Wednesday, October 29, 2008

The SLAPP heard round the world...



I’m typically a very mild mannered person. I hate confrontation. In my personal life, I usually take too much on myself before I meet someone else head-on. That being said, in my online turned real life, I have recently been “called out.” My blogging life as of late has been an attempt to focus on sharing from my own life how I feel a healthful weight loss lifestyle should be incorporated. Part of that information sharing has been a warning and caution about succumbing to weight loss scams such as the “Kimkins” diet.

As most of my readers know, I lost my weight by (and developed an eating disorder from) utilizing the Kimkins program. I have spent the last year in an attempt to recover from that experience. This year has also seen a multitude of other changes and involvements. These changes include a class-action lawsuit against the perpetrator of the Kimkins scam, as well as my own enrollment back in college to obtain a degree in nutrition so that I can share a VALID way of eating with those around me who are struggling. The lawsuit I believe is going very well… well… that is, until Heidi Diaz decided that it would be in her best interest to try to squelch me and my fellow outspoken advocates by filing a SLAPP lawsuit against us. For more information on exactly what a SLAPP lawsuit is, please visit my good friend, Prudentia, as she eloquently explains here: Understanding SLAPP.

The purpose of this counter-suit is clear, to intimidate us into silence. Well… as far as I can see, the opposite has happened. Instead of a muffler, we have been given a megaphone. All I can say at this point is thank you. Thank you Prudentia for explaining so fluently and your undying support; thank you “ducks” for your amazing efforts in spreading the word to help others; thank you to my fellow counter-suit defendants, you all are an inspiration to me; THANK YOU John Teidt for your tireless work and outstanding bravado, and yes… thank you Heidi, for showing me just why I cannot be silenced. I have done nothing but tell the truth about my experience with the Kimkins program. Such is my first amendment right. And now, my fellow defendants, ducks, and readers I have a message: