[Superman]

Bob, the Big Picture discussions go South in a hurry here. Useless. I chose this specific topic for its discussion potential. I knew there would be a low proportion of pure anti-gubmit hatred since it is the health of children we're talking about and as you so eloquently pointed out, in the absence of an independent, reliable organization providing information and perhaps oversight, parents would have no hope of being able to protect their children.

These guys know, though sometimes not consciously, that they want certain things from government. That's my highest hope these days in my discussions here. Recognition that government is a necessary tool. The bigger picture, the balance of regulation of commerce versus the economic wide-open-throttle.....I don't got there much these days. And it's not because of job outsourcing. At least, not directly. I think the outsourcing thing will eventually find its equilibrium, and it will be at a point where American affluence also falls closer to world equilibrium. It's that consumerism that I wish away. In my humble view, America would be better off WITHOUT the white-hot roaring economic furnace. The happiest people I know, by far, don't work or work a couple of days a week. They heat with wood. They read. Drink tea. Help each other out. Live in a quiet place. The life of commuting, slaying dragons, squeezing your "personal life" into a few hours a week.....that's not the life of happiness that Madison Avenue wants you to think it is. But.....I don't go there. America will, I think. But not consciously, I fear. It will be foisted on our grandchildren.