Make it a super size, then call your lawyer Battle of the bulge targets restaurants

San Francisco Chronicle ^ | October 12, 2003 | Kim Severson

[sarcasm]

The people who cook you dinner are starting to get nervous. Really nervous.

In a nation saddled with an obesity crisis, food is fast becoming the new tobacco. This year alone, makers of popular snack foods such as Doritos and Oreos have scrambled to reconfigure recipes and shrink portions, and McDonald's has been forced to deal with two lawsuits claiming the food giant is culpable as America's waistline continues to grow.

[snopercod]

We would do better to ban television, not burgers and fries.

[Support Free Republic]

Got a minute?

I'd really like you to rub my ears,
or help out FR.

[randita]

Fast food restaurants all have a brochure listing dietary information for items on the menu. All you have to do is ask for a copy of it.

[LibKill]

"Well, Sir, they SHOVED those big macs down my throat. I never had a chance against these brutal fat-pushers."

[leadpenny]

"When the lawsuit comes, I'm using the Joe's Special defense -- at least it's got spinach in it," says Marie Duggan, owner of Original Joe's in San Francisco. She's talking about one of the most popular dishes at her legendary Tenderloin restaurant, where big portions, calories and fat are celebrated.

Talk about living on the edge, in San Francisco no less. It's a wonder Marie hasn't been taken away in shackles by the PC Police.

[Kozak]

LIPIDLEGGIN’
F. Paul Wilson

[Editor's note: This story was first published in 1978 by F. Paul Wilson. Then it was probably considered rather "out there". Today it's a prescient look at what is close to becoming a reality as the Food Police continually try to foist their "good-for-you" policies on individuals. We're pleased to bring this story to our audience.]

Butter.

I can name a man's poison at fifty paces. I take one look at this guy as he walks in and say to myself, "Butter."

He steps carefully, like there's something sticky on the soles of his shoes. Maybe there is, but I figure he moves like that because he's on unfamiliar ground. Never seen his face before and I know just about everybody around.

It's early yet. I just opened the store and Gabe's the only other guy on the buying side of the counter, only he ain't buying. He's waiting in the corner by the checkerboard and I'm just about to go join him when the new guy comes in. It's wet out---not raining, really, just wet like it only gets up here near the Water Gap-and he's wearing a slicker. Underneath that he seems to have a stocky build and is average height. He's got no beard and his eyes are blue with a watery look. Could be from anywhere until he takes off the hat and I see his hair: It's dark brown and he's got it cut in one of those soup-bowl styles that're big in the city.

Gabe gives me an annoyed look as I step back behind the counter, but I ignore him. His last name is Varadi--sounds Italian but it's Hungarian--and he's got plenty of time on his hands. Used to be a Ph.D. in a philosophy department at some university in Upstate New York till they cut the department in half and gave him his walking papers, tenure and all. Now he does part-time labor at one of the mills when they need a little extra help, which ain't near as often as he'd like.

About as poor as you can get, that Gabe. The government giraffes take a big chunk of what little he earns and leave him near nothing to live on. So he goes down to the welfare office where the local giraffes give him food stamps and rent vouchers so he can get by on what the first group of giraffes left him. If you can figure that one out...

Anyway, Gabe's got a lot of time on his hands, like I said, and he hangs out here and plays checkers with me when things are slow. He'd rather play chess, I know, but I can't stand the game. Nothing happens for too long and I get impatient and try to break the game open with some wild gamble. And I always lose. So we play checkers or we don't play.

The new guy puts his hat on the counter and glances around. He looks uneasy. I know what's coming but I'm not going to help him out. There's a little dance we've got to do first.

"I need to buy a few things," he says. His voice has a little tremor in it and close up like this I figure he's in his mid-twenties.

"Well, this is a general store," I reply, getting real busy wiping down the counter, "and we've got all sorts of things. What're you interested in? Antiques? Hardware? Food?"

"I'm not looking for the usual stock."

(The music begins to play)

I look at him with my best puzzled expression. "Just what is it you're after, friend?"

"Butter and eggs."

"Nothing unusual about that. Got a whole cabinet full of both behind you there."

(We're on our way to the dance floor)

"I'm not looking for that. I didn't come all the way out here to buy the same shit I can get in the city. I want the real thing."

"You want the real thing, eh?" I say, meeting his eyes square for the first time. "You know damn well real butter and real eggs are illegal. I could go to jail for carrying that kind of stuff."

(We dance).....


For rest of short story
http://www.doingfreedom.com/gen/0600/fa.lipidleggin.html

[jazzlite]

Is the removal of personal responsibility for the activity of daily life compatible with freedom? It is not! The only reason for legal oversight of the food industry is to be sure that the food is free from nasty organisms which make people sick. The reason people are fat is that they are not motivated to lose weight. I have a relative who was 50 pounds overweight and had no interest in losing until he got a bad medical report. Guess what? He lost that 50 pounds in 4 months. Being grossly overweight is not a good thing but allowing greedy lawyers to place blame on the food providers in this nation for the personal choices people make regarding the kind and amount of food they consume is to promote further corruption of our legal system. If we need new laws to stop this, then, lawmakers, get to it. To ignore this is to contribute to the further decline of this nation. This is just a different kind of terrorism.

[mewzilla]

What's to keep people from splitting a dinner? That's what we do. Sure, they usually tack on a plate charge, but we get resonable portions and food doesn't go to waste, so it works out well.

[metesky]

This is one of the most contrived, socialist control issues these goobers have come up with yet.

[Wilhelm Tell]

Greedy trial lawyers and utopian, social-engineering politicians will destroy this country. Sure, there are more people dangerously obese than ever before. Many people eat too much and don't get enough exercise -- if any. Ultimately, you are in charge of your own health. No one forced anyone to get fat, and no one can force you to be healthy, either. As the liberals are fond of saying, it is YOUR BODY and YOUR CHOICE!

I blame the increase on obesity on the fact that many people never learned how to eat right. They are either from broken homes where mom fed them junk food to keep them quiet, or they are from "successful" homes where no one had time for family meals -- everyone was too busy for a decent meal and everyone was in the habit of just grabbing whatever junk food was available. People brought up like that will likely live on mostly junk food, and then their children will eat mostly junk food and get fat, too. I have seen some extremely obese parents shopping with their already-obese young children -- they were never taught moderation.

Legislation aimed at lining the trial lawyers' pockets at the expense of restaurants will not solve the obesity problem (nor is it intended to). If the leftists want to help, they can make it so that food stamps only pay for healthy food -- someone can use their stamps to buy potatoes but not potato chips, spinnach but not candy. Liberals love to make reams and reams of regulations restricting the choices consumers can make -- everything from what type of toilet you can have in your house to what type of gun one is (for now) allowed to buy. I have been in the checkout line at a grocery store and have seen obese people with obese children paying for mostly junk food with food stamps. If the liberals want to regulate everything, let them start with their own programs that pay people to make unhealthy choices.

[machman]

We need this guy running all the resturants in the country.....

NO SOUP FOR YOU

All hail the Soup Nazi!!!

[Sgt_Schultze]

Banzhaf is upset that he does not have the willpower to resist fattening foods. He is such a larda$s and he wants to blame his weakness on business (and collect a check in the process).

[Capt. Tom]

I posted this the other day on another FR thread but I think it is relevant also to this thread.;

Family sues NFL in crash that left girl paralyzed Posted by Capt. Tom to Sub-Driver On News/Activism 10/10/2003 10:53 AM EDT #52 of 78

With the lack of personal responsibility so prevalent, I expect in the years to come overweight people will be barred access to restaurants, as they might sue for the retaurant contributing to their health problems.

Somewhere in the future:
Sorry Mr. Obese, we don't serve alcohol to underage people, and we don't serve food to overweight people. It's the law.

Don't scoff....ask the smokers. - Tom

[xrp]

Video games and computers, too.

[tiamat]

I can't manage restaurant portions.

So I eat half, take half away in a box.

And then i have lunch for the next day!

;-)

Tia

[Unicorn]

They sure were right when they said first shoot all the lawyers.