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Choosing Paper Or Plastic

The recent decision by New York State to prohibit single-use plastic bags from retail stores makes it an ideal time to reexamine one of my favorite environmental quandaries. Plastic grocery bags were developed as a substitute for paper bags in the late 1970s. It was promoted as a way to save trees and prevent the cutting down of our forests. The opinion that paper is superior to plastic for the environment is not really based on science or fact. It is based on misunderstandings about the way that plastic bags are made, how a landfill works and the assumption that non-biodegradable ...

Nothing Comes Easy On The Farm

March is National Agriculture Month. This is a good time since the agricultural year is about to begin. Soon farmers will be out in their fields preparing them for new crops. For years I was deeply involved in agriculture. My husband operated a dairy farm with registered Holstein cattle. Farm life is a good life — a good way to raise a family. The family worked together. Our children learned responsibility by working on the farm. My husband used to say that they had a unique bond. They did a lot of talking as they worked in the barn together milking the cows. Many problems were ...

Making Sense Of The Coronavirus

Are you concerned about the coronavirus? I am certainly taking it seriously, but hope we’re not being swayed by overreaction. For example, news like this concerns me: 38% of American beer drinkers surveyed last week said they wouldn’t buy Corona beer “under any circumstances” at this point in time. A poll of beer drinkers was taken last week by the ad firm 5WPR and that was the consensus. I saw a funny picture about overreaction online—a place that can actually supply some good laughs on occasion, sometimes lightening grave situations. It was a picture of a beer ...

Gov’t Outlaws Freelance Work

Freelance jobs are “feudalism,” says California Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez. She persuaded California’s legislature to pass a new law reclassifying freelance workers as employees. That means many people who hire them must now give them benefits like overtime, unemployment insurance, etc. Politicians said it would help freelancers a lot. Of course, much of the media agreed. Vox called it “a victory for workers everywhere”! Sigh. Young reporters just don’t understand that stifling economic freedom always creates nasty side effects. Actually, more understand now, ...

The Good Life: Casting Votes By Laundry And Pasta Sauce

For as long as we have had political parties, we have been doused with political hogwash. The latest fiction to light my fuse revolves around “party loyalty.” Someone, somewhere, decided to pretend that anyone who was a Republican (or Democrat) last year has an ethical obligation to continue to be that Republican or Democrat this year. If that is so, why is it legal to switch political parties? It is legal, and easy. I know. I have done it for about the past decade. This year, I did it again, via my computer. I looked at what was likely to be on the ballot in my neck of ...

Threatening High Court Justices Is Never OK

Congress must censure Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer for threatening two Supreme Court justices outside the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday. This should be wholly bipartisan and utterly uncontroversial. No American, no less a high-ranking member of Congress like Schumer, should be permitted to threaten government officials or judges. This type of thuggish behavior displayed by the senior U.S. senator has no place in a civilized society and must be condemned by all. Speaking to abortion-rights activists this week, the New York Democrat issued direct threats against ...