It really bugs me... page 2

[MEversbergII]

Chaohinon: I do appreciate you playing advocus dioboli (I am often there myself), but regular spinach has caused a fair number of bacterial outbreaks on it's own (and other vegetables I'm probably unawares of). Of course, not arguing with you (I like everyone), but the idea.

You do make a good point, though - tobacco doesn't have the potential to cause mass damage (second hand smoke only goes so far) were something to go wrong.

M.

[JoanieL]

I'm really not trying to start anything honestly, but the United States sounds like such a horrible place to live.

Its sad to see a country lose its freedom. Even more worrisome is that the trend is becoming global. I'm probably next.

We are, in general a lazy stupid people. We (the 99%) fight about the most mundane bullcrap (abortion, smoking, drugs, etc.) while no one addresses things like crumbling infrastructure, a rigged financial system, the exportation of our jobs, the travesty that is our public school system, and that one in five children goes to bed hungry. We claim verbally that we hate the rich, while doing everything in our power to emulate them. We complain about welfare for the poor while most of us don't even understand how much welfare goes to corporations. The 1% laugh while we do.

And in case we weren't stupid enough, we (pussies that we are) turned a blind eye when the powers that be used 9/11 to basically strip us of most of our rights against unwarranted searches, phone taps, etc., in the name of feeling safe. We are a nation of sheeple.

Fundamentally, we don't understand the difference between ambition and greed. IOW, we don't get the difference between getting rich because one has a talent or product(s) that is in demand and getting rich by stealing within the law.

I think maybe somewhere inside us we know we've been had and we soothe ourselves with borderline pathological consumerism. We worship entertainers and sports celebrities while teachers get so little support that they are digging into their own pockets for things like art supplies for the kids. And when news became a profit center rather than public service, even that became fiction.

The whole food as poison thing is merely one symptom of all that has gone wrong here.

Big cities and urban areas are still available in which to get lost mostly, though not completely. But hey, as long as we can watch Dancing with the Stars, and get to go to neato theme parks like Disney World, we're still the greatest country in the world, no?

[Lucy]

I wish there was a like button JoanieL!! You hit the nail on the head.

[MEversbergII]

As much as I seriously dislike blanket statements, I'll back JoanieL on this one. I'll have to go into more detail another time though - time to roll out for the day.

M.