Interesting piece on "60 Minutes" tonight--a segment on "Dr. Evil," Rick Berman. Berman is a former senior VP at Steak & Ale restaurant chain and executive VP of Pillsbury restaurant group and an attorney. His current schtick is as a lobbyist for big business and big food.

Over the years, he has tried to issue counter-messages to the media hoo-ha over pesticides in food (they aren't that bad, he says), mercury in fish (same), and he was tied to ethics violations involving former Speaker of the House (and upcoming presidential candidate) Newt Gingrich.

Lovely guy, eh?

But the part of the segment that was particularly interesting concerned his viewpoints on the obesity epidemic. Oops--scratch that. There is no "epidemic," he says, and the fact that there are a lot of fat people doesn't mean we should label fat as a disease. "Of course there are morbidly obese people you see on the street whose backsides obviously belong in a separate zip code," he said. But, he said, he can't believe we're labeling something as a disease "that can be 'cured' by taking a walk and keeping your mouth shut."

Well, shut my mouth.

Ya know, I'm actually a big proponent of taking responsibility for our actions. Nobody caused my weight problem but me, all by myself. But I'm also not willing to nod my head in agreement with someone who issues an inane statement like "take a walk and shut your mouth." Obviously, the man knows nothing about metabolism, genetics, coping issues, or how blasted hard it is to lose weight for some people.

Of course, I do believe he's quite fat-headed. Maybe if he'd just take a walk and shut his mouth, he'd be cured.