Speaking of tax cheats

[piece-itpete]

Trying to game the tax system is American as apple pie, chevy, and high incarceration rates

Wait till we attempt to reform the tax code again. EVERYONE will be screaming. Flat tax anyone?

Jon, I love the outdoors, I grew up camping, all primitive, and skiing/hiking in the winter. When folks see my occasional pond in the backyard and say 'when are you going to fix that flooding' I explain that I like it (I really do), and it's good for the enviroment. I also do not use fertilizer.

But there is a big problem in helping the greening. It's all about costs. I could write a few pages, but it ends up cost/benifit. God help the poor. And while I believe many rank and file 'greenies' truly mean well the power elite is happy to take that power and use it as they see fit. It's a sticky wicket. Did someone say, what about space colonisation?

It is the only sustainable way...

Pete

PS no fair calling us lockstep righties. Stop prejudging me!

[merrylander]

Originally Posted by piece-itpete

Trying to game the tax system is American as apple pie, chevy, and high incarceration rates

Wait till we attempt to reform the tax code again. EVERYONE will be screaming. Flat tax anyone?

Oh sure, that would be really fair - not.

But there is a big problem in helping the greening. It's all about costs. I could write a few pages, but it ends up cost/benifit. God help the poor. And while I believe many rank and file 'greenies' truly mean well the power elite is happy to take that power and use it as they see fit. It's a sticky wicket. Did someone say, what about space colonisation?

Tell me about it, we have planted close to 100 trees to cut down our carbon footprint, if only the *&^%$ white tailed lawn rats would stop destroying them. Thirty dollares for a tree and $25 for tree guards to keep the deer at bay

It is the only sustainable way...

Pete

PS no fair calling us lockstep righties. Stop prejudging me!

PS Right, just about the same time as you guys start saying the same crap about lefties.

[JonL]

I love when people think they are environmentalists because they like the outdoors.

Some of my best friends are.... Republicans!

[JonL]

Originally Posted by flacaltenn

OK MerryLander::

I'll play..

If GE had not transformed itself into the Jolly Green Giant to suck up all those subsidies, they would have paid A LOT of taxes this year? Want to rescind those Green tax credits? The eco-left figured those would all go to the bearded overall types working on manure piles and wooden windmills in their yard. That was the expectation wasn't it?

I thought conservatives were all in favor of small business? Small business is supposedly what drives job creation and technological innovation, right? I guess it's ok unless it happens to be small businesses that are involved in finding solutions to our environmental problems, then those small businesses are just a bunch of aging hippies playing in the mud, and not even trying to make a profit.

Sheesh. Maybe you should give some serious thought to how much you view things as preconceived stereotypes instead of actually looking at their merits.

[piece-itpete]

LOL! [re: best friends are Reps..]

But what do you DO? By keeping the low areas in my yard (about a third of my backyard)(I do keep my backyard natural as well) and recycling cars I do far more than most greenies I know. Drive a Prius? Batteries and resource use are great for the enviroment.

I DO have open fires, fart methane, and exhale CO2. Oh well

Pete

[merrylander]

At 4.5 acres you better believe we keep our backyard natural, we can't afford to muck with it. Try to imagine how much grass seed or fertilizer it would take. Local oldtimers told me to just keep mowing it and I would have grass.

Re: some of my friends - sure but would you want your daughter to marry one?

[piece-itpete]

Lol x2! But righties don't usually believe in open marriages either

If you mow it, you'll get something that LOOKS like grass

Pete

[JonL]

Originally Posted by piece-itpete

LOL! [re: best friends are Reps..]

But what do you DO? By keeping the low areas in my yard (about a third of my backyard)(I do keep my backyard natural as well) and recycling cars I do far more than most greenies I know. Drive a Prius? Batteries and resource use are great for the enviroment.

I DO have open fires, fart methane, and exhale CO2. Oh well

Pete

What do I DO? I live in a 250 sq ft apartment. I drive a 24 year old diesel car, and only about 5000 miles/year. I live close to town and walk to do my errands as much as possible. I eat a vegetarian diet (with some fish, eggs, and a bit of dairy). I purchase mostly organic produce, locally grown when I can get it. I have in the past grown most of my own produce and would do so again if I had a suitable place for a garden. My boat is wind powered. Those are the biggest ways I minimize my personal environmental footprint. My work involves developing a highly efficient internal combustion engine. I try to subtly encourage others to be more environmentally sensitive without being pedantic, preachy, or "holier than thou." I do this by explaining why I make the choices I do, and don't ever imply that someone - on a personal level - ought to do the same. That's up to them. I do believe however that a more concerted effort should be made on a national level to educate people and steer our society towards a more sustainable future. On a global level, overpopulation is a huge issue that gets virtually no discussion at all.

[BlueStreak]

Originally Posted by piece-itpete

If you mow it, you'll get something that LOOKS like grass

Pete

Perception trumps reality.

Dave

[flacaltenn]

JonL:

I thought conservatives were all in favor of small business? Small business is supposedly what drives job creation and technological innovation, right? I guess it's ok unless it happens to be small businesses that are involved in finding solutions to our environmental problems, then those small businesses are just a bunch of aging hippies playing in the mud, and not even trying to make a profit.

Sheesh. Maybe you should give some serious thought to how much you view things as preconceived stereotypes instead of actually looking at their merits.

In no particular order.. Stereotypes -- General stereotypes are unavoidable. Try Republican, Green, Democrat, Communist, Libertarian for example. As long as the CONTEXT in which they are used are supported by facts, it's fair game. So now -- I'll support my statement..

We are at a point in the "alternate energy" game where "small business" is only relevent at the retail and service level. Meaning that you don't get GigaWatts of alternate energy designed, produced, sold, installed, serviced by "small" anything. Yes for residential installations there are local small businesses involved. There might even be "small" businesses subcontracted to mow the grass around the turbine farm. But the expectations by the Greens that federal subsidies and tax breaks would end up at the mom/pop level were REALLY naive.

Which BTW -- If you read the Green Party literature or visit any of the eco-left sights, you'll find the premise that "big" anything is bad (unsustainable -- a word that should take a break now). And that paint and tires and turnips should ALL be produced at the local level.. Little tire factories, little hydroelectric dams, little farms, little cute computer factories. Little, local is sustainable. BullShit. The enviromental damage caused by distributioning the manufacture and production of all types of goods would result in horrendous misuse of land, water, resources. Because of all we know about scale of production. The eco-left can get really jazzed about stuff like 'microdams' producing enough energy for a house or a couple homes without ever considering how scalable or relevent that concept is. It would be selfish and enviromentally disasterous to scale that up to 100 'microdams' on the same tributary - but yet they're jazzed.

Same thing with being solar OFF GRID. Where a 1/2 a ton of lead acid batteries in the basement get you thru the night. Really the pinnacle of green engineering there. The ideal we ALL should strive for? Let's put 20% of the nation off-grid and watch the toxic waste from battery recycling develop..

No -- not quite ALL aging hippies in the mud. Just naive and not very helpful to the development of plentiful, cheap, clean energy and a better earth for everybody..

YET -- WAIT -- I consider myself an ARDENT enviromentalist. Go figure....