"you know what really sticks in my craw?..." ~me

i having been using the phrase "you know what really sticks in my craw?" a lot lately.  apparently i am frequently annoyed.  i don't want to rant, or alienate my readers, but i just had to comment on an absolutely ridiculous commercial i saw just a few moments ago from the group "americans against food taxes."  i'm not saying anything derogatory about the group as a whole, but this commercial is just ridiculous.

it starts with a mother driving past foreclosed homes and businesses that  have closed their doors.  then it cuts to the mother unloading her groceries and she says, "washington is talking about a new tax on juice drinks and soda.  they say its only pennies, but those pennies add up when you're trying to feed a family.  washington, if you're listening, what doesn't seem like much to you, can be a lot to us."

ok, i get it.  no one wants to pay taxes on their food.  i don't agree with most of the taxes i pay, mainly because i don't think our tax dollars are going to good use, and i especially don't like the idea of paying new taxes.   but last time i checked, juice and soda were extraneous expenses and not essential to feeding a family.  juice is high in calories and sugar, and soda is flat-out bad for you.  (or, according to my sister, stacey, soda is a "chemical drink.")  

here's a novel idea!  if you are so strapped for cash, instead of paying $5 for a 12 pack of soda, give your children some healthy water to drink.  not flavored water or evian, but good ol' fashioned tap water.  its essential to our daily lives and its practically free.  i lived on diet coke for the last 4 years, but now i don't drink it unless i am out to dinner and i probably will save about $250 this year.  not to mention the weight i lost and i also have fewer headaches.  

so, in conclusion, drink your eight glasses a day.  and when you cut those unnecessary calories and chemicals out of your diet and lose 10 pounds, spend that $250 on some new jeans (or rent).  thats what i will be doing.  

p.s.  just a side note... i was in wal-mart buying plants late one night a few months ago.  there was a baby too young to speak screaming and crying and shaking her bottle at her parents.  so what did these people do?  they bought a mountain dew and poured it in her bottle.  i couldn't believe it!  i was too shocked to take a picture for proof, so you'll just have to take my word for it.