One of the great things about my family is that when we go out to eat, we grab a few things from the land of our neighbors and don’t have to be concerned about dinners charged to the American Express card. Also, Mom never asks me to wipe the dishes afterwards. That’s the best part of it.
Returning to discussion of the Manhattan Project, Charles mentioned, “Unfortunately, most areas in the United States had some part in that fiasco, with the leaders being Rocky Flats in Colorado; Hanford in the state of Washington; Oak Ridge, Tennessee; Ellenton, South Carolina – the home of the Savannah River plant – and of course, Los Alamos, New Mexico. Building bombs gives at least a quadruple whammy since those upon whom they are dropped consider it an imposition on their lifestyle. Those who work making bombs suffer immensely because of the dangerous product, the process involved and radiation. Resources that could be used more wisely are wasted. If they aren’t 49
used, what is done to dispose of them, as well as where do you ship the dangerous byproducts that result?”
Charles continued, “Besides the bomb building, there are other industries that contribute to headaches for the planet and those who live on it.
The number of Superfund sites in the tens of thousands isn’t all from building WMD. We have a few industries in Western New York that you can find in many other parts of the country. Besides the tanneries, landfills, quarries and chemical companies, there are also refineries, paper mills, and drug manufacturers, all brought about by the advancement of technology and so-called progress.”
“There was mention made earlier of the area in the Texas / Louisiana region with so many of these businesses that it’s been called chemical alley
– not to be confused with Chemical Ali. That part of the country doesn’t have a monopoly on bad places in which very few want to live,” said Natalie.
I said, “They’re everywhere.”
“You can thank capitalism for that and especially greed. If you had a billion dollars and could spend one thousand dollars every hour, it would take over a hundred years to run out of money,” said Natalie.
As you may have figured out, I always ask a lot of questions, so I asked, “How long do you think 50
it would take to do the tax return of that individual?”
Charles chimed in, “That’s not important, but you can see that no one should have so much money that they can’t spend it, while others are struggling to get by.”
“Dad’s right. How much can you spend?”
“I’m not so sure this idea of better living through chemistry was such a great idea, either.
When someone mentioned that ‘plastics were the future,’ they knew something because it seems they’re also the future of our children and grandchildren, and it doesn’t end there. Plastic lasts forever, or close to it. As pointed out, blue vinyl is the worst of them,” replied Charles.
“Technology has done wonders, but too many times people who use it wonder why much of it is such a huge mess. Are cell phones really hazard-free? Many gadgets are so new that studies haven’t been done as to whether they’re safe.
People swear by their computers while these same individuals swear at them in the den as they use them and experience frustration.”
“You could say the same about television and the automobile. Just consider how far the boob tube has come. We had the Golden Age of television and now we have high definition with hundreds of channels to surf through – which many people do – and all there is to watch are news-51
entertainment, reality TV and other non-essentials.
At least the picture is clear,” said Mom.
Charles stated, “When you talk about cars and trucks, we did have some great innovation, such as the Pinto, Yugo, Corvair and Edsel. You can’t find workmanship like that. Maybe I should add to this list the Prius and a few of the other products brought to you by Toyota. Is there any coincidence that many of the letters that make up the name of that company are found in the word, toylet?”
“When you mention criminal corporations, isn’t that a pleonasm? Readers, open your dictionary or google it if you don’t know what the word means.”
I added, “The news mentions one company after the other being investigated and CEOs being tossed into jail. At the same time the company makes huge payments to settle lawsuits and still claims that there was no wrongdoing. Yeah, right.”
“Maybe people – like us – who don’t read the newspaper or watch the news have the right idea. Most of it is bad,” replied Natalie.
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