Free Republic

In the president's telling, the first lady is the asset who brings him down to earth, who makes their duo approachable, human and, if not exactly like the couple next door, at least like regular folks. "If you were going to list the hundred most popular things that I have done as president, being married to Michelle Obama is number one," the president said during an appearance in Baltimore last year. ....

They were planning to start a new life in a new country but Rowan Trezise, age 33, has been told by the government of New Zealand that she and her husband may have to look elsewhere for a place to live, because she is too fat to be allowed into the country. Although both husband and wife were too fat for admittance when they first applied Mr. Trezise, a submarine cable specialist who was once a member of the British Army, has managed to shed two inches from his waistline thereby meeting the standards set for a work visa. Mrs....

Scientists find fatness gene By Roger Highfield, Science Editor Last Updated: 2:15am BST 13/04/2007 More than half of the population carries a gene that makes people more likely to pile on the pounds, scientists announce today. Half of English men and a third of women are classified as overweight They hope the discovery could eventually lead to treatments to help people lose excess weight they carry simply because of their genetic make-up. Obesity is associated with an increased risk of type 2 diabetes, heart disease and other medical problems and is rising in prevalence in most western countries, where at...

WINTER HAVEN, Fla. (UPI) -- A Florida police chief who sent members of his department an e-mail complaining about lack of physical fitness has been forced to resign. The memo from Paul Goward, head of the police department in Winter Haven, had as its subject line "Are you a jelly belly?" the Orlando Sentinel reported. "As I look around the department I see a disconcerting number of us that appear physically challenged with obesity and/or a general lack of physical fitness," Goward told his officers. In the e-mail, he said overweight police officers give a poor public impression and have...

Obese men are more likely to be infertile than their slimmer peers, according to the first study to look at whether a man's weight influences a couple's fertility. Every excess 10 kilograms may cut a man's fertility by 10 per cent, Dr Markku Sallmen of the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health in Helsinki and colleagues at National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, write in the September issue of Epidemiology. Sallmen was a post-doc at NIEHS when he conducted the study. The researchers looked at couples

May 21, 2006 -- OPRAH Winfrey has inked a deal to publish a fitness book with her personal trainer Bob Greene in what industry insiders say is the richest nonfiction book deal in history, sources told On The Money. While sources declined to give an exact price, these people said it is larger than the $12 million advance former President Bill Clinton got to write his autobiography, "My Life," which was published by Knopf in 2004. Oprah's book will be published by Simon & Schuster in January, and the gathering of publishing types at the annual Book Expo America in...

Chicago, IL, May. 23 (UPI) -- Furniture makers are selling bigger chairs and tables to U.S. restaurants, an apparent accommodation to growing customers. The National Restaurant Association's four-day conference in Chicago featured numerous displays of supersized furniture for supersized diners, the Dallas Morning News reported Monday. "The other (traditionally sized) ones can be uncomfortable," said Bob Murphy, vice president of systems and technology for Chili's Grill & Bar, the flagship chain of Dallas-based Brinker International Inc. "When you sit at them, they're too small." Chili's has begun testing more spacious eating spaces and was looking at installing tables up to...

Every generation gets the Elvis it deserves.

Has she snapped? Or is she just being her true self? Rosie O'Donnell's decision to walk away from her magazine last week -- the latest in a series of life-changing moves -- has prompted debate about the star's damn-the-torpedoes behavior. She pulled out of a business venture valued at more than $100 million. She left 3.5 million readers hanging. She gave up a high-profile platform for her pet causes. And she might wind up spending millions if lawsuits are filed by her or the publisher. Ever since she quit her talk show and came out as a lesbian in...