My hope is that this will take the form of progressive revolutions. When the food and energy start to become scarce people might start to recognise that the ONLY people who can get us out of this mess are engineers, inventors and scientists.

Maybe we will even be smart enough to put them in charge and ditch the whole idea of politics for the sake of politics all together.

A man can hope anyway. The alternative seems to be extreme left and right wing movements fighting over metaphorical ash and bones.

Co2, methane and other undesirables in the atmosphere could probably be shifted if there was a concerted global effort, doubly so if we factor in 50-100 years of technological advancement. I'm sure the task would be herculean but it would probably also be the greatest thing we ever achieved as a species! ("screw your ancient wonders, we built an air scrubber the size of Missouri!")

Willful contention or righteous indignation and frustration fuels my personal disgust with "so-called" news and "alleged" reporting of "facts." IF the big 3 from circa 1955 was truthfully and without bias reporting world events and delivering them to owners of televisions and radios then I am a woman,trapped in a child's body who speaks five dead languages fluently.

If major media outlets are not a pathetic informational aberration developed as it has to deliver DISinformation and propaganda which supports the agendas of her financiers and sponsors, then the mixture of inert gasses drawn into sentient lungs from the atmosphere circa 1350 was much more poisonous than it will be in 2019.

Because in 2020, ginourmous air scrubbers built by children in 4rth world countries will purify the atmosphere to Precambrian quality!

deedub81? Spot-on. If a collective boycott of their bullshit happened overnight, I challenge you that they would NOT adjust their mission of bullshit to accommodate the newly-awakened masses, they would not be ALLOWED to continue in any capacity.

What are the first institutions secured during a military coup? Presidential palace and communications outlets. (TV and Radio, internet). Best way to get cattle to do your bidding is to fill their heads with bullshit designed to CONTROL them, not to inform them.


OH....and I only voted Stink (Muckrack) Uruguay and his Smugly Smugstein-ass up because our ol' pal farhad2000 popped-up on the radar after extended hiatus-Howdy pardner!

Okay..since my sarcasm didn't quite drive the point home, I'll explain why this is a misguided idea:

Tanning Salons
-Vitamin D is synthesized in the body after exposure to sunlight. Anyone living far enough from the equator is bound to be deficient in Vitamin D. In fact, go ahead and plot cancer incidence by latitude and you'll see what I mean. Vitamin D prevents cancer and heart disease.

Beef
- Read about Vilhjalmur_Stefansson. In the early 1900s he underwent a scientific study where he ate nothing but meat for a year...and came out healthier than when he went in. Also read about all-meat diets and ketosis. Prolonged ketosis is a cure for diabetes, heart disease and cancer - not to mention periodontal disease. In scientific studies, terminally ill patients who were so far gone they were beyond "medical science" had their tumors go into remission and even clear up completely on a ketosis diet. Cancer cells have a lot of insulin receptors - they respond to glucose, take away the glucose and the cancer starves. Read about it.

Pork
- Same as beef.

Alcohol
- In many countries, 1 in 3 people have some form of mental illness sometime in their lives. Alcohol helps a lot of people cope with society. How the hell do you think I cope with all the (50% of the population) sub-100 IQ zombies walking around?

Oil used for deep-frying
- Fat is not unhealthy. Cholesterol does not cause heart disease, nor is it a good predictor of those who will get heart disease. Only ~3% of arterial plague is cholesterol by composition - the vast majority is calcium. Vitamin D helps regulate calcium...this goes back to the tanning salons.

Gasoline -- especially because it gives people an incentive to WALK when they're going less than 2 miles to a store, instead of driving.
- I don't think the cost of gasoline has ever factored into a lazy persons decision of whether to walk. The burning of fossil fuels and the creation of air pollution is a national health hazard (akin to me walking up and dumping toxic waste on you) and so YES this should be taxed because pollution is a hidden cost of industry; but the funds shouldn't go to Medicare they should go to giant air-scrubbers which help de-pollute the air.

Coal
- Same as gas

Natural Gas
- Same as coal.

Sugar and High Fructose Corn Syrup, Junk Food in general, & Cigarettes
- Okay, maybe you have some kind of argument here because these are legitimately detrimental to your health, but only used in excess. So unless you find a way to tax "excess" or define "excess" I can't see an argument for taxing the stray cigarette or potatoe chip.