Thank you, Bob, for starting this thread. It has the makings of a classic, with the thought-filled postings so far. I enjoyed the clarification on your nickname..reminded me of that old Peter Sellers' character, "Chance, the Gardener"..,which of course led to more thoughts along the lines of the other posters, esp. worker's rights and that misnomer *universal* healthcare.

My dad write me a letter when I was about 14/15. I had lamented to him about all of the boys I knew who were going off to that Vietdamn war....he wrote back and said basically that it was, in his opinion, imperfections and all, still the best thing going in the "whole ball of clay" and that he reckoned we were better off trying to stay here than go elsewhere. (He had promised me we'd move to Canada if Nixon got elected!) At 83, he is still of this opinion...I am not sure that I can agree, faced with no health insurance and a company that doesn't give a damn about its employees, we are coming to some major decision-making times...

Thanks, again, Bob...

kat