Recently, on Fox News, I had heard one of their analysts denouncing a bill to end the use and prominence of Styrofoam packing (which has been a known environmental issue for some time) in the name of jobs. I believe this to be false.
UPDATE: An article challenges the Republican view that regulations are high percentage job killers.
If ceasing the manufacture of Styrofoam packaging, would not the jobs go to a manufacturer who is making 'safe' packaging? With the increase in demand, corporations making more environmentally friendly packaging will need more employees to handle the surge. The only one's perhaps displaced by such a policy would be manufacturers that do not embrace change and progressive ideas, they are forced to go by the wayside for not staying with the demands of a growing nation; this is the way of business, it has always been a gamble.
Additionally, how can we justify regressive steps? We know Styrofoam and other packaging materials are unsafe; it would be irresponsible to allow ourselves to get caught up in an employment and economic hysteria only to cause an environmental crisis years down the line. We must find a way to fix our problems but also not move backwards in our policies and protections.
India is a country that has allowed their land and air to be polluted beyond repair; if we do not believe environmental protections are as important or do not take them as seriously as our economy and employment then Americans will face a bleak and unhealthy future.
Showing posts with label legalization. Show all posts
Showing posts with label legalization. Show all posts
Friday, September 16, 2011
Monday, January 24, 2011
Prop 19: When Stoners Stop Being Seen as Deviants
The last California Gubernatorial election showed me a few things; one, no matter how much people hate the Democratic AND Republican nominee, almost all the votes still go to only those two parties. And two, pot is still a bane of society.
I remember, a few weeks before the vote, some stoner friends were saying they weren't going to vote; fearing legalization would only hurt their medicinal status and that marijuana would be outrageously taxed. This confusion is one thing that led to the failure to pass Proposition 19.
It's not just confused stoners (and some anti-pot sandbagging) though; reading though articles online, you see comments like "I don't recognize the right to get high," and similar sentiments. The fact of the matter is, whether or not you recognize the right to get high (or drunk for that matter), it's still a right (or should be, in the case of the former).
Somehow, we need to change people's perception; stoners are still seen as degenerates and hippy deviants. You could show them the cancer patients who smoke cannabis or the elderly with arthritis but it's not just them who matter in this; it's them and the twenty-three year old smoking for his old sports injuries and the forty-eight year old guy working in retail, getting chewed out everyday by the scum of the consumer world.
We need to remember that each one of us is human, and each of us humans have different needs; you have different needs than your daughter; your wife and son, each, have different needs too. Maybe you like the drink but your wife has always been a smoker; you compromise or you split but neither indirectly pass legislation, in the home, making it so the other can not do what it is they'd like to do. You talk to one another, like humans; like people.
We need real change in this country and we need it now! Sure for pot but also for people, for equality. We need to see each other as brothers, sisters, as one people. We have different lifestyles but why can't we live and let live? Is it possible that we are so cold to each other that, if asked, we could tell every person, eye to eye, person to person, that we say they can not do what they'd like to do; be it marry another man or, more relevant to the post, have a little weed?
I remember, a few weeks before the vote, some stoner friends were saying they weren't going to vote; fearing legalization would only hurt their medicinal status and that marijuana would be outrageously taxed. This confusion is one thing that led to the failure to pass Proposition 19.
It's not just confused stoners (and some anti-pot sandbagging) though; reading though articles online, you see comments like "I don't recognize the right to get high," and similar sentiments. The fact of the matter is, whether or not you recognize the right to get high (or drunk for that matter), it's still a right (or should be, in the case of the former).
Somehow, we need to change people's perception; stoners are still seen as degenerates and hippy deviants. You could show them the cancer patients who smoke cannabis or the elderly with arthritis but it's not just them who matter in this; it's them and the twenty-three year old smoking for his old sports injuries and the forty-eight year old guy working in retail, getting chewed out everyday by the scum of the consumer world.
We need to remember that each one of us is human, and each of us humans have different needs; you have different needs than your daughter; your wife and son, each, have different needs too. Maybe you like the drink but your wife has always been a smoker; you compromise or you split but neither indirectly pass legislation, in the home, making it so the other can not do what it is they'd like to do. You talk to one another, like humans; like people.
We need real change in this country and we need it now! Sure for pot but also for people, for equality. We need to see each other as brothers, sisters, as one people. We have different lifestyles but why can't we live and let live? Is it possible that we are so cold to each other that, if asked, we could tell every person, eye to eye, person to person, that we say they can not do what they'd like to do; be it marry another man or, more relevant to the post, have a little weed?
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