Can you struggle through the rest of this year and 2008 before the collective citizenry labeled U.S.A. can realize the possibility of limitless potential and opportunity? Will enough have been lost to bring focus to how much is to be gained?

George Bush, facilitator for the upcoming 18-month gauntlet of struggle and loss, is looking to guarantee you will answer those questions in the affirmative.

And since this is a column about food and politics, confirming the ensuing pain with a glance to Iraq would be an injustice to what's going on here around the kitchen table.

The Food and Drug Administration has extended until May 29 the opportunity to comment on a draft document called a "guidance" that spells out anew the agency's thoughts on regulating alternative medicine products and practices. Yes, they are back!

Stand-up groups like the American Association for Health Freedom and the National Health Federation, in addition to successfully asking for the 30-day extension, agree enactment wouldn't change the letter of the law as spelled out in two important provisions that influence the practice of alternative medicine - the Dietary Supplement Health & Education Act (DSHEA) and the Public Health Service Act.

But the two groups are urging alternative medicine and dietary supplement businesses to recognize the red flag and comment anyway.

Ah, the winter thaw has again revealed a telling reminder of who we really are. We’re talking, of course, about that early-season cousin of the mysterious phenomena known as crop circles, which in Bloomington and other pulsing college towns come in manifestations best described as crap circles.