In first world countries....yes, or close to that much. Agreed. Not world wide.

Mechanized harvest is accepted in "natural" old school farming. Agreed, it would fall under the "industrial farming" methods, but is one of the least damaging.
>1000 acre farms do not count as "family farms" in my eyes, even if they are owned by a single family. So is Walmart, but it's not a mom and pop or family store.

Again, mechanization is not the same as industrialization, but does still do damage by over plowing, etc. I'm talking about monoculture crops, over application of man made fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides. Grain was farmed "by hand" since farming existed with few problems, but more work involved. The work it takes to rehab a river system because industrial farming runoff contaminated and killed it is FAR more work than the extra work involved in farming using old school methods (which does not mean everything is done with hands, tools and machines have been in use for eons).

Roundup doesn't "break down" completely, and doesn't break down at all if it's washed into river systems and out of the UV light.

Once again, machines aren't all of "industrial farming", they are one of the least damaging facets, and they are not unknown in old school, smaller farming techniques. BUT....overuse of heavy equipment either over packs the soil, making it produce far less, or over plows the soil, making it run off and blow away (see the dust bowl). If it was ONLY about machinery, and ONLY industrial farming used machines, you would have a point, but neither is true.

No, actually overproducing on a piece of land like that makes it unusable quickly and new farm land is needed to replace it while it recuperates (if it ever can). Chemical fertilizers add salts that kill beneficial bacteria, "killing" the soil, sometimes permanently. producing double or triple the amount of food on the same land is beneficial in the extreme short term, and disastrous in the barely long term. (See 'dust bowl')

Man power is far less damaging to the environment than fossil fuels for the same amount of energy. Also, the people would use no more resources because they're in the field than they would anywhere else, so there's NO net gain to the energy used or demand on the environment if they farm instead of sit at a desk, but machines don't use energy when idle, so there is a net loss to the energy required if you replace them with pre-existing people.

Yes, you quoted it directly, buy your characterization of what that meant was insane. You claim they said Monsanto worked on the project (and other things) because they're evil and want to do evil and harm. The video actually said they do these things without much care for the negative consequences to others, and that makes them evil. I hope you can comprehend the distinct difference in those statements, and that your portrayal of what they said is not honest.

Your video, Science to the rescue; this is how you rehab a broken back, has made it into the Top 15 New Videos listing. Congratulations on your achievement. For your contribution you have been awarded 1 Power Point.

I am sorry to hear about your accident; I am glad you finally found a way on your own to "self-rehab" by snorkeling.
Swim on, my friend.

It's another shame that his "evidence" is also complete supposition that a stay in a rehab (for illicit drug use) months earlier somehow equates to inappropriate hard core anti depressant usage without supervision.
I'll just hope for random patients sake that's not his own experience as a 'clinical psychologist' that he's speaking from. (Oh, my wife, an ex-pharmacist, just clued me into the fact that psychologists can't prescribe medicines, is it therefore likely his apparent anti-anti-depressant position is just an extension of jealousy of those who can?)
(Somehow I feel he doesn't tell his patients about Videosift, I think he might lose some if they read his posts and put 2 and 2 together).

He had checked himself into rehab (again) within the last month or two. I wouldn't be surprised if his suicide was the result of what was likely to have been yet another treatment round with antidepressants (of which suicide is a known side-effect).

when it comes to emotion,
makes me start choking
so I, sit by the ocean
spent my last buck on a bottle of whiskey
drunk and broke
sittin' here in history
I made my mind up
I'm going
I got no where to go
don't know where I'm going
I do know one thing
one thing that is true
wherever I go, I'm gonna need you
we just cant let each other go now
were too close, to ever slow down
the only one who keeps my chin up
when you touch my lips we're like two dogs stuck
cold, cold beer
don't you ever worry I am right here
never live without you
don't care what I amount to, no.
talkin' bout cold cold beer
don't you ever worry, I am right here
can't ever live without you
I pick you up
I take you home
sit on my couch, turn off my phone,
cuz I love your taste, love your smell
who would ever thought that we could do so well
hell, I guess we're meant for each other
sorta like the microphone and my buddy Bruce Buffer
I can't really express my joy
sorta like a scrap between Osgood and Patty Roy
I cant take my eyes of you
went to rehab, thought that I lost you
but now we're are back together, with a vengeance
must be my little, Irish decendance.
it feels pretty good, to get this off my chest
even though people sayin, Jesse's obsessed
well maybe I am, maybe their right
one thing that I know, it was love at first sight.
Yeah, cold cold beer
don't you ever worry i am right here
can never live without you
i wouldn't even want to
cold, cold beer
don't you ever worry
i am right here
never live without you
you don't care what I amount to
Well I'm sitting on my stoop feelin' kinda lonely
me and Brenda fightin' so I call up the homies
but guys busy hangin' out in front of Sobey's
there's only one little fella who really knows me
he comes in a little brown, bottle or can
sits in my hand til I can barely stand
he's part of the family, he's part of the team
Took me under his wing when I was just a teen
every time he comes around he always,
takes me back to when I had a fake ID, and a little dirt stash
he rope soak cold pop 2 4 white pop pop top swish top tall boy, cold shot
BEER, cold, cold beer
don't you ever worry, I am right here
never live without you
you don't care what I amount to,
Oh cold beer,
don't you ever worry,
I am right here can't ever live without you
I wouldn't even want to

It's not that easy, @chingalera. I am one of those progressive liberals who are supposed to be twee about every life.

And I share your horror at medical costs that are poured into the days of our eldest citizens.

It is different when it is your loved one. My dad almost died seven years ago, was in ICU for a week, rehab hospital for a month, then to a nursing home. He would have died, too, if he had had a DNR. But how could I sign a DNR for someone who was going into the hospital for a simple gall bladder operation?

He has one now, but he didn't at the time. He survived and went from being miserable living with his second wife to having seven years of great quality of life. Seeing five great grandchildren born, two of whom were named for him. Winning just about every fishing tournament they had -- most fish, biggest fish, smallest fish -- one prize, if not all three of them. Finding his way into being a more loving person with his family than he ever allowed himself to be before.

And he "should have" died, by every practical financial measure.

These seven years have been the greatest blessing our family could have received.

Is that gross negligence and fraud, for the hospital to have saved his life at an enormous cost? Because in many ways, we got a father we never knew before.

And he has a DNR now. If it repeats, he is a goner. And we are all fine with that. But damn if I am not thrilled that I failed to get it before.

Giving to drug rehab centers is like the war on poverty. You'll spend a trillion dollars and you'll still have druggies, and you'll still have poverty.

But if you have the money and inclination...whatever floats your boat.

No idea how much he is worth. But The Wire in general, and David Simon in particular, were involved in the financing of food banks and rehab centers in Balitimore. They couldn't skim it off their budget, unlike other individuals do for personal purposes, but they continuously ran charity after charity, on top of the money the production poured into the local economy.

If I remember correctly, they also left sizable accounts and donations during and after their runs, so I'd be willing to give him a pass where hypocrisy is concerned.

His point about a lack of guilt, the shamelessness on part of two mentioned individuals, still stands though.

During the first part, Simon specifically mentions that any additional income of his, particularly in form of tax brakes, does the economy no good. "You can only have so many yachts" is a rather fitting hyperbole in this case. So if a privileged individual actively weakens society to further increase his own wealth -- which is already at harmful levels, economically speaking --, the lack of guilt and shame becomes incomprehensible to many people, myself included.

And if a privileged individual then tops it off by likening his treatment to that of Jews in '30s/'40s Germany... well, sociopathic is one way to describe it. We all live in our own bubbles, but their perception of reality truly is disconnected to such a degree that almost makes me pity them. Almost.

How much would you say this David Simon (The Wire creator) is worth?
The Corner, The Wire, Treme, his books, his talks (to say nothing of his previous career as a journalist).. I wonder if he runs any drug rehabs in Baltimore.

10 People piling on top of him like that mid kneeslide? Ouch!
The rehab program for both of his torn quadriceps will probably cost him about 100.000 Euros.

On its face, it seems a good choice to give a 16-year-old rehab rather than imprisonment, which will almost certainly end all chances of him growing into a responsible contributing adult.

If rich white people get this treatment and poor black people get imprisoned for the same thing, then that's an issue, separate from this case or this defence.

Further, it's not clear that the judge based his/her decision on the affluenza defence or simply decided it was better for the kid to get help rather than prison.

We had a drunk squirrel once. Due to some work being done on the house we moved the compost bin, but not all of the compost with it. One of our local squirrels took the opportunity to sample some fermenting fruit, and got utterly plastered. We watched him from the kitchen for a while - he kept trying to climb a tree and falling off backwards. He'd then stumble around a bit before trying again. Eventually we took pity on him and brought him to a wildlife rehab center near us, and later got the diagnosis from them: drunk. Poor guy had probably just been trying to go home to sleep it off.

What an idiotic statement about diabetes. There's much higher rates of diabetes type two in families with diabetes than type 1. So there are people who are more predisposed to it independently of lifestyle/body weight. In some people, where increased body weigh and sedentary life style are the main risk factor then it has been shown that gastric bypass sugary can 'cure it' independently of weight loss with the current thinking being that hormones released by the stomach in contact with food can have a massive effect on our endocrine system as well as satiety.
Regardless, the argument is stupid - if you found out that you had a enzyme deficiency at causes a stroke later on in life and the treatment/rehab would cost you millions of pounds. The 'i exercised and dieted' view doesn't help pay the cheque for something that was set in stone when your mum and dad had an accident all those years ago.

...Was that supposed to be poignant, or just an extremely obscure inside joke?

Anyway, this "debate" was a bit ridiculous. Howard Samuels was, as others have already pointed out, very clearly straw manning - at no point was it suggested that opposing party thought marijuana should be legalized for recreational use by big companies.

It should also be noted that while Samuels runs a rehab center and in fact has a personal history of fighting addiction, this also has a negative effect on his ability to form an opinion on this situation. For him, extreme vulnerability to addiction is the norm. He himself is probably very prone to addiction, and he exclusively works with other individuals who are also extremely prone to addiction. I would say that the only people for whom marijuana can be seen as a gateway drug is the sort of people for whom alchohol, caffeine, nicotine, adrenaline or really anything that could possibly be abused could be seen as a "gateway drug."

These are the sort of people who always go too far. They drink too much coffee, they take too many risks, they smoke too much and they are always that one guy who gets embarrassingly drunk at parties because he just doesn't know how to limit himself.

But these people shouldn't be seen as the norm because honestly, they simply aren't.

And because Samuels apparently does think that these people define the norm, his view cannot be seen as being comprehensive. He's only looking at the extreme ends of the spectrum, and even then, he's really only looking at the potential negative extremes, because that is where he used to be, and it's where the people he now tries to heal are stuck.