Frederick you write gorgeously about such an ugly and disgusting traits
of Capitalism and it's worship of the golden calf. Greed is not good. I
don't watch TV, but about Dow: what does it take to derive cocaine from
a coca leave? Let's cut to the chase to old news: chemicals from Dow or
Monsanto and other multinational corporations are used to make final
product which is cause for another war. Ironically with gas prices so
high, the big oil companies place themselves in imminent danger of
collapse because we will be forced to adopt alternative means of
transport (like horses Quee!), and it's likely again because of high
gas prices, people will have to go back to farming (sorry Kurt, I know
you don't want to farm, but consider you'd be a darned good teacher of
it even if you don't) or at least have a garden to offset the higher
food prices, so it follows that more people will be interested in
ecology . The tricky part will be stopping the large multinationals
from buying up all the alternatives and posing as sheep when really
rabid liar wolves. People won't be able to pay the steep price with us
already paying 50% of the US budget on the military machine. War begets
force begets war. We have much more to gain by becoming a humanitarian
superpower if globalization is on the horizon. People are already
opting to go back to local smaller and closer neighborhood grocery
stores rather than the chains. It's my hope that this localization will
finally lead to people getting to know neighbors again so that some
discussion can begin about how to solve these problems. The lack of
community due to this worship of the golden calf appears to be
crumbling.  I'm going to use Kurt's idea and blow a little umbrella
mushroom out my car window tomorrow in hopes for changes and leave with
a quote of Shelley:

Rise like lions after slumber
In un-vanquish-able number!
Shake your chains to earth, like dew
Which in sleep had fallen on you-
Ye are many; they are few!
Jill