Questions with Obvious Answers — Don’t answer these questions with excuses. Just answer. Yes or no is acceptable.
Does anyone listen to those side effect warnings at the end of drug commercials? Is it worth trading an erection for going blind or deaf? (Did you know that’s a real side effect listed for that bathtub boner drug?) Is it worth becoming a compulsive gambler by taking a drug for your Restless Leg Syndrome? Or, do you want to quit smoking badly enough to take a drug (Chantix) that works only 14 percent of the time but could cause you to kill yourself? Did you know the drug maker of Chantix has been sued over 2500 times and settled out of court with a widow of a suicide victim?
Is the lunch program by schools and the federal government healthful? Wonder who should be feeding our offspring, anyway? Isn’t that a parent’s job? Isn’t that how the rest of the animal world does it?
Has the school system simply become a taxpayer-financed childcare scheme? Is that healthy? Does anyone know if it is really worth it financially for moms to go to work and then spend all their pay for daycare?
Political leanings aside, does it really make sense to dump trillions of tons of untested chemicals, waste, exhaust, plastic, toxic smoke on to the planet? Whether one believes humans cause global warming or not, does any of that make sense? And is it sane to build a multi-million dollar mansion on the edge of a cliff overlooking the Pacific — when you know that beach is doomed? (Ultram)
Is it true that the proposed Keystone pipeline will send junk through it at such pressure that the temperature of the pipe itself will reach over 150 degrees? Have you noticed they keep calling it “crude oil” when it’s really not oil but a thick slurry made of wet, sandy stuff mixed with really bad flammable and toxic chemicals? And speaking of pipelines, is Canada mentioned in the U.S. Constitution as having some kind of right of eminent domain so a Canadian corporation can take land that lawfully belongs to an American farmer?
Conservatives are railing against Obama and military intervention in Syria’s civil war but were they around in 2003 when Bush was loading up against Iraq and its mythical “weapons of mass destruction”? Weren’t they the ones ripping up “No War” yard signs? Talk about polarizing issues: Is “freedom of choice” the right thing to call a political stance where two out of three humans involved (father and fetus) don’t have a choice? Just asking.
Can you really call the Dundee business district construction an “improvement” when it rips out trees, benches, greenspace, narrows streets — for the sake of a few more parking places? Do you know how traffic will stall when a beer truck delivers to one of the TEN alcohol establishments located within ONE BLOCK of one another?
Have you noticed that the Romans built roads that have lasted for thousands of years and we can’t build one that lasts through a winter? Really, I’m serious. And on that topic, don’t you wonder why there is so little construction needed on the few remaining brick streets in Omaha but continual construction required for the asphalt and concrete ones? Do owners of road construction companies have some kind of guaranteed-income deal with politicians that promises them road construction deals? Will there ever be an end to construction on the I-80 corridor between Omaha and Lincoln?
Don’t we have bigger problems than “chem-trails”? And did you really think the government wasn’t snooping on you? And when it comes to electing Presidents, did you think The Who were kidding when they sang, “Meet the new boss; Same as the old boss”?
Is there a reason why people don’t strive to use language more appropriately, more correctly? Just because “twerk” is officially a word now, according to the Oxford Dictionaries Online (not the prestigious OED itself,) have we lost respect for the languages of Shakespeare or Dumas, or Dante? In English, bigger is (not) better; progress doesn’t have to mean profit. And shouldn’t a “farmers” market be a market for farmers? Speaking of language and writing, does it look stupid when a major publication lets spell-check be the final arbiter for what words go into a story? Do editors really think “mother load” is the same as “mother lode” just because it’s spelled correctly?
Does our mayor really need to carry a gun?
Is it fair that farmers have to list every chemical they use on the farm but my neighbor’s lawn care service only has to put out little plastic flags telling me and my dogs to stay off for 24 hours? And is it okay that nobody can light up near me in a restaurant but a lawn care truck can spray on a windy day and send chemicals into my house? Did you know that as hard as you try, you won’t get an answer from them when you ask what chemicals are in their spray? Just thought I’d ask.
Be well.
Heartland Healing is a New Age polemic describing alternatives to conventional methods of healing the body, mind and planet. It is provided as information and entertainment, certainly not medical advice. It is not an endorsement of any particular therapy, either by the writer or The Reader. Visit HeartlandHealing.com for more information.