Alan Grayson for Florida's 8th district
Alan Grayson is running for the Democratic candidate for the 8th district of Congress. The position he is running for is currently held by Ric Keller. Keller is best know for the "Cheeseburger Bill" and well, not much else. At least, not much when it comes to his work in Congress.
But Ric Keller is for another post.
Alan Grayson has been fighting against contractor fraud for more than 16 years. Since the beginning of the Iraq War, he's been battling against the no-bid contractors and the Department of Justice. One case involves a refrigerator truck that KBR was using to hold bodies of Iraqis. The bodies had been in the truck for two weeks in the Iraqi heat without refrigeration. Needless to say, it wasn't pretty. Now, refrigerator trucks can be used to hold bodies, but then they can never be used to carry food or ice. KBR, however, continued to use this particular truck to carry ice.
Yeah, gross. And any ice or food carried on that truck becomes a bio-hazard. You can read more about this case and other cases in a Vanity Fair article.
I found a new tv ad that Grayson has put out over on Daily Kos. It looks great.
In case you haven't figured it out, I plan on voting for Grayson. If you want to help Grayson out, please visit Act Blue or Grayson's campaign website.
jan:
I want to hear more about the Cheeseburger bill. Anything to do with transfats?
26 July 2008, 11:59 amLaura:
Basically the "Cheeseburger bill" was Keller's attempt to keep people from suing companies like McDonald's and Burger King for getting them fat. He had to protect those companies against lawsuits that are rarely pursued and when they are they are tossed out for being frivolous. Personally, I think politicians should spend more time worrying about real issues than about McDonald's or Burger King having to deal with a frivolous lawsuit for 10 minutes.
Now if someone wants to sue Burger King for their very, very, very creepy mascot that they keep using in their commercials, be my guest!
Jo:
The so-called "cheeseburger bill" may not be the most important piece of legislation to come down the pike, but its not as silly as you make it sound. Plaintiff's attorneys have been looking to get rich off restaurants and firearms the same way they did off Big Tobacco. With big class action lawsuits in plaintiff-friendly forums. With just one positive precedent, all restaurants would be exposed to very very costly litigation expenses. The kind that bankrupt the little guys. Its not just Burger King and McDonalds on the line.
26 July 2008, 12:32 pmLaura:
Actually, Jo, it is as silly as I made it sound. Class action lawsuits don't go after the little guys because they don't have any money. They go after companies like Burger King and McDonalds. Companies that can pay the high settlement they are looking for.
Just how many class action lawsuits have you heard of against fast food companies for causing someone's obesity that didn't get tossed out anyway? I've only heard of 1 or 2 and both were tossed out. It's not a big problem that needs a law to protect the big companies.