I wrote previously about Sue Shekut's blog post triggered by a Men's Health story titled "I Hate Fat People," by Richard Cunniff, and now I return to the story itself. It is excellent, full of reporting and original thought, and I commend it to you wholeheartedly.

You may have noted my post yesterday on the lawsuit filed in California to prevent toys being used to entice young children to bay for a particular fast-food meal. I'm against marketing of unhealthy food to kids too young to distinguish between reality and advertising puffery, so I'm for the suit.

Here's how a monied special-interest group pimping for the restaurant and food-products industry framed the suit (no link provided, intentionally): 

I try to scan the field of blogs routinely, to connect with others who are writing about it, and I came across this one this morning at the very simpatico childhoodobesitynews.com.

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.