BLASPHEMOUS SNACK FOODS

Melissa McEwan and Amanda Marcotte are being, er, crucified by William Donohue of the Catholic League for bringing their alleged Catholic-bashing blog stylings to the John Edwards campaign. (If you're late to this story, catch up here; Donohue's most memorable utterances are here.)

Well, gosh, I certainly hope Donohue's focus on Shakes and Amanda won't mean he'll devote less attention to any of his other vital crusades -- such as this one:

A woman named Janice Taylor who considers herself a "weight-loss artist" runs a website called "Our Lady of Weight Loss." Taylor has also recently released a book by the same name, subtitled Miraculous and Motivational Musings from the Patron Saint of Permanent Weight Loss. ...

Taylor's artwork is frequently centered around wacky and irreverent pictures of the Blessed Mother. In one, her halo is actually the dial of a scale. In another, the Virgin smokes a cigarette and says, "Darling, please excuse my oral fixation." The website boasts "The Ten Commandments of Permanent Fat Removal." One commandment is "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's plate." Our Lady of Weight Loss is quoted as saying, "Should you succumb to the Call of the Cheeto, dust the crumbs off and get back on the wagon. 'All is forgiven. Move on.'"

... Now that Taylor's book has been released and is available in bookstores, ... it is no longer prudent to ignore her. This is even more true because the popular shopping club Costco has featured Taylor in the September issue of its magazine, The Costco Connection.

Bill Donohue wrote to Costco and asked that the magazine discontinue promoting Our Lady of Weight Loss.

..."I know Costco has no desire to alienate customers of any religion. Therefore, I wanted to let you know how upset many Catholics were by the article and ask that you discontinue the dissemination of this book. We will notify our 300,000 members nationwide of your decision regarding this matter."

Ooooh -- intimidation.

(The Our Lady of Weight Loss Web site is here.)

I'm not sure how this turned out. I do see that Costco's online newsletter received at least one critical e-mail; Taylor was given the chance to reply, and noted that

My artwork has been exhibited in the National Museum of Catholic Art and History in New York [true], and a large Catholic church in Texas asked me to donate 12 copies of Our Lady of Weight Loss for their fund-raising drive.

Catholic anti-Catholic bigots! Wonder if Donohue threatened action against them, too.

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Uh-oh -- Janice Taylor's going to be lecturing at a yoga center! In western Massachusetts! She must be an infidel!