"Damn it, Jim! I'm a doctor not an escalator!"

With the passing of the Labour Day weekend the Summer party season has come to an end. I mourn the end of the season of gathering with family and friends outdoors and am not looking forward to the approaching Winter weather. We do have the holidays to look forward to, however. Each year our scattered family gathers at Christmas and gets re-acquainted. We usually begin by emotionally and psychologically abusing one another and then move on and have pie. I love tradition.
This past Summer season I attended one outdoor party that had not one but two bonfires. One campfire was for the tobacco users who shared stories and anecdotes about not being able to smoke anywhere but their cars (with the windows rolled up of course). The second bonfire was exclusively for the non-tobacco users. The conversation around this campfire centered around saving the planet and how the tobacco users were polluting the air others use. The wisps of smoke swirled around the non-users and they breathed in the visable vapours of the burning wood. Complaints about the tobacco user's could be heard as tobacco smoke wafted in their direction.
With tobacco use on the sharp decline the Health industry is now focusing on over-weight persons. Americans always need to find a group to focus their anger on. Our leaders have created wars on poverty, racism, drugs, tobacco, and now obesity. Along with a war against the Muslim peoples, the Department of Offense along with the Surgeon General are particularly interested in fat, tobacco using Muslims who might be plotting a terrorist act. Citizens are reminded if you see such a person take a photo of them using your mobile and contact authorities.
Since the 1970's Americans have become more aware of environmental issues. Socially conscious individuals are all doing their part to save the planet. People are drinking bottled water because they feel the water from their taps is unsafe. Of course the bottled water they purchase came from a tap from somewhere. And that plastic bottle they are drinking from is a petroleum product and will end up in a landfill with a half-life of forever. The personal computers and mobiles environmentally conscious persons are using to send around emails reminding one another to be conscious of recycling their rubbish also ends up in landfills where the heavy metals used in their construction leach into the water supply. People are eating more "organic foods" these days. If anything contains carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen it is organic. The idea that pesticide laden foods in the shops and markets are going to shorten a human beings life is unfounded. "Organic foods" are a marketing ploy. No agribusiness person (farmers) uses more herbicides or pesticides than necessary. They are extremely expensive and if you know farmers you know what a cheap bunch of bastards they are. The cost of commercial fertilizers made from petroleum is on the rise. Food prices are soaring. This is all part of the conspiracy to make overweight people thin.
A mate of mine restores 17th century paintings. It is painstakingly slow work. Her approach to her work is, "If it ain't Baroque, don't fix it".