I am 5'9" and a size ten is as low as I am willing to go. Being very fit with plenty of muscle poundage, I weigh more that you would guess by looking at me. This takes a lot of 5 am gym trips, but I do not deny myself when I get a hankering for something "bad". Life ain't worth it if you can't indulge once in a while.

Buffie is young (I'm a young, white grandma) and therefore taut and relatively healthy without even trying. In a few years time tho, she will be extremely obese if she keeps up this lifestyle, and she won't get to enjoy her grandkids, as I am doing. Young lady, get on a stair steeper- believe me, your ass AND your heart will thank you.

I know Joan Walsh knows better but I guess the pressures of being white and making money and competing with the white boys requires even a talented person like Joan to play this game of having a Black person as a mouthpiece wage various attacks on Black folks...

That Debra is the current vehicle for this wicked sport is not a surprise. I am a sucker for keeping hope alive that such antics will not be played in the year 2007...

Foolish me... I need a good ass kicking for being such a sucker!!

"I totally understand what you mean, itonix. But luckily I guess you can go back to wherever you came from if it really bothers you that much.

Unfortunately, I'm paying for a war in Iraq I never asked for, taxes for social services for people who can't seem to function in all sorts of ways, people have humongous families of four or five or more kids and schools get overfull, people injure themselves doing stupid things and I'm sure those medical costs get spread out, auto insurance rates in my state are sky-high because enough people drive like idiots...so again, if you don't like it, leave."

Right on, reality!

I think that if we really want to do something about the obesity rates in this country then we should find a way to talk about it without mocking the fat people. It's counterproductive. We live in an era of the attack-dog pundit, where commentators would rather rip someone to shreds than actually engage in a discourse, or figure out how to fix the problem. Debra (who always writes bullshit like this) isn't helping black folks. And if she truly wanted to help us, why does she chose to publish in an online magazine whose readership is probably majority white? It boggles the mind.

But that's because she doesn't really want to help "us" she just wants to make a quick buck.

At least when Bill Cosby made his comments about black people and education, he made it to a black audience. You, Debra, don't care. You offer no solutions, you just mock and denigrate; you're like a house slave ratting on the field hands to the masta. (God I can't beleive I wrote that.)

I hate to hate on another woman of color, but this is the final straw. If you and Condeeleeza Rice were drowning, I think Condie's getting the rescue. If I can be bothered to jump in, that is, 'cause you know it might mess up my weave!

Sorry, I sound like an attack dog, but woman...you're ridiculous.

Obesity and the related health issues do have an impact beyond the individual. The costs associated with health care for overweight people and their related health issues (diabetes, cardiovascular issues, kidney disease, muscle/skeletal problems) cost each of us money (through higher insurance premiums or through higher health care costs). Being overweight shouldn't be acceptable unless there is a medical reason for the extra weight (i.e. thyroid issue).

Society at large should encourage and support health and should discourage and penalize unhealthy habits across all segments of the population.

What up haters? Ever take a look at Serena's big old ass? Big as a Mule's. Maybe it's all steroids and beef and maybe it's not. I don't find it all that hot but that's me. And anyway it doesn't look at that unhealthy.

I could not believe my eyes when I saw Tyra Banks on a recent cover boasting of her weight loss. She clearly thinks she looks better, and says she feels better - but it was just a few months ago that she was in our face proclaiming body pride and saying 'hey, you call this FAT?" about her 30lb-heavier frame. What? Why isn't anyone pointing out the hypocrisy? Apparently she was angry that anyone dared say/think what she herself thought about her heavier body - which is sort of stupid considering that she is a public figure seeking out attention.

I was hoping one of Salon's columnists would send her up for her hypocrisy. I actually thought she looked fine then - she certainly wasn't 'fat' though the pic of her in that one piece was certainly unflattering, and she didn't look particularly toned up. Still, she's a beautiful girl, no getting around it. To lose weight and then crow from the front cover about it - she lost a lot of ground with me.

Okay, I don't mind Dickerson using Buffy the body as her poster child for obesity, although she was wrong to do so.

And I can ignore that she used men's magazines as the basis of "black culture", primarily because I can see her overall point.

But, must Dickerson resort to black colloquialisms towards the end of her article when she is writing to black people? I mean, does she think that she's being "down" when she writes that way? It just makes her seem more condescending.

Healthy criticism is a good thing, but Dickerson seems like a athletic prig whose black conservative POV barely masks a possible hatred for most things black.

Emily / reality,

Your points about the war are true but as a foreigner I did not vote in the president, but my US taxes pay for it anyway. People who engage in high risk sports do get charged more for life insurance.

As for your car insurance problems - either start walking and solve the weight issue or move to a state where there are no idiot drivers. Alaska is very good :)