From a letter to the editor in suburban Pittsburgh:

The 99 is a medium-sized chain of basic American food eateries that's been around Greater Boston for ages. Up 'til now, it was never my first choice but I was willing to stop there if it seemed the best option in whatever strip mall I found myself in.

But until it takes down its current "craveworthy" ads, I will find somewhere else, and I will probably switch away from the radio station running them (98.5 The Sports Hub, I'm thinking of you). That's probably not the reaction they were going for.

A poll released yesterday by the Pew Research Center for People and the Press offers a couple of information points about the battle againsty obesity in the U.S.:

A bit more than half of Americans think the government should play a significant role in reducing obesity, but of 22 issues Pew asked its 1,504 respondents, the issue ranked last in importance. Nineteen percent rated it as the highest priority, compared with 14 percent who said the government should not take any role.

I don't know Rick Berman, a PR guy who shills for the restaurant and food-processing industry, and have not before read anything he's written, but given that his piece was recommended to me by the discredited "Center for Consumer Freedom," I expected to encounter half truths and blinding lack of insight. And, I did.

My first impulse for the headline was to write something more caustic, but that never helps. Besides, the utterer of this absurd-to-me statement is the "expert!"

I'm a couple days behind on this, but wanted to register it nevertheless: Minnesota's senators (Franken and Klobuchar) and Tom Harkin of Iowa, again introduced FREED, the Federal Response to Eliminate Eating Disorders bill, last week.

It would do a number of things — such as expand federal research, train health professionals and educators to screen for eating disorders effectively, and create a patient advocacy program, according to a joint release by the senators.

As a new restaurant owner and assistant minority leader of the Massachusetts Senate, BOB HEDLUND, 49, of Weymouth is well situated to comment on politics and food. After I read his comments in the Boston Globe recently — especially that “the marketplace should determine what’s on restaurant menus, not the First Lady of the United States” — I asked if we could talk. Regular readers will recognize the format: questions and answers of 10 words or less. Please, no counting; it’s a goal, not a rule, and besides, let’s see you do it.

The name of your restaurant: “Four Square.”

Where is it? “Weymouth Landing, Braintree.”

What kind of a place is it? “Beer and wine, with a very diverse menu.”

What’s your favorite dish, personally? “Beer.”

Have you ever had a weight problem? “No.”

Please rank obesity as a national problem, on a scale of 1-10: “Between a 7 and an 8.”

Do we need a solution for it? “It’s obviously not going to solve itself, but the answer does not lie solely with government.”

I stopped into a convenience store Sunday for a diet soda, one of my remaining weaknesses, and like every other convenience store in America, I had to pass by the chip-category junk food to get out the door.

It wasn't a problem in the "I'm on a diet" sense, because I've been clean of that stuff for a good many years, and I maintain enough of my spiritual fitness, for today, to not stray near the edge of a weak decision. 

I'll never forget the day in San Diego, in 2007, when I stopped into a Taco Bell (because I needed a bathroom) and saw its marketing banner touting "Fourth Meal," its bid to institutionalize a midnight meal into the American ethic. It remains a monument in my thinking to marketing brazenness, and I will never take TB seriously again.

From Marion Nestle, I learn that the FDA is taking comments through this week on the Corn Refiners Association request to change the name of high fructose corn syrup to corn sugar.