Make a Difference

Day: April 29, 2009

Brain Dead Rann Government Begins Plastic Bag Ban On Monday

Maybe there are a few members of South Australia’s Labor Government who have a brain, or at least part of one.

But any government which could introduce a measure so utterly pointless and so clearly going to cause major inconvenience to most of its constituents as a ban on plastic shopping bags, is not overly blessed in research skills and independent thinking.

Some months ago I wrote to politicians and to our local paper to say just how silly I thought this was.

Alas, it made no difference, and next Monday is the day. A sword day, a red day. Or at least a very annoying day.

This is the letter. I apologise for the lack of links – it was written for print publication.

Dear Editor,

Plastic shopping bags are cheap and have a variety of uses. I have used them as lunch bags, bin liners, rubbish bags in the car, to carry wet towels back from the beach, or as litter bags when I pick up rubbish on the side of the road. Eighty percent of plastic shopping bags are re-used in some way, and they make up less than one percent of litter.

Why would anyone want to ban such a cost-effective and useful invention?

Both the present state government and Peter Garrett, the Federal Minister for Plastic Bags and Pussy Cats, quote a study which they say shows 100,000 marine animals are killed each year by plastic bags. Shocking!

Or it would be if it were true. The study, published in Canada in 1987, estimated that between 1981 and 1984 as many as 100,000 marine mammals and birds were killed or injured by fishing equipment – mainly ropes and nets. The study did not even mention plastic bags.

How did a study which estimated 100,000 animals killed or injured by fishing equipment over three years morph into 100,000 animals a year killed by shopping bags? One might be kind and suggest this was an honest mistake.

But I suspect it means that the agenda is more important than the facts. Certainly it confirms a view that both State and Federal governments are more concerned about appearing to do the right thing than actually doing it.

Another nonsensical anti-bag claim was made by John Dee, the founder of Planet Ark, who in 2006 said he had been inundated with calls from farmers saying calves and other livestock had been killed by choking on plastic bags. I had never heard of this when I worked for the United Graziers Association – later AgForce –  and calls to the National Farmers Federation and the Cattle Council confirm that they have not had a single report of such an incident.

One of the issues with a ban on plastic bags is that it is not plastic bags or nothing – plastic bags will have to be replaced by something else. What? Those vile looking ‘green’ shopping bags may make people feel better as they stuff them full of plastic milk containers, plastic meat trays, plastic bags of fruit, plastic packets of biscuits, etc.  They are a public demonstration of concern about the environment, much like driving a Toyota Pious, sorry Prius, but they are worse for the environment than ordinary plastic bags.

Each ‘green’ bag contains about fifty times as much plastic as an ordinary shopping bag. They are made of polypropylene. Unlike bio-degradable shopping bags, which break down over about twelve months, polypropylene virtually never breaks down. In addition, ordinary plastic shopping bags are made in Australia with strict environmental and emission controls. Polypropylene nags, sorry bags, are made in China, with no such controls, and then have to be transported to Australia.

Paper bags are another option. Except they’re not.

Paper bags are simply not as useful as plastic bags, and if plastic bags are banned people will have to buy more bin liners, rubbish bags, lunch bags, etc to replace them. In addition, paper bags take three times as much energy to produce as plastic bags. Apart from wasteful use of energy resources, this also means that paper bags are at least three times more expensive.

The environment is too important for us to be distracted by ’feel good’ projects which do more harm than good.

Despite bans or bag ladies, I will continue to offer my customers bio-degradable plastic shopping bags until they are no longer available, or I am off dragged for re-education.

Peter Wales
American River

The ‘Bag Ladies’ were a marauding mob of well-meaning (I assume) ladies who had taken it upon themselves to stop people in the street and harass them about the evils of using plastic shopping bags. We haven’t seen them of late. Thank heaven for small mercies.

I still have a supply of some hundreds of plastic shopping bags, and will take my own to the supermarket for as long as they hold out.

We shall overcome, etc.

I’m Not Convinced Swine Flu Is Going To Be A Pandemic

But a 23 month old child died of Swine Flu in the US today – the first recorded death outside Mexico.

All deaths from any disease are sad. It is sad that so many have died in Mexico, and confusing that the death rate there is so high.

We need to have answers. But panic, especially by governments keen to be thought to be ‘taking positive action,’ will do more harm than good. As in the 1976 Swine Flu panic.

Good quality medical care for those who are infected, limiting contact with others while they are infectious, and diligent testing of those with whom they have been in contact, should be sufficient to slow and then stop the spread of the disease.

For the rest of us, common sense precautions like protecting youself when people cough or sneeze, regular hand washing, especially after shaking hands and before eating or touching your face, and not travelling to places where there are known to be cases of Swine Flu, should be enough to keep you safe.

Two More Boats Of Illegal Immigrants Today

Australian authorities intercepted another two “suspected illegal entry vessels” in Australian waters today.

On Tuesday Federal Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull called for an independent enquiry into the reasons for the dramatic increase in illegal arrivals.

It would make sense to have such an enquiry. If we can find out why so many more people are coming – at risk to themselves and their families, with disappointment he result when they are turned away, and at increased cost in resources which have to be drawn from screening and caring for refugess who don’t jump the queue, we might in a better position to stop the flow, or at least to slow it down, and give more attention to people in  greater need.

Nor would it be hard to get the answers. Just ask those who have come, or are planning to come, why they are doing so.

Oh hang on. Someone’s already done that. So we know the answer already. Don’t we?

Espresso Book Machine

Angus and Robertson in Melbourne installed one of the 1.5 model of these brilliant machines in September last year.

Now Blackwell’s in London have installed one of  the new EBM 2.0 models.

The Espresso Book Machine can print a paperback book, trim and bind it, in anywhere from five to ten minutes.

They have access to over 500,000 titles, including many formerly out of print. The list is growing. You simply run through an on-screen catalogue, pick the book you want,  and ten minutes later it is yours – same size, cover and layout as the original.

The Espresso Book Machine is worth about $150,000 Australian dollars.

Nifty!

Faith Fighter Game Banned After Muslim Complaint

A few years ago in Victoria, Pastors Daniel Scot and Danny Nalliah ran a conference on ministering to Muslims.

A group of Muslims attended in order to be offended. After they were offended as planned, they complained to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal.

Although they made it clear throughout the seminar that Christians were called to love Muslims and minister to them, Scot and Nalliah were found guilty of inciting hatred (mainly for quoting bits from the Quran that Muslims would rather not hear). After five years and vast sums of money, an appeal court acquitted the two pastors of any wrong-doing.

Now, much less seriously but still annoyingly, the game Faith Fighter has been banned after a complaint by the Organisation of the Islamic Conference.

It’s a dumb game. You can play Jesus, Buddha, Mohammed, etc, and attempt to beat the crap out of other religious leaders – like Street Fighter or Mortal Kombat. Muslims find any portrayal of the features of Mohammed offensive, so the game makers thoughtfully included an option to blank out his features.

As I said, it’s a dumb game. But if  normal people thought they might be offended by this, they just wouldn’t play it.

They wouldn’t play it so they could get offended and then complain and stop everyone else from playing it.

P.S. You can still download Faith Fighter and play it if you want to.

Obama’s 100 Day Spending Spree

Today marks 100 days of President Barack Obama.

Yes, I know. So many people are talking about this it is getting boring already.

Nonetheless, lots of valuable information at Policy Watch, including this graph:

Obama's 100 Day Spending Spree

Obama's 100 Day Spending Spree

Somebody take back the credit cards!

Further news:

1.  In the US, NBC, CBS and ABC will screen Obama’s 100 day press conference. Fox will stick to its normal programming, screening the show ‘Lie to Me.’  Much mirth follows, as some commentators suggest it might be difficult to tell the difference.

2.  White House staffer Robert Gibbs tells reporters they have earned a ‘strong A’ for their reporting on Obama’s first 100 days. In related news, circulation of US newspapers falls at unprecedented rates in the first three months of this year. Via Small Dead Animals.

Michelle Malkin has some interesting, and snarky, comments about the first 100 days, as well as the Scare Force One story:

Come on, who’s surprised? The White House-engineered photo-op of low-flying Air Force aircraft that caused terror in New York City this week epitomizes the Age of Obama. What better way to mark 100 days in office than with an appalling exercise in pointless, taxpayer-funded stagecraft.

The superficiality, the unseriousness, the hubris, the obliviousness to post-9/11 realities: They were trademarks of the Obama campaign and they are the tattoos on his governance.

He never leaves home without his teleprompter. All the Obama world’s a stage. Or a world ready to be staged.

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