity problem. 

I was delighted to see this morning that the Morning Call, a newspaper in Allentown, Pa., picked up the Hartford Courant's Q&A with me. So, hi to all my new pals in the Lehigh Valley.

Added 12/14: Turns out, the Courant is part of the Health Key, and the story ran in quite a few places across the country: South Bend, Ind., Chicago, New Orleans, and other places I'd know if I had more patience for Googling. 

As I continue to highlight conclusions of the Rudd Center's recent "Fast Food f.a.c.t.s"* report, here are a couple of bullets on how fast-food marketers target members of minority groups:

At the Huffington Post, Kerry Trueman, co-founder of eatingliberally,org, asks Marion Nestle about why the food wars have become a red state/blue state issue.

This 4-minute-plus video is completely important, IMO. Perhaps two-thirds in, the speaker references eating disorders, and to me, that angle is almost extraneous, in the face of the dehumanization, objectification, and other destruction perpetrated toward women by the marketing industry.

Despite (Because of?) having spent three decades of my life writing and editing for them, newspapers haven't yet been a very successful venue for "Fat Boy Thin Man."

But perhaps owing to the Hartford threads in the book, the Hartford Courant decided to tell its readers about the book this morning, and they did a very nice job. It's a Q&A; I found the questions well considered, and the condensing of the conversation was very good.

Thanks to Lara Davy and Harry Powell for directing and producing a series of videos related to my book, "Fat Boy Thin Man. Here's a reading from Chapter 7, which describes my spiritual awakening:

A European Commission report says that half of Europe is either overweight or obese, and that in most member states, rates have doubled in the past 20 years.

They've got nothing on the US, where two of every three American adults — about 145 million — are considered in one of those categories, but they're gaining.