I find what goes on in todays' world more perplexing and disturbing everyday.

Today I received in the mail an "advertisement" for Augmentin brand antibiotic. Stated something like... "Does your child have tough ear infections?....Ask your doctor for AUGMENTIN!.....best thing since sliced bread!" Ask my doctor for a certain type of medicine?!?!? Who cares which one I get as long as it's the one HE (or SHE) thinks will work the best! Consumerism!! UGH!!!

Next I noticed a idiot box show called "Buffy the Vampire Slayer-The Musical" WHAT?!?!?! Is anyone that depraved and bored?

Then I heard on NPR about Congress passing a resolution for an "Anti-Gossip" Day. Must have been a slow day up there! What happened to common courtesy?

Am I the only person that finds these things sad and disturbing?

To quote the elder Belanger...my homestead is truly "an island of sanity in an insane world!"

Comments please!

-- Jason in S. Tenn. (AJAMA5@netscape.net), November 21, 2001

Answers

The only way a lawyer could keep up with all the new court decisions, administrative rulings, new legislation, state and federal, and recent regulations is to specialize in a very small area. If you were to ask him a question outside his area, there's a good chance that he wouldn't be certain of his answer. It is the same for doctors and most other professions. Staying up to date in all aspects is a real challenge.

-- paul (primrose@centex.net), November 21, 2001.

you can beam me up now, Scottie . . . there is no intelligent life down here . . .

You can add me too, Jason, with rulings and new laws that are thought up every day. Rush Limbaugh was discussing a few minutes ago about a new law in California allowing neighbors of cigarette smokers to sue for air pollution caused by smokers lighting up on their own property. What is next, I think, is car owners being sued for failing to have lab results on the emmissions on their cars.

It is really getting bad . . . pretty soon, I think I'm going to chunk it all in and just move to Borneo. I will live with the Bird people, who live on the sides of cliffs and wear no clothing except for jungle growth gathered about our waists and tied with vines. If you see a big fat guy with a hairy back on Discovery channel, like as not it may be me. LOL!

-- j.r. guerra (jrguerra@boultinghousesimpson.com), November 21, 2001.

We also received the advertisement. I chucked it because my natural nursed babies don't get ear infections. Not that they never do but my three year old has never had one nor my five month old. My older children who i stopped nursing when they reached approx 4 mons of age did get the occassional ear infection.

-- Sherrie R. Clifton (BryrPatch35@aol.com), November 21, 2001.

Sherri: I also nursed both my kids and noticed they have both been very healthy kids. My 5 1/2 year old has only been to the Dr's once (beside routine check-ups) and that was for an ear infection. My other son soon to be 2 has yet to get sick and need to go to the Dr's.

-- Anita in NC (aholton@mindspring.com), November 21, 2001.

How about all those shoppers that will be showing their thankfulness tomorrow by hitting the walmart or kmart and shopping all day. Friday wasn't enough, now it starts early Thanksgiving morning.

-- dee schoettler (abcdeedee@msn.com), November 21, 2001.

Hey, don't mess with Buffy! Everyone needs some mindless entertainment once in a while! Don't slam it if you didn't watch it. It was hilarious. Depraved I am not!(Baptist I am.)I'm not bored either! Try keeping up with 5 kids sometime! PS, I had the name first.

-- buffy (buffyannjones@hotmail.com), November 21, 2001.

I read about a burglar once who was trying to break into a high school. He fell through a skylight on top of the school building, and broke his leg when he hit the ground. He sued the school, AND WON! Something is definitely wrong with this picture.

-- Cheryl in KS (cherylmccoy@rocketmail.com), November 21, 2001.

J.R., well i think it has happened in Maryland,the smokeing outside thing. I was 1/2 listening to the news and 1 county in Maryland has passed the no smoking in your yard bill,if your neighbor complains its up to a 700.00 fine. I am a smoker and I am so lucky to have a neighbor from hell also,so I figure if my county passes this bill i'll be dishing out 700.00 and or spending alot of time in court,lucky me. Now the real question.....if I mow my yard I use a push mower{not the gas kind the old kind},I do not use a cloths dryer,I heat with wood only,electric is used but not much,I like to grill outside,I also do not use power tools on Sundays{I do that out of rescept for those who take Sunday as a day of rest}...Can I sue or fine my neighbors who do use gas engins to mow? they are adding fumes to the air too,what about all the power they waste to do simple chores are they liable for useing to much?when i grill will the smell of steak be to much for them? .....I think my state has crossed the line. By the way if any one can find a link to this could you pass it on please,thank you.

-- renee o'neill (oneillsr@home.com), November 21, 2001.

Md. County Passes Smoking Measure

---------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------- By Associated Press Originally published November 21, 2001, 6:08 AM EST

ROCKVILLE, Md. -- An affluent, populous county just outside the nation's capital has approved one of the most restrictive anti- smoking measures in the nation, allowing residents to be fined up to $750 if neighbors complain about odor from their homes.

The measure stems from Montgomery County's attempt to regulate indoor air quality. County Executive Douglas Duncan initially excluded tobacco smoke from a list of pollutants covered by the measure, but a committee restored it and six of the nine members of the council agreed after a heated debate Tuesday.

The measure would treat tobacco smoke in the same manner as asbestos, radon, molds, pesticides or other pollutants. If the smoke gets into a neighbor's home, the neighbor would be able to complain to the county's Department of Environmental Protection.

"This does not say that you cannot smoke in your house," said council member Isiah Leggett. "What it does say is that your smoke cannot cross property lines."

Landlords or condominium associations that do not properly ventilate their buildings -- or smokers who do not take steps to relieve the problem -- would face fines of up to $750 per violation.

"If you live in a house on a two-acre lot you are exempt from the moral police, but not if you are unfortunate enough to live in a small town home or an apartment," said council member Michael L. Subin, who opposed the measure.

The first focus will be on educating violators. They would be fined only after a series of warnings, said Duncan's chief regulator, Jim Caldwell. He added that a problem often can be solved by tinkering with a vent, opening a window or plugging a crack in the wall.

Duncan, who has promised to sign the bill, predicted that most people wouldn't be inconvenienced.

"We get little or no complaints about smoking, so I don't think what the council changed is going to have much effect," he said.

Montgomery County has been the site of tough anti-smoking ordinances in the past. Friendship Heights, a community in the county of about 870,000 people, had banned outdoor smoking in public places, including parks and sidewalks. But a judge earlier this year halted the ordinance, considered one of the toughest in the nation. Copyright © 2001, The Associated Press

-- renee o'neill (oneillsr@home.com), November 21, 2001.

My oh my ! whats next for the sheeple. Jason, from my island to your's----Have a nice Thanksgiving!

-- Jim-mi (hartalteng@voyager.net), November 21, 2001.

Yes,crazy! On Monday night at a high school near here, some teenagers were on the parking lot while a basketball game went on inside the gym. A 14 year old girl asked a 19 year old boy for a cigarette.He gave her one then walked away. Her boyfriend came over and told her not to take cigarettes from this other guy anymore. So she broke up the unlit cigarette in her hands and threw it down. The 19 year old came back over to her and asked why she didnt just give him the cigarette back instead of destroying it. She shrugged her shoulders at him and he pulled a .32 cal. pistol and killed her right on the spot. He said that he did it because she "dissed" him. I think that means she disrespected him. This type of stupid animal behavior is becoming more and more common in the hinterlands. Some day we are gona have to take control again. Hopefully it wont be to much longer. We don't have much time.

-- Red Neck (Secesh@CSA.com), November 21, 2001.

I think with smoking (I am a non-smoker, to explain where I'm coming from) it is just a matter of time before it is legislated out of existence, at least in what can be considered public or quasi-public areas because of the documented health hazards to smokers and others.

Personally, I don't mind if people smoke around me, as long as I can stand where the smoke goes the other way, because it does irritate, and most people I know who smoke are quite considerate in that regard.

I don't like sitting in the non-smoking section of the restaurant and have the smoking section be the next table over. It just doesn't work. I think that is what they are trying to say in Maryland. On the other hand, renters will really be out of luck because many tenant agreements these days prohibit smoking inside a rental house or apartment (not so much because of fire danger, although that may be a concern, but because if a landlord wants to rent to a non-smoker, he HAS to paint, clean the curtains, seriously shampoo the carpet, etc. just to get the residual smoke smell out), so where are they going to smoke? In the park? Their car? Even I think the outside rule is a bit much, but certainly I don't think an outside rule should apply to apartments or other joined property (zero lot line, condos, townhomes) because, well, the property is joined, you knew it when you rented or bought it--there are always going to be problems due to the nature of that type of property, and I'm sorry, ventilation repair is not going to correct smoke coming from balconies that are all on one side of a building.

I also think that the only actual smokers who really have a case against the cigarette companies are those who started smoking before they printed the Surgeon General's warning on the packs. You started smoking after that, well you knew what you were getting into, but everyone's healthcare costs have gone up due to smoking. People (especially children) who are injured from second-hand smoke also have a case against the cigarette companies, and that is regardless of the warnings on the pack. Whether a parent smokes around the kids should be a factor in custody cases (my friend's kids are sick all the time due to the smoke, and it takes them at least a week to recover when they go to live at their Mom's for the summer). Not that it should be the only factor, but just one of several.

And what about medical marijuana laws? What if you are around someone who is legally smoking for a medical condition (say next table over in a restaurant) and next day you happen to have a positive urinalysis because of it and you lose your job? Who's the injured party here?

Just a thought.

-- GT (nospam@nospam.com), November 21, 2001.

Hmm, I wonder: Can I sue my neighbor for using too much electricity? I mean, after all, the power comes from COAL, and thats just as polluting as cigarettes, and a durn sight more polluting! Can I sue my neighbor for their light shining on my property? After all, maybe I am not able to sleep because of it and its affecting my health (can I sue the sun). Can I sue the pig farm across the way when the wind is blowing our way and the smell bothers my high strung nostrils.? This is so utterly stupid. The whole deal> We live in the nation that is proabablly the most damaging to each other via airborn crap- pollution, ddt, pesticides, etc etc. Yet we can sue a neighbor if their cigarrette smoke bothers us!? Oh, boy, I can just hear them now- I live next to the self appointed "countryside cops." Instead of the common courtesy of taliking to us if they have a problem, they call the cops.. the sheffif has been here 4 times because of our "vicious dogs" who, the first time: went doo doo on their lawn (we proved beyond a doubt that it wasnt our dogs, the second time because our dogs chased their grandson- we caught him on video throwing rocks at the dogs and running away barking, then batting rocks at my van then stoning my prize banty rooster to death and dindnt turn him in, just told them about it- they firmly said that it wasnt him and we didnt press the point. The third time my dog did indeed bite the neighbor, Ill admit it. But, the report the sheriff had sid that the dog was on his property. Witnesses- we werent home and its a good thing, too- said that the neighbor was on my property, when the neighbor was bitten. The neighbor, it turns out, was STEALING our child's swingset when the dog bit him- and again, though he absconded with the swingset, we turned the proverbial other cheek. The fourth time, they called the dogs were chasing them down the driveway while they tried to get their mail. The only problem with that was, as the animal control officer conceeded... they drive to the mail box, both dogs were inside the house and one of our dogs has arthritis of the hips and couldnt chase a slow slug! Today, we recieved the news that we had "stolen things from their house" and they were investigating. Dang it, they live on 7 acres and we on 4... seems like that should certainly be enough distance! These are the same people I have delivered fresh fruit for from NY- free, cared for their animals, given them 70 gallons of gas when they needed it, asked them nicely not to let their dog run free- he got into our rabbitry and tore the heck out of a bunch of rabbits, making us have to go to the vets and spend 40 on one (we didnt mention that to them), the rest died. Good ole neighborly deeds returned with mudpies (and worse). This is what the good ole usa is coming to I think- everyone for themselves... I was considering a couple of options: digging a hole and sticking my head in it; joining the bums and exact revenge; joining an intentional community; or moving to siberia... moving to siberia is looking right tempting!

-- Kevin in NC (vantravlrs@aol.com), November 21, 2001.

Even Socrates waxed poetic about the misguidance of youth and the erosion of culture and community.

New era. Same song.

-- pc (jasper2@doglover.com), November 21, 2001.

And look what happened to him!!

-- gilly (wayoutfarm@skybest.com), November 22, 2001.

AAACK! I just drank What!!! :O

-- bj pepper in C. MS. (pepper.pepper@excite.com), November 22, 2001.