I suppose Whole Foods counts

Whole Foods has announced that they will eliminate plastic bags from all their stores by Earth Day this year. For those of you who expect me to rail against Whole Foods for getting rid of plastic bags, guess what, I'm not going to do that. Why? Frankly, I don't care if a business wants to do something like that on its own. It's when governments (primarily city, such as my own Ess Eff and others like Oakland and Seattle) start mandating changes like this (much like my opposition to smoke-free legislation- if a business chooses on its own to not allow smoking, fine with me, I get to come home not smelling like smoke). If offering plastic bags was bad for business, they wouldn't offer them. But, with a general emphasis on "protecting the earth," companies can now sell themselves on their greenness.

Personally, I like plastic bags because it makes it easier to clean cat litter boxes- but, if I can't get plastic bags, I suppose I'll just use the paper bags I'm now getting, or, I'll go shopping outside of Ess Eff where I still can get plastic bags.

For those of you eagerly awaiting an analysis on Props. 94-97, I had planned on putting it up last Monday, but one of the cats decided that a cold, rainy San Francisco day was the perfect day to sneak out of the house and go on an adventure. He was found several hours later, a little wet and dirty, but in one piece. So, that analysis will have to wait.

In the meantime, allow me to say Good for You! to California State Senator Leland Yee, Ph.D (who represents the district I live in, and includes the Ph.D as part of his name, apparently) for just saying no to the behemoth that is the proposed California universal health bill. Yee's opposition now leaves the bill one vote short of passing the committee, even though I have no doubts that the Democrats in the State Senate will find some way around this minor barrier. In his press release announcing his opposition to the health care bill, Sen. Yee notes: "This bill is like telling someone who is in need of help, 'I'm going to give you food, but I'm going to take away your clothes.' At the end of the day, the person is still poor." I find this statement fairly amusing because I'm reminded of an anecdote about the difference between Republicans and Democrats:

A car with a flat tire is on the side of the road.

A Republican drives along, sees a car with a flat tire on the side of the road, and figures, who needs help fixing a flat tire and keeps on going.

A Democrat sees the car and stops to help. The Democrat fixes the flat tire but in the process accidentally sets the car on fire.