Posted on 08/08/2008 6:37:57 AM PDT by reaganaut1
SEATTLE — Here on the West Coast, we sort our garbage — or else. We rummage through our food scraps, just ahead of the worms. We take our little canvas bags to the grocery store lest we get caught with the embarrassment of a dreaded paper-or-plastic denouement, and the scorn of neighbors.
If we smoke cigarettes, we do it in the alley — huddled with the other losers. We’ve banned junk food from our school vending machines and soon — in 32 square miles of Los Angeles where a moratorium on new fast food restaurants will be in place — it will be treated like tobacco: the cheeseburger as death-wich.
We do this because we’re so-o-o-o virtuous, and our self-regard is tied to the size of our curbside proclamations. Mostly, we do it for others — the poor, the fat, the ill-informed. Of course, we would never smoke, or get caught finger-licking the extra-crispy runoff from KFC, or tossing a foil wrap in the trash. Nearly every week brings news of another act of forced high-mindedness. Last week it was San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom with a plan to start inspecting people’s garbage, on the lookout to find someone who may have let a banana peel slip into the trash. Before that it was Seattle, which will soon charge people 20 cents a bag in the grocery checkout line.
(Excerpt) Read more at egan.blogs.nytimes.com ...
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
Aside from the fact that we never even had vending machines in school in my school days, and no food was permitted outside of the cafeteria, the article is right on target.
The old time joke was that the Puritan’s biggest worry was that someone, somewhere, was enjoying life. The old time Puritans did it because they were worried about our souls. The modern Puritans are worried about our health, our environment, the planet, etc. Too often both brands of Puritan were/are actually, secretly, more concerned about their own power and authority.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
Read the comments on the site. These people are nuts!
The scariest enslavers are the ones who enslave us for our own good.
Weren’t these plastic bags supposed to save the planet from the apocalypse of paper bags? Now canvas bags are supposed to save us from the apocalypse of the plastic bags?
What will save us from the apocalypse of the canvas bag?
What you get if you let libs run amok is a "1984" society. Libs who read the book probably wonder what's wrong with that kind of society. Everybody lives in tiny, city apartments, and no one has more than anybody else. Everything is controlled by a central, all-powerful government. Perfect lib scenario.
The road to hell is paved with good intentions......
I make a practice ALWAYS to ask for plastic at the paper-please (hippie) friendly stores out here in Los Angeles. And I refuse to be shamed.
Molon labe. Must take a stand.
People by nature need to feel their existence has some purpose, that they’re making some contribution. But doing what is right and good is difficult - and doesn’t provide the recognition they desire.
So instead they resort to this sort of inane nonsense. It salves their consciences.
It's a 'perfect lib scenario' because it was written by an ex-lib -- George Orwell.
After enlisting on the Republican side of the Spanish Civil War -- and learning that the inevitable end product of socialism was totalitarianism -- Orwell became a convert to the blessings of liberty.
1984 and Animal Farm are specifically about what happens to societies run by leftists.
And, you're right, upon reading these books, many leftists will wonder "What, exactly, is the problem?"
Two years ago my parents passed away and left an estate to my sister and me. Part of it was a well maintained, 58 year-old house with three car garage (and other buildings) on 4 1/2 acres of land.
About 8 years before that the small town (whose city limits were 2 miles away) ran a water main out there and installed fire hydrants. After that was completed the residents were allowed to tap into the “city water,” which was a good thing as there is a lot of iron rust in the ground water.
Around 4 years later (watch the timeline of this) the town extended their city limits. Now the house is 1/2 mile INSIDE the town.
About a year later the town rezoned my parents property from residential to commercial.
This meant that if my sister or I wanted to live there (we didn’t), we couldn’t add on or improve the house, and we couldn’t sell it as a residence.
So the house I grew up in was sold to a highway contractor to be used as an office and the land as space to park his machinery.
It burns me up that the government has the power to tell us what we can and cannot do with property the we own!!!!
I haven’t been back home since Mom was buried. I still don’t think I can take it.
While I'm not against some of the measures (calorie amounts printed on menus), it's the regulating and mandating of these things that make them onerous. The enforcement needed to make sure people act well (by their highly debatable terms) is well overboard. Many of the posters have bought into the "we're saving the world" mentality, and are obviously fanatics.
I do, too, and explain that I am not a Tree Murderer.
The clerks usually think for a moment.
If they think for more than a moment, they get a look in their eyes that says, "This program has performed an illegal function, and will be shut down."
I forget to mention, this is not in CA or WA or in New England. This happened in the South, in NC.
Stuffing produce in our clothes?
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