The liberal mind never ceases to amaze me. In Tuesday's Atlanta Urinal and Constipatation there was an op-ed by Derrick Z. Jackson, from the Boston Globe. It seems he has his panties in a wad because food companies give a lot of money to Republicans. Oh the horror!
Even as Thompson spoke, the pharaohs were on Capitol Hill, sitting in glee as the House voted, 276-139, to ban lawsuits against trash-food companies. The bill's sponsor, Republican Ric Keller of Florida, said, ''The food industry is under attack and in the cross hairs of the same trial lawyers who went after Big Tobacco.''
So let's talk about tobacco and smoking. I think anyone who smokes should have their head examined. It's a filthy and expensive habit, but that is the decision of the smoker. What I don't think should happen is that anyone who started smoking after 1964 should be allowed to sue the tobacco companies. In 1964 the gummint forced the tobacco companies to put warnings on cigarette packages that said essentially "these things are bad for you". So the users have been warned. They smoke at their own risk.
Lest we forget, tobacco is a legal product. This bullshit about people suing the tobacco companies for their health problems because they disregarded the warnings right on the fucking pack of cigarettes is bullshit! Jesus! It's like having a park with a cliff and a fence in front of it and a warning sign and some stupid booger eatin' moh-ron ignores the warning sign, climbs the fence, and jumps off the cliff and dies and his family sues the park. All it would take is some slick lawyer like John Edwards and a dumb jury and the family of said booger eatin' moh-ron could get rich.
So the latest fatted calf the trial lawyers have their sights set on is the fast food industry and how it has made a bunch of people fat.
From 1995 to 2002, according to Common Cause, food and grocery companies and restaurants gave more than $19.3 million in soft money to Republican causes compared with $5.5 million for Democrats.
Two words: So! What!
Many companies give to both parties, but there is no mistaking their political loyalties. Coca-Cola and affiliated donors, for instance, gave $807,000 to Democrats but $1.74 million to Republicans. PepsiCo gave $255,000 to the Democrats but $1.7 million to Republicans. Nestle gave the Democrats $59,000 but gave the Republicans $208,000. Burger King gave $20,000 to Democrats but $111,000 to Republicans.Of the $26 million contributed by restaurant companies and food processors in the 2000 elections, 71 percent of the money went to Republicans. The National Restaurant Association, Philip Morris (with a constellation of trash food in its resume, such as Kraft), Outback, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, McDonald's, Waffle House, Pizza Hut, Olive Garden, Red Lobster, Burger King, Cracker Barrel and General Mills are among the top contributors on lists compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics that gave 77 percent or more of their money to Republican causes.
That's really interesting Derrick. Do you happen to have the figures on how much trial lawyers have given to Dimocrats as opposed to what they've given to Republicans? If any of my readers know the figures please send them to me. I would bet that they were skewed dramatically towards the Dimocrat Party.
This is more than whether companies should be shielded from lawsuits. In a vacuum, it is an individual choice to put an apple or a Krispy Kreme in your mouth. It is about a larger war the fat pharaohs, profiting on easy-to-process sugars and starches, are waging to rearrange our brains to make us think we need the Krispy Kreme. The House vote on legal shields pales next to the oncoming cultural war over advertising.
Give. Me. A. Fucking. Break. This is one of the reasons I hate liberals. Did you get the condescending attitude in that last paragraph? We are all too fucking stupid and we need to be protected from fattening foods. And guess who's gonna do it? Why it must be Congress. Let's pass some fucking laws. Let's sue the food companies for making us fat. After all we're just a bunch of mind numbed robots who will do whatever the commercials on television tell us to do.
Already, health advocates are calling for bans of trash food ads on children's TV, the removal of soft drink and candy machines from schools, and cigarette-like taxes on trash food.
Oh Christ! Another wacko special interest group to contend with.
Thompson says he wants $440 million for obesity research. Well, the trash food companies have already done their research, and invested in brainwashing.
$440 million for obesity research? Tommy, I'll make you a deal. Give me $1 million and I'll tell you why people are getting obese. Ready? They're eating too much junk food and not getting enough exercise. I'll expect the check within the next week.
What the fuck is going on here?
Thompson is right. The nation is too darned fat. His political allies are also too fat in the wallet from the companies making us fat. Until that changes, his decrees is just a hydrogenated photo op. All fat. No meat. And definitely no fruit or vegetables.
Whereas Derrick's solution is to pass more bullshit laws and let the trial lawyers get fat suing the food companies.
Yeah. That will work.
Update: See the comments. Addison did the research on the contributions the trial lawyers made to Dimocrats vs. Republicans.
Update: Here's a link sent to me by both Addison and HL. And look at the stats for the NEA. These are the people indoctrinating your children in gummint schools.
Posted by denny at March 17, 2004 08:42 PM