I'm not quite sure in which capacity I am responding to this article--as a woman who has struggled with obesity and food "issues" since childhood? As a progressive, politically active Californian American? As an attorney with a bent for helping the underdog? The truth is, as the article points out, one of the most difficult things about addressing the way obese people are treated in society and under the law is the very fact that obesity is such a multi-faceted issue, one which it is virtually impossible to disentangle and cleanly separate from all of its related layers.

I think that my main reaction is one of gratitude to the author for bringing up this controversial issue in the first place and for doing so in an objective and thought-provoking way. Whether or not you believe that obese people are the subject of discrimination, not to mention whether or not you believe this discrimination is unlawful, it is undeniable that there are major societal, environmental, emotional and financial factors in play which effect each of our feelings/ideas about obesity. And given that obesity is an increasingly present phenomenon with an increasingly large, and admittedly negative, impact, around the world, it certainly merits active, engaged discussion and analysis, such as that provided in this article.

I have a tough time with organized religion. Frankly, most of the time I just can't get my head around the idea that such vast portions of the human population are so intimately devoted to formal, organized belief systems, many following centuries' old tenants to the letter. I'll freely admit that I tend to be biased against such ideas, and, though I'm loath to admit it, the people who follow them. But I am also aware that my opinions and beliefs are not shared by everyone, nor should they be. And healthy debate and discussion is always to be encouraged. As such, I too have found this week's focus "On Religion" really fascinating. My first reaction was to balk at all of what I saw as misplaced attention on a private issue--religion. But the juxtaposition of Hilary and Barack's positive, inspiring speeches about the influence that religion has had on them as individuals against the onslaught of negative publicity that religious groups have gotten lately--polygamist strongholds, rampant child sexual abuse, intractable corruption--is a welcome change, even for a devout secularist.