Extreme weight loss

I wish I could show this to a few people.

Super-Sizing Me
by Rabbi Eli Glaser

How I lost 110 pounds -- one day at a time.

Saturday night was the hardest - and I had no idea why.

I had already eaten two full meals earlier in the day, not to mention some snacking in between. I certainly wasn't hungry and I wasn't eating for the sake of Melava Malka (the traditional meal following the close of Shabbat).

But I just had to eat. I couldn't resist. The magnetism of the refrigerator was overwhelming; the lure of the leftovers too strong to withstand. As hard as I tried, I could not overcome the temptation to binge. Chicken or chulent, kugel or kishka, it didn't matter. I was all consumed by consuming it all.

I knew this behavior kept putting on the pounds -- 300 to be exact. But I couldn't stop. I knew the damaging effects it had on my physical health and emotional wellbeing; the frustration, turmoil and humiliation of not being able to control my eating. It didn't matter. The only thing I didn't know was why I could not stop.

My credibility suffered. Here I was, a rabbi, teaching fellow Jews the wisdom and beauty of Torah and mitzvot, encouraging them to incorporate Judaism as a priority in their lives, and I couldn't get a handle on my hamburgers.

For years, I tried to lose the weight. I did Weight Watchers, Atkins, and diet pills. I joined a gym and worked out incessantly; shot hoops and ran around the track. But the only ride that lasted was on the roller coaster of weight loss - down 20, up 30, again and again.

I had a productive and meaningful life; a wonderful wife and children - but no answer when it came to the weight. Until one day, in utter desperation, God blessed me with the gift of despair. I acknowledged I was a compulsive overeater, that I was truly powerless over food.

I was a slave to sugar and paralyzed by pizza. Quantity over quality often won the day. I could eat a whole bucket of fried chicken and still have room for the main course. I never bothered super-sizing because I always ordered in plural; two of this and three of that.

Like an alcoholic, I was helpless from taking that first compulsive bite. Addiction means being incapable of avoiding a substance or action, despite the known consequence and desire to withstand the temptation. Doing something harmful against my will.

I accepted the realization that nothing I could do on my own would work. I needed a complete overhaul of my attitude and behavior around eating. All my will power didn't stand a chance against the food.

It wasn't an easy pill to swallow. It was a huge slice of humble pie -- but the most important meal I've ever eaten.

I began attending a group fellowship focusing on recovery from compulsive eating. Besides my physical cravings and obsessions with quantities, I understood that I was using food as an emotional coping mechanism as well as a spiritual release valve. I found comfort in the cupcakes, solitude in the salami.

I discovered that my behavior with food was much more common than I thought. The latest statistics tell a sobering tale: 70% of Americans are overweight and more than 30% are obese. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, obesity is quickly overtaking smoking as America's leading cause of preventable death and is now among the primary risk factors for heart disease, hypertension, stroke, diabetes and even cancer. The World Health Organization identifies obesity as a pandemic and the "biggest unrecognized health problem in the world."

Not everyone who struggles with food is a compulsive eater. Many people can use a particular diet or weight-loss regiment to harness their behavior and lose the weight they want. For many others, however, it's like trying to ride a wild horse with no reins -- getting thrown off time and time again. I had plenty of bumps and bruises to prove it.

I learned that there is a fundamental difference between a regular "diet" and a recovery program for compulsive eating. A diet is primarily about weight. No matter how you package it, it means eating less or eating differently, and exercising more. Lose the weight and you've succeeded. Congratulations and have a nice life, unless we see you again when the weight comes back on - which happens more often than not.

It's not all that complicated. Weight loss is a multi-billion dollar industry, not because we're given hidden wisdom, before which was accessible only to a select few. But rather, because many of us are incapable of sticking with the plan for any extended length of time - because we're unable to institute a significant life change around our behavior with food.

Certain ingredients used in food production possess addictive tendencies - particularly sugar. Physical addiction can, and does, exist within the realm of food. For many of us, myself included, ingesting processed sugar in any form sparks an uncontrollable compulsion to eat more and more. My experience and observation is that the same holds true for flour products, like bread and rolls.

That's where a program for emotional, physical and spiritual recovery comes in. It's all about the food. It's not about the weight. More precisely, it's all about developing a healthy and consistent relationship with food. Weight loss is a benefit, not a goal. It's the wonderful consequence of using food in a normal way - to nourish, not to indulge; to satisfy and invigorate physical needs instead of medicating and suppressing emotional distress.

Let's face it: We've all got issues. Whether it's parents, children, spouses, bosses or friends, money, prestige, career, school or simply getting out of the front door each day, every one of us has things that can cause stress and anxiety.

My first meeting was on a Sunday morning. The room was almost filled and it was barely past 8 o'clock. The 100 or so people were as varied in their dress as they were in their backgrounds. The one commonality many shared, however, was a normal body size.

I was expecting a room full of people like myself: overweight, overwhelmed, timid and tired. I certainly wasn't the only one fitting my description; but we were outnumbered, if not outweighed, by a host of vibrant folks. One after another, they introduced themselves as food addicts or compulsive overeaters, sharing a five-minute synopsis into their experience in battling food addiction.

They had tried every diet or weight-loss program under the sun and even a few I never heard of: from seaweed to sewing your mouth shut. Freedom from the compulsion only came when they made a conscious decision to outsource their will and determination to their Higher Power, seeking strength, success and sanity around food.

Those ideas certainly resonated with me. I was a religious Jew working to have an active relationship with God, the infinite Creator and Sustainer of the universe. King Solomon in Proverbs (21:23) speaks about "guarding one's mouth and tongue." Maimonides explains that guarding one's tongue means to avoid gossip and speak only what's necessary; guarding one's mouth means to refrain from eating harmful foods, or from overeating.

Maimonides writes (Laws of Knowledge 4:15):

Overeating is like poison for anyone and it is the primary cause of illness. Most illnesses are caused either by harmful foods or overeating even healthy foods.

But I was not at a synagogue or any other religious service. I was in a lecture hall at a local hospital, attending a meeting for compulsive eaters, comprising people from all different faiths and religious commitments.

I began working the tools of the program such as attending regular meetings and finding positive outlets for my negative inclinations to overeat. I followed a suggested food plan that had me eating nutritiously for the first time in a long time. I learned to treat food for what it was - fuel for my body, and not for what it wasn't -- a clandestine friend who promised contentment and camaraderie, but never delivered.

Lo and behold it worked. I lost 110 pounds in a little less than a year by incorporating a fundamental attitude change -- it wasn't about losing weight. It was all about regaining a healthy relationship with food, one day at a time.

That was one of the key principles for my success. For many a time in the past, I couldn't even get a running start. I suffered interminably from the disease of "tomorrow." Tomorrow I'll start the diet. Tomorrow I'll do better. Tomorrow. Tomorrow. Tomorrow...

Tomorrow was too overwhelming. For me, tomorrow didn't just mean the next 24 hours. Tomorrow meant that I had to accomplish everything in one fell swoop. I had to begin a diet that would cause me to lose 100 pounds. In my mind, tomorrow was a counterfeit cure for my obesity, a promise of rapid weight loss demonstrated by the ads for the newest and greatest - always accompanied by the asterisk disclaimer of "results not typical."

Only upon coming into a recovery program did I finally get an answer: "Today" is the cure for the disease of "tomorrow." Focus on today and today only. Don't worry about the weight. Don't stress over having to lose 100 pounds. Take it one day at a time, one meal at a time even, and the results will take care of themselves.

This core idea that we are powerless today over the end results of tomorrow is critical in helping reframe our mindset about compulsive overeating.

For the first several months, my mind would often wander toward the thoughts of never again being able to eat pizza or fried chicken, two staples of my addictive eating. I'd feel sorry for myself and start to question my resolve. Until I'd catch myself and realize I only had to avoid those foods for today.

The first few weeks I had bouts of hunger. After all, I was significantly reducing my intake of protein and fat. But my body quickly adapted. I was eating fruits and vegetables on a daily basis for the first time in my life, in addition to moderate servings of protein and grains. My portions were healthy, certainly sufficient to nourish and sustain.

And I was actually eating breakfast. That was the biggest miracle of all. I woke up with an appetite each morning instead of bloated and distended. I enjoyed my meals and paced them throughout the day: breakfast no later than 9 a.m., lunch between 12 to 1 and dinner around 6. Snacks, which for me were often compulsive acts and what I call "mood" eating, were no longer part of my day. My lunch had to be sufficient enough to carry me over to dinner. If the compulsion for binging at night started creeping in, I did something radical -- go to sleep.

Satiation from Hunger

The fact that my wife, Zakah, was also successfully recovering from her struggles with compulsive eating provided me with a constant example of strength and willingness which I strove to emulate. She was a lifelong struggler, having joined Weight Watchers at 8 years old. Now she's lost 125 pounds -- and kept it off for the last six years. She is a true role model for me and many others.

As my recovery and weight loss progressed, I tried on a daily basis to outsource my governance over food to God, allowing Him to do for me what I could not do for myself. And that's why, more than five years later, I have maintained a 110-pound weight loss. One day at a time.

As a rabbi, I know that this problem affects our Jewish community as much as the general population. We have to look no further than our eating behavior at Shabbat meals, kiddush tables and weddings to honestly ask ourselves if this is how God really wants us to observe these occasions. Picture Maimonides, one of Judaism's quintessential thinkers, authors and leaders in the following scenarios: standing in a tea room in a hotel during Passover, or at the end of a smorgasbord -- or watching our children indulge in the proliferation of candy, soda and junk food at school, synagogue and community events.

Zakah and I have created an organization, Soveya (Hebrew for satiation from hunger), specifically to raise awareness about compulsive eating and obesity in the Jewish community, and the urgent need to address the situation. We know firsthand how difficult it is to regain a healthy relationship with food, to lose the weight as well as the daily obsession. We encourage people to seek out solutions that work for them, including fellowships focusing on overeating.

Our goal is to bring these crucial issues to the forefront of discussion and action in the Jewish community, and at the same time help people get a better sense of what, for many of us, is among the most difficult challenges we face -- establishing a healthy relationship with food.

In addition, Soveya provides confidential counseling for individuals and families who have found frustration and failure with other diet and weight-loss programs. We have crafted an approach based specifically on Torah principles for self-growth and healthy eating, combined with proven tools adapted from recovery programs for compulsive behaviors.

As well, we have developed a Wellness Campaign for Jewish Day Schools, in which we seek to partner with parents and teachers to implement educational strategies and provide practical tools in helping create an improved wellness environment both at home and in the school.

For more information, you can contact us at info@soveya.com or visit www.soveya.com.

(An abridged version of this article originally appeared in Binah magazine) .

---

This article can also be read at: http://www.aish.com/spirituality/growth/Super-Sizing_Me.asp

How much should sacrifice for peace?

Yearning for Peace
by David A. Harris

Please stop lecturing Israel about the need to pursue peace.

Not a day passes that I don't encounter another Israel-directed lecture on the imperative of peace.

Sometimes it comes from diplomats. Or from editorial writers. Or from columnists. Or from scholars. Or from human-rights groups.

Frankly, it makes my blood boil.

First, it assumes that Israel wants peace for itself less than others do.

Second, it displays an arrogance that what may not be immediately apparent to Israel is abundantly obvious to those on the outside sitting in their ministries, offices, ivory towers, or vacation spots.

And third, it reveals a lack of humility insofar as Israel, and Israel alone, will bear the consequences -- and they could be calamitous -- of any misguided actions.

Strikingly, many of these commentators have never been to Israel, or have visited infrequently, or visit, but only in the company of those who share the same ideological predisposition. For instance, an individual appointed to head up a U.S.-based Arab-Israeli peace group had never set foot in Israel before assuming the position.

I know of no people on earth that has prayed for peace longer than the Jewish people. Turning "swords into plowshares" and "spears into pruning hooks," and visualizing a day when the lion and lamb would lie down - and wake up - together weren't conceived as slogans on Madison Avenue; they're the Jewish people's age-old contribution to civilization.

I know of no nation on earth that yearns for peace more than Israel, no nation, victorious in unsought wars, that has been more generous in yielding to its vanquished foes' terms in pursuit of peace, and no nation that has taken more demonstrated -- and tangible -- risks for the sake of peace than Israel.

To think otherwise is to assume that Israel would prefer a state of permanent conflict, and that, quite frankly, would be preposterous.

Of course, there are debates within Israel about the best way to arrive at peace. How could it be otherwise? There is no surefire plan for getting from here to there in the topsy-turvy Middle East. Six decades of Israel's existence have amply demonstrated the challenges.

But can any well-intentioned person truly believe that the Jewish people, resettled in the land of their ancestors after centuries of violence, persecution, and stigmatization, would seek anything other than a long-denied tranquility and peaceful coexistence with its neighbors?

Or that survivors of the Holocaust who were able to reach the shores of Israel, despite innumerable obstacles, would welcome decade after decade of ever-present conflict and danger?

Or that Israel's residents, whether settled in the country for generations or newcomers fleeing the intolerance of the Arab world or the oppression of Communist regimes, would seek a state of endless war?

Or that Israeli parents would wish to see their children, and then their grandchildren, and then their great-grandchildren go off to war, perhaps never to return?

Or that Israelis would welcome the daily barrage of rocket and mortar attacks raining down on Sderot and creating havoc in the daily lives of those trying to do nothing other than ride the roller coaster of everyday life? Or derive joy from the fact that all the children of this working-class town suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder?

Or that Israelis in the north would eagerly anticipate another barrage of Hezbollah-fired missiles from Lebanon targeted at anyone and everyone?

Or that Israelis would luxuriate in the knowledge that there is risk of a terrorist attack even in the simple act of riding a public bus, dancing in a discotheque, eating in a pizzeria, or attending a university?

Or that Israelis would relish the honor of being among the world's most highly taxed people because of the sustained burden of defense spending to ensure a qualitative edge over the forces of its adversaries?

Or that Israelis would derive pride from being shunted off to the far corners of international airports, where they're surrounded by heavily armed guards, for the simple pleasure of boarding planes destined for Tel Aviv?

Or that Israelis would take their cue from Hamas and Hezbollah leaders who propagate a culture of death and mayhem, when, in reality, Israel and the Jewish people have made an art form of celebrating life and seeking its enhancement?

No, the Israel I know desperately seeks peace. Israel's Declaration of Independence expressed it. The Israeli concessions for the Egyptian and Jordanian peace accords showed it. The withdrawals from Gaza and Southern Lebanon proved it. The efforts by successive Israeli governments to reach a viable two-state settlement with the Palestinians continue to underscore it. The polls consistently demonstrate it.

But those armchair commentators too often fail to grasp Israel's objective challenges in finding trustworthy partners. Instead, they've made a cottage industry out of ignoring, denying, minimizing, rationalizing, contextualizing, or trivializing the obstacles Israel has faced.

It's almost as if Hezbollah's blood-curdling cries to destroy Israel and the Jews, Hamas's aim of replacing all of Israel with an Islamic state, Iran's objective of a world without Israel, Syria's hospitality to all the leading terrorist groups in the region, and the teaching of incitement and contempt in Palestinian textbooks don't count for anything. Instead, they're simply seen as pesky, off-subject debating points by pro-Israel supporters.

We live in a half-cocked world.

For many, it's business as usual with Iran, while its leaders unabashedly call for an incitement to genocide.

The Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council, controlled by a reflexively anti-Israel numerical majority, routinely rewrites history by labeling Israel as an aggressor state, while blithely ignoring the threats and attacks it endures for no reason other than its very existence.

The media can't bring itself to call the Hamas and Hezbollah murderers of innocent civilians "terrorists," but instead more gently refers to them as "militants."

The conflict between Israel and Hamas is too often referred to antiseptically as a "cycle of violence," when it's anything but. After all, isn't there a clear moral difference between those who aim to murder and those whose objective it is to stop the murderers?

And the BBC took the rare step of apologizing after one of its reporters, reflecting the same mindset, lumped together in one sentence assassinated Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri, who sought to rebuild his country, and Imad Mugniyeh, the Hezbollah terrorist mastermind recently killed in Damascus.

Peace has been at the heart of the Jewish journey for more than 3000 years. It has been at the heart of Israel's journey for six decades. We may need lessons in many things, but the imperative of seeking peace isn't one of them.

Author Biography:
David A. Harris is the Executive Director of the American Jewish Committee.

---

This article can also be read at: http://www.aish.com/jewishissues/middleeast/Yearning_for_Peace.asp

CAIR: Apologist for terrorism

Shalom CAMERA E-Mail Team:
The Council on American Islamic Relations: Civil Rights or Extremism?
The headline of this Alert is the title of a new CAMERA monograph. This 13-page booklet provides important, timely source material on the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR). The documentation strongly suggests that CAIR functions as a public relations adjunct to Islamists such as the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas (the Islamic Resistance Movement), rather than as a traditional American civil rights group. Although CAIR has been listed by the Justice Department as an unindicted co-conspirator in a terrorism funding trial, it has attempted to mainstream itself, taking advantage of uncritical news media coverage.
CAIR was co-founded by individuals with ties to the Muslim Brotherhood - an anti-Jewish, anti-Western, religious extremist movement - and to Hamas. Its claims to represent mainstream American Muslims have been disputed by other American Muslims.
Is CAIR an American Muslim version of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People or the Anti-Defamation League? It portrays itself as the advocate for U.S. Muslims facing religious discrimination, and as an educational guide for non-Muslims - including the press - about Islam in the United States. However, CAMERA's monograph, citing numerous published sources, indicates that much of CAIR's activity has more to do with shielding Islamic extremism by tarring legitimate inquiries and criticisms as examples of prejudice or "Islamophobia."
Action Items
Obtain a copy of the monograph. Click here for the CAMERA Web site link introducing the monograph, and click here for the link to the monograph itself. Or, request a printed copy from CAMERA's Washington office, P.O. Box 1763, Washington, D.C. 20013.
Use the information to educate local newspaper editors, radio-TV assignment editors, columnists, talk show hosts, and local, state, and national public officials. Make clear that they should not accept CAIR's self-description uncritically. Urge them to dig a little deeper before relying on the organization as a representative of the American Muslim mainstream or as a credible source on Islamic beliefs and practices. If you'd like to include a link to
the monograph in your letters, you can use this one: http://tinyurl.com/6nropj

Media contact information is below.
Please send CAMERA a blind copy (bcc) of your letter(s): letters@camera.org
With thanks,
Eric RozenmanWashington Director CAMERA

Election cont'd.

An addendum to my previous post. More issues:


1. Capital gains tax increase: Obama wants this, which would raise taxes on most Americans.

2. Tax increase on oil companies: I realize it’s fun to view the oil companies as truly evil, but I believe additional taxes would just increase gas prices and reduce the oil companies’ desire to find new sources of oil.

3. Farm bill: Farm subsidies help wealthy agribusiness conglomerates like ADM. Half of farm revenue comes from the government. McCain opposed this massive, wasteful bill. Obama has close ties to the ethanol industry and favored the bill. It passed over the president’s veto.

4. Ethanol: bad for the environment, bad for cars, and makes corn more expensive in grocery stores. It’s a terrible idea. Obama loves it. McCain opposes it.

Bishop Tutu on Israel, silent on Sudan

From aish.com.

Where is Desmond Tutu when my people in Sudan call out for freedom?
Late last month, I went to hear Bishop Desmond Tutu speak at Boston's Old South Church at a conference on "Israel Apartheid." Tutu is a well respected man of God. He brought reconciliation between blacks and whites in South Africa. That he would lead a conference that damns the Jewish state is very disturbing to me.
The State of Israel is not an apartheid state. I know because I write this from Jerusalem where I have seen Arab mothers peacefully strolling with their families -- even though I also drove on Israeli roads protected by walls and fences from Arab bullets and stones. I know Arabs go to Israeli schools, and get the best medical care in the world. I know they vote and have elected representatives to the Israeli Parliament. I see street signs in Arabic, an official language here. None of this was true for blacks under Apartheid in Tutu's South Africa.
I also know countries that do deserve the apartheid label: My country, Sudan, is on the top of the list, but so are Iran, Saudi Arabia and Egypt. What has happened to my people in Sudan is a thousand times worse than Apartheid in South Africa. And no matter how the Palestinians suffer, they suffer nothing compared to my people. Nothing. And most of the suffering is the fault of their leaders. Bishop Tutu, I see black Jews walking down the street here in Jerusalem. Black like us, free and proud.
Tutu said Israeli checkpoints are a nightmare. But checkpoints are there because Palestinians are sent into Israel to blow up and kill innocent women and children. Tutu wants checkpoints removed. Do you not have doors in your home, Bishop? Does that make your house an apartheid house? If someone, Heaven forbid, tried to enter with a bomb, we would want you to have security people "humiliating" your guests with searches, and we would not call you racist for doing so. We all go through checkpoints at every airport. Are the airlines being racist? No.
Yes, the Palestinians are inconvenienced at checkpoints. But why, Bishop Tutu, do you care more about that inconvenience than about Jewish lives?
Bishop, when you used to dance for Mandela's freedom, we Africans -- all over Africa -- joined in. Our support was key in your freedom. But when children in Burundi and Kinshasa, all the way to Liberia and Sierra Leone, and in particular in Sudan, cried and called for rescue, you heard but chose to be silent.
Today, black children are enslaved in Sudan, the last place in the continent of Africa where humans are owned by other humans -- I was part of the movement to stop slavery in Mauritania, which just now abolished the practice. But you were not with us, Bishop Tutu.
So where is Desmond Tutu when my people call out for freedom? Slaughter and genocide and slavery are lashing Africans right now. Where are you for Sudan, Bishop Tutu? You are busy attacking the Jewish state. Why?

Author Biography:Simon Deng, a native of the Shiluk Kingdom in southern Sudan, is an escaped jihad slave and a leading human rights activist.
This article can also be read at: http://www.aish.com/jewishissues/israeldiary/Disappearance_of_Bishop_Tutu.asp

Election '08 issues

Here is a rundown of the issues that concern me in this presidential election. I’m with Sen. McCain on every one of them except choice.

1. Terrorism: Obama seems to think every foreign policy problem can be solved through negotiation. McCain believes in a tougher approach. At least Obama isn’t Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-CAIR).
2. Israel: I do believe Obama supports a strong Israel. Please, he is not a foreign agent for Hamas. But he flip-flopped on undivided Jerusalem, telling the AIPAC conference he supported an undivided Jerusalem and then backtracking the next day. Very disappointing. McCain will probably maintain the State Department’s long history of anti-Zionism, and would probably pressure Israel for an agreement in his second term, but he’s the wiser choice now.
3. Government size: Obama wants to grow government, including $400 billion in new spending in his first budget. McCain has always been a deficit hawk and opposes congressional earmarks (pork barrel spending).
4. Tax increase: Obama wants to raise taxes on individuals making $125K+ and couples making $250K+. I just don’t see how such an egregious tax increase can help in this slow economy.
5. Free trade: Unlike President Bill Clinton, who helped NAFTA through the Senate, Obama opposes free trade. McCain favors it.
6. Nuclear power: McCain wants to build 100 new nuclear power plants across America, reducing our reliance on dirty, environmentally destructive coal and foreign oil. Obama opposes increasing usage of nuclear power.
7. More drilling: McCain favors more offshore drilling, adding to our oil supply. He remains opposed to ANWAR drilling. Obama opposes offshore drilling.
8. School choice: McCain favors it. Obama opposes it. It would be interesting to see if President Obama sends his daughters to Sidwell Friends (Chelsea Clinton’s alma mater) or a D.C. public school. Would the former choice be hypocritical?
9. Gun control: McCain believes people have a right to own guns. Obama said he agrees with Chicago’s gun ban, but then he said he supports the Supreme Court’s decision striking down D.C.’s gun ban. Well, they both can’t be right. Which is it, Senator?
10. Woman’s right to choose: McCain opposes it and will appoint anti-choice judges to the Supreme Court. Obama favors it and will appoint pro-choice judges to the Supreme Court.
11. Gay marriage: President Bill Clinton signed the Defense of Marriage Act into law. Now Obama says he agrees with the California Supreme Court’s decision legalizing gay marriage. McCain opposes gay marriage.
12. Supreme Court: The next president will appoint between two and six judges to the Court. Chief Justice Roberts, and Justices Alito and Thomas may be all we will have left from previous administrations. McCain will appoint judicial conservatives. In light of the Guantanamo Bay detainee decision and the close win for gun rights, I’m afraid we are in dire need of more judicial conservatives. I would also be concerned about a liberal High Court approving of gay marriage. Obama will most likely appoint left-wing judicial activists like himself.
13. Health care: Obama wants universal health care. While I’m sympathetic to working Americans who struggle to find affordable health care, giving free health care to illegal immigrants isn’t going to help.
14. Immigration: McCain favors tighter controls on illegal immigration. Obama opposes any further restrictions.

Spencer layeth the smacketh down

I don't watch The Hills. Seriously. Never have. I don't know who this guy is. But man, this was really funny. From today's RedEye, a Tribune Co. publication:

Spencer Pratt isn't pulling any punches in what is becoming a pseudo-feud between him and former high-school acquaintance Mary-Kate Olsen.

"The Hills" star fired back after Olsen told David Letterman last week that Pratt did not have a good temper. She also nodded when Letterman asked if she thought Pratt was "wormy."

Pratt's response?

"I know I've made it in Hollywood when a famous troll is talking about me on 'Letterman,' " he told usmagazine.com.

"I forgive her, though," he said. "She's had to go through life as the less-cute twin, which must be tough."

Harsh!