Living the dream (or nightmare) in corporate America...

[CoffeeCat]

I got up this morning, and turned on our local NBC affiliate, to get the local news
and weather. The Today Show was on, and it was this endless staccato of stories
about killings, violence and people behaving badly. So, I turned it off and then
proceeded to try and answer my children's questions, "Why are there so many bad people
in the world?" and "Why does it make the news when someone in Ohio stabs someone?"

I made a quick breakfast, because it was a beautiful morning and we wanted to hit
the park before the temps hit the 90's. I served fruit, cereal and yogurt, and
was just about to sit down when my oldest began reading the ingredients from the
yogurt container, "Milk...sugar...nonfat milk...high fructose corn syrup..."

Darn it. I guess my daughter doesn't get to eat her favorite yogurt anymore. I
try to avoid HFCS. My daughter asks why HFCS is bad--and I tell her that it causes your cells
to be unhealthy. In other words, I gave her the "kid version" of the new research that came out
yesterday--that HFCS causes fat cells to become more fat and more insulin
resistant.

When my ten-year old asked why a company would use sugar that could hurt people, I told
her because it was cheap, and she said, "They'd save money even if it would hurt people?"
I told her that some people don't know better, but that other good companies didn't
use the cheap stuff, and that we would find a new, favorite yogurt.

We then went to the park, and my kids had a great time playing with some new friends. I
talked with a couple of mommies, one who was new to the area, from Texas. We had all
been at the pool yesterday and we discussed the 20 minute break the lifeguards made
everyone take. One mom, who knew one of the lifeguards, said that a child had pooped
in the pool, so they cleared everyone out, removed it and sprinkled some chlorine granules into
the water. I sighed, because I knew that wasn't good enough. Two years ago, I acquired
cryptospiridium from our community pool. Accidents happen with kids and pools; but they
need to hyperchlorinate the pools. But they don't, due to budget cuts and the poor economy.
The woman from Texas said that crypto was rampant in their area too, for the same reason. It
was too expensive to shut down the pool and hyperchlorinate and kill the crypto--which
is a nasty parasite that causes horrendous stomach cramps, weight loss and dehydration.
When I had it, I was sick for three weeks and there were 100 cases in our town.

The woman from Texas told me to Google "cryptospiridium" and see that it's happening all over
the country. I Googled when I got home, and sure enough--it's all over the country and sure
enough--pools aren't hyperchlorinating due to budget shortfalls.

While my kids were playing in the backyard, I got a phone call from a friend who was crying
because her $350k home is falling apart. The builder used Masonite siding--which is defective and
crumbles in 5-7 years. She's got mold down to the drywall, because the siding is so cheap that
it absorbed water, bloated and didn't protect the house. They're going to fix one side of the house
at a time, because the total repairs will cost $60,000. They have no equity in their home because
housing prices have fallen. This house is only 6 years old. She said that the repair team told her that
there are ten houses in her neighborhood that they're scheduled to repair this month. All of their houses
are crumbling. The very wealthy builder, who used this cheap Masonite, lives on the other side of town, by
the way--in a $2 million dollar McMansion, which I'm sure doesn't sport Masonite siding.

After consoling my friend, I went outside to play with the kids and bring them a snack. Sitting in their
clubhouse, they looked upset. I asked them what was wrong, and they said, "Mom, we saw the dolphin video." Instantly,
I wanted to bop myself on the head. I left open the video of the dolphin that was carried out of the
ocean, and onto the shores of Pensacola Beach, where it later died. "The dolphin died because of the oil?"
said my nine year old with tears in her eyes. She was incredulous. "But that's in Florida. The oil was first
in Louisiana, she continued."

They both asked me when it would stop gushing. I told them that I didn't know, but that everyone was trying hard
to fix it.

It's hard to tell your children one thing--but to know in your heart that they really aren't trying
and that they really don't care--and that we should have an Army of people working to fix the leak,
protect the beaches and help the animals--but we don't. I didn't say what was in my heart.

My kids pleaded with me, "Why can't we go to the Gulf and help?" I told them that it was unsafe to be around
the oil. When they asked why, I couldn't tell them that BP used a dispersant that was highly toxic and
banned by the EPA and that anyone inhaling it could be injured of killed. I didn't tell them that every
single person who worked on the Exxon Valdez spill--is no longer with us.

My kids kept insisting that they would be careful and that they would wear their best tennis shoes and
not get oil on themselves--and that they just had to go and help the dolphins.

I told them that the best thing we could do is let the workers do their jobs, but that we could donate
some money to the Nature Conservancy. After our talk they sketched out ideas for
a protective wetsuit, "so that kids can be safe and moms won't worry while we are saving dolphins." :(

We needed to go to the grocery store, but I left the store early. I read the labels more closely this time--and had
a hard time finding anything that didn't have HFCS or partially hydrogenated fats. They kept begging me for the
fruit snacks, sugar cereals and Ritz crackers that they see on tv. They wanted the Doritos and Twinkies that their
friends all get in their lunches at school. My head was spinning. We left prematurely with apples, a watermelon and
two bottles of Vitamin water. I practically had a panic attack in the store.

I am not a Debbie Downer, but the weight of the world rained down on me today and it just didn't let up. Today,
there were just too many reminders of so many things in our world--that are so very wrong. Yes, there is
beauty in the world--all over. And yes, I am grateful and thankful for so much. And no, I'm not giving up.

I'm just sick of it all. Some days it feels like it comes at you from multiple directions. And there is
no solace or escape in the park or in your local grocery store--or even in your child's hideaway clubhouse.

I am getting tired of trying to shield my children from reality, and I'm tired of our lives being
affected by corporations that make such bad decisions. Decisions that are so reckless, thoughtless and
inhumane--that I feel that I must shield my kids from the very world that they will inherit someday.

I just feel overwhelmed by it all sometimes.

[Hawkowl]

1. My sympathies

One of the main reasons I am not a parent. I can remember when I was about 6 years old and I woke up from a nightmare and ran crying to my mother asking her "what was the point of life?"

[CoffeeCat]

2. That was very astute of you at age six...

I'm around a lot of kids and most kids don't think like that. However, there
are deep souls like that. Both of my children are thinkers and my oldest is
all ready an armchair philosopher.

Did your mom give you a good answer? That would be scary to be that young
and to have those overwhelming emotions and questions.

I'm hoping your mom was able to soothe those feelings.

[jtuck004]

3. My wife's mom started running her car into parked cars - she

wasn't mad, just couldn't drive well any longer, nearly 90.

She has lived with us for a number of years now. I cook, a lot, and have been
trying to pay attention to our food, and other things, the same way you are.

But she makes it very hard when it comes to her food. She wants meat and
potatoes, no fish, and doesn't really like vegetables. She thinks she must
throw part of her food away each day, it seems like, and actually emptying
containers before she can throw them away is almost a game. HFCS? She almost
insists that we buy her foods with that as an ingredient.

She honestly sees no need to change.

So I can empathize with some of the pain you have - but on the bright side it sounds
like you have intelligent children who are willing to learn why oil which is used
to create the fertilizer for the corn makes the HFCS nearly ubiquitous. And why that
is bad. "Grandma" just scoffs at it. Your kids will help make things better.

Good work.

[kenny blankenship]

4. Not Business Friendly.

If we Democrats are ever to be trusted to run the country, we are going to have to take all of our worried feelings about "business ethics", and all of the depressing news (gossip, really) about supposedly defective products and negligent practices, along with all of our wailing predictions about the slow, agonized death of Nature, and all of our frenzied anti corporate rantings, and hide them in a deep dark place and keep them locked away forever. We Democrats are a pro-business party! That's who we are now, it defines us- even if it's not exactly our past. Business provides jobs - that's how we link our modern set of party values to our history. We were the party that cared about jobs. It's a branding switcheroo that really started to pay off in the nineties, and now our economic survival as a party depends on it. So we say "Let Business git busy!"

These impassioned outbursts interfere with that vitally important rebranding project.

If you find that the news of the day is scaring the life out of you and filling your soul with dread, stop paying such close attention to the news. Just watch the commercials instead and look away during the news, and I guarantee you'll feel much better. Well, you'll feel numb with occasional free floating anxiety and nausea, probably, but that's much better than looking reality in the face.

[happy_liberal]

9. Well, you'll feel numb with occasional free floating anxiety and nausea

well that about sums it up

I don't watch the corporate media and I still have that feeling whether I'm reading about what is going on or not. Where do I get the other pill?

[kenny blankenship]

10. If you're a modern parent who worries "How can I tell my kids about the world?"

"How can I explain or justify it to them without becoming evasive, weepy, incoherent, distraught or furious that they are demanding an answer?" Eli Lily would like to take this opportunity to remind you that two generations of Americans have come to rely on Prozac. < sponsored link >

[CoffeeCat]

12. Yep...

...if you're sad, or gloomy, or if you are sometimes shy or anxious in social situations--there
is a pill for you.

Or...if you're just wanting longer, thicker eyelashes--big Pharma has a drug for that too.

Gads.

[Big Blue Marble]

5. Every day the walls of corporatism more and more are closing around us.

The gulf oil crisis only heightens our awareness of pending disaster. They are fast squeezing the life from our world for the
last ounce of profit. Of course it is your protective instincts that want to protect your children. I would advise that they would
be better off (and not as likely to seek Doritos and Twinkies.) if you help the understand what we are facing. It will soon be
their world and their challenges to change the direction we are headed.

[CoffeeCat]

6. I agree with you...

...and that is the fine line on which I'm constantly teetering. How much reality do I give them
and how much do I protect them and shield them from reality?

As they grow older, I tell them more. I don't want them to be stricken and fearful. So, at this
point, I've been as supportive and positive as possible--while letting them know that problems
exist--and that we should all try to help and make the world a better place.

You are right...the Gulf oil crisis really has brought home the harsh reality.

Thanks for your comments.

[XanaDUer]

7. I am so glad, grateful, I never had kids

For some reason, this year has been the year that has crystallized in my mind, my correct decision. I'm going to be 45 years old next b-day, so I will probably never have kids.

I look at kids now, or young people, and I do not envy them. The 30-year-old shit sandwich they have been handed is going to be miserable for them.

I'm still old enuf to remember America before Ronnie Ray-gun fucked it up and started the downward slide into the mess we are all in now. I remember - real insurance, where you and the doctor got to decide stuff about your own healthcare; women's rights coming into fruition (or so we thought); people actually standing up to the BS fed to them by Madison Avenue; when every person you knew was a Dem or at least thought much more like a liberal; when you would only see fundies on those "special" UHF stations and you would turn them on for a laugh from time to time (in other words, they were not yet in DC dictating world policies); TV was exploring real issues in Americans' lives- shows like All in the Family, Maude, Good Times, etc.

Regulations - banks that gave savings' accounts decent rates of interest, credit card cycles longer than ten days; consumer groups; folks who would, at times, question the status quo.

My last straw has been this oil spill. I see no coming back from it. I just feel like this is the last straw, for me, maybe because I grew up in Fl and have happy memories of the beaches there. I mean, things were not perfect, but you could live on 10-15k in Florida, have a house and a car, and do fun things.

My sympathies to you.

[CoffeeCat]

11. I wouldn't trade my kids for the world...

...but I understand how you feel. It really is challenging bringing up kids and feeling like you have
to hide so much from them.

I hear you about all of the differences pre- and post-Reagan. We don't even watch tv at night, because
it is nothing but trauma. How many shows can there be about violence and autopsies? All of this
highly stylized violence and autopsies set to Van Halen music. It's macabre.

So much has changed, and so much of it isn't good for us. It's good for the corporations. Like you
said, people could live on 10-15k before. I remember the house I grew up in--1,100 sq feet and it
was just like everyone else's house. Now, people need so much, and so many cars. We didn't even
have credit cards back then. A butcher or a mailman could support a family with that one income--and
take vacations and retire comfortably. Everyone is working themselves to death--to prop up an
exorbitant lifestyle, and most people are in debt without much saved.

I thought we were evolving. I thought each generation was supposed to become a little bit better?

[happy_liberal]

8. It's hard to tell your children one thing--but to know in your heart that they really aren't trying

I struggle with this all the time. I've told my kids too much. They are already cynical. But if I don't tell them the truth, it is so easy to fall for the lies. But then I don't want them to grow up without hope...but today that is how I feel so I'm not talking to them about the state of the world. I can't even watch that video of the dolphin. I start crying just thinking about it...just reading your post....

""They'd save money even if it would hurt people?""

unbelievable isn't it. How can children see what is important so clearly and adults be so self centered?


The thing that helped me at the grocery store- tell them everything you can about our nutrition and our food supply, GM foods etc. Children are little sponges and this is seriously important for their every day state of well being. Now my daughter is checking everything for me, 'mom- this one has high fructose corn syrup' and she drops is like a rock, even previously favorite foods like Cambells Tomato Soup(Between the BPA and HFCS I can't believe I let her touch the stuff!)

[CoffeeCat]

13. I hear you about the nutrition/food issues...

I have two very picky eaters, and it is difficult sometimes. Tonight, we had a discussion about HFCS.

That stuff is in everything, isn't it? Is it really in Campbell's tomato soup???? Holy buckets. I noticed
that it was in Wheat Thins! I'm sure it's in so many things. I'm bummed that it's in Yoplait yogurt, because
my kids love it, and the 100 calorie cups really are yummy.

I guess we just have to be more creative, and cook more things. If it's packaged or in a box--chances are
that it's loaded with HFCS, partially hydrogenated fats or salt--or all three!

I'm learning as they learn. When I grew up, I ate those Snowball things. Remember those? Chocolate cake with
a layer of coconut-coated marshmallow around it?? I mean, that was junk food, but at least it was real sugar
and real fat! Now the sugar (HFCS) messes with your pancreas and your liver and the fats are so bad for you. It's
like poison.

We just have to be more proactive...and I plan to cook more from scratch now. Is that how you combat all of this?

[happy_liberal]

15. I stick to the basics and cook from scratch

It's hard to avoid GM foods which I do not trust at all. Soy, Canola, Yellow Corn are the ones to avoid(that I know of). We buy lots of soybeans but I make sure they are not GM and then I only use olive oil for cooking.

High Fructose Corn Syrup is not only full of mercury and generally bad for your body it is also made GM Corn.

I have to avoid Bgh so we only buy dairy from Tillamook.

I avoid everything in cans with BPA...an on and on...it is ridiculous how many foods we have to avoid because the FDA cannot be trusted to protect our health.

I buy a big bag of whole wheat flour and make everything from scratch, it is amazing how much you can make once you get the basic bread recipe down, pizzas, cinnamon rolls, bagels, you can put pretty much anything in a bread 'pocket' with cheese and kids will eat it...

The best thing about making bread is you can start adding all kinds of ingredients to improve your health, nuts, seeds, flax seeds in particular are excellent, garlic and onion powder and herbs...

and then if you like baking you can make all kinds of healthy cookies and muffins with whole grains and protein.

Then we are way into mexican foods burritos, nachos, tostadas, tacos...all easy and cheap to make with whole beans and rice and whatever else.

I am a super happy to be a stay at home mom so I consider this my job and save tons of money besides the health benefits.

[CoffeeCat]

17. Wow, you've made me hungry!

This is so inspirational. I am going to read up on making those basic bread items that you listed.
You're right...if you have a basic dough recipe, you can modify it to make so many different things.

I am a stay-at-home mom too, and I love it. I also feel that I have the time to do extra things like
this. I started "couponing" and I got pretty good at it. The problem is, that so many of the items
I can get for free/cheap--are processed foods. I do get many healthy things at great discounts too. I can
get so many things for free, but I have recently decided to completely change the couponing strategy.

Your message is very motivating. I like the idea of making Mexican food from scratch too. Do you make
your own tortillas and taco shells?

Thanks for your message and for the inspiration!

[Tsiyu]

18. I can rec a great baking book

the King Arthur Whole Grain baking book (can't remember the actual title now - used it at work) has some great whole grain recipes in it. The pancake mix is awesome, but I add vanilla. ;)

Also, try wheatberries, bulgher (sp?) wheat, steel cut oats. All of these are great. The Moosewood cookbook has some awesome recipes for using some of these. Your kids can learn to cook with you, measuring and such, but they probably already do...

It's about choice, i suppose. When I get bummed I remember that I have choices others may not have. So you have to figure out the things you can change and be proactive. Hard to do when it feels like corporations are circling us like wolves, but you have the best two reasons in the world for changing what you can.

Sounds like you are already making the right choices where you can. Also sounds like you are raising some thoughtful, caring children. I applaud you for that.

It's good to have DU as a place to vent. i wish I'd had it back when my kids were young.

Hang in there, mama. you're doing a great job.


In spite of the corporate demons!


:)

[Catherina]

14. Your kids are lucky to have you

I make it a point of quickly scanning the ingredient labels at the checkout stand and returning anything with HFCS to the cashier, explaining why I won't buy it. It never fails to prompt questions at which time I launch into a quick recommendation to watch King Corn and Food Inc.

One person at a time.

Rec'd with a hug

[CoffeeCat]

16. Thank you so much...

...what a sweet message.

I like your tactic of giving back the HFCS products at the check-out stand. Sends a big message
to the grocery stores. Good job.

I've written a few companies to inform them that I will no longer buy their food because it
contains HFCS. The form letters they send back...oy vey! It's like they don't even care.
They tell me that HFCS isn't that bad, and that they use the highest quality ingredients, etc.

It's insulting.

Keep up the good work at the grocery store! :)

[KillCapitalism]

19. HFCS should be banned dammit.

I agree with what's been written here, it's HARD to find anything that doesn't have that shit in it.

[SlipperySlope]

20. It is all overwhelming...

Sometimes you just can't think about it all. It is too much to bear the weight of the world on your shoulders all the time.