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Texas Lawmaker Wants To Stop Plastic Grocery Bag Bans
The Fort Worth Star-Telegram ^ | March 15, 2013 | Anna M. Tinsley

Posted on 03/20/2013 9:21:36 PM PDT by mom of young patriots

Texas State Rep. Drew Springer embraces freedom.

Even for plastic bags.

The Republican from Muenster recently filed "The Shopping Bag Freedom Act," a bill intended to block plastic-bag bans in Austin and other Texas cities.

Such bans are designed to push customers into buying reusable bags at the checkout stand or bringing some to the store.

Supporters praise the bans as a boost for the environment.

Critics deride them as unwarranted government intrusion that could increase costs for consumers.

"At a time of economic recession and with food prices at an all-time high, this hidden social tax on the poor will cause many to have to choose between necessary items such as milk and bread or having a reusable bag to carry their groceries," Springer said. "This type of government overreach must be stopped here and now.

"If a municipality can ban bags, what is to say they won't mandate how large a soda can be or how much salt one can put on their food."

Plastic bags have been a mainstay in grocery and convenience stores and restaurants for decades, edging out paper bags in popularity soon after they were introduced.

Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/2013/03/15/4703821/texas-lawmaker-wants-to-stop-plastic.html#storylink=cpy

(Excerpt) Read more at star-telegram.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Government; News/Current Events; US: Texas
KEYWORDS: bag; bagban; bagbans; ban; plastic; texas
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I am so glad someone is going over the heads of the totalitarian city regime in Austin. Their boot on my neck has gotten heavier and heavier over the years.

Phone calls and letters to Congresspeople in Texas in support of this proposed Shopping Bag Freedom Act are needed at the moment and would be much appreciated.

1 posted on 03/20/2013 9:21:36 PM PDT by mom of young patriots
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To: mom of young patriots
I am all for banning bags as long as it's the right one.
2 posted on 03/20/2013 9:24:37 PM PDT by South40 (I Love The "New & Improved" Free Republic!)
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To: mom of young patriots

Some people just enjoy banning things. Maybe they could get behind this ban ban too.


3 posted on 03/20/2013 9:25:45 PM PDT by USFRIENDINVICTORIA
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To: mom of young patriots

They just switched overnight at our Target in SoCal and tracing back the origins of the lefty movement, it came mostly from one idiot liberal actress, forgot her name but she played Elaine in Seinfeld. If I had a paper bag and she was across me, I would shove it down her throat.


4 posted on 03/20/2013 9:27:24 PM PDT by max americana (Make the world a better place by punching a liberal in the face)
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To: mom of young patriots

I hate hippies, fascist dictators every one. Plastic bags are recyclable nowadays anyways. They want us to go back in time, not forward (as they peck on their iphones and computers). HATE THEM!


5 posted on 03/20/2013 9:28:52 PM PDT by hulagirl (Mother Theresa was right)
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To: max americana

Julia Louis-Dreyfus. She should stick to acting. Her common sense quotient is a little low to be meddling in real life affairs like this.


6 posted on 03/20/2013 9:32:21 PM PDT by mom of young patriots
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To: mom of young patriots

Biodegradable bags:

http://www.buygreen.com/biobagshoppers.aspx


7 posted on 03/20/2013 9:34:18 PM PDT by Brad from Tennessee (A politician can't give you anything he hasn't first stolen from you.)
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To: hulagirl

Austin has more than its share to be sure. I have lived among them for years now and sometimes I marvel that I am still sane.


8 posted on 03/20/2013 9:35:14 PM PDT by mom of young patriots
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To: hulagirl

My wife bought some of those canvas bags and uses them on her main shopping trips. We still haul in plenty of the plastic bags, though. Certainly enough to use them for garbage bags without running out. ( We used to have to recycle them. ) They’re incredibly strong. Where I live, clerks will unnecessarily double bag with them for a couple of Foster’s oil cans. I think you could haul gold bars without breaking them!


9 posted on 03/20/2013 9:36:28 PM PDT by dr_lew
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To: mom of young patriots
 
 
I remember the big stink that was made to create the shift to the “plastic” ones – the lefties were going "Eek! Eek! Save the trees! Eek! Eek!!" so the plastic bags were formulated in such a way that going to them was acceptable to all parties and have been in use for a number of decades without a peep of protest - now suddenly those are evil too and must be gone or regulated with taxes or fees. Am smelling a money trail somewhere - there always is one when it comes to nonsensical tyranny. The way to shoot these crooked bans down is to make them have to present specific proof to justify their actions - ultimately they're wide open for liability on this.
10 posted on 03/20/2013 9:36:50 PM PDT by lapsus calami (What's that stink? Code Pink ! ! And their buddy Murtha, too!)
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To: dr_lew

I still prefer plastic bags for groceries, but I have some really nice string bags that I have used for small purchases for years, long before this stupid plastic ban went into effect. I have nothing against conservation when it is a personal choice and not done simply as self righteous grandstanding. What I really hate, though, is to be at a store with one of my string bags and get cooed over by some tree hugging liberal that thinks my shopping bag is just soooo cool and where can she get one for herself. I am disgusted to be mistaken for a politically correct environmentalist and the string bag is a magnet for that kind of assumption. Carrying one now makes me feel like a chump.


11 posted on 03/20/2013 9:53:36 PM PDT by mom of young patriots
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To: mom of young patriots

I moved to Round Rock just in time.


12 posted on 03/20/2013 9:55:43 PM PDT by OrangeHoof (Our economy won't heal until one particular black man is unemployed.)
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To: lapsus calami

I’ve been saying nearly the same things myself. Money, money. You know the night the ban was passed down at city hall, a prominent (private) recycling company in the area showed up to beg time to put together a viable recycling program. The city council basically gave them the finger and passed the ban late that night. Anyone who thinks that action was done to protect the environment has compost for brains.


13 posted on 03/20/2013 10:02:39 PM PDT by mom of young patriots
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To: OrangeHoof

I may not be far behind. I’m considering Georgetown, even.


14 posted on 03/20/2013 10:06:22 PM PDT by mom of young patriots
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To: mom of young patriots

I love plastic bags, and always say ‘plastic’ when asked my choice at checkout. And I recycle them...I mail a lot of packages...sometimes daily...and I use the plastic bags as ‘filler’ in the box...works great, is light weight, and gives the recipient something for their own use...LOL.

And any that might be left over, if we were to (God forbid) have too many, they get burned with our other burnable trash. We burn what we can burn (and no, CO2 does not cause global warming), and we recycle all our steel cans, aluminum cans, plastic bottles, glass bottles. Food waste goes to the cats or our horses. Coffee grounds, egg shells and other food waste that is not fit for man nor beast goes for compost. We pay for trash service, but they make out big time, ‘cause we rarely have much in our trash barrel.

And btw, I hate polystyrene ‘peanuts’ used in packaging.


15 posted on 03/20/2013 10:08:58 PM PDT by GGpaX4DumpedTea (I am a Tea Party descendant...steeped in the Constitutional Republic given to us by the Founders.)
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To: mom of young patriots
I just wish the MSM would do some actual reporting on the subject. The down side of using the canvas reusable bags is that if the consumer doesn't wash then regularly, the bags will transfer disease from prior trips to the new food you buy. The single-use plastic bag, properly recycled, breaks that disease vector. Ditto paper bags that are used once and then recycled properly.

I would be interested in research showing whether string bags (mentioned by someone in this thread) are a disease vector, and if so how serious. One the flip side of the question, the string bags I've had were easy to wash off and dry, you just run them under the tap, squeeze out the water in one swipe of your hand, and hang it up to dry.

16 posted on 03/20/2013 10:11:31 PM PDT by asinclair (Political hot air is a renewable energy resource)
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To: mom of young patriots

Walmart bags are the new Texas flag, they are everywhere in the trees.

They also get wrapped into hay bales and muck up cattle feeding on the hay bales.
That said, just enforce litter and nuisance laws.

Why ban plastic bags?
Millions of Grannys depend on them!!


17 posted on 03/20/2013 10:16:08 PM PDT by mylife (The Roar Of The Masses Could Be Farts)
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To: dr_lew

Them plastic shopping bags are perfect for bath disposal cans.


18 posted on 03/20/2013 10:19:07 PM PDT by mylife (The Roar Of The Masses Could Be Farts)
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I fail to see why we want to ban stuff that is inexpensive and long lasting.

Should we pay more for crap that falls apart?


19 posted on 03/20/2013 10:22:59 PM PDT by mylife (The Roar Of The Masses Could Be Farts)
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To: hulagirl

Not just recyclable, but reusable. Everyone I know uses the plastic shopping bags as trash bags.


20 posted on 03/20/2013 10:32:23 PM PDT by Squawk 8888 (True North- Strong Leader, Strong Dollar, Strong and Free!)
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