Maggie's Farm

Here in the NW suburbs of Chicago, which is an amazing hodge-podge of cultures, but largely from Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Greater Asia, the local stores have large selections of bottled carbonated water--mainly for those who were raised in countries, as the Assistant Village Idiot notes, where the ground water is unsafe. As a conservative I drink it because it makes me feel decadently liberal for a few precious moments--my contribution to diversity.

However, I understand that San Francisco, that pioneer of governmental insanity, is ridding itself of bottled water to make the earth safe(r) for Al Gore and his Jolly Green Giant movement. Sooner or later this kind of insanity makes its way east and small school children will be taught to denounce their parents who sneak swigs of Perrier or Borsec.