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that settlement will buy you a lot of happy meals

that settlement will buy you a lot of happy meals

Two overweight teens are suing McDonald's.

"When we're suing on behalf of children, it's hard to argue that a 6, or 8 or 10-year-old child has to take full responsibility for their decisions when they're lured into McDonald's by the toys and the playground and happy meals and the birthday parties," said attorney John Banzhaf.

Those 6, 8 and 10 year olds have to get to McD's somehow. How about giving the parents of these kids some lessons in nutrition?

Each girl is at least 80 pounds overweight, according to government statistics...They have been eating at McDonald's several times a week for years.

Here's an idea. Stop going to McDonald's. Pretty simple, isn't it? They're teenagers now. Not 5, not 8, not 10. They're not "lured" in for the playgrounds or happy meals or toys, they are lured in by their desire to eat very fattening and unhealthy food several times a week. Their parents enable them by either taking them there or giving tjem the money to buy the meals. By hiring lawyers instead of dieticians, they take away any responsibility the girsl have to maintain their personal health and take care of themselves.

Instead of placing blame everywhere but themselves, these parents, children and lawyers should all hang their heads in shame that they are foisting their total lack of self-blame on the United States court system.

What are the parents going to do if they win the case? Will this solve their daughters' weight problem? Will it fix their unhealthy eating habits?

The parents of these girls should take the money they are spending on lawyers and buy themselves a clue.

link via daily pundit

note: before your respond, please note that this is not a post about overweight girls or weight issues at all. It is about accepting blame for a situation instead of placing it everywhere but on your own head.

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Here's what I have to say about this: 1. bariatric surgery - more people to sue, yay! 2. I don't [Read More]

Comments

I totally agree with you. Every time I hear a story where someone overweight is suing the food company, I want to scream at them, "Did you think french fries and burgers are healthy? What the hell is wrong with you?"

I've got 40 pounds I've got to drop, because I now have high blood pressure.

Perhaps I should sue Dominos, Totinos, MickeyDs, Burger King, Frito-Lay, Publix, Winn-Dixie, Pizza Hut, Tony's Italian Restaraunt on the corner of Royal and University, the mexican place up on Ramblewood - what do you think? Which first?

This kind of thing is really beginning to haunt me lately. Seems about 95% of the entire population of the US has lost their mind completely. No one knows how to accept responsibility, and the worst part is that that thought process is creeping toward not PLACING blame, either. "Oh, it wasn't his/her fault! You can't blame so and so for that, look at the stimulii they were subjected to as kids!"

It's pathetic and it's only getting worse. This is almost (mind you, almost) as bad as suing Big Tobacco for folk getting cancer. Huh?

Play with fire, get burned - don't sue the match company.

You know what pisses me off the most? The fact that you have to put that disclaimer at the bottom of your post in your blog. To anyone who is reading this and was planning on bitching Michele out for having an opinion IN HER OWN HOUSE, I say to you, fuck off and die. Slowly and painfully.

Michele, I apologize, but I'm sick of you having to defend yourself in on your own page. To the rest of you, read what Robyn had to say about this.

That's nothing. A guy tried to sue the state for workers comp because he weighed 400 lbs. I wanted to call him & ask if his government job consisted of being tied to his chair & force fed Twinkies. I'm sick to death of people not taking responsibility for themselves.

simply astonishing, two overweight kids are attempting to gain on being overweight...sue happy..can u say it with me? accepting responsibility for your actions should be instilled shortly after birth, if it isn't, then find a somehow-good shiat ass lawyer who is more than welcome to gain local/national recognition by means of a meaningless lawsuit ~ these overzealous heavyweights should drop the two liters of diet Coke and pick up the habit of being responsible for their actions, and the parents should be ostricized for their $$$-hungry eyes at the expense of their kids

I wonder if this isn't more about greed than the inability to accept responsibility. I'm thinking these girls wouldn't be so quick to publically place blame if there wasn't at least a slim chance they'd make a pile of sue-happy loot in the process.

Shameful.

(Bitchymode on) Well, if they win the lawsuit, they should be able to buy Big Macs for the rest of their very short, very fat, very irresponsible lives. Everybody wins. McDonald's gets their money back, the girls get carte blanche on pursuing their own self destruction, and we only have to live with them for a few more years. (Bitchymode off.)

Sigh.

is this like a post about iraq and september 11th or not huh? DOn't try and confuse me with this talk of clowns - we all know ronald is ossama. Or Dick C. I always get them two confused, but if Dubya does it, then it must be ok.

This kind of thing scares the shit out of me. I've read more and more of these stories over the last few years, and as we all know, when America coughs we in the UK get covered in phlegm.
It won't be long before the UK courts are filled to the rafters with lard-arsed responsibility-shirkers attempting to blame their arterial corrosion on their high street kebab-monger...

if they win, they can afford bariatric surgery, which will probably fuck up their bodies even more, and then they can sue the irresponsible doctor who performed the surgery!

These days, bartenders need to have the balls to tell tipsy clients they've reached their limit; lest they be sued if the drinker gets into an accident driving home.

Can you imagine what it would be like if overweight people were refused service at restaurants (or were denied the right to order specific items from the menu) for fear of the establishment getting sued.

Sheesh!

I can see this expanding into other areas:

"Sorry, am I required by law to not sell cigarettes to anyone who is coughing."

or:
"Sorry, I cannot sell you that tube top. You are like 60 years old. You'll look like an idiot."

This, this is what I'm talking about. The fact that it is even_possible to sue someone due to ones own stupidity, feeblemindedness and idiocy (feel free to add your own favourite synonyms) is absurd.
Stop embracing stupidity America (No, I'm not talking about you specifically, I'm talking about "the system"), for your own sake!

I'm not saying Sweden is perfect by any measure (it's not), but over here the attourney, the lawyer, the judge and any other eavesdropping lawmen would flat out laugh you in the face for even suggesting to sue.

Sigh

Amen, Michele. I will save my rant for my own blog, but I agree with you 100%.

I totally agree with you. I'm overweight for hormonal and metabolic reasons, but still I watch what I eat as much as I can. We cannot blame the media or the food companies for our own irresponsibility, especially when it's our irresponsability affecting our children.

Life sucks when you are overweight, or if you prefer "morbidly obese", but it doesn't entitle people to blame others for their problems.

Really a no brainer, but when you walk past a girl half your size, with a Coke and a bag of Doritos in one hand, and a tray of nacho-cheese covered hot Cheetos, you really get pissed off.

If I ate that, I believe I'd gain 10 pounds, my arteries will clog up, and I'll need a quadruple bypass. That girl probably went home and gorged herself on some more empty calories. I couldn't post what I thought when I walked past her today.

damn me for being in shape an excercising! i coulda got in on this action...

I so totally agree. It's not a "fat" issue, it's a personal responsibility issue. The next course of action will be suing grocery stores for selling Tater Tots, bacon, Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream, and the like. Making people fess up and take the blame for the choices they make in their life is discouraged because it may damage their self-esteem. It also means that they can't grab for other people's money.

Maybe if McDonald's and such made their doors narrower.... Darwinism vs. obesity?