Hemp, interestingly enough, is one of those foods, though some may not initially realize that it is also a food in its own right. It is a great source of the omegas -3 and -6, amino acids, antioxidants, and even dietary fiber (which is mostly missing in the typical diet here).
Sounds like great stuff, right?
It is, except for one thing:
Apparently from what I've gathered, it isillegal to grow hemp in the USA for any reason, which is just aggravating in its own right. Therefore, to get hemp in any way, shape, or form, it needs to be imported. It's not illegal to purchase or wear it, or consume it as a food product, but it is illegal for anyone to grow it in this fine country.
It's good for our northern and southern neighbors who can make a pretty dollar off the enlightened crowds that truly want hemp by selling it to US in the middle (pun totally intended), but sometimes, you want to see it grown in your own country.

Along with the hemp-flavored difficulty, I've noticed it's also been hard on diabetics. There are sweeteners on the market, both natural and artificial, and some of them have only just started to become easier to get. Stevia extracts are becoming popular now, simply because of all the non-sugar sweeteners, it tastes the least offensive (read: not bad at all) when added to food.
I can sprinkle stevia on top of things like watermelon chunks and other fruits to enhance the flavor, without receiving a bitter after-taste that I loathe.

Miracle fruit is also hard to obtain in the States for some reason, and I just have no idea why. I'm sure we're able to grow it here, but I can't, for the life of me, understand why we aren't growing, processing, and offering it to everyone in abundance.
Miracle fruit, so named for its seemingly miraculous ability, has the ability to block or alter your taste receptors, turning sour flavors sweet. It doesn't change anything about the food you're eating: Only your perception of how the food tastes. Right now, to get miracle fruit, one must order miracle fruit tablets, which is a dried, process form of the fruit, which extends its storage ability. The tablets usually cost about $15-$20 USD for 10 tablets (good for 20 uses when split), which adds up rather quickly even if you only use one whole tablet per day, and lasts about 30-45 minutes.
The irony is, once again, the only manufacturers of miracle fruit tablets that I've personally been able to find aren't in my own country -- one is European, and the other is Asian.

In all of this, I can only wonder why there isn't a harder push to get things like hemp, stevia, and miracle fruit to the market in an age where our own country's people are a clear sign that we're shackled to something that pulls us down.

Look at the rate of obesity, the number of people with lifelong health issues like diabetes, the amount of illness that could be swayed by a proper change of diet, and tell me that something cannot, in all good conscience, be done to fix it.

I may be looking at this the wrong way, too. Feel free to tell me that. Talk back to me, and let me know.

I found my calling to arms after some reading, and some listening, realizing that information has a desire to be unchained, unfettered by the artificial bonds that we want to impose upon it, and to be spread among the minds of those willing to know what the offering is.

I think, therefore, that I should start by thanking Cory Doctorow for sharing the art of weaving a story with us, and providing the tapestries he has woven to us in an interesting method. I had been reading Little Brother over the weekend, and it scares me in the sense that we could easily be sliding toward this kind of society at full speed, yet no one wants to reach out to grab the brake, or turn on the retro thrusters to slow our descent, or steer us off course into some new, unknown, and potentially beautiful world or blinding, horrible disaster.

I should also thank Andy, the guy who has been so nice to me, giving me rides to and from work each day while I worked on shrugging off yet another chain that our society has lugged over my shoulders. Even though he and I are different in many ways (he, being straight, and I, not so much), he respects me and we have good conversations. I help him as much as I can, and he helps me in return.

Much to the surprise of some, I also thank the remainder of my family -- my aunts and uncles, cousins, nieces, and nephews -- for the kick in the pants they gave me a few years ago by putting me out after I left my dead-end job. That kick in the pants encouraged me to prove someone wrong again when I thought I lost the last person I had to prove wrong, and it helped to swing me into what I am doing with my life now.

Having said my initial piece, I'd like to thank you all for reading.
Please, feel free to enjoy, comment, rebut, discuss.

Thank you.