POST SCRIPTS

Substance, girl! Substance! In my neck of the woods, there has been much toodooing over the prospective banning of plastic shopping bags. It is, at first glance, a horrifying prospect. Never mind the groceries ... I need those things to put the garbage in!

But we all just got very, very short memories. Your great-grandmother, possibly even your grandmother, took her very own shopping bag to the grocery store ... and she managed.

But I don't know if I can get into lining the trash cans with newspaper. Remember that?

I walked eight city blocks one way with my grandmother twice a week one summer to get to "Ralphs". We hauled paper bags without handles back home. She also still washed her clothing in a wash tub (with a wringer) into the late sixties and never did buy a dryer. Her washboard hangs on my laundry room wall...so I'm hip to what you're saying. BUT:

The main reason plastic became popular once invented was to "save the trees" (and kill the loggers)...it was one of the first stupid green attacks on civilization. Those kind caring people didn't mind hurting families (and the children!) one bit...they were blinded by the green light!

Libby, I love invention. I love the creative process. I love how humans always seem to come up with something that works, even when it seems like we're all about to perish...it's quite amazing really. We don't have to "make do". The beautiful thing about living in America, praise the Lord, is that we can live "simply" if we like, AND we don't have to if we don't like. And when real, honest to goodness problems become bothersome to enough people someone always sees opportunity (and a challenge)and...voila! A solution issues forth.

Faith, dear girl...just a little faith is so much better than division,litigation, oppressive laws, piting one group against another, and fighting about who is right. Our grandmothers lived by faith, it's why they were able to accomplish so much during WWII despite the hardships they endured. If they had been forced to endure constant attacks by "anti-groups" like we are today we'd all, as they say, be speaking German.

Let's not be crying over spilt milk, tomorrow's another day...and faith (along with freedom) will see us through...not stupid green rules.

Nah, you gotta have rules. The brutalities of the "free" market will only take us so far. The Norwegians are not seeing the real problem however. If there is only the megacenter serving the needs of some sprawling suburban enclave, what choice do you have but to take the car. Can't transport no six bags of groceries on the bus.

So it's the "shopping center" that's got to go, not necessarily the car. This is going to take a lot of re-engineering, and it will have to be dictated. Go find out how many times the Chico Mall has been sold since it was built. There is an entire usurious class that makes its living off such transactions. They won't want their livelihood engineered out of existence.

Nah, you gotta have rules. The brutalities of the "free" market will only take us so far. The Norwegians are not seeing the real problem however. If there is only the megacenter serving the needs of some sprawling suburban enclave, what choice do you have but to take the car. Can't transport no six bags of groceries on the bus.

So it's the "shopping center" that's got to go, not necessarily the car. This is going to take a lot of re-engineering, and it will have to be dictated. Go find out how many times the Chico Mall has been sold since it was built. There is an entire usurious class that makes its living off such transactions. They won't want their livelihood engineered out of existence.

Yes and those rules should be determined and then enforced by Libby!

Libby will now, with her superior intellect, and new found love for "substance" will determine for all of us the beat way to shop, drive, live, eat, play,etc.

We must all turn to our great leader Libby, for guidance, insight and edicts.

Freedom to choose how you do business is not welcome in the Libby Utopia.

All important decisions will now be made by Libby and her central planners!

Freedom is simply too important to be left to the proliteriat.

A people cry out for a savior to come and rescue them from being the most prosperous, and productive nation on earth!

Turn away from your sinful notions of individual liberty, and join the Libby collective...or else!

The Rules we have are enough to fill a football stadium...more is not necessarily better.

This is going to take a lot of re-engineering, and it will have to be dictated.

Who is your favorite dictator...who would you put in charge of all this "forcing" and "re-engineering" and "dictating"? How much power is too much Libby? When they decide that buses and bicycles are a luxury you don't need will you still be so smug?

There is an entire usurious class that makes its living off such transactions.

A willing buyer and seller...how do you, or anyone else, lose or get hurt?

"A willing buyer and seller...how do you, or anyone else, lose or get hurt?"

Depends on what's being bought and what's being sold, don't it? Take Marijuana, for instance. Such a tizzy some folk get into over that.

Isn't it possible that the churning of real estate, especially of the "blot-on-the-landscape-that-uses-up-excessive-energy" sort, could be just as damaging to our economy and society?

Oh my gosh...ok here we go, economics 101, sometimes people make bad decisions, and some times they make good ones. When you try and regulate all decisions through government, all you get is poor decisions compounded over and over again.

You see, despite what you may think about your cognitive powers, you probably do not possess enough information about the wants and desires of the 300 million Americans making financial decisions on a daily basis. I don't either, the difference is, that I don't think I should be determining how all those individuals conduct business, but you apparently do.

You would take away our economic LIBERTY in exchange for a guaranteed version of what you consider to be "fair".

Sorry, but Im not willing to hand over that decision making process to you.

I will go ahead and be responsible for my economic transactions, good and bad, rather than have Libby determine what it is I should really do with my money.

Governments role in economics should be VERY limited.

Libby, first of all I skimmed over TWO words you used and THAT WAS MY ERROR...I should have addressed that first. The words:

"usurious class"

Using this nomicer to identify those people who facilitate the buying and selling of property, the Chico Mall for instance, is a slander you haven't shown to be factual or true in any way. The transactions as far as I know were conducted legally but you claim:

Go find out how many times the Chico Mall has been sold since it was built. There is an entire usurious class that makes its living off such transactions.

Then we move on to another subject entirely:

Depends on what's being bought and what's being sold, don't it? Take Marijuana, for instance. Such a tizzy some folk get into over that.

Oh I don't know...except for a very narrow exception in a few states it is against the law...it often iunvolves the sale of an illegal substance to minors...it helps in funding terrorists and gangs...it contributes to the rotting of young minds and actual brain cells...it provides lots of lost opportunities for a good education...it can be a gateway to other drug use...but no bother, "the children" should be groomed in the finer activities in life and discouraged away from living a productive lawful life...right?

And finally:

Isn't it possible that the churning of real estate, especially of the "blot-on-the-landscape-that-uses-up-excessive-energy" sort, could be just as damaging to our economy and society?

Could it? In what way?

What constitutes a "blot-on-the-landscape" for you Libby?

Try this:

In the past year, Gore’s home burned through 213,210 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity, enough to power 232 average American households for a month. ** In February 2007, An Inconvenient Truth, a film based on a climate change speech developed by Gore, won an Academy Award for best documentary feature. The next day, the Tennessee Center for Policy Research uncovered that Gore’s Nashville home guzzled 20 times more electricity than the average American household. ** After the Tennessee Center for Policy Research exposed Gore’s massive home energy use, the former Vice President scurried to make his home more energy-efficient. Despite adding solar panels, installing a geothermal system, replacing existing light bulbs with more efficient models, and overhauling the home’s windows and ductwork, Gore now consumes more electricity than before the “green” overhaul. **
Since taking steps to make his home more environmentally-friendly last June, Gore devours an average of 17,768 kWh per month –1,638 kWh more energy per month than before the renovations – at a cost of $16,533. By comparison, the average American household consumes 11,040 kWh in an entire year, according to the Energy Information Administration.

BUT...it's OK because Gore buys carbon off-sets...sure he does...from himself!

BOTTOM LINE...BUYER BEWARE! Especially when it comes to government wanting to take control of every aspect of our lives. Today more dems are talking about "taking over" the oil refineries.

Tina you are far kinder than I, I don't even bother spending more than 3 min responding to Libby's comments.

Nick, I don't know that Libby would agree with you but thanks for the "encouraging words" LOL.

I enjoy talking with Libby. She has a colorful way of expressing herself and she says things that others might also be thinking. I consider it an opportunity to give those people some alternative food for thought.

Most of us accept too much of what we hear without question...we aim to change that here at Post Scripts.

Libby, your Grandmother, may have also had an incenerator in her back yard, for trash.