By adamg - 3/13/08 - 10:15 am
Yes - Save the environment!
60% (95 votes)
No - Sounds like we need a Boston Bag Party
31% (50 votes)
Dunno
4% (6 votes)
Don't care, but voting in polls is just my bag, man
5% (8 votes)
Total votes: 159
Comments
Recycling and white people
http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.wordpress.com/2008/02/14/66-recycling/
That site is hilarious.
I like #81, Graduate School, particularly well, since it recapitulates both my choice:
And my revelation:
(Proud bearer of a PhD in Comparative Literature here, and mighty happy I found a third path.)
As I scroll down through the idea of soccer, modern furniture, multilingual children, and musical comedy, I am simultaneously amused and creeped out. The blogger's analysis is masterful; it provokes the Borgesian 'laughter that shatters.'
The Funniest Thing About It
somebody on another blog traced it to a white Jewish hipster guy in Toronto!
Yes, more of those Wacky Canadians.
For comparative literature, see also Martin Mull's work on the subject of white people.
these apply to swrrlygirl
these apply to swrrlygirl (and eeka/molly, as well):
stuffwhitepeoplelike.wordpress.com...-whats-best-for-poor-people
stuffwhitepeoplelike.wordpress.com/2008/01/23/18-awareness/
stuffwhitepeoplelike.wordpress.com...not-having-a-tv
stuffwhitepeoplelike.wordpress.com...marijuana
stuffwhitepeoplelike.wordpress.com...public-radio
stuffwhitepeoplelike.wordpress.com...foods-and-grocery-co-ops
Thanks for the reminder
To figure out the whole login issue here.
Interesting
He lives in LA now. Here's an LA Times article.
I went down the whole list
And figured out I really like about 40% of the stuff I'm supposed to like, as a white person. If I had the income to support it, I'd probably be around 70%. I'm a bit troubled by this.
this one is particularly
this one is particularly relevant to the people who frequent this site:
http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.wordpress.com/2008/02/22/73-gentrification/
Background
Proposed Bill Would Tax Plastic Bags.
How about taxing newspaper plastic bags, too?
The Boston Globe insists on delivering my newspaper in at least one plastic bag every day. All the other papers in my apartment building are bagged, too (Globe, NYTimes, Wall Street Journal). This is totally unnecessary since the papers are dropped off indoors, where they cannot be rained or snowed upon.
Good point, Ronald. Lets
Good point, Ronald. Lets just tax everything we don't like. We definitely don't pay enough in taxes already, and paying more would solve all our problems.
Why can't Boston just add
Why can't Boston just add these to their curbside recycling program? They are typically #2 and #4 plastic, and are highly reusable.
Tax Or Make Illegal?
Here's how you can tell if politicians really believe something is bad, either for you or for the environment. They attempt to make it illegal.
Here's how you can tell if politicians are looking for another source of income. They jump on the first thing they can claim that they think is bad, either for you or for the environment, and then they attempt to tax it.
Sorry. My Libertarian hackles raise whenever something like this rears it's ugly head. Either something is evil enough to make it illegal or not. I'm truly sick of the "gee, this thing is bad, let's tax it" brigade.
The recycling thing seems like a good idea, though. Oh, yeah, right. No revenue for the pols to dip into. Sorry. Forgot.
Suldog
http://jimsuldog.blogspot.com
Recycle it, or don't produce it in the first place?
Recycling is good, but not making the thing that has to later be recycled is better -- especially if that thing is not really needed or wanted in the first place. (I'd rather get my Globe delivered without the bag, thank you.)
Or be forced to pay for them?
I like the option of paying for a plastic bag if you'd like one. IKEA charges for plastic bags, I think more shops should follow suit. If I happen to forget one of my many reusable bags, I just consider it a "lazy tax."
Please
Like Ikea really gives a crap about this. They make you pay to get free money that hits directly to their bottom line. As for taxing bags, the other poster is right, this is a scam for politicians to develop another revenue stream. I hate stupidity, does that mean we can give people who do dumb things a tax? We'd make a helluva lot more than taxing plastic bag usage. Until the world governments stops allowing the overmanufacturing of useless goods, there will be virtually no impact by an individual to "save" the environment, regardless of what they do at home.
Charging for bags is common in Europe
and IKEA started in Europe.
Outside the Hub
I've seen bag charges in a number of places in the states. The grocery store I visited in SFO charged for the bags if you didn't have them. I'm not sure if Oregon legislated an end to plastic or if it is simply extremely common in the Portland area to bring your own. I didn't see a single person in line who wasn't carrying their own bags.
I'm of two minds about it because I just decided to downsize my garbage cans to use the store bags. I also use them for cat box scoopings. This saves having to buy bags.
"Tax" or "Impact Fee"
I wouldn't think of it as a tax. I'd think of it a less property or sales taxes I need to pay on something else to make up for what our municipalities pay to remediate the mess the bags make.
I thought "paying for the messes you make" would be a central tenet of libertarianism? No? Oh, that's right - the central philosophy of libertarianism IS every man for himself!
No, Swirly. Sorry!
The central tenets of libertarianism are freedom and the responsibility that has to be a part of that freedom. Yes, we believe in paying for the messes we make. However, we don't believe in taxing to solve a problem when eradicating the problem entirely is a much better solution. Thus, why I would call for either making the bags illegal (or possibly including them in recycling) but NOT taxing of any kind upon them.
Suldog
http://jimsuldog.blogspot.com
Nuke the whales.
Nuke the whales.
Gotta nuke something.
Gotta nuke something.