Ed Cregger wrote:
"John Smith" wrote

Absolutely not ...

"They" have simply designed the world wrong. We need our jobs closer to
our homes. We need small manufacturing plants close to cities, and of
varying products so as supply the most needs of the city as possible. Mass
transportation in place of single cars ... etc, etc ...

We need to manufacture "things" to last a lifetime or two, and out of
metal, wood and glass--instead of cheap plastic poisons to fill our dumps,
streams and oceans with ...

Etc, etc, etc ...

Oh no, it is all easily "fixable", it just won't be done--greed and
corruption take a far different path--one which always ends in the end of
the particular civilization in question ... look at the cheap plastic
"toy" radios we have today--a sharp contrast to the sturdy metal/glass
cases of yesteryear ...

Those who know NOT their history are doomed to repeat that history ...
today they "rewrite history" in the image "they" wish ...

Regards,
JS

-----------

No offense intended, but the first really scary thing that I learned as an
adult was that there is no "they". It is all random. See, I told you that
was scary.

One man's corruption is another man's politics...

Looking back with 20-20 hindsight, it is simple to see how things could have
been accomplished in much more efficient manners. Who would have gussed that
chemical companies' run-off (ditching) would affect the world so negatively?

Odd, but it was obvious to a lot of people. They were just ignored or
ostracized.


I lived in a community whose main source of income was the production of
various chemicals.

In our area, we had a world class trout fishing stream. when I say
that, I mean that people from all over the world came here and spent a
lot of money to fish, and stay in hotels, eat in restaraunts.

We also had a chemical production company that wanted to do a lot of
things that some of the populous didn't want them to do. It got to the
point of township meetings. Some folks said that the companies practices
were going to destroy the local watershed. The company and a lot of
people accused them of being anti-business, anti job, anti growth, and
worse.

The chemical company got it's way.

Fast forward to today....


The watershed has been destroyed by two chemicals that leaked from
poorly constructed holding areas. The world class trout stream is no
more. No more visitors spending all that money - it was millions in the
60's, who knows what it would be now. The chemicals have reached a lake
about 30 miles away now, and people aren't supposed to eat fish from
either the lake or stream.


And the chemical company? They aren't in business any more. They were
bought out by a european company who then closed down the competition,
took a write off, and left. That isn't all they left. The bill for the
cleanup is with us.


The end result:

Jobs are gone.

World class fishing stream gone.

A nice lake downstream gone as an added benefit.

No one can say they didn't know. They didn't listen.


Just like the old smoking ads that claimed that smoking
was good for you (yes, they did, in fact, exist and were uttered by our
government),

And yet, I read a book from the late 1800's that stated that smoking
tobacco caused Lung cancer and emphysema, and that chewing it caused
oral and stomach cancer.

We knew. We just didn't listen.


we blue collar kids were told that chemicals and fumes were
good for you. I swear to God. It's true. Seems hard to believe today, but in
those days, TV was only on the air for six to seven hours a day and no one,
but no one, spread negative news toward industry.

When I was a kid, of course I didn't pay much attention. But as I grew,
I found that the answers were out there somewhere.We just had to look
for them. Even as a teenager, I wanted to look for the unfiltered source
for knowledge.

Anyway, we have another chance, in fact, multitude chances, to save our
civilization. But it will probably spring from technologies and ways of
thinking which we cannot even imagine presently.

I just don't think it will happen. I suspect the last humans' words will
be "We just didn't know!"

- 73 de Mike N3LI -