Free Republic

OAK BROOK, Illinois, October 10, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The American Family Association (AFA) announced the end of a successful boycott yesterday against McDonald's Corporation. McDonald's has severed its ties to a homosexual business group and declared neutrality in the culture wars as per AFA's request.

Burger bars and budget stores: Credit crunch winners who are in the money 'I can't remember us ever being this busy,' said the chef as he prepared another Pepperoni Passion at the Domino's Pizza takeaway in southwest London. By David Harrison Last Updated: 12:27AM BST 05 Oct 2008 Domino's has seen half-year profits soar by more than a third to £8.3 million compared with last year Photo: PA "We used to envy the restaurant over the road because it was always packed with people spending lots of money. But now everybody seems to want to order in pizzas or have...

McDonald's, home of kids' Happy Meals and the Big Mac, has been cited by a boycott campaign for sponsoring conferences at which homosexuals are trained to be activists in advancing their own sexual preferences, according to the American Family Association. The AFA has launched a boycott campaign of the company for an anti-family agenda and public condemnation of traditional family supporters as being motivated by "hate." The AFA's petition and other outreaches have been assembled at the website BoycottMcDonalds.com. Now there's more reason for members and supporters of traditional families to be upset with the fast-food chain. "McDonald's does it...

Mainstream media outlets declined to cover a press conference held yesterday by conservative groups protesting a McDonald’s spokesman who accused them of “hatred.” A coalition of pro-family groups, spearheaded by the American Family Association (AFA), sponsored the press conference at the McDonald’s world headquarters in Oak Brook, Illinois. The coalition was accused of “hatred” by a company spokesman because they are boycotting McDonald’s for sponsoring the homosexual agenda. At the press conference, Matt Barber, Director of Cultural Affairs for Liberty Counsel, explained what the McDonald’s spokesman said that infuriated the boycotters. “While referring to Christians and other people with traditional...

A NEW weapon in the battle against obesity was rolled out last month when the Los Angeles City Council decided to stop new fast food restaurants from opening in some of the city’s poorest neighborhoods. Even in a country where a third of the schoolchildren are overweight or obese, the yearlong moratorium raises questions about when eating one style of food stops being a personal choice and becomes a public health concern. The Sisyphean struggle against poor diets has included booting soda from schools, banning trans fat and, more recently, sending New Yorkers into dietary sticker shock with a law...

Talk about taking a bite out of crime! For two years, a Brooklyn thug sat in an Oregon jail awaiting trial for a coldblooded murder, and all the fat felon could think about was food - a bucket of greasy chicken, a mouthful of lasagna, a slice of pizza. So when prosecutors offered to buy Tremayne Durham, 36, a fast-food buffet in exchange for a guilty plea that would land him behind bars, likely for the rest of his life, he bit right in. The 275-pound convicted rapist admitted he had shot a man to death over a failed business...

NEW YORK (Reuters Health)-If the trends of the past three decades continue, it's possible that every American adult could be overweight 40 years from now, a government-funded study projects. The figure might sound alarming, or impossible, but researchers say that even if the actual rate never reaches the 100-percent mark, any upward movement is worrying; two-thirds of the population is already overweight....

A moratorium on the opening of new fast food restaurants in one of the poorest areas of Los Angeles moved one step closer to reality on Tuesday in a measure aimed at countering obesity.A Los Angeles city council planning committee unanimously approved a one-year ban, which could be extended for a further year, on new fast food outlets in a 32-square-mile (82-sq-km) area of Los Angeles.

A proposal that would place at least a one-year moratorium on new fast-food restaurants in a broad swath of neighborhoods, mostly in South Los Angeles, won unanimous support from a Los Angeles City Council committee Tuesday. If approved by the full council and signed by the mayor, the law would prevent fast-food chains from opening new restaurants in a 32-square-mile area, including West Adams, Baldwin Village and Leimert Park. The moratorium would be in effect for one year, with the possibility of two six-month extensions. The measure, proposed by Councilwoman Jan Perry, whose 9th District includes much of South Los...

Exiling the Happy Meal Los Angeles Lawmakers Want to Escalate The War on Obesity (And Fast Food) By SARAH MCBRIDE July 22, 2008 Despite its health-crazy reputation, parts of Los Angeles are plagued by obesity rates that rival any city in America. Now, the city may join a growing roster of local governments aiming to put their residents on diets by cracking down on the fast-food industry. Jan Perry, a Los Angeles city-council member, is spearheading legislation that would ban new fast-food restaurants like McDonald's and KFC from opening in a 32-square-mile chunk of the city, including her district. The...

First, from the top of the Democrat Party, we had Howard Dean banning fried food at the Democrat Convention and authorizing only approved food colors. Of course, the caterers correctly thought Dean was a moron, and told him so. Now the Left Coast chapter of the Fraternal Order of Oral Limitations (FOOL), which enforces food consumption regulations as well as speech control laws, has decided that people in South-Central are too fat and unhealthy so they want a moratorium on any new fast food joints.

The American Family Association, whose earlier boycott of Ford Motor Co. over its promotion of homosexuality was dropped after company sales fell 8 percent per month for two years, now is asking consumers to stop buying Big Macs and Happy Meals at McDonald's. In a brief announcement today, AFA, whose constituents number in the millions, said it is "asking its supporters to boycott the restaurant chain." "This boycott is not about hiring homosexuals, or homosexuals eating at McDonald's or how homosexual employees are treated. It is about McDonald's, as a corporation, choosing to put the full weight of their organization...

First it was a proposed ban on plastic bags. Now, a member of the influential Madison Plan Commission wants to ban the restaurant drive-through -- or at least restrict the ubiquitous symbol of America's auto-centric lifestyle. "Given the concern about all the carbon going into the atmosphere, I'm not sure we should be building more places for people to sit idling in their cars," says Eric Sundquist, who was appointed to the citizen panel by Mayor Dave Cieslewicz this spring. A former newspaper reporter in Atlanta now working as a researcher at the UW-Madison's Center on Wisconsin Strategy, Sundquist notes...

It’s not likely dieticians will be endorsing his regimen, but a Virginia man demonstrated it is possible to regularly dine at a fast-food restaurant without being criticized for signing your own death certificate. Despite media attacks on fast-food for being unhealthy, ABC’s “Good Morning America” showed that healthier options are available without heavy-handed involvement from government in its June 19 broadcast. “Meet Chris Coleson – for years the Virginia man said he was eating too much and, of course, no diet seemed to work,” co-host Diane Sawyer said. “Then last December, he tipped the scales at 278 pounds and made...

<p>McDonald's french fries are now trans-fat-free in all its restaurants in the United States and Canada, the fast-food restaurant chain said Thursday.</p> <p>McDonald's has lagged other restaurant operators in switching over to a zero-trans-fat cooking oil out of worries it would compromise the taste of its trademark fries. It has been under increasing pressure from consumer advocates and some public officials to make the change.</p>

OAK BROOK, Ill. - Fast food chain McDonald's Inc. says it's giving out millions of free samples of its two new chicken menu items. On May 15th, the Oak Brook-based restaurant chain will give customers samples of its "Southern style" chicken biscuits and sandwiches. Customers can get the free lunch and breakfast items when they buy any medium or large drink at the company's 14,000 U.S. restaurants. The promotion's part of McDonald's efforts to convince customers to try their expanded chicken menu. McDonald's says it expects to give away 8 million breakfast and lunch sandwiches during the daylong event.

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - With a possible U.S. recession looming, Colonel Sanders is turning to China to fill the breach, offering a menu of fried dough and preserved egg porridge alongside the chicken that turned KFC into an American icon. Beset by falling sales at home, Yum! Brands Inc, owner of the Kentucky Fried Chicken and Pizza Hut brands, is mounting an expansion drive in China that could make the country its biggest source of profit within a decade. But like many foreign firms in China, from mobile phone makers to clothing designers, the U.S. fast food giant has discovered it...

Fast-Food Liver Damage Can Be Reversed, Experts SayDiets high in fast food can be highly toxic to the liver and other internal organs, but that damage can be reversed, says one of the country's leading experts on non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, who offers four steps to undo the effects of a 'super-size me' diet. (Credit: iStockphoto/Marketa Ebert) ScienceDaily (May 2, 2008) — Diets high in fast food can be highly toxic to the liver and other internal organs, but that damage can be reversed, says one of the country’s leading experts on non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, who offers four steps...

SANFORD, Fla. -- Eyewitness News discovered a popular Sanford fast food restaurant that's accused of storing food on the floor inside the men's restroom. The food that was left on the floor in the restroom was just one of several critical violations health inspectors found at a Checkers location in Sanford. Employees at the Checkers store on South French Avenue at West 15th Street apparently decided it was okay to store buns for their hamburgers inside a not-so-clean men's room. Tuesday, it appeared they had changed the policy, but not before racking up a dozen health code violations. "The bread...

Roast Beef Sandwich Chain Buys Square Burger Biz For $2 Billion (AP) After two past rejections, the owner of Arby's shaved roast beef sandwich restaurants is buying Wendy's, the fast-food chain famous for its made-to-order square hamburgers and chocolate Frosty dessert, for around $2 billion. Triarc Companies Inc., which is owned by billionaire investor Nelson Peltz, said Thursday it will pay about $2.34 billion in an all-stock deal for the nation's third-largest hamburger chain started in 1969 by Dave Thomas. Wendy's had rejected at least two buyout offers from Triarc. Thomas' daughter Pam Thomas Farber said the family was devastated...

At a time when the state is trying to eliminate trans fats and junk food from school cafeterias, public schools spend thousands of dollars at fast-food restaurants, pizza joints and doughnut shops. The state’s new nutrition policy eliminates sodas, trans fats and candy from schools in the next few years, but it includes a loophole that allows schools to feed students whatever is convenient anytime outside of “regular school hours” — on field trips, during extracurricular activities or athletic events. GCDN Buses line up outside of Whataburger. Away from regulated cafeterias, school officials often turn to the most convenient or...

LOS ANGELES - Herb Peterson, who invented the ubiquitous Egg McMuffin as a way to introduce breakfast to McDonald's restaurants, has died, a Southern California McDonald's official said Wednesday. He was 89. Peterson died peacefully Tuesday at his Santa Barbara home, said Monte Fraker, vice president of operations for McDonald's restaurants in that city. He began his career with McDonald's Corp. as vice president of the company's advertising firm, D'Arcy Advertising, in Chicago. He wrote McDonald's first national advertising slogan, "Where Quality Starts Fresh Every Day."

Fast food is a subject that's near and dear to Clark's heart. The fast food chains are discounting their menus because they're hurting for customers right now. Wendy's has come out with the Stack Attack double cheeseburger for 99 cents, while McDonald's and Burger King have their own $1 double cheeseburgers. The fast food index is a leading indicator of difficulty in the economy. So you'll see value menus start to grow as disposable income continues to shrink. Fast food restaurants need their so-called "heavy eaters" -- people who are super-loyal to a particular brand and dine out about 5...

VALDOSTA, Ga., Jan. 30 /PRNewswire/ -- Little Caesar Enterprises, Inc. today celebrates the grand opening of the fifth store to open under the Little Caesars Veterans Program as U.S. military veteran and Little Caesars franchisee Patricia Evans opens her doors for business at 1650 F Baytree Road in Valdosta, Georgia. "The Little Caesars Veterans Program has provided me the opportunity to transition to a new career as my family and I begin the next chapter in our lives," said Evans. "I am proud to be the first woman to open a store under this program, and I'm excited to be...

WASHINGTON - A Montgomery County Councilman railed against a popular school fundraiser Thursday, comparing a McDonald’s McTeacher Night to inviting children to a tobacco shop....McTeacher Nights, held at local McDonald’s franchises, involve school staff working the registers while students and families stop in to eat. In exchange, the franchise donates a percentage of the night’s profit to the school. This year, PTAs at Baker Middle School in Damascus and Cedar Grove Elementary in Germantown sponsored such fundraisers. The flap over McTeacher nights arose during committee meetings in Rockville, where representatives from the Center for Science in the Public Interest presented...

According to Parco's report, the first detailed account offered by Clearwater police, the officer was behind Merola. He tried to drive around her but the Town Car blocked his way. Seeing her window open, he called out for her to move the car. After she did nothing but turn and give Parco a look, the officer approached and again asked her to move, according to the report. Parco said she was immediately belligerent, telling him she could not move because the McDonald's people told her to wait there. She then warned Parco about the way he was speaking to her,...

CLEARWATER - The 75-year-old grandmother who was arrested Thursday at a McDonald's on a charge of disorderly conduct gave an officer lip, according to a police report. Jean Merola swore at the officer and said, "You are an evil man. Your wife is going to divorce you. Your kids probably hate you too. You are going to hell," according to the report. Officer Matthew Parco was behind Merola in line and had received his drink; he asked her to move up so he could get around her but she didn't respond. Parco spent about 20 minutes asking Merola to move...

CLEARWATER, Fla. -- A 75-year-old woman was arrested at a Clearwater McDonald's drive-thru, because police say she wouldn't pull her car forward. Authorities said Jean Merola, a grandmother of eight, was arrested for disorderly conduct after she refused an officer's orders to move her car while she waited for the coffee and fries she ordered at the drive-through window. Merola said the McDonald's employees told her to wait there for her food. Merola was handcuffed behind her back and put in the cruiser. Another officer arrived and took her to the Pinellas County Jail . Merola said she was searched,...

Carl Karcher, who parlayed a single hot dog pushcart into a chain of more than 1,000 fast-food restaurants bearing his name, died Friday. He was 90. The affable, burly entrepreneur, known to millions as the jovial television pitchman for the Carl's Jr. chain, died of complications from Parkinson's-related pneumonia at St. Jude Medical Center in Fullerton, according to Beth Mansfield, a spokeswoman for parent company CKE Restaurants. A stalwart Orange County Republican, Karcher worked tirelessly for the party and its candidates, still finding time for active and enthusiastic involvement in local causes, including United Way of Orange County, Orangewood Children's...

A Swede has been arrested for trying to smuggle 655 kilos of kebab meat into Norway, Norwegian media have reported. Norwegian police say the man had stuffed the back seat and the trunk with white plastic 'sausages' filled with meat. The man was reported to have reinforced the car's suspension so that the car would not look weighed down. The man said he had been offered cash payment to take the meat to Oslo, according to Dagens Nyheter. As Norway is not in the EU the amount of meat that can be taken into the country from Sweden is limited...

Who, pray who, is still sucked in by grotesque fast-food ads? Shouldn't there be a law? I admit scattershot naivete. I admit to a strain of blind optimism, a sort of sporadic myopia, a weirdly sanguine tunnel vision that makes me somehow think that we as a species and a culture and as a mad gaggle of individual human souls who are coupled with functioning hunks of semi-rational gray matter, we must, at least occasionally, be learning something, ever-so-slightly advancing our awareness of those things on this planet that want to harm us and sicken us and even kill us,...

As America gets fatter, policymakers are seeking creative approaches to legislating health. They may have entered the school cafeteria -- and now they're eyeing your neighborhood. Amid worries of an obesity epidemic and its related illnesses, including high blood pressure, diabetes and heart disease, Los Angeles officials, among others around the country, are proposing to limit new fast-food restaurants -- a tactic that could be called health zoning. The City Council will be asked this fall to consider an up to two-year moratorium on new fast-food restaurants in South L.A., a part of the city where fast food is at...

So you think you know the McDonald's menu like the back of your hand? Think again. From McDonald's international, here are some menu items you have probably never tried before. Good morning, welcome to McDonald's. May I have your order please? INDIA In India, there are no Big Macs because the Hindu people don't eat beef. However, they have the Maharaja Mac, which is a Big Mac made of lamb or chicken meat. There is also a vegetarian burger, the McAloo Tikki.NORWAY In fish-loving Norway, they have the McLaks, a sandwich made of grilled salmon and dill sauce.GERMANY It's...

Would Jesus Eat at McDonald's? Saturday 11th Aug 2007 by David Paulin The intellectual elite of the Presbyterian Church (USA) have in recent years joined ranks with the radical left. Its members vilify Israel, apologize for Islamic terrorists, and cheer on the Palestinian cause. Now, these Presbyterians have another villain: the Big Mac. America’s most famous hamburger is emblematic of the dark underbelly of globalization, according to David Hadley Jensen, an associate professor of something called “constructive theology” at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Austin, Texas. On top of that, McDonald’s and its iconic burger are even at odds with...

Wendy's purchase talks stuck at crawl Friday, August 10, 2007 3:25 AM By Monique Curet THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH Wendy's International Inc. remains in talks with a potential buyer more than a week after a deadline passed for resolving issues related to the sale process. Neither the company nor the suitor, investor Nelson Peltz's Triarc Cos., is saying much. But if Wendy's is taking a hard stance during the negotiations, it suggests that the company "has sufficient interest from someone else," one observer said. No one is saying who that might be. Peltz, who owns Arby's and controls nearly 10 percent...

NEW YORK - Don't expect to see the calorie count for Burger King's Double Whopper with cheese on the menu anytime soon. Burger King, McDonald's and Wendy's are among the chains planning to defy New York City's new rule that they begin posting calories on menus Sunday. Other big fast food eateries like Taco Bell and KFC aren't saying whether they will comply, but with just days to go until the deadline, the menu boards in their Big Apple restaurants remain unchanged. All are hoping a New York Restaurant Association lawsuit in federal court will get the new regulation thrown...

Education sure is an asset, especially in ol' fashioned Europe, but all the same; "McJobs worth more than university A majority of personnel managers consider a job at McDonalds more valuable than a political science course at university. A new report - commissioned by McDonalds - has shown that 59 percent of personnel managers consider the experience gained from a job with the global fast food chain more beneficial than a term spent studying political science. Related Articles Helicopter makes emergency landing for McDonalds lunch 17th April 2007 Ministers announce job policy measures 4th April 2007 AstraZeneca to announce further...

CBS) Rick Berman takes a certain pride, even joy, in the nickname Dr. Evil. But the people who use it see nothing funny about it—they mean it. His real name is Rick Berman, a Washington lobbyist and arch-enemy of other lobbyists and do-gooders who would have government control, and even ban, a myriad of products they claim are killing us. Products like caffeine, salt, fast food and the oil they fry it in. He's against Mothers Against Drunk Driving, animal rights activists, food watchdog groups and unions of every kind. As correspondent Morley Safer reports, Berman believes we are fast...

SOME UPTIGHT Americans are going loco over the peso. In fact, it's a real food fight. Pizza Patron, a Dallas-based pizza chain, is accepting pesos at its 59 stores in Texas, Colorado, Arizona, California and Nevada. The gimmick is aimed at the company's clientele, which is 60 percent Latino. The company has received thousands of angry e-mails and even death threats. The thinking was that folks might find themselves with a loose peso or two after trips to Mexico. So why not trade pesos for pizza? That sounds like capitalism. Everyone wants Latinos' dinero. According to marketing experts, Fortune 500...

Federal researchers say neurocysticercosis, a brain infection caused by a pork tapeworm, is a "growing public health problem in the United States," especially in states bordering Mexico, where the disease is endemic. ..."international travel and immigration are bringing the disorder to areas where it is not endemic," such as this country. "Neurocysticercosis is the primary cause of epilepsy in endemic areas. This brain worm is very serious," Victor C. Tsang, chief of the immunochemistry laboratory in the Parasitic Disease Division of the CDC said... "Oral-fecal contamination is the standard route of transmission," he said of the condition... "Recent data indicate...

  SOUTH PLAINFIELD, N.J. (AP) - Taco Bell ordered scallions removed from its 5,800 U.S. restaurants Wednesday after tests suggested they may be responsible for the E. coli outbreak that has sickened at least three dozen people in three states. The fast-food chain said preliminary testing by an independent lab found three samples of green onions appeared to have a dangerous strain of the bacterium. "In an abundance of caution, we've decided to pull all green onions from our restaurants until we know conclusively whether they are the cause of the E. coli outbreak," said Greg Creed, president of Irvine,...

Would you like fired with that? Two employees of the city's ice skating rink have been fired for making a midnight fast-food run in a pair of Zambonis. An anonymous tipster reported seeing the two big ice-resurfacing machines chug through a Burger King drive-through and return to the rink around 12:30 a.m. on Nov. 10. The squat, rubber-tired vehicles, which have a top speed of about 5 mph, drove 1.5 miles in all. The Zamboni operators, both temporary city employees whose names and ages were not released by Parks and Recreation Department, had to negotiate at least one intersection with...

Drive-thru superstars: These guys bring a little fun to their fast food runs Hilarious video from a McDonalds drive through -http://www.yahoo.com/s/440968 Very Funny!!!

LOS LUNAS, N.M. Oct 11, 2006 (AP)— Three workers at a Burger King restaurant were arrested after two Isleta tribal police officers discovered that the hamburgers they ordered were sprinkled with marijuana. The Isleta Police Department officers ate about half of their burgers Sunday before discovering marijuana on the meat. The officers used a field test kit to confirm the substance was pot, then went to a hospital for a medical evaluation. The three Burger King employees Justin Armijo, 19; Robert Nuckols, 21; and manager Joseph Ledesma, 33 were arrested and charged with possession of marijuana and aggravated battery on...

HOUSTON — A group of illegal immigrants who worked for Wendy's International Inc. is suing the restaurant chain because the company fired them after discovering it had missed a deadline for joining a federal program that would have helped them attain legal status. The lawsuit, filed Friday in state district court in Houston, is a companion to a similar class-action suit filed last month in Dallas against Dublin, Ohio-based Wendy's, its subsidiary Cafe Express and the Houston-based business law firm Boyar & Miller. The immigrants, who worked for Cafe Express, are seeking unspecified damages. Between the two lawsuits, 40 illegal...

WASHINGTON (AFP) - A US doctors' group has sued seven leading fast-food chains including McDonald's and Burger King over their use of a "dangerous carcinogenic" in grilled chicken. The Washington-based Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) filed suit in California Thursday "to compel the restaurants to warn unsuspecting consumers". The group said every sample of grilled chicken products from the seven national chains "tested positive for a dangerous carcinogenic compound called PhIP" during analysis at an independent laboratory. PhIP is one of a group of carcinogenic compounds called heterocyclic amines (HCAs) that are found in grilled meat. In 2005, the...

Surely every American old enough to place his own Happy Meal order knows there's an obesity epidemic in this country. Despite this -- and despite piles of research on the evils of diets high in saturated fat and sodium and low in fiber -- American fast-food chains continue to roll out bigger, fatter, more decadent fare. Consider this summer's debut of Burger King's BK Stackers, which include a Quad Stacker option of four slabs of beef, four slices of cheese and up to eight slices of bacon -- "smothered," as the company puts it, in a creamy sauce. "This burger...

Police arrested a University of Georgia student Tuesday for allegedly running down two women in the parking lot of a local McDonald's after they argued over who was next in line. Ruth Catherine Driscoll-Dunn, 24, was taken into custody at her apartment a half-mile from the fast-food restaurant on Gaines School Road and charged with two counts of aggravated assault. Police said Driscoll-Dunn argued Saturday morning with two women over who was first in line when a new cashier opened up, and that Driscoll-Dunn waited for the women in her Jeep Cherokee in the parking lot and veered into them...

(AP) ST. LOUIS -- In the past few months, McDonald's Corp. announced it would push healthy meals like salads while Wendy's International Inc. said it would fry foods in a healthier oil with less trans fats. And CKE Restaurants Inc.? The operator of Hardee's and Carl's Jr. unveiled a jumbo-sized cheeseburger smothered in sliced steak. "I think the health craze is happening mostly among journalists," said Andrew Puzder, CKE's president and chief executive. A lean man with an athletic build, Puzder laid out CKE's decidedly un-health-conscious business strategy during the company's annual shareholders meeting Tuesday in St. Louis. The key...

NEW YORK - In a town where you can get a slice of pizza or a hot dog on nearly every block, one city councilman wants to limit the number of fast food restaurants as a way to fight obesity. Councilman Joel Rivera, health committee chairman, said at a hearing Wednesday he was exploring the idea of using zoning laws to prevent fast food joints from taking over city streets. More than half of adult New Yorkers are overweight or obese. "You're not going to totally eliminate fast food restaurants, but you could limit the amount," Rivera said after the...