I have a "career"...well, relatively. I also have a part-time job. And I'm about to have a second part-time job. Thanks a lot GW, you f-ing wanker.

Anyway, at the second part-time job there are a lot of kids there, and as they come or go they have to pass by the front desk and a vending machine full of crap. It's as if this thing has a tractor beam that pulls every kid to it in some kind of high-fructose-corn-syrup-induced frenzy. It's amazing what parents will do to make sure their kid doesn't act like a spoiled brat in public. There a few who say no and if the kid makes a scene, so be it. But most of them capitulate. Hell, some of them remember the machine is there and prepare for it by making sure they have ones & change. Tonight, one kid tried the whine AND the divide and conquer techniques and neither worked. The Mom, Dad & Kid left. Five minutes later, Mom & kid come back and go right to the machine. The kid must have pulled Linda Blair Tantrum on their ass. We know who wears the diapers in that family.

We've let our kids be brainwashed. We're so busy working for stuff, we use TV to raise the kids and kids' TV is one big, brainwashing commercial. Even if you get rid of the TV, our kids are still exposed to psychologically-developed ads everywhere. And they become the "mainstream" adults who never question anything.

But it's OK, because it's all in the name of business and business is good, unconditionally. If you're against any kind of business you're a socialist. Funny. The same people who go this mental route are the ones who sit there and bitch about those "damn kids". But of course, there's no connection.

The Story of Stuff, my friend. The Story of Stuff.