Is Jessica Simpson fat? Why do we care? What is all this talk doing to women's self images? And what's it got to do with Barack Obama?

It's all over the news. It's all over the Internet. Haven't you heard?

Apparently, Jessica Simpson, purveyor of mediocre pop, has gained a few pounds.

There has been much criticism, maybe even more support, and a whole lot of people who suggest she suck it up (but not literally, of course) - the media made her, and now she must pay the piper.

Here is just a sampling:

Needless (I hope) to say, the creator of the first clip is clearly an ass.

And I largely agree with what Ashlee Simpson says in the second clip,although her full MySpace post is fairly ridiculous: "A week after the inauguration and with such a feeling of hope in the air for our country, I find it completely embarrassing and belittling to all women to read about a woman's weight or figure as a headline," she begins. Umm, yeah, whatever.

As for clip three, well, does Drunk Dean has a point? By thrusting themselves so into the media's bright lights, should celebrities just take the accompanying abuse?

And what of the (hopefully) unintentional ramifications of calling someone who is clearly not fat, well, fat? What effect does that have on the average American woman, and does the media hold any resposibility for protecting the psyche of the average woman?

Tell me what YOU think.

Is fat the new smoking?

Soon-to-be endangered species?

Back in December, the governor of New York, David Paterson, announced a laundry list of some137-plus proposed new or increased taxes. The one that likely received the most publicity is an 18 percent tax on non-diet soft drinks.

"We are in the midst of a new public health epidemic: childhood obesity," Paterson said.

The $404 million the tax would raise would be used to fund public health programs, including programs aimed at preventing or reducing the incidence of obesity.

Paterson also expects such a tax to reduce the sales of sugar-laden beverages by about 5 percent.

The statistics he cites in making his proposal are alarming: One in four children under the age of 18 is obese, and in economically challenged areas, that number may rise to one in three. Only 17 years ago, the obesity rate in New York was about 10 percent -- that's a pretty remarkable jump.

Sure, soda is not of and by itself the cause or even necessarily a cause of obesity, it is a driver of childhood obesity. Furthermore, a recent study by Harvard University researchers (quoted by Paterson in his inital proposal) found that "each additional 12-ounce soft drink consumed per day increases the risk of a child becoming obese by 60 percent. For adults, the association is similar."

But of course New York is certainly not alone in all this bad fat news. A full 30 states can now boast of an obesity rate of 25 percent or higher, and three states -- Mississippi, West Virginia and Alabama -- have obesity rates that weigh in at more than 30 percent.

Ohio, incidentally, places 17th on the 2008 list, an improvent over 2007's 15th place ranking. Colorado, Hawaii and Connecticut are the slimmest states but all still weigh in with obesity rates around 20 percent.

Despite all the studies and statistics, Paterson has been hard pressed to find much support for the so-called fat tax on soda. Quinnipiac University released survey results just a few days ago that indicate 64 percent of registered New Yorkers (1,664 were surveyed) are against the tax, and the plan has been drawing criticism from everywhere from "The Weekly Standard" to the "Daily News" to countless blogs.

But one major source of support comes from Dr. Richard Daines, the state health commissioner for the state of New York. He is widely considered to be the architect of this particular proposal. So passionate is Dr. Daines about the soda issue that he made a YouTube video in support of it.

Yeah, so the video is little dry, but does it make any impact at all?

Here's where I stand on the matter:

I am, at heart, a good little New Yorker. I like a lot of the laws New York has on the books that would cause a great many Ohioans to clasp at their chests while screaming about the infringement upon their right to make (asinine) decisions (i.e. lack of a motorcycle helmet law).

I like that in NY you must wear a helmet while bicycling (and motorcycling). I LOVED living in NY when NY was one of the first states to institute a public smoking ban, and so obviously I strongly approve of the very high cigarette taxes the state has imposed. And I don't disapprove of the transfat ban in NYC. This little bit of legislation, in fact, has changed the way many chain and fast food restaurants operate nationally.

So is obesity the new smoking?

The evidence concerning smoking bans and taxes in undeniable. According to the CDC, smoking rates have dropped from more than 40 percent of the over-18 population in 1965 to approximately 20 percent in 2005, and much of the drop in smoking rates is attributed to increased taxation that began in the late '70s.

So yeah, a fat-tax on soda would okay by me. If it had even a fraction of the impact on obesity that cigarette taxes have had on smoking, I say, "You go for it, Gov. Paterson, New Yorkers will come around." Any maybe, eventually, the rest of the country also.

FYI, Paterson has also proposed taxes (or increased taxes) on downloaded music, movie tickets, beer, wine and cable/satellite television services. I have to admit I would not stop partaking of any of those because of increased taxes.

Crime in the UC area

It has almost become the punchline to some unfortunate joke -- the frequency with which we all receive crime notifactions via our Blackboard accounts. And indeed, according to Greg Hand, UC director of communications, notifications through November 2008, as compared to the same time period in 2007, were up 300 percent. That's quite a jump.

UCPD will be quick to point out that most of these notifications, as is par for the course, concern crime that occurs off campus, in the CUF (Clifton Heights, University Heights and Fairview) neighborhoods. And it is not particularly difficult to see how we got to this point; the economy is going to hell, unemployment is high and the city is closing jails due to a lack of funding.

We've all heard the stories. The man who was mugged after he slipped and fell on the ice? He broke his arm and was begging for help when assailants mugged him. Then there is the recent mugging in which one suspect was described by the victim as a four-foot tall 13 year old. What about the young teen boy who allegedly attempted to rob two students at an ATM on Halloween night? Did you hear about that?

Last quarter The News Record staff posted a poll on its Web site that asked readers to rate how safe they felt at and around UC. Overwhelmingly, respondents expressed great concern for their safety.

Now I'd like to take the polling process one step further.

I'd like to know what you think of all this madness. Are you scared? Have you been a crime victim? Do you know someone who has been a victim? What precautions are you taking to protect yourself? Do you have any suggestions for diminishing crime in the area? Or maybe you think all this talk is much ado about nothing.

Comment away. Speak your mind. Tell me everything.