by Charles Demers/ Seven Oaks Magazine
Friday, Mar. 19, 2004 at 10:56 AM charles@sevenoaksmag.com
Fast food giants are celebrating their recent House of Reps victory in the 'Cheeseburger Bill' -- but what about the racism and class arrogance that underlies its basic premise?
A week ago, upon hearing the phrase “Cheeseburger Bill,” one might have thought that McDonald's was adding a new face to their already-bloated cast of cartoon characters in order to help sell their wares to an already-bloated consumer base. In fact, the Cheeseburger Bill is among the latest pieces of legislation to go successfully before the United States House of Representatives. If it receives Senate approval, the bill would eliminate the possibility of future lawsuits against fast food giants for their undeniable role in perpetuating America's increasing problems with obesity.
Television, Internet, and print news sources have exhausted their video and photographic file footage of acephalous, endomorphic torsos waddling unwittingly past cameras in order to explain the legal implication of bill: The consumer alone would be responsible for what they eat. With a new report this past week indicating that obesity is set to overtake smoking as the leading cause of preventable deaths in America, this bill would impact millions of lives, and could produce billions of dollars worth of medical service-related financial strain, which now can not be shifted even in part to the big industry players like McDonald's, Wendy's, or E. coli -lawsuit veterans Jack in the Box. Or, in other words, while Phillip Morris may have to fork over money to pay for the devastation caused by his tobacco products, nobody could nail him for Kraft Dinner.
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