Out of Pod Experience

Eh, don't let the news media sell that view. The paranoid OCD overmedicated victim-to-be persona that sells headlines is one that a lot of Americans (myself included) wish we could take out behind the woodshed and beat the **** out of. Unfortunately, we've let dumbasses run our nation for so long, we'd probably have to start a new one to fix everything that's wrong.

Well... Obama is Kraft Foods top contribution in recent years among politicians, so you were expectinggg.... ?

I've been to the US many times during my life - I'm still a US citizen - from the Reagan administration to the current one, and regardless of who is in power, there's always been a common theme every time I've been there: most Americans really seem to love laws and rules and regulations.

Not everyone of course. And perhaps, many US residents may not be fully aware of this, just as a fish may not be aware of the water it's been surrounded by its entire life. But when I'm in the US, no matter where I go, no matter what I do, it's rules rules and more rules, regarding even the most silly things. Don't do this. Don't do that. This is forbidden. You shall be prosecuted to the full extent of the law (a phrase I always found strangely amusing). etc, etc, etc...

No other country is like that. I've also lived in Germany, but as much as they also love their rules there, it doesn't reach the preposterous level it does in the US.

I've been carded when trying to buy at beer at 38 years of age, with full beard, and then being denied it after producing a legal foreign ID because "We don't know what this ID is". I've been shouted at for having the temerity of diving into public swimming pools, for playing squash without the mandatory goggles, I've been harassed by cops simply for crossing a completely empty street at night through the spot I wasn't supposed to ("Jaywalking" they call it, a term I haven't encountered anywhere else). The list of personal anecdotes in this regard just goes on and on and on...

I believe this cultural love for laws and regulation Americans have, also manifests itself in the endless stream of American TV shows having to do with courts, laws and enforcement, or the ridiculous lawsuit-happy culture that seems to permeate every aspect of modern life in the US.

I'm not a libertarian - usually they just come across to me as nutjobs unhinged from reality - and I do believe *some* rational regulation is necessary, but after the personal experience of being constantly bombarded by rules and regulations one way or another every time I was in the US, I can understand and empathize where the libertarians are coming from.



That being said, and as others have pointed, this particular case of trying to forbid how real cheese is being produced and eaten daily by the rest of the civilized world, does stink of corporate interests meddling with politics.

Speaking of bacteria it has now been proven that you NEED to be "exposed to dirt" during the first years of your life to avoid allergies and such immunological disorders.
However I wonder how much of it is because of excessive cleaning or because of generally using too much chemicals with "anti-bacterial" properties because I believe that bacteria (as with penicillin) will eventually become resistant to cleaning products "anti bacterial" agents.

Litigation culture, not the love of law itself if you ask me. More than enough congressmen in the US equate regulation to communism and anti market practice, which is ludicrous of course: there is no such thing as a completely free market. I work with US customers all the time, large complex contracts. Legal rules everything, everyone is afraid of lawsuits. In Europe the contracts are detailed, but they don't try to cover every eventuality ad nauseam. There is still the understanding that you're entering into a business relationship, and that's the basis of working together.

On the civil side with the general populace, people suing for spilling hot coffee over themselves. Ambulance chasers, etc. This is what drives a large part of the regulation warnings you see in everyday life (you will prosecuted etc...). Fall on the street over a loose tile? Sue the city, and get paid!

I do wonder why America isn't rioting on the streets given that its governments can't even provide safe, clean drinking water.

Victory for the blessed cheesemakers!

Man: I think it was, "Blessed are the cheesemakers"!
Gregory's wife: What's so special about the cheesemakers?
Gregory: Well, obviously it's not meant to be taken literally. It refers to any manufacturer of dairy products.

Why we don't riot over more government intrusion and takeover? We do, remember the whole dumping of the tea into the harbor and all that following stuff that happened?
Riot over government not controlling us enough? I don't think so...