I’m just wondering if anyone else has seen the words that are affixed to most drive-thru windows at most burger joints:
“For the safety and security of our staff and guests, walk-up guests and non-motorized vehicles are not served at this window.”
Huh? How does that make me more safe? I can see how it is safer for the walk-up or bicycle guest at the drive-thru; we’re protecting them from getting run over. But how is the order-taker at the window safer from a bicyclists than a car? How am I more secure because there’s not a person standing at the window? Heck, in these days of car bombs, wouldn’t the staff be safer serving a walk-up guest?
I’m also worried about the new bill floating through the Congress, the Commonsense Consumption Act. This legislation would immunize the Mickey D’s of the country from lawsuits stemming from obesity. It’s just a corporate sweetheart deal for the big fast food giants. Bah!
I get so tired of the portrayal of these “frivolous lawsuits.” Even my wife and friends fight with me on this one. “Like that old lady who got $80 million for spilling hot McDonald’s coffee on herself, how stupid!” they say.
I keep explaining that they are looking at the lawsuit from the wrong side. It’s not that the old lady gets a lottery-like windfall for being stupid or careless – that’s a side-effect. It’s that a huge corporation gets some sort of meaningful punishment in the only language they understand: money. What are you gonna do, go with “tort reform” and cap damages at what, $50,000? Ooh, yeah that’s gonna motivate WalMart or PepsiCo or General Motors to change their ways.
The only kind of reform I could support is one that redirects the punitive damages in some way. Old lady spilled hot coffee on herself? OK, McDonald’s has to pay a $18,000,000 fine, but old lady only gets 1% of that, the lawyers get paid (otherwise, who’s going to stand up against McDonald’s?), and the rest of the money goes to charitibale causes.
The Repugs are going to try to stick Edwards with the supposed epithet of “trial lawyer.” Double bah! It’s a good thing that there are lawyers to represent people in lawsuits against corporations! How absurd that they want to paint the “trial lawyer” as an ambulance chaser just trying to milk the system to the benefit of his client, when it’s the corporations who are milking the system every day!
Oh, and about Sandy Berger. Turns out that he was completely exonerated of any wrongdoing. Funny how when a former Clinton Administration official is found innocent it’s not top-of-the-hour news.
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