Death by Diet Coke?

I was going to send this link via email to a circle of friends and family, knowing most of them would probably ignore it among the mass of jokes and cute pictures and "male enhancement" emails clogging up their in boxes and then I realized that I should reward the regular readers of this site awaiting a new post.

Anyway, I hate to join the latest health scare panic as I usually find that the stories don't hold up to their initial promise, but this latest disturbing health study seems part of a pattern to me...

Caution: Some soft drinks may seriously harm your health
Expert links additive to cell damage
By Martin Hickman, Consumer Affairs Correspondent
Published: 27 May 2007

A new health scare erupted over soft drinks last night amid evidence they may cause serious cell damage. Research from a British university suggests a common preservative found in drinks such as Fanta and Pepsi Max has the ability to switch off vital parts of DNA.

The problem - more usually associated with ageing and alcohol abuse - can eventually lead to cirrhosis of the liver and degenerative diseases such as Parkinson's.

(snip)

Sodium benzoate has already been the subject of concern about cancer because when mixed with the additive vitamin C in soft drinks, it causes benzene, a carcinogenic substance. A Food Standards Agency survey of benzene in drinks last year found high levels in four brands which were removed from sale.

Now, an expert in ageing at Sheffield University, who has been working on sodium benzoate since publishing a research paper in 1999, has decided to speak out about another danger. Professor Peter Piper, a professor of molecular biology and biotechnology, tested the impact of sodium benzoate on living yeast cells in his laboratory. What he found alarmed him: the benzoate was damaging an important area of DNA in the "power station" of cells known as the mitochondria.

The FDA has become a joke and whether it's Chinese food unfit for animal or human consumption or killer pharmaceuticals released without proper testing (at the same time they tell you that you can't get them from Canada because it might not be safe or that if you smoke pot you are a dangerous criminal who will end up stupid and forgetful).

Maybe it's time to write your Congressman or one of your two Senators:

The FDA normally inspects about 1 percent of all food and food ingredients at U.S. borders. It does tests on about half of 1 percent.

And official vigilance has been going down — for two reasons.

First, food imports have increased dramatically, from $45 billion in 2003 to $64 billion three years later.

Second, the "food" part of the FDA has been getting smaller.

After all, if you're not testing for it, it's easy to say there's no problem since it hasn't been caught. I'm sick of poisonous products being pumped out for corporate profit without regard to the many lives affected. Our current system has failed to protect the public and it's because we've handed the keys to our country over to people who only care about their own bottom line and have managed to gut the FDA's power to properly inspect our food and drug supply:

Earlier this year, lead-contaminated multivitamins showed up on the shelves of U.S. retailers. And this spring, vitamin A from China contaminated with dangerous bacteria nearly ended up in European baby food.

It's bound to happen more often. Hubbard says the agency is overwhelmed by the rising tide of imports.

"When I came to the FDA in the 1970s, the food program was almost half of the FDA's budget. Today, it's only a quarter," Hubbard says.

Experts say the FDA has about 650 food inspectors to cover 60,000 domestic food producers and 418 ports of entry.

The agency plans to close nearly half of its 13 food-testing labs.

Yes, it seems as if they want to make the companies themselves responsible for their own testing. The reason we have an FDA is because we know what happens when companies are in charge of overseeing the safety of their own products without government "interference" and "over regulation." Anyone remember the Ford Pinto's exploding gas tank?

In the 1970s Ralph Nader warned of and tried to do something about the fact that airlines needed to strengthen their cockpit doors as a means to help defend against plane hijackings, a warning which went unheeded due to the airlines' insistence that such a regulation would be burdensome to the industry. Anyone care to "connect the dots" there? If our government would have insisted on public safety maybe the public wouldn't have had to write a $15 billion check after 9/11? Also, we likely wouldn't have started a bogus invasion of a foreign country, leading to a bloody and costly occupation.

We now a see a pattern of a political philosophy that sees government as the problem when in fact, in the case of food and drug safety, it's the lack of government that is a problem. Without rigid regulations, stiff inspections and serious penalties for failure to meet a proper standard, we will continue to have to take our lives into our own hands when we sit down at our dinner table or when we pop a pill.

The bad idea that won't die

While a noble band of local folks have been waging a grass-roots campaign to try to stop a Super Wal-Mart from being constructed just outside the Hastings city limits, Hastings City and Rutland Township officials have been quietly negotiating a deal with the giant retailer. Citizens: Prepare thyselves for Wal-Mart’s presence near the corner of Green Street and Cook Road in Rutland Township. Back-room politics appear to be winning yet another battle in hyper capitalism’s war on the unwary working middle class.

Forget the fact that a horde of local citizens cheered when the Rutland Township Planning Commission voted unanimously in March against recommending Wal-Mart’s request for mixed use zoning to accommodate the project. Forget the fact the Rutland Township Board last month voted 4-3 in the face of public opposition to have another traffic study done, effectively delaying Wal-Mart’s request to get started on a "super" shopping center. Forget what you heard about the Super Wal-Mart plan being dead. Like a movie monster, this bad idea just keeps getting up again in order to continue scaring the villagers...

The crucial argument against Super Wal-Mart’s location selection has been the nature of Green Street, residential, too narrow and too close to a hospital that needs quick ingress and egress for emergency vehicles. The secondary argument against the world’s largest retailer is its awful habit of ruining small communities by sucking the life out of downtowns, forcing taxpayers to widen roads and provide infrastructure as a result of Wal-Mart’s mere presence and the retail giant’s penchant for locating just outside the city limits and in the adjacent township to avoid paying higher city taxes (in Hastings the levy is 16.2 mills, in Rutland, it’s one measly mill).

Several city and township officials, through private negotiations, apparently have cut off the traffic argument at the pass with a novel idea: Closing Green Street just to the west of Pennock Hospital and Fish Hatchery Park, thereby countering claims Green is too narrow and the hospital can’t absorb increase in traffic. Meanwhile, it seems people then could get to Wal-Mart from Cook Road and the portion of Green that runs from Cook east from the M-37/M-43 traffic light that was necessitated by the current existing Wal-Mart and paid for by taxpayer dollars.

I’ve always said one of the most important functions of government is to solve problems, and a few city and township officials seem to feel they’ve done just that. They’ve found a way to avoid potential costly litigation at the hands of the second richest company in the world, second only to Exxon/Mobil. And they didn’t get that way by just being the benevolent smily-face falling prices public relations fantasy baloney they’ve fed us for so long. They’ve gotten where they are by bullying backwoods rube governments with little courage and not enough knowledge or money to stand up to them. They’ve climbed to the top on the backs of poor Third World workers who ultimately are doing what many Americans used to do, only much cheaper and under conditions more foul than the sweatshops of late 19th Century America in the era of robber barons. They’ve used cut-throat tactics to sell their products for less and eliminate competition, which is supposed to be the cornerstone of the free market enterprise system.

But it seems too many consumers examine only what’s right in front of them, the low price, while ignoring the man behind the curtain who hopes someday to be the only seller left standing so he can name whatever price he wishes. Some letter writers to the local newspaper call this process “progress” for Hastings and Barry County. I call it a giant step back into the early 20th century before Theodore Roosevelt and the Progressive Era put a stop to it.

So city and township officials seem to have found a way to let Wal-Mart in the back door. And they’ll probably tell us they were forced to, they couldn’t legally stop the world’s largest retailer. At the risk of invoking Godwin's Law, I sentence Jim Carr, Jeff Mansfield and a few other sellouts to study the story of the Munich Conference in 1938, when British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain gave away the Sudetenland to Adolf Hitler, declaring “Peace in Our Time.”

And I challenge the many people who live here to engage in a serious boycott of ever buying anything at Wal-Mart. If your local elected officials won’t stand up for you, you’re going to have to resort to the only weapon you have left: “Vote with your pocketbook.”

And I challenge the readers of this blog to call up their local representatives and let them know that if they don't support local businesses and citizens, maybe those businesses and citizens won't support them when they run for re-election. Don't let Barry County join the race to the bottom we like to call "globalization." Don't let back door deals override the will of the people. And don't let the politicians forget that they can get "downsized" when they don't defend the working class that pays their salaries and votes them in or out of office.

And for any politician or citizen who wants to do the right thing and fight Wal-Mart, please click go to Wal-Mart Watch's BattleMart page.

Tax cutting the trees down

I'm sure many people didn't give much though to a recent story about the city of Grand Rapids being forced to cut down dozens of ash trees due to the spread of the invasive pest, the Emerald Ash Borer but I think it's something you should pay attention to. Millions of trees are being killed by this pest but efforts to contain its spread were cut:

In April 2003, the state cut down more than 15,000 trees in Wyoming as a part of a federally-funded eradication effort. But over the last two years, the feds cut funding for the program and by the time trees in Cascade Township were found with it last June, the state had already decided to concentrate their efforts on other parts of Michigan. That means local municipalities and property owners are on their own.

"They've left basically this side of the state to deal with the problem," said Public Works Director Patrick Bush.

I'm sure some people will dismiss this as not a major news story but imagine streets lined with large, stately trees that the city of Grand Rapids is now going to have to replace:

Heartwell said the city's 7,000 ash trees are at risk because of the invasive species of beetle whose larvae feed on the inner bark of ash trees, disrupting the tree's ability to transport water and nutrients.

"This is significant," Heartwell said. "It's going to change the face of Grand Rapids."

Last fall, the city unveiled a plan to replace all the city's ash trees over the next 10 years. The plan is expected to cost between $7 million and $12 million.

Imagine the quality of life in those neighborhoods that will be lost, the higher heating and cooling bills due to the loss of shade and windbreak. These seem like silly concerns because our society often dismisses things that no one is able to package and sell in a sound byte. But also add up the tax dollars that need to be spent to deal with the problem and the loss of home value in the neighborhoods defined by streets lined with beautiful trees. Federal and state government should have been managing the crisis before it got out of hand but instead they passed it off to overwhelmed local officials and homeowners. Now communities all over are dealing with the problem and who knows how much money it will cost in the long run because government didn't wisely allocate its resources and people weren't willing to support the programs needed to avoid this problem.

And why couldn't we have just spent the money to deal with the problem in the first place? Because some people would cry about tax dollars being "wasted fighting bugs." I think they're just greedy, the same kind of greed that says a person with mental or physical problems should be forced to go out and earn a living instead of getting a "handout." The starve the beast and drown government in the bathtub crowd doesn't care about those that can't help themselves. They don't want to pay for mental institutions or welfare agencies, food stamps or Head Start. They don't mind taxes for roads, mostly torn up by the big trucks that take merchandise from one rich man's warehouse to another. They don't mind taxes to pay for big stadiums where they have luxury boxes. And they don't mind paying taxes for airports where they can fly their private planes. But taxes to fight bugs are a sign of bloated bureaucracy and if only we'd "trim the fat" we'd balance the state budget and everything would be fine.

Once again, I remind you of Howard Wolpe's famous words: "Read my lips, raise YOUR taxes." Feel good tax cuts are passed by politicians which mostly benefit the wealthiest Americans but then spend whatever it takes on a war without end or even a reason. We pass the burden down to the people least able to deal with it while the rich and powerful party away. They always cry "class warfare" whenever anyone brings up the widening imbalance between rich and poor in America and usually they manage to force people to back down. But change is coming...

The poor are finally waking to the fact that as they are told their kids' schools may have to shut early, luxury yacht owners can't find a slip for their million dollar toys. While people grumble yet pay their dues to the federal government, the rich hide behind tax shelters and then try to convince you they're being over-burdened. Well, that's too bad for them because I thought we "are all hurting" yet the rich are making more and more money every year while our services are being cut.

Sadly, most people don't seem to get it. I guess it's easier to blame the guy who's in between jobs or to shift the burden to the single mom who left her abusive boyfriend and now has to support her and her kid. Maybe it takes a little intelligence to think in the long term instead of seeking immediate gratification. Maybe it's asking to much for people to see the forest for the trees.

We've been seriously ignoring our long-term problems while relying on short term thinking and feel good solutions to complex issues. We can continue to ignore the warning signs: the dead trees, the potholes in the road, the closed school buildings and the workers headed out of state or we can understand that the paid lobbyists have bought our government and are going to keep squeezing as much money out of it as they can. Meanwhile, you wonder why they're closing schools and hospitals. But don't worry, this is just a story about a couple of dead trees...

Building a better blog

I’ve been delighted that County Board of Commissioners Chairman Mike Callton decided to get into the blogging game with the “Barry Home Companion” blog in order to add another voice to serious cyberspace political and social commentary about Barry County and West Michigan. Dr. Callton, with a nod to Goldilocks and maybe Fox News, has billed his forum as “not too liberal, not too conservative, but just right,” but the Barry Home Companion has fallen victim, as many other blogs have, including this one at times, to the scourge of anonymity and its use as a way to hurl mud at political opponents, particularly the use of sexual innuendo to slime a public official. There’s absolutely nothing anonymous in the featured postings clearly identified as to who their authors are: Callton himself, State Rep. Brian Calley, Commissioner Jeff VanNortwick and Chuck Reid, a County Commission watchdog, all have written opinion pieces, giving the blog variety, a different approach than my lone wolf style and one that I enjoy reading.

However, comments in reaction to postings sometimes have gotten out of hand, just like they did too often on West Michigan Politics a while back. Buoyed by their anonymity, some people have made outrageous, questionable and personal attacks on public figures. I suppose this too often is a big risk when setting up and running a blog that invites everyone to the table to speak their minds.

Because of the nefarious nature of certain anonymous claims on this blog in bygone days, I changed my policy by not allowing anyone to post simply as “anonymous.” My compromise was that comment contributors must consistently use a handle in order to be able to post. And since I'm limited by the tools Blogspot and Google offer for free, I felt this was the best decision. Granted, those sending comments still don’t have to identify themselves by their real names, but with a particular handle, it becomes a lot easier to have back and forth debate and some people eventually give themselves away under their pseudonyms of choice. It's also easier for people to gauge how they line up with an author's point of view through repeated exposure to their signed blog posts and it works as a check against people saying things they might otherwise say if they were one of a number of comments listed as "anonymous."

I hereby ask Dr. Callton, customarily a reasonable man, to eliminate all anonymous commentary on his blog, to use his authority to block scurrilous charges and suggestions from these secret snipers who don’t have the guts to join the cyber discussion with at least a nom de plume of some kind so that others may judge their record of posts and encourage a responsible and civil discussion. I think automatically turning away anonymous commentary will cut down on the more outrageous tabloid-style attacks we have to endure in our laudable never-ending efforts for political discourse outside the usual channels. It won't end it, but those now more rare out of bounds comments can be deleted by the moderator. I have even cut out an offending comment and re-pasted the rest of the author's post when I felt they'd crossed a line but the rest of the comment was worthy of discussion.

I also believe Commission Callton should set a higher standard simply because he's a public official. He already got in some hot water for having the blog linked to an official government web site which he has since rectified. But by having his name on the blog and because of his status as a public official, his opponents or those trying to damage his reputation or the power of his blog can use these gutter tactics against him by attaching him to the attacks. I think it's in his own best interest to clamp down a bit but not so much as to completely stifle discussion and dissent. Some will cry censorship but that rare minority is likely to be the one most willing to use anonymous attacks for character assassination.

When I started my blog, it was my intention to have debate, discourse and discussion about political issues crucial to people who live in Barry County and West Michigan, issues that might not be seriously discussed in traditional media formats because of fear of reprisal. I developed West Michigan Politics as a haven for that discussion. It may not be the perfect forum but I've done my best to live up to my own high standards. I admit to being a flawed person, an amateur political commentator who has made mistakes in my judgment and my grammar and not always lived up to my own intent and potential. My intention is not to promote the sleazy, slimy and salacious, it is, rather to promote a truly open, honest and illuminating discussion that the traditional media dare not offer. It is with humility and respect that I beseech Dr. Callton to do the same.

Tim's tantrum: Is Walberg worried?

Poor Congressman Tim Walberg (R-Tipton) is starting to show the strains of being a radical right winger whose record of over-heated rhetoric and crass campaigning is catching up with him. It seems the Battle Creek Enquirer's Assistant Local Editor Susan Demas has offended poor Timmy by actually reporting the truth, that former Congressman Joe Schwarz is hanging around Battle Creek and leaving open the possibility for a rematch against Walberg, who defeated Schwarz in the last primary election mostly with slash and burn attack ads against "liberal" Joe Schwarz paid for with dough from anti-tax zealots but then narrowly beat out a weak Democratic candidate with zero money and little or no support from the party. Timmy's response to the horrible truth was to cut the reporter from their media spam list...

"I took you off the (media) list," his spokesman, Matt Lahr, informed me this month, "because the congressman has decided he will no longer talk to you."

Demas' response is both devastating and hilarious:

It's not personal. It's just a bad public relations move, typical of a staff composed of 20-something "Jesus Camp" counselors who almost managed to lose the general election to Sharon Renier, a chicken farmer with $1.03 in the bank.

They're not ready for primetime.

Walberg is the Congressional equivalent to those Pat Robertson Law School grads stinking it up in the Justice Department courtesy of soon-to-be outgoing Attorney General Alberto "What did I know and when did I know it" Gonzalez.

DARE to think different

"If you build it, they will come."

That over-quoted line from “Field of Dreams” accurately predicts what virtually always happens when we build new jails and new prisons. Yes, we’ve got a lot of everything in this wonderful country, and a lot of places to put ’em in. All you have to do is look at the statistics that show the United States, ironically known as the land of the free, has more people per capita behind bars than in any other industrialized nation in the world. More than Russia, more than South Africa, more than all those countries with dictatorships we love to trash as hating freedom.

We should keep this in mind when we look at the notion that Barry County needs a new jail, which I don’t doubt since the old one isn't worth repairing for the price it would take. I just find it sad we’re among the many in this country that must build bigger and more spacious lock-up facilities out of fear of overcrowding. If we build it, they will come and fill it up. For the record, I support somehow finding a way to construct a new Barry County Jail in a new and more appropriate location. It doesn’t make a lot of economic or social sense to have the sheriff’s department and jail smack dab on one of the best commercial locations in Barry County, on Hastings' West State Street across from McDonald’s and virtually next door to Pennock Hospital and a senior citizens’ complex.

I’d like to see the county find a way to sell that parcel to a commercial buyer for top dollar and move to a better location. A lot of people are mentioning the soon to be vacant First Presbyterian Church, within walking distance for deputies and prisoners to appear in court, thereby saving money in the energy department. There could be other locations, but this does seem to have some good arguments in its favor.

Then I’d propose the Barry County Board of Commissioners cut the excessive emergency 911 millage, which will come up for renewal next year, from one mill to one-half to six-tenths of a mill and use the difference to help fund a jail over, say about 20 years. If that isn't enough money to do the job by itself, then ask for a small amount from the people in the form of a millage to make up that difference.

The current 911 millage is a good example of one program getting more money than it needs or deserves while others are starving. Officials at 911 have crowed loudly and proudly often they’ve not used all of that one mill and they bought state of the art equipment that arguably is more than a bit over the top for a sparsely populated and poor, rural county. In other words, director Charlie Nystrom and his legions are pleased they have bought a brand new Mercedes-Benz with all the options when a slightly used, bare bones Ford or a Chevy would do perfectly well. So let’s take some of that taxpayer money back, maybe four-tenths of a mill, put it to work with the profits from the sale of the current location's real estate, and maybe try to add the money the county gets from the delinquent tax fund every year to fund a needed (unfortunately) new jail in a more sensible location.

Then I’d like to challenge all judges and cops in this county to think long and hard about just who we want sitting in these jails and prisons and use some common sense, which has been sorely lacking in these United States of America for too long and has made us the world’s crime capital. Taking things a little further, I think (and polls show Americans agree) it’s past time for legislators to summon a little courage and repeal many of the stupid drug and victimless crime laws that have put too many people behind bars who are not threats to society, but mostly to themselves and maybe their livers. Jails and especially prisons are tailor-made for people whose behavior threatens the safety and well being of society, not for people who smoke marijuana or hire the services of a woman practicing the world’s oldest profession. We tried a long time ago to outlaw alcohol but it only helped create more criminals, so why don't we get the same message when it comes to fighting other behavior where the war against it causes more damage and wrecks more lives than the thing being fought?

Crime fighting has become big business, with a lot of drug warriors, homeland security personnel and the prison industrial complex sucking furiously on the public teat and making a living by exploiting our irrational fears, fueled by sensationalist television news and entertainment programs. Yes, lawmakers and police are raking in big bucks and shiny medals for their war on drugs over the last quarter of a century. In the meantime, their war seems to be going about as well as the one in Iraq. Civil rights are violated, property stolen, people killed, and for what? So cops can get a shiny D.A.R.E. car with a cool paint job so they can play superhero? Guess who pays for it? You, and our society.

Our jails are filled with people who could be useful and productive members of society, instead they become a drag on the economy. We take away their right to vote and ability to find good work then wonder why we can't put them back out into the public successfully all or even most of the time. We fail to take this problem seriously at our peril. We need more than "the way we've always done it." We need to think different: Imagine what our society might be like if we would bother putting one half of the money we spend to imprison people towards treatment or other investments to improve their chances of working within society and not against it. Quit letting fear rule the debate. We need a new jail, but new means more than the physical material to build it. That will take some guts and some imagination.

Breaking: Falling prices land on house, kill 5

“Those who ignore history are condemned to repeat it.”
— Georges Santayana

The news broke last month that Wal-Mart plans to build a supercenter near the corner of Green Street and Cook Road, just outside the City of Hastings. Never mind that Wal-Mart already has a huge store in Rutland Township that hasn't been around very long, but I guess it’s not enough for the board of directors at Wal-Mart, they’ve got to have a store that will offer people everything in the world of goods and services, from groceries to haircuts, to lawn implements to lamp shades and all or most of it made in China. It feels like nothing is ever enough for these guys, they want to rule the world. And I hope we’re not dumb enough to do our part to let ’em do it. Wal-Mart made a pitch last month for rezoning to the Rutland Township Planning Commission and was rebuffed by a unanimous vote in a packed house full of people mostly opposed to the project. But those who opposed the project only won Round One, and this 800-pound gorilla will be back with a bigger team of lawyers and more threats Wednesday night when the Rutland Township Board will take up the issue in the spacious digs at The Barry Expo Center.

Meanwhile, the debate is raging, with most people opposed explaining that Green Street is mostly residential and too narrow to handle the traffic especially considering it's already a congested road at peak times of day and is the only route for ambulances to take to Pennock Hospital where any delay because of traffic can lead to death. Some people are arguing a bigger Wal-Mart would be bad for local business but that doesn't sway the ones who would rather pay a little less for a product without regard to the steeper social and economic costs to society which we have seen before in periods of American history where corporations began taking too much power and squashing their competition. Some of us are arguing that we need to remind ourselves of the lessons from those mistakes in history and see that unabated corporate greed has a way of coming back to hurt the people who never profited from its success in the first place.

For those who have forgotten about what happened in the United States 100 years ago, the Progressive Era was born at the beginning of the 20th century in response to the excesses of the Gilded Age, the Industrial Revolution, laden with “robber barons” such as J.P. Morgan, Cornelius Vanderbilt, Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller, who made millions of dollars by screwing the poor masses glad to have jobs with meager pay and lousy hours.

The progressives included “muckrakers” like Upton Sinclair, whose book “The Jungle” exposed the awful things that were allowed to go into our food; Ida Tarbell, who a critical history of Standard Oil, and even politicians such as Robert LaFollette of Wisconsin, who came up with a lot of the political reform ideas later captured by Franklin D. Roosevelt as part of the New Deal which helped fuel the period in history that made America the champion of liberty, prosperity and generosity around the world.

These reformers had their greatest champion in arguably one of our greatest presidents, Theodore Roosevelt, a Republican, who did a lot more than just talk about doing something to stop the abuses of the super wealthy and hyper capitalism. It was T.R. who stopped the merger mania that had been occurring so frequently in early 1900s with his trust-busting activity and
he halted Big Oil’s march toward monopoly. The most important thing Teddy did was call out and defeat the likes of Standard Oil, which had designs on monopoly and status more powerful than the federal government through cut-throat tactics, simply because they could.

Under the still highly touted principles of an unregulated free market system, Standard Oil, because it had become so rich and powerful, could afford to sell petroleum products at ridiculously low prices that eventually could eliminate all competition. When the mission had been accomplished, Standard would be the only company left standing and it could set prices for as much as it pleased.

When you use cut-throat tactics to sell your goods and services for less, when you treat your employees like indentured servants, when you collect all the goods you sell from foreign countries that exploit their workers and pay them a fraction of what the U.S. used to pay ours, when you put a tremendous tax burden on the citizens where you locate because they must pick up the tab for roads, sewer, water and traffic lights that your presence requires, when you deliberately locate just outside city limits to avoid paying higher tax rates than neighboring citizens must pay, when you create schemes in which your employees must seek health care paid for by the public in order to shirk the cost of doing business in a fair society, you are just like the robber barons Theodore Roosevelt fought against so long ago. Citizens have a right to stand up and ask their government to be a fair referee. It's long past time we reminded government of it's duty and it's purpose.

There are plenty of shallow and uncomplicated people, too many of them, who only look closely at the low prices offered at Wal-Mart. They don’t understand they’re selling their souls to the devil, and they don’t want to be told about it. They’ll tell you they shop at Wal-Mart simply because the prices are cheaper and in these hard times, you’ve got to save money. But they don’t want to be presented with the big picture, the inconvenient truth such as I have only scratched the surface of here. I only wish these people, too many of them, would revisit history from 100 years ago and then look long and hard at the real price they pay for lower prices at Wal-Mart. There's a price to be paid for ignoring history and it's one that our children and grandchildren will likely pay. But that's just my 2¢...