Dicho, if what you say is true, why was I able to go to my food co-op this evening and have so many choices of Free Trade, organic, shade-grown, hand-picked coffee for under $8 a lb. that I had trouble making up my mind?

And, yes, there are ridiculous obstacles to getting agricultural goods to market -- for which I can't offer many remedies at this point, since I'm still in a steep learning curve about these issues. However, I think it's idiotic that farmers and ranchers here in Kansas are having trouble staying in business at a time when our supermarkets are flooded with ARgentine and Brazilian beef, and so forth. FOr one thing, if the producers of that meat were being taxed on the environmental costs of their business -- from the devastation of the forests to the transportation costs to take it thousands and thousands of miles from its point of origin, that meat wouldn't be so cheap. Also, in support of choice, I don't know why American consumers can't be told a simple thing like, "This meat came from Argentina," or "This meat came from Onaga, Kansas." Even if it cost more, I'd buy the local food. But I don't even have that choice. And why is that? Because the lobbyists with the most money have purchased the process and gotten the rules passed in their favor, screwing the consumer out of the ability to MAKE fair choices.

And yes, Leprechaun, I do fear that the nihilist punks hijack many of these situations. Apparently that hasn't been the case so far in NYC. I don't really know what the answer is -- I know it was a problem during the Vietnam protests, and in the anti-nuke movement. And they'd never listen, never gave a rat's ass that they were doing more harm than good. Some people just love stirring up trouble. But they do need to be distinguished from people with a legitimate cause and a commitment to social change. I'm glad you agree.

ww