After reviewing the text of the Seattle ordinances that ban Styrofoam and plastic food containers and implement a “Green Fee” for plastic grocery bags, I am not as annoyed with the Seattle City Council as I had been, but I am even more disgusted with our State Legislature. We all knew about the liberal policies of the Seattle Council, but the State created the framework upon which Seattle crafted the regulations.
The left wingers in Olympia must have known they didn’t have the votes to pass a state law that accomplished their goal, so they appealed to the left leaners to help them set the stage for cities to pass local ordinances. That way, they didn’t have to take responsibility for screwing the constituents; that fell to the local government bodies.
They did this, knowing full well there was already a city chomping at the bit to jump on the band wagon.
Even though all Seattle residents are not flaming liberals, there are plenty of folks willing to be bent over by their government and take the punishment without revolting. They collectively deserve what they get. If you listen to the namby pamby comments by some Seattlites in the media, they seem to be resigned to the screwing and are willing to roll over and take it. Taking this abuse suggests that the citizens have conceded that city officials know what is best for them better than they do.
You know that saying about a camel getting his nose under the tent flap. I don’t want to speculate about all the havoc this camel will cause.
For me, I listen to the debate about recycling then I watch to see where the recycled products go that the dutiful citizens separate from the garbage. I find it a little amusing when I hear reports that the recycling companies periodically divert the “recyclable” waste from the recycling path back to the waste stream and the garbage disposal system.
Government tells you to recycle or else…..You separate the stuff….. the volume of “recyclable” waste overwhelms the system…..the market is flooded with product…..the inventory explodes with too much “stuff”……the price falls and the company can no longer reprocess the product at a profit so it just dumps the excess back into the dump.
I don’t know the real motives of the left wingers in dealing with these bags and styro food containers, but I am sure they will reveal themselves as time goes by. I do know that the government has learned to shift the burden of responsibility to business owners that generally sell these products. It is much easier to control a few hundred businesses and armtwist them into compliance where policing hundreds of thousands is virtually impossible. Once again, the consumer is not the one held accountable. Once again the small business person takes the hit.
There has to be fairer way to get where we need to get with the environment. I suspect that if we really knew where some of these turkeys wanted to take us, we might revolt. Since they feed it to us steadily over time, trustworthy citizens are duped before they know it.
I am just happy I don’t live in that nut house. For now……
Posted on August 6, 2008 at 8:38 am in Environmental, Snohomish County Political Commentary | RSS feed
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No Loss for Words
Bag Em Dano!
by Steve DanaAfter reviewing the text of the Seattle ordinances that ban Styrofoam and plastic food containers and implement a “Green Fee” for plastic grocery bags, I am not as annoyed with the Seattle City Council as I had been, but I am even more disgusted with our State Legislature. We all knew about the liberal policies of the Seattle Council, but the State created the framework upon which Seattle crafted the regulations.
The left wingers in Olympia must have known they didn’t have the votes to pass a state law that accomplished their goal, so they appealed to the left leaners to help them set the stage for cities to pass local ordinances. That way, they didn’t have to take responsibility for screwing the constituents; that fell to the local government bodies.
They did this, knowing full well there was already a city chomping at the bit to jump on the band wagon.
Even though all Seattle residents are not flaming liberals, there are plenty of folks willing to be bent over by their government and take the punishment without revolting. They collectively deserve what they get. If you listen to the namby pamby comments by some Seattlites in the media, they seem to be resigned to the screwing and are willing to roll over and take it. Taking this abuse suggests that the citizens have conceded that city officials know what is best for them better than they do.
You know that saying about a camel getting his nose under the tent flap. I don’t want to speculate about all the havoc this camel will cause.
For me, I listen to the debate about recycling then I watch to see where the recycled products go that the dutiful citizens separate from the garbage. I find it a little amusing when I hear reports that the recycling companies periodically divert the “recyclable” waste from the recycling path back to the waste stream and the garbage disposal system.
Government tells you to recycle or else…..You separate the stuff….. the volume of “recyclable” waste overwhelms the system…..the market is flooded with product…..the inventory explodes with too much “stuff”……the price falls and the company can no longer reprocess the product at a profit so it just dumps the excess back into the dump.
I don’t know the real motives of the left wingers in dealing with these bags and styro food containers, but I am sure they will reveal themselves as time goes by. I do know that the government has learned to shift the burden of responsibility to business owners that generally sell these products. It is much easier to control a few hundred businesses and armtwist them into compliance where policing hundreds of thousands is virtually impossible. Once again, the consumer is not the one held accountable. Once again the small business person takes the hit.
There has to be fairer way to get where we need to get with the environment. I suspect that if we really knew where some of these turkeys wanted to take us, we might revolt. Since they feed it to us steadily over time, trustworthy citizens are duped before they know it.
I am just happy I don’t live in that nut house. For now……
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Posted on August 6, 2008 at 8:38 am in Environmental, Snohomish County Political Commentary | RSS feed | Reply | Trackback URL