Read this.

Should have posted these here a LONG time ago, but the always wonderful Sandy Szwarc has written some more articles debunking the diet industry. I know there are a lot fo complaints about Tech Central Station, and from what I've read they are mostly well-founded, but I am glad someone is publishing Sandy's work. I don't care if they have an ulterior motive. Indeed, I suspect they don't since Sandy's work REALLY pisses off a favorite "writer" on the right and of TCS, sicko Michael Fumento. But the bottom line is that someone out there needs to be looking at the culture of weight loss critically, and having had the opportunity to chat with Sandy at this site and others, I trust her. I know she's not on the same side of the political spectrum as me, but fat acceptance is, at its heart, a civil rights issue, and that has no political boundries. Right, left, its all good. I'll gladly take any genuine allies to the cause of fat accceptance. (Yeah, I know I said I gave up on Fat Acceptance; the movement, not the idea)

So, anyway, enough hand-wringing and parentheticals. I'll just let Sandy do the talking. And I highly recommend you give it a read. Here's to hoping someone collects her writing in a book!

Please Pass the Cake
Cognative Disconnect
Hey Feds, Weight a Minute...
On Obesity, What the Researchers Didn't Find
Loopy Links
Its the Fitness, Stupid


And the articles I've linked to in the past...

The Truth About Obesity
The Skinny on Fat
The Diet Problem
Dying to be Thin
The War on Fat's Casualties
To Your Health
Where's the Epidemic?
Ideal-isms
To Do List
A Simple Plan
A Matter of Health
Mikey Doesn't Like It
Killing Turkeys Causes Winter
Getting Excersised about Excersise
Shape Up America
The Emperor's New Crisis

Is this because I'm a lesbian?

Really bizarre end to Law & Order tonight. It was ADA Serena Southerlyn's last episode and right at the end she was fired. I kinda figured she'd be quitting given the tension they allowed to slowly build this season for her character, but they went the other route and it worked too. Not at all surprising given that she blew up to her boss earlier in the episode. It was punctuated by a really bizarre penultimate line for Southerlyn.

"Is this because I'm a lesbian?"

Just out of the blue, like its something we all know. Of course, its not. There isn't a bit of backstory to justify this. None. Fans are already nit-picking everything but without much luck. Some reason to suspect, but nothing too serious. Nothing that plenty of gay friendly folks wouldn't think or say. It just struck me as rather bizarre, that's all.

Is that because I'm a lesbian?

Success Story

(yeah, I know, my posting has dropped off; wish I could have done a cheerier re-entry, but here goes)

A bit of a story here in New England as Patriots Offensive Coordinator and new Norte Dame Head Coach Charlie Weis is suing the doctors and hospital who performed his weight loss surgery from a couple years ago. In stark contrast to the constant bleeting of celebs like Al Roker and Carney Wilson, Weis's horror story has gotten very muted coverage. He was profiled on 60 Minutes a while back, but even then they hardly dwelled on the significant complications he had. Just pesky, insignificant things like a 2-week coma, severe and persistant leg problems that make it difficult for him to walk, and a condition that was so dire a priest had performed his last rights. You never hear about this side of weight loss surgery.

For a clue as to why you don't, check out the defiant response from the attorny for his surgeon. Inspite of the grave problems Weis continues to face, they regard the opperation as a success. Want to guess why?

"It appears that Mr. Weis has been successful in keeping his weight down after the surgery,''

Because who cares if you can barely walk, so long as you are slightly thinner.

Looking back, I was able to find some articles on the subject from sports reporters who DID report on his complications in a substantive manner. You can see more about the complications his surgeons so flippantly dismissed from this artcile by Chris Mortensen. It also is reveling in giving away some to revisionist history WLS patients engage in, apparently even when the surgery is a monumental failure (except for the slightly less fat part). In the Boston Herald article above, Weis is quoted explaining his motives...

"It has nothing to do with getting jobs. That's what everyone else says because they want to put words in your mouth," he said. "The bottom line is when you're unhealthy, you do something about it."

2 years ago only shortly after the surgery (and ensuing coma), Weis had this to say...

"I'm not going to deny what my motive was, even though there are obvious long-term health benefits," said Weis. "My thoughts were that if I wanted to be a head coach, I had to lose weight. If that was the obstacle that was going to keep me from being a head coach, then why not do something about it?"

Same reversed motives seen with Wilson and Roker. Guess someone reminded him that fat is supposed to be acknowledged as a cosmetic issue. Its much more marketable if you pretend there is a different justification.

Well...

Can't say I'm not disappointed, saddened, disillusioned, upset, etc. But I'm licking my wounds and trying to hurry through all the stages of grief as quickly as possible. I think Bush is profoundly damaging our country's security and economic health, and I deeply worry what will happen with another 4 years of his leadership. No, I don't think he's stupid, but I don't think he is an incredibly poor and careless leader. Simply put, because he never bothers to lead. He just does.

If the last two elections tell us anything, its that this country is deeply divided on what direction to take. The results from last night are a mirror of 2000. That year, Gore edged out slightly. This year, Bush edged out slightly. But really, its enlightening how little has really changed. The problem is, Bush and the Republicans who control Congress refuse to acknowledge this. They have acted like they had a massive mandate to fundamentally alter society for 4 years after losing an election. I can hope that their misplaced confidence simply cannot get any worse, but that remains to be seen. Nevertheless, you can count on them governing as if they enjoyed massive support from the country when that simply isn't remotely so.

Look at the results, and really it looks very bad from the GOP. Everyone is crowing about how well they did in the Senate, but looking at the numbers betrays the truth. They picked up seats by winning a lot of close races in states that shouldn't have been close. States where even Bush dominated. North Carolina, South Carolina, Kentucky, Oklaholma, South Dakota, Alaska. These are states the Democrats shouldn't have had a prayer, but the GOP candidates largely only eeked out victories. That is no mandate. Indeed, it only shows how deeply partisan and divided our country is. But the GOP agenda won't reflect any of that. They will rush out with a radical and harmful agenda. I only hope that these results embolden the Democrats in the legislature to use their strong minority to their advantage and agressively confront the Republican designs for what they are.

Josh Marshall posts an excellant post mortem on all this which shows us all why those who believe in progressive causes must not be weakened by the elections results. Not simply because they just weren't bad at all, but moreover because we need to build on our strength and build for the future. Conservatives have been doing it for 40 years to get where they are now, but we are starting from a much stronger position. Don't get me wrong. I'll be licking my wounds for a little while longer, but we must keep fighting because we will win.

I am the smrt!

Gotta love those jokes that make you feel smart for getting them. A recent headline gag in The Onion read as follows...

Jacques Derrida "dies"

I litterally left out loud upon reading that. And sure, it made me feel slightly dorky to get that, but also pretty damn smart. Glad to see that $120,000 was worth something. Mystery Science Theater 3000 always offered gags that made you feel special. Some little thing you thought no one else would get because it was so obscure. But this is different. I don't feel special for getting a Derrida joke, but I feel pretty darn educated for getting it.

Thanks Professor Martin! Guess your hard work paid off. I got a joke.

VOTE!

Yeah, I know. You didn't need me to tell you that. But seriously, vote.

The election is actually a prime reason for my significant drop off in posting. Its just so overwhelming. On the one hand, I'm trying not think about it, but on the other hand, I can't think about anything but. And honestly, I just don't feel as if there is anything I can offer to the discussion about it. I respect the hell out of the bloggers who can keep reporting about the election, but I just feel so useless in the face of it. Story after story of voter suppression, deadly incompetance, blatent lies. I wanted to report them all here, but it just felt like, well, what's the point? GOP paid opperatives destroyed unknown numbers of Democratic voter registrations. Others committed fraud in registering people in South Dakota and got fired and indicted. But then they were all given jobs doing the same thing in Ohio. A GOP leader who helped plan an illegal attack on Democratic phone banks in 2002 was named a regional director of Bush's campaign. Until word got out of his role in the 2002 crimes and only then did he resign. Across the country, the GOP is sending people out the polls not to encourage participation, but the stymie it. To slow the process down and discouage voters. A judge in South Dakota actually had to order the GOP to not write down the liscence plates and follow home voters on an Indian Reservation. Its just all too much. The Onion did a story months ago about "outrage fatigue" and its becoming frighteningly true. Today, I'm an optimist, though. I just hope I'm not wrong.

So yeah, with today past, I'll probably be posting more. Actually, I'll probably post a couple toss-away posts later today. Thanks for anyone who still bothers to check in. I appreciate your patience.

Fat Television

A lot of fat issues on television right now. A puzzling little convergance considering how shut out fat people normally are.

The worst is the disgusting new reality show NBC is debuting next Tuesday, The Biggest Loser. A far more apt title than they realize. Alas, the US is finally getting hit with the diet competition reality show. A concept which spiked then flopped in Europe and I can only hope hurries up and dies here. Its getting to where I can hardly watch NBC. I tried recording or downloading the NBC shows I watch to avoid the insulting promos for Loser, but now they are doing these in-episode promots that are beyond obnoxious. Used to be they'd put a little text and maybe a little graphic in the corner of the screen. For Loser they are putting a full cast photo that fills up about a quarter of the screen. It should stop when it premieres, but it can't happen soon enough for me. Here is to hoping it is an enormous failure so we don't have to deal with this nonsense. It reminds me of my favorite diet analogy. Losing weight is as easy as holding your breath. Maintaining the weight loss is as as easy as continuing to hold your breath.

In a slightly less insulting development, the FX show Rescue Me has been doing a storyline involving a moderately fat character. Moderately fat is quite a big deal for TV considering what passes for fat. (and for more on that, see my last item) The show focuses on a group of New York City Firefighters, one of whom ends up in a relationship with a fat woman. In the first episode of the story arc, he's hesitant towards her initially but she eventually tempts his curiosity and they have sex. Suffice to say, he is entirely pleased with the experience and describes it as the best he's ever had. But he also still seems to be generally concerned with what other people will say, although by the end of the show it seems clear that he is developing genuine feelings for her. We also see the first hints of what will define her character in the second episode when she mentions that she was so hungry during their date because she hadn't eat all day. This would get a pay off in the second episode when its revealed that the woman is bulimic. A somewhat annoying development, I'd say. Why is it so hard to simply have a young, cute, fat woman who is sexual and confident without giving her a flaw. All of that is a unique enough character, something wildly unexplored in popular media. But no. She has to be bulimic. Indeed, a very successful bulimic as its suggested she used to weigh 400lbs or so. Which is not exactly realistic since the actress weighs around 250 at the most. Bulimia doesn't really work like that. Still, I'm holding out hope that they could do something with this. They aren't establishing her bulimia as a good thing and indeed she is visably upset when her firefighter boyfriend is supportive and doesn't challenge her about her eating disorder. And fat people do have eating disorders and it would be interesting to explore the way they are permited to act in such an unhealthy manner so long as it is in service of a thinner body and the way it doesn't change their life. The other firefighters see the couple together and make a series of rather vicious jokes. The only counterpoint was someone saying that its nice that he says past her body. Normally, that is the best a fat woman can hope for on a TV show, but not here. He is absolutely thrilled with her body, so I think there is an interesting dynamic here. He also clearly is not supportive of her bulimia despite his actions, but doesn't seem to know what to do with it. Like I said, I'm holding out hope, but stories like this almost always end badly for the fat positive perspective, so I'm not getting my hopes up.

Amazingly, though, Rescue Me is not the only show with a conventionally attractive young male expressing a preference for a larger woman. Sure, the other show is more a matter of TV fat as opposed to actually fat, but its something. On ABC's new Life As We Know It, we see another guy who desires a larger woman but is concerned with what his friends will think of him. So he spends most of the episode being a real dick about it before finally getting over himself. Alas, the fat girl is Kelly Osbourne, which is by no realistic definition fat. Not emaciated, sure, but I'd still liked to have seen something a bit more challenging. Still, even TV fat tends to be slimmer than Kelly and they didn't run for her fat. For most of the second act she was wearing a snug fitting blue t-shirt that rather clearly displayed her belly. Downright shocking most weeks, but with Rescue Me setting the bar a bit high this week, its pleasantly normal. That is how girls in high school dress. Even the moderately chubby ones. And here, we get a resolution all in the pilot episode as he quickly learns that despite his friends less than cheriable remarks about Kelly Osbourne's character, they ultimately don't really give a damn who he dates. Though those less than cheritable remarks were annoyingly cruel considering how not fat she was and how these friends are the co-stars of the show and supposed to be likeable. Also, Kelly's character was established as little more than a fat girl, but she is a regular cast member so presumably more will come. She's also not a bad actor.

Interestingly enough, this wasn't even all Life As We Know It did last week. In a seperate story we see a dance troupe rehearsing at school. Very contemporary hip hop stuff. I happened to notice that at least one of the dancers was conspiciously not thin. But she was up there dancing with everyone else, purely background. And while the outline of Kelly's belly was shown, the chubby dancer was baring it as she wore a revealing outfit perfectly in-line with the other dancers. Now that was shocking. I'm usually happy if a fat girl is even allowed to be a background extra in a high school show. Here, one is a lead and another is an extra in a role normally fat girls aren't allowed to be seen in. A welcome dose of reality, I must say.

Oh, that's right. I have a blog.

Yeah, long draught, I know. I really don't have a good excuse. I haven't been busy. I haven't been stuck at work. I haven't been kidnapped by aliens. Just felt like I didn't have much to say.

I'll have something shortly, hopefully. But I didn't want it to get to October before I posted again, so here is my pity post.

To make it worth your while, go check out Fame Tracker. Its one of the most intelligent and witty pop cult sites around. Be sure to enjoy their archive. Much funny to be had.

Big Tent

So, the GOP is in New York pretending they are a party of inclusion this week. Given the speakers, you'd almost think they were a moderate party what with pro-choice Republicans like Pataki and Guiliani and pro-gay rights Republicans like Governor Terminator, John McCain (well, he opposed the FMA, anyway), and Dick Cheney apparently. But they are making sure their far right base knows that they'll be taken care of when it matters. Sure, McCain will get trotted out to make W. seem moderate, but behind his back, you'll see reassurances made to the hyper-conservatives that their needs will be met. The GOP knows that to be elected, you have to play to the middle, assuring America that will seek coalitions and cooperation instead of simply imposing an ideology on the country. Democrats do that, too, except we mean. We are about building coalitions and working together with people of different ideologies. Doesn't mean we've abandoned our left-wing base, as some leftists often complain. Its just a nod to the fiercely divided political climate we live with. We need to compramise to get anything done. The only other solution is to just outright lie.

That, it would seem, is the GOP solution.

For all the talk of a "Big Tent" and all the moderate voices that will be seen in prime time this week, its all just a big lie. The GOP makes little plays for the far right knowing that they can count on them to be understanding. There is some concern that they might express discontent at some speakers, but those people will be prodded into speeches that don't offend right-wing sensibilities. Play moderate, but don't mean it. Because the GOP knows that it would look very bad if a prime time speaker, say, compared gay marriage to the Nazi's slaughter of the Jews. But that doesn't mean they really have a problem with it. Why, they'll just have them lead the opening prayer.

Think I'm exaggerating? I wish. Alas, the woman who led the opening prayer for the Republican National Convention DID suggest that gay marriage was an equivilant to Hitler's Final Solution. Not decades ago. Not even privately. It was in March at a high profile meeting of a Conservative group. Specifically, she said that those who do not oppose gay marriage are akin to those who did nothing to stop Hitler's rise to power. Atrios has a more extended text for you to read if you think can stomach it.

The true face of the GOP. What happens this week in NYC is just a bit of theater.

Although this was clearly the most offensive thing I read from a Republican today, it was not the stupidist. That honor goes to none other than the Speaker of the House, Dennis Hastert. Showing that clearly there are no depths the GOP won't sink to smear people who disagree with them, he suggested on FoxNews Sunday that financier George Soros ( who supports liberal causes like MoveOn.org) was a drug dealer. His proof? Um, he doesn't have any. But of course, he was really just saying that we "don't know" if Soros is a drug dealer. Much how I don't know that Dennis Hastert isn't really an alien sent to enslave the Earth. I mean, we don't know, right?

Swift Boat Liars get Debunked

Daily Kos links to a great article in the NY Times which carefully reviews the claims made by the ironically titled group "Swift Boat Vets for Truth" and discovers (drumroll) its all a lie. This condenses all of the truth behind why these people don't merit any consideration all in one helpful source. Even with diagrams! Check it out.