Without Comment Friday

I am finding the daily ranting rather draining these days, and I don't have cats to blog, so I am hereby inaugurating Without Comment Fridays, a new series in which I shall point you to the articles I would rant about, were I not committed to remaining in a relatively pleasant mood at least one day a week. (You, however, are encouraged to wax outraged in comments to your heart's content.)

So. Without comment, more or less:

• Obesity causes fucking birth defects now. Just for shits and giggles, why don't y'all go ahead and see if you can identify the particular things I would rant about in that article, if I were ranting today.

• If you haven't yet seen the Times article about putting leptin in baby formula to keep the kiddos from catching teh fat, go now. (Never mind, as we've discussed previously, that breastfed babies -- i.e., those already receiving leptin in their very first food -- still get fat, for fuck's sake.)

And wait, I've been avoiding that story all week, but now that I'm acknowledging it, it actually does demand a comment. Here's the article's conclusion:

Oceans of soda, mountains of baked goods and sparkling glaciers of ice cream are now a permanent part of our landscape, and it may be easier to change us than them.

If that doesn't sum up the ass-backward thinking about fat and health in this country, I don't know what does. Since we can't expect people to eat healthfully, we need to focus on making sure nobody gets fat! Because of course it's the fat, not the fucking eating habits, causing the health problems. Skinny people who live on soda, baked goods and ice cream couldn't possibly get sick, so if we make sure everyone stays skinny, we're all set!

Hello, desk, my forehead's old friend.

• More from the Times: Boys like it if you eat meat! Er, we mean, you should eat whatever you want, because it doesn't matter what boys like! 'Cause boys like it when you don't care what they like!

See also: Zuzu, Rachel, and Jill on that topic.

And okay, fine, call it "Minimal Commentary Friday," then. Shutting up doesn't come naturally to me, all right?