ANGRY RETIREE OP-ED: PRETZEL STICKS ARE A GATEWAY DRUG.

by Barry S. (NWM Staff Writer)

I see it all the time when I take my daily walk to the corner grocery store for skim milk. Tiny kids sitting in shopping carts, snacking on those mini-pretzel sticks. Some are just chomping away. While others are pretending these snacks are like cigarettes. So there they are, puffing on their imaginary cigs. And 5 years from now I’m sure these same kids are going to be teen-punks smoking like chimneys on the same corner. Smelling up the area. Littering the place with butts. In fact my neighbor (with a PC) confirmed my fears. He said he found some study that did link smoking to playing with candy cigarettes or pretzel sticks as kids. 22% of smokers admitted to it in this survey of 25,887 U.S. adults. Personally, I think parents should think twice before handing their kids any food in stick form like breadsticks, pretzels and of course candy cigarettes. Carrot sticks I’m not so sure.

FREEBIE FRIDAY: SOMETHING FOR NOTHING – FROM A BIG GIANT!

I’m about to do something no blog before me has ever attempted. I’m actually going to say something nice about Wal-Mart. Personally, I’m pro "mom & pop" stores all the way. However, recently while surfing the mega, super-smiley-faced Walmart.com (yes I'm that lame) I did find something that was kinda cool – The free trial & sample section. An area of the site that offers free trials on everything from music to paper towels to “quit smoking” gum. Is there a catch? Sure. That goes without saying in corporate America. Some of the samples are only available in store. And some you need to fill out a 5 hour survey (ok, more like 3 ½ hr) to claim your product-prize. But still, one can’t argue that the stuff is free. Yes, you’re probably getting a teeny-tiny size, but hey, it’s still a way to stick it to the MAN. Sorta.