The news today illustrates just how over the top the public discourse over fat has become.

Parents across England are having to allay the fears of their children tonight. With "obesity" frenzy reaching media saturation, it is no wonder that in a study of elementary children published in the Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, professors Phebe Cramer and Tiffany Steinwert documented that by elementary school age, girls fear looking fat more than getting cancer, a nuclear war or losing their parents.

The parents in this article face criminal charges and their nine year old was taken away from them for being too fat. Brothers on trial for overweight dog

While this story might be taken less seriously ... since the nine year old was a dog ... when it happens to fat children and their families in our country, which it does all too often, it doesn’t seem as trivial.