STUPID LAWSUIT

August 6, 2002

New York maintenance worker Caesar Barber deserves a prize for stupidest lawsuit of 2002. Of course the prize he wants would be millions of dollars from four fast food chains -- McDonald's, KFC, Burger King and Wendy's. He ate too many Big Macs and got fat. He must have just stuffed himself with them. He loved gorging himself with fried food. And now -- now he says he didn't realize that 6 Big Macs, bacon cheeseburgers and triple fries might put on a pound or two. Now what happened? Did Colonel Sanders force him to eat those three chickens? Did Dave Thomas jam those burgers down his throat? He says it was 1999 when he finally realized that eating all of that might not be a good idea.

This guy didn't have to eat all of those burgers and fries. They do sell salads and, of course, ice cream. Let's face it -- too much of a good thing is not good. Really there isn't any bad food unless you eat too much of something. Obesity is a growing problem in this country. But there is something that can be done about it. It's called personal responsibility. We are responsible for what we eat. If we eat a wide variety of different foods, don't overeat, and get plenty of exercise -- we should be just fine.

When someone gets too fat, I mean heavy, who do you blame? The restaurant, the food processor, the farmer, or why not blame the government for not providing protection? Steve Anderson of the Restaurant Association called this lawsuit frivolous. Yes, it's frivolous, but it's also stupid! I say this lawsuit takes the cake for stupidity. Of course, he'll eat the cake too.

I have to rush now and grab a Big Mac. I'm in a hurry. Until next week I am John Block from Washington.