OT: Fast food and tools ... indicators?

[Robatoy]

On Mar 24, 1:47 pm, "Swingman" wrote: [snipped in agreement on fast food in general]

The 'pet' industry racked up 32 BILLION in sales in 2003. Any time a pie is big enough for corporations to fight over, the consumer invariably gets it up the ass. Now the bastards are genetically engineering (GE) our food supply. Why? To increase yields to improve the bottom line for their share holders. Now a farmer can be held liable if a part of his crop accidentally cross-breeds with a GE crop.... for patent infringement. Not to mention that they're also breeding out the reproductive abilities from seeds... so you HAVE to buy seeds from the bastards at Monsanto. In some countries farmers are FORCED to buy from Monsanto so that 'cross-contamination' can't happen to their sterile crops.

Monsanto made the potato growers on Price Edward Island an offer to use their seeds. They were told to go f*ck themselves.

Grains from those crops are being fed to the chicken you bought. It goes beyond corporate greed, it's downright extortion. And don't for a minute think the US has an exclusive on that type of thinking..people in lands where banks exist are those getting screwed.

The original concept of a 'corporation' was to start and finish a project. The building of a bridge, for instance. Then, upon completion, the 'co-operation' between, say, the cement supplier and steel fabricator would be disolved. That concept has evolved into a group of investors looking for ways to screw Joe Public out of his money faster than the 'other' 'corporation' the IRS. Taxes were supposed to help with the development of a civil society with all its amenities such as roads, including a defence force. We all know what happened next.

Last time somebody did some actual research up here in Kanuckistan, an average worker has to work till JULY before he gets to keep any of his own money. The first 6 months of wages goes to The Man, via sales and other taxes.

Sorry, Swingman, but you got me going now...Here in Kanuckistan, we are only supposed to pay taxes to support a war...and I'm not talking about one that is waged to export GE seeds. The BNA act, forbids the collection of taxes by the Federal Government.... guess what? Bend over, Joe, here comes another conflict. And then they wonder why so many resort to doing work under the table.

I know a farmer who will sell me one of his chickens. Grows his own corn from his own seeds using real shit for fertilizer. Those chickens are a stark reminder what garbage is being sold AS chicken these days.

Bon Apetit!

r

[Swingman]

When you don't partake often there can arguably be some value in making a perception based judgment when you do, particularly on just how far things have deteriorated in the 'not that distant past'.

We don't eat much fast food around here, but last night, youngest daughter being in from college on spring break and finding the two of us alone without much choice for supper, we decided, spur of the moment, to get Popeye's fried chicken for the first time in probably six or seven years.

Big mistake!

Corporate "swill" is the only way to describe what we got ... there is so little resemblance to what it "used to be" that if it only makes you sad, not sick, you're lucky.

Another example of just how far down we've come due to an ill educated populace, coupled with corporate incompetence and greed, is about all I can equate last night's experience to.

This, along with the observable, overall downgrade in tool quality we've faced with the past few years, and a myriad of other daily indicators, adds a few more nails to the coffin conclusions:

We (the USA) are in big trouble, and it's absolutely astounding just how prescient George Orwell really was.

And apparently even our pets aren't safe from corporate incompetence these days.

[Swingman]

No problem ... I am far from what you would call an activist, but I'm getting fed up with the greed, corruption and stupidity evinced in corporations, universities, and governments at all levels.

Haven't read the following in many years, but, IIRC, it is, as one reviewer put it, " ... frighteningly, eerily relevant."

me worried about what kind of world my children will grow up in, much more so than my parents were.

[Morris Dovey]

Swingman wrote: | When you don't partake often there can arguably be some value in | making a perception based judgment when you do, particularly on | just how far things have deteriorated in the 'not that distant | past'. | | We don't eat much fast food around here, but last night, youngest | daughter being in from college on spring break and finding the two | of us alone without much choice for supper, we decided, spur of the | moment, to get Popeye's fried chicken for the first time in | probably six or seven years. | | Big mistake! | | Corporate "swill" is the only way to describe what we got ... there | is so little resemblance to what it "used to be" that if it only | makes you sad, not sick, you're lucky. | | Another example of just how far down we've come due to an ill | educated populace, coupled with corporate incompetence and greed, | is about all I can equate last night's experience to. | | This, along with the observable, overall downgrade in tool quality | we've faced with the past few years, and a myriad of other daily | indicators, adds a few more nails to the coffin conclusions: | | We (the USA) are in big trouble, and it's absolutely astounding | just how prescient George Orwell really was. | | And apparently even our pets aren't safe from corporate | incompetence these days.

Seems we did better before we decided it was politically correct to be a "classless" society. I distinctly remember my architect/stonemason grandfather assuring me that there'd always be two classes:

"First Class" and "no class" (no middle ground).

It's a choice everyone makes every day - even (perhaps _especially_) when they try not to.

-- Morris Dovey DeSoto Solar DeSoto, Iowa USA

[Bill in Detroit]

Our friends chuckle into their sleeves, but my wife and I can & dry much of our own food raised in our urban backyard from readily available (abundant, even!) organic materials. In fair weather (this is, after all, Detroit) we walk or bike wherever we can.

How much of our food? About 1/3 to 1/2, depending on the season. Frankly, I think that there is something grotesquely wrong with those lawsuits mentioned earlier: I think that the ordinary farmer should have a claim against Monsanto for polluting his crops by not controlling the spread of their mutant and unproven genetic material.

I STRONGLY support following the US model of requiring labeling of GM ingredients in ALL foods ... something which the congress-critters have not had the testicular fortitude to insist upon. Instead, our laws are being eroded to meet international (low) standards of purity and labeling.

That's a lot of poisoned wheat we were (apparently) shipped. I wonder how much of it found its way into human foods and how many human deaths (of seniors and others on short funds) are still to be reported.

I'm not MUCH of an activist ... but I will be participating in "guerilla gardening" (

)this spring by seeding about a mile of freeway fencing with pole beans.

Lotsa po' folks in my neighborhood. Those who've got what it takes to pick free beans will make out okay ... possibly be inspired to plant a few of their own next year. There was a time when hearly every little yard had its little garden. Something has been lost ... and THAT is where Monsanto, Con Agra and others get their money. We eat their food and not our own.

Bill

[drowetx]

tell it to your man (woman) in washington

[-]

You just now realized this?

[J. Clarke]

What are they supposed to do about it?

[Leon]

Huh, you might as well tell it to your dog. People in Washington have no control over this.

[Morris Dovey]

|| tell it to your man (woman) in washington | | What are they supposed to do about it?

[1] A USFDA-supervised research program to develop tasty green wafers containing all the nutrients that a human body requires and... [2] A Federal luxury tax on all tools capable of more than single use. [3] Vote themselves a pay increase.

:-P

-- Morris Dovey DeSoto Solar DeSoto, Iowa USA

[Robatoy]

Not if they want to keep getting donations for re-election. I recently read, and I don't know how accurate it is, that it costs close to 500 million to run a campaign for the presidency? Hell, the fixes are in BEFORE somebody becomes president. Maybe that's what we are looking at now, eh?

[drowetx]

tongue was in cheek there, but if one is concerned about a stupid populace, lack of standards, and greed, washington would be a good place to make some changes.

corporations are run by people--like your neighbors perhaps--who answer to somebody. free markets will correct sloth and excess in the long run.

i decided a few years ago to complain about lousy product or service, every time, and for me that really works. i always get satisfaction, and often am amazed about how far some will go to make something right. manufacturers feel the pain when handling returns, big time. make them bear that cost.

[nailshooter41]

I'll bet it's even more than that in behind the scenes money. And then when you factor in all the "volunteer" efforts of those betting the come for the possiblity if being "remembered" (read: rewarded) it has to be double that number. I think the 500 is just the actually trackable, cash outlay.

The politcian's won self image is one of Mr. Smith Goes to Washington crossed with Meet John Doe, with a little To Kill A Mockingbird thrown in. I don't think anything could be much farther from the truth. A very few of those in office may have started out as starry eyed do- gooders, thinking they could actually make a difference. But I think most of them do it like for sex, drugs and rock and roll. It is all about them, self enrichment, and their own egotistical legacy.

I think it is beyond profoundly naive to think for second that the presidency isn't owned. While I don't subscribe to the "one giant secret corporation runs the US" theories, certainly believe a handful do. To me, the differece in the presidential candidates depends on which corporations have ensured their success.

The cost of that ensured success? Farm subsidies to some of the largest corporations in the world (Monsanto, ADM, etc.), lenient settlements of federal lawsuits against giant corporations that are beyond bizarre (tobacco for example has something like 30 interest free years to pay out their settlement), and countless other examples of the smaller players getting their payback.

These are the people that own the presidency, lock, stock and barrel. By the time you have been in politics long enough to make it that far, you belong to somebody.

The only fly in the ointment for those that control is the monster, arrogant ego of those they select as their lackeys. Huge egos make stupid mistakes; huge libidos add to them. Then concerned about their legacy at the ends of their careers (no matter how long), those same huge egos seem out of control all together. Suddenly concerned for their constituents, they have freeways widened, libraries built, college wings built, free clinics opened, you name it, just as long as it is named after them.

Talk about not getting Rob started...

Robert

[Leon]

No, no, no that is called gambling/placing bets on who your next president will be. Once the candidate is elected he has his own agenda which is persuaded by the next group of suckers that throw money at him. Nothing ever gets fixed.

[Mark & Juanita]

Well I'm sure they can be successful at least at one of the three, and since one of the others supports that objective, they may be able to accomplish two out of three.

+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ If you're gonna be dumb, you better be tough +--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

[Bill in Detroit]

^^ should be EU, not US