I just got back from the Free State Project’s 2008 Porcfest. It was extremely enjoyable. Rich Goldman did a wonderful job setting things up and I have to also thank Jason Osborne of Sakal/CAI for sponsoring the fest and providing the Fun tent. Free Talk Live broadcast live Thursday, Friday and Saturday. There was a lot of open carrying going on, a lot of Ron Paul signs and a lot of good people having a great time. The vendors included the likes of the New Hampshire Libertarian Party, the Republican Liberty Caucus,  Anarchy in Your Head, and BureauCrash.com. I picked up the Real Rebels t-shirt and bosco got the FREEDOM: My Anti-Government tee.

I strongly suggest anyone who enjoys camping and supports freedom to consider attending next year’s Porcfest. If you can’t wait I also recommend FSP’s Liberty Forum in January. bosco, xyz, etc. feel free to add your opinions of the weekend.

http://afp.google.com/…

Pitching his message to Oregon’s environmentally-conscious voters, Obama called on the United States to “lead by example” on global warming, and develop new technologies at home which could be exported to developing countries.

“We can’t drive our SUVs and eat as much as we want and keep our homes on 72 degrees at all times … and then just expect that other countries are going to say OK,” Obama said.

“That’s not leadership. That’s not going to happen,” he added.

Sounds like more of this green globalization totalitarianism that the far eco-left has been pushing for years. I hear more and more Obama supporters comment that they like the guy but they really don’t know who he is or what he’s about and that worries them. Shouldn’t that be a prerequisite for supporting someone? You shouldn’t be second guessing your vote because you were too lazy to do research on the guy you’re helping put into power yet enthusiastically promoted before hand.

The more Obama opens his mouth the scarier he gets. It pains me to say this but given the reality of the situation… that we will likely have an even larger majority of Democrats in the House and Senate… I’m starting to hope that if one of the top 3 are to win… McCain wins in November just to provide some sort of conflict between the two branches. The two parties and in particular McCain and Hillary are very much alike… but they have to put on a show for those who believe they are in fact quite different. That show may be enough to help minimize the damage done. This in no way means I’d vote for that warmongering idiot. Just speculating.

I recently demolished a wall of my bathroom. This resulted in a large amount of plaster, slats and several 2×3 studs. While pulling the nails out of the corkscrewed studs I asked myself, “What incentive do I have to reuse this wood?” If I leave it on the curb, the garbage men will come by, put it in their truck and it will go away. I don’t usually think about the price I pay for garbage service because I always seem to pay the same amount and the money trail from my pocket to the curb is incredibly obfuscated. Somewhere in the mix of taxes you pay is the money for people to regularly collect your garbage. Chances are we overpay. The net result of this system is we feel no real pressure to reduce the amount of waste we produce.

Waste disposal is a necessity. Just like we need to eat, we also need a way to safely handle the byproducts of our daily lives. It would be ludicrous for me to entrust someone else with the sole responsibility of feeding me. That person would have complete control over me. The same is true of the handling of waste. If we entrust this critical part of our lives to a government they have the power to inflict serious pain upon us. Sacrificing even this small amount of our individual sovereignty has consequences. It’s similar to a child who’s parents clean her room. She never learns the value of responsibility and paramount to that she does not feel empowered. It leaves us unable to function and dissatisfied.

Also not having waste disposal in the hands of the community makes reuse much more difficult. If I need a bench for painting items in my workshop it should be much easier for me to get one at the local dump than to purchase or build a new one. Also recall that we have specific regulations and liability issues that make reuse difficult. Currently the operator of a salvage yard is partially liable for actions I choose to take there and they are required to not salvage certain items for “safety” reasons.

So what options do we have to reform the waste management system? Real privatization, not the corporatism that currently exists, isn’t a terrible idea. If we were billed based on the amount of trash we created we would be more likely to reduce, reuse and recycle. This doesn’t solve the empowerment issue, but it does make us slightly more responsible for the waste we produce. Unfortunately private entities removing waste would have a tendency to make the garbage “disappear” by moving it to an area where it’s cheaper to dispose of it. This makes perfect business sense, but it also allows the community to continue to be wasteful without seeing the real effects. Don’t forget that as garbage is trucked to the poorer side of the state, with cheaper property values, the gap between the classes is even further highlighted. Nothing says “I’m better than you” like putting your waste in someone else’s backyard. Also the community is still placing a task vital to their existence in the hands of a separate entity. The power has just shifted from the government to a private corporation.

I propose that the best model to handle the waste management issue would be that of a community co-operative. By taking responsibility for the garbage they generate, a community can incentivize all three of the Rs and dissuade people from using hazardous or difficult-to-deal-with materials. The key to the success of this co-operative would be community ownership of the means of production, in this case the landfill and recycling facilities. By having people from the community work in the co-op and maintaining worker control of the organization’s decision making mechanisms you can assure a business that meets the needs of the community. The community becomes more educated about waste disposal and derives a sense of satisfaction from their self sufficiency. Labor can be used to pay for waste removal services so the currently unemployed can still afford this necessity. In time the ecological impact of the community would be minimized. It could also serve as a model for other community services. The benefits of community cooperation are endless.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/…

The worldwide effort by supermarkets and industry to replace conventional oil-based plastic with eco-friendly “bioplastics” made from plants is causing environmental problems and consumer confusion, according to a Guardian study.

The substitutes can increase emissions of greenhouse gases on landfill sites, some need high temperatures to decompose and others cannot be recycled in Britain.

Many of the bioplastics are also contributing to the global food crisis by taking over large areas of land previously used to grow crops for human consumption.

The market for bioplastics, which are made from maize, sugarcane, wheat and other crops, is growing by 20-30% a year.

The industry, which uses words such as “sustainable”, “biodegradeable”, “compostable” and “recyclable” to describe its products, says bioplastics make carbon savings of 30-80% compared with conventional oil-based plastics and can extend the shelf-life of food.

Concern centres on corn-based packaging made with polylactic acid (Pla). Made from GM crops, it looks identical to conventional polyethylene terephthalate (Pet) plastic and is produced by US company NatureWorks. The company is jointly owned by Cargill, the world’s second largest biofuel producer, and Teijin, one of the world’s largest plastic manufacturers.

Pla is used by some of the biggest supermarkets and food companies, including Wal-Mart, McDonald’s and Del Monte. It is used by Marks & Spencer to package organic foods, salads, snacks, desserts, and fruit and vegetables.

It is also used to bottle Belu mineral water, which is endorsed by environmentalists because the brand’s owners invest all profits in water projects in poor countries. Wal-Mart has said it plans to use 114m Pla containers over the course of a year.

While Pla is said to offer more disposal options, the Guardian has found that it will barely break down on landfill sites, and can only be composted in the handful of anaerobic digesters which exist in Britain, but which do not take any packaging. In addition, if Pla is sent to UK recycling works in large quantities, it can contaminate the waste stream, reportedly making other recycled plastics unsaleable.

Last year Innocent drinks stopped using Pla because commercial composting was “not yet a mainstream option” in the UK.

Anson, one of Britain’s largest suppliers of plastic food packaging, switched back to conventional plastic after testing Pla

in sandwich packs. Sainsbury’s has decided not to use it, saying Pla is made with GM corn. “No local authority is collecting compostable packaging at the moment. Composters do not want it,” a spokesman said.

Britain’s supermarkets compete to claim the greatest commitment to the environment with plant-based products. The bioplastics industry expects rising oil prices to help it compete with conventional plastics, with Europe using about 50,000 tonnes of bioplastics a year.

Concern is mounting because the new generation of biodegradable plastics ends up on landfill sites, where they degrade without oxygen, releasing methane, a greenhouse gas 23 times more powerful than carbon dioxide. This week the US national oceanic and atmospheric administration reported a sharp increase in global methane emissions last year.

I’m not sure that the government is subsidizing this bio-plastic but I don’t doubt it given the same parent company gets lots of subsidies to create corn based ethanol. Looks to me not enough research went into this bio-plastic plan. How much does one want to bet the idea was pushed on the stores by people who didn’t know better or just wanted to look like they were green? If you look at even the IPCC reports there is little or nothing that can be done which would make a significant impact on the current trends, assuming we have any significant impact on this trend in the first place. If we just let the market work, as the scarcity of oil increases so will the prices and customers will demand a better product. That process will be more drawn out and likely a lot more reliable then this current ram rod method we are receiving from the government. There would be real incentives to get it right for the long haul and those who don’t get it right won’t be subsidized by the government and their impact will be minor. These unintended consequences seem to occur very regularly in the government central planning system.

http://www.businessandmedia.org/…

Some of the toughest obstacles American businesses face come not from other companies or the economy, but from the media – journalists exaggerating an issue to make a story sexier or anti-business groups influencing the media to advance their agenda. Four of the stories on the following list started with a press release or report from an environmentalist group, labor union or “consumer group.”

Those exaggerations or manipulations resulted in lost jobs, lost revenue, unfounded health scares, unnecessary government intervention, and even deaths. The Business & Media Institute has compiled a list of the nine worst business stories (of the last 50 years).

If we had a loser pays court system we’d have a lot less of this. The socialist court system mitigates the cost of suing and therefore encourages a sue happy system. It’d be nice if ostracism was a tool the businesses would use to get back at those who make false statements. I wonder if there is a reason they don’t. As you can see with the DDT issue when the government acts and does so incorrectly many people are affected and in this case likely died as a result.

The most recent political book I’ve read is Cows, Pigs, Wars and Witches: The Riddles of Culture on loan from Blog of Bile’s very own xyz.  It is a collection of short essays in the field of anthropology and sociology.  Each essay attempts to shatter preconceived notions and explain in greater detail human actions which the author has deemed befuddling.  Amongst the topics discussed are cows as sacred animals, pig lovers and haters, primitive warfare, the idea of an aggressive male, extreme consumption and extreme donation, cargo cults, a history of messiahs, the violent origins of Christianity, early witchcraft and witch trials, and the contemporary resurgence of disdain for objectivity.

The book is a relatively easy and quick read, only slowing down at the end where the author feels it necessary to defend himself from the hordes of sandal-wearing druggies that are going to attack him.  The author is selling his theories as to why certain anomalies in culture exist.  Unfortunately due to the imperfect nature of his science the results are quite subjective.  Despite Mr. Harris’ ardent pleas for objectivity at the end of the book I find some of his explanations to be lacking in sufficient evidence to support his claims of causation.

On a positive note, he does an excellent job of introducing the history surrounding these topics.  There is a lot of good information in the book, mostly revolving around things that are not easily disputed such as recorded history.  This book is an excellent catalyst for debate.

Rather than go through each topic, here are some of the highlights that stick in my mind:

• A good analysis of childbirth and war are used to attempt to explain why males are dominant in most of our societies.
• Some interesting history of egalitarianism, reciprocity and “the big man” in primitive societies.
• A decent early history of Christianity, including the movements leading up to it and Paul’s initial reformation of the church following the death of Jesus.
• A scathing essay on the futility of modern movements attempting to change society by changing individual consciousness.  Scathing is an understatement, perhaps scalding, blistering or even face-melting would be more appropriate.  I think this is the essay bile would enjoy most.

Here are some problems I had with the book:

• He starts with a good premise, “I hope to present probable and reasonable solutions, not certainties.”  But by the end of the book he is so wrapped up in defending himself he comes across like an early evangelical minister telling “God’s honest truth”.
• Don’t quote the King James translation of the bible when entering into debate over the origins of Christianity.  Sometimes Mr. Harris addresses the original Aramaic, but at other times he seems to disregard the translation process that led to the quotes he chooses to use.  This part of the book could use bolstering.