LEAVE IT TO PEEVER


­­ Bumper sticker of the week: Vote Republican, it's less taxing.

­­ Quote of the week: ''Yet fundamental questions remain unanswered nationally and around the world. No one has seriously added up the amount of toxic acid, ash, slag, dust, and other industry waste being spread in the guise of fertilizer on the land that grows our food. No one has told the farmers, the gardeners, and consumers what they're risking in order for some polluting industries to save money. Experts say the practice is growing in America and probably everywhere. But how much? To what effect? No one knows. That's still the kicker. No one knows.'' Fateful Harvest, Duff Wilson

­­ I'm an AARP member! I have savored this moment, when I could join the ranks of this prestigious group. I have now satisfied their two main criteria: I sent them money, and I have grown old. This is what it has all come down to. Joining a group of old people so we can bitch about everything under the sun. I suppose it will be kind of fun. Here's my first bitch as an old person: Get these damn young hoodlums off the road.

­­ The downtown renovation is underway. This should really excite you taxpayers out there. We'll have a beautiful downtown where nobody shops. The powers that be still don't get it: You take one part Carl Sandburg students using up all the parking spaces, add one part of nothing to buy, and you end up with a beautiful, empty, downtown that we had better start planning to renovate in another 30 years.

­­ I'm still betting, after all the money that's been spent, that the acting president of Carl Sandburg College will get the job. I'll give two to one odds. On top of that, I know who the pick will be after he is done. This is an All In The Family deal.

­­ If you added up all the costs to society for big business to make billions and pay themselves millions, you would come to the conclusion that capitalism is based on welfare and socialist ideas. Here is a small sampling of how out-of-control this whole mess is:

-- Enron, a once multi-billion dollar corporation, paid no taxes in 1999 and 2000. None. My wife and I paid $50,000 for those two years. I suppose I better call Anderson.--

Large industrial companies produce a lot of toxic waste. Lead, arsenic, sludge, beryllium, and other such dangerous and toxic substances which won't go away. Instead of putting such stuff in toxic waste dumps, which would cost them money, they sell it to enterprising entrepreneurs who can legally put it in fertilizers. This is hard to believe, but true. Read Fateful Harvest, by Duff Wilson. It's in the local library.--

Nuclear energy is probably the most expensive and dangerous form of producing power known to mankind. Now the government is thinking about federalizing security at all nuclear power sites, at, of course, our expense. Seems these brains have figured out these sites might make good terrorist targets. These are all for-profit companies that will be protected at our expense. They were all built at our expense, so I suppose it doesn't much matter. The leftover waste also gets stored at our expense. This is all part of the continuing energy rip-off in this country. Grab yourself something to read about Bechtel. This is a company that has for decades made a living off the government and its energy policies. Most of their brilliant projects have sorry endings. A lot of our foreign policy has to do with what Bechtel is wanting to do in other countries.--

Genetically modified foods have suddenly appeared in the grocery store. Are they safe? Who knows. Are they good for the environment? Who knows. Is it right to push these things off onto poor countries? Who cares. The chem-ag companies intend on making everyone dependent on their products. Before you know it farmers are hooked on their goods and asking questions is made out to be blasphemy.--

We are an oil dependent nation. We have no intent on lowering our consumption rates. Recently the congress voted to allow the auto industry to keep the same, and in some cases lower, the mileage their cars get. This is due to the popularity of SUVs, gas guzzling tanks that are very popular among the rich and stupid. If you're driving an SUV and have a son or daughter of draft age, I'd rethink my ride.--

Pharmaceuticals are hot. If you got a complaint, they got a pill to fix it. Of course, it all comes with a price. Usually a big one. I've heard people say they are on 10 + pills, which can't be good for you. Doctors order up these medications like I order up donuts at Swedoughs: Way too many, way too fast. If you're taking more than five medicines to keep you alive, maybe you're due to be dead.



Uploaded to The Zephyr website April 10, 2002

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