To the Point

Sizing Up America-s Obesity Crisis

With two-thirds of Americans overweight or obese, -too many [people] are eating themselves to death,- according to Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson, who-s promoting more exercise and healthier diets. Although obesity may soon overtake smoking as the nation-s leading cause of preventable death, there-s bitter controversy over who is to blame and what to do. The Bush White House supports a ban on lawsuits against fast food outlets for making consumers fat. Is it a question of personal responsibility or is the fast-food industry promoting a dangerous addiction? Should government intervene or get out of the way? In this archived edition of To the Point, journalists, nutrition and weight management professionals and the head of a national restaurant industry association size up America's growing obesity crisis. (Originally broadcast March 16.) Making News: GAO to Investigate Election Complaints Congress has received more than 57,000 complaints about this month-s election, and they-re still pouring in at the rate of one every minute. That-s according to Michigan-s John Conyers and other Democrats, who-ve asked the General Accounting Office to investigate. While the GAO says it won-t address every charge, it will look into those that have caused a loss of voter confidence in the democratic process, says Dan Seligson, editor of the non-partisan web site Electionline.org. Reporter's Notebook: The Yes Men and 'Identity Correction' Selling votes to the highest bidder was just one of the ideas proposed in presentations--complete with flow charts and economic jargon-at conferences on world trade. The presenters, satirists trying to make fun of the World Trade Organization, were astonished to find they were being taken seriously. Mike Bonanno is one of the people who call themselves The Yes Men. (This segment was originally broadcast on May 7.)