1. Gawd, what have we done?! (Or rather, what have we allowed corporations to do?) This is SO-O-O-O-O BAD!


2. The prevalence of dementia and Alzheimer's in elderly humans. Is there a connection to pesticides? Dementia and Alzheimer's are on the increase. If these commonly used pesticides can destroy bees' brains, what about human brains?

A Third of U.S. Seniors Die With Dementia, Study Finds
The rate of deaths related to Alzheimer's disease rose 68 percent from 2000 to 2010, according to the report. At the same time, deaths from other major diseases, such as heart disease and HIV/AIDS, have declined.
http://health.usnews.com/health-news/news/articles/2013/03/19/a-third-of-us-seniors-die-with-dementia-study-finds

Dementia sufferers to increase by 70 per cent within 20 years (England)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/8121718/Dementia-sufferers-to-increase-by-70-per-cent-within-20-years.html


3. Decline in U.S. students' performance in international rankings of education systems. Are our children's brains being impaired by pesticides (and not just by the defunding of schools in favor of war and tax breaks/bailouts for the uber-rich, and not just by the stupidification of Americans by the Corporate Media).

U.S. Falls In World Education Rankings, Rated 'Average'
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/07/us-falls-in-world-education-rankings_n_793185.html


Okay, 4) I can't help but remember the stupids here at DU--probably paid agents of the chemical companies--who ranted at, ridiculed, badgered and derided anyone who dared to suggest the most logical cause of catastrophic bee die-off's--pesticides! They were very like the same kind of stupids we faced regarding corporate-run 'TRADE SECRET' voting machines, now everywhere like a plague in the U.S.--stupids who demanded "proof" that elections were rigged, when the very vote counting system had been denuded of any kind of provability. This just drove me nuts. WHY would a system with NO provability be created IF NOT TO RIG ELECTIONS?!

Anyway, is the prevalence of stupid here (at times) and elsewhere in U.S. culture the result of pesticides eating away at our brains?

How can any society that permits pesticide companies to destroy bees be considered as anything BUT stupid? Are we suffering self-reinforcing stupidity--pesticides destroy our brains THEN we are fair game for the Corporate Rulers who can put anything over on us?

This conspiracy theory needs more thought, obviously. For instance, don't the Corporate Rulers also have eaten away brains? Maybe they don't mean to destroy our brains, or the bees' brains, but are just, themselves, so brainless, due to pesticide poisoning, that they can't help but doing really, really stupid things. Also, what about Finland--the best education system in the world (and highest student scorers, along with South Korea). Are they pesticide free?

Is there a correlation between the increase in dementia and the decline in student scores? Is there a correlation between widespread use of these pesticides and either problem (increase in dementia, decline in student scores)?

Again, with pesticides so destroying bees' brains that they can't think, can't remember where they are, can't remember where they are going, can't remember where they live--hauntingly similar to dementia in humans--WHAT IS THE EFFECT OF THESE PESTICIDES ON HUMAN AND OTHER CRITTERS' BRAINS?

Bees, of course, are especially vulnerable to pesticides because they forage for nectar in numerous plants--in wild fields and cultivated fields, in gardens, back yards, parks, forests, meadows, lowlands, mountains, wetlands, roadsides, anywhere there are flowers--and there is, of course, no way to keep them out of pesticide-laden areas. Also, their dramatic die-off's have been more noticed than other critter die-off's (frogs, birds, fish, insects) because bees are, in fact, workers in our farming industry. Without them, crops don't get pollinated! They are a critical link in OUR food chain. Beekeeping is therefore a significant business enterprise and bee keepers cried the alarm.

But what is the impact on butterflies and other critters who visit flowers and plants? On birds, which also forage among pesticide-laden plants? And on those who eat the whole plant (including us), or eat critters who do, or brush up against pesticide-laden foliage, or breathe the air, or drink the water?

Have we become too stupid to regulate corporations? Too stupid to require PRECAUTIONARY BANS on threats to the food chain, to our health, to life itself? Too stupid to throw out those obviously rigged 'TRADE SECRET' voting machines? Too stupid to save ourselves and our planet? Too stupid for self-governance? Made more stupid by our stupidities?

Case in point: pesticides, bee die-off's. Case in point: 'TRADE SECRET' voting machines, with half the states doing NO AUDIT AT ALL (and the other half doing miserably inadequate audits).