Free Trade: Jobs for #&%!$

“http://www.mlive.com/newsflash/regional/index.ssf?/base/news-23/1111598097158760.xml&storylist=newsmichigan

For those of you who don't know, all of Toronto's garbage is trucked 6 hours across the US/Canada border to a landfill in Michigan. I hike in a park right next to the fill and try to catch glimpses of the nearby bald eagle nest. NAFTA keeps the state of Michigan from doing anything about the garbage.

The above article adds a new angle. The Canadians are now trucking their #&%!$ across the border, too, and dumping it on our streets.

But I guess all those unemployed auto workers can now get jobs in #&%!$ cleanup.”

“Okay, #&%!$ doesn't work.

What about crap?”

“we're not too happy about it up here either.
TO is the biggest city in Canada and they generate a lot of waste, but there is no alternative plan. there was an idea of filling an out-of-use pit mine up north, but the locals and the govornment had issues with leakage into the groundwater system.
it's unfortunate that the michigan gov't decided to allow waste imports. TO will continue to send it until you change your rules.”

“I wish I could recall how many petitions we've signed and how many promises we hear, but the trash industry is one of the only growth industries we have, bummer too its pathetic.

I say we ship canada our crackheads and whores.”

“But then Phaedrus would need a passport to visit his mom.”

“Helinka,

If the residents in Michigan could stop this, they would. However, this #&%!$ is considered a business transaction and is protected by the free trade agreements.

We are powerless to stop Canada's #&%!$ from being dumped near our bald eagles.

About 25 years ago, Michigan was facing a shortage of landfill space. As the forward thinking people that we are, we decided to take care of our own problems and build some. Then, free trade came around and now all the other states and Canada ship it here instead of taking care of their own problems.

People should have environmental self-determination.

And Canada should live up to its reputation as an environmentally friendly country.”

“No #&%!$ without representation.”

“One crisp chilly morning I rolled over and realized it was very bright out. I unzipped the tent door to get a looksee at what it was like out. To my surprise it was very foggy yet still bright. I’ve seen this before and I knew what it meant. It meant there was ground fog and a bright clear, blue Canadian sky. It was going to be s superb morning. Despite the chill and the fog that sticks to everything it comes in contact with I jumped from the bag and dresses as quickly as I could. I quietly snuck from the tent so as to not wake any of my camp mates.

I snuck down to the waters edge and found a nice seat on the pine needles. As I sat and watched the fog over the glass still water the fog would swirl and flow as if it was water. There wasn’t a sound. You could hear a mouse pissing in cotton. The longer I sat and watched the brighter it got. The September sun was burning off the fog slowly but surely. The lake and the shore became more visible as the sun rose higher. The lake was steaming and sending these little swirling funnels across the water.

The further the fog burned off huge rocks sticking out of the water would suddenly materialize from nothing. Suddenly the stillness of the lake is broken by a loon slowly trolling across the bay. I could actually hear the water ripple around it’s body from quite a distance. As it brightens I realize one of my camp mates has snuck out of their tent also and have come down to the shore and is sitting down without a word. No words need to be exchanged as we are both seeing and feeling the same thing. Peace and tranquility.

Life is so good!”

“Nice cut and paste!!”

“I wish I could recall how many petitions we've signed and how many promises we hear, but the trash industry is one of the only growth industries we have, bummer too its pathetic.

I say we ship canada our crackheads and whores.”
birch
6:04:36 AM

If Vancouver passes their proposed free (taxpayers $) Heroin Program, I don't think we'll have too.
last edited: 3/24/05 8:38:06 AM”

“That might be good news for Baltimore.

We could send a few junkies out there on a one-way bus ticket.”

“I like it, Nigal...

Create an unsettling juxtaposition that, by it's simple existence, critiques the underlying injustice inherent in the imagery.”

“No, it’s simply a matter of creating positivism in the face of overwhelming negativity. My wish to be positive and show that there is goodness in life could be seen as a juxtaposition to your wish to be negative and show that life sucks, true. But hey, it’s a feugo thread. Anything goes. Even the sharing of positive experiences.
Even though it is a feugo thread I do offer my apologies for not having a storm cloud over my head.”

“Well, thanks anyway.”

“I'd still only need thirty five cents and a box of milkbones to visit Violin's mom, though.”

“The only thing that may help is the proposed 7.50 cahrge per ton to import trash, this is an insane increase pecentage wise but is entirely necessary. I wish we could import some canadian temperments and politeness, nafta doesnt cover that.”

“Does Michigan (or the ageny controlling the landfill) get to charge a premium for trucklands of trash from out of the area? Even though it fills the landfill faster, the local trash authority may be doing it to raise money. Some of the Counties here in California "import" trash for that reason.

Also, does Michigan (or should I say Toronto) have and waste reduction/diversion regulations to encourgae recycling? They have them here in California and have reduced the volume of trash going to landfills by about 35%.”

“There is something called a "tipping" fee. My understanding is that everyone pays that fee regardless of whether it is imported or local trash. Some local governments love that income. However, you really have to see the number of trucks moving through Downriver Detroit to believe what is going on. So the local municipality gets money, but all the rest have to repave their roads and clean up the spills.

They are trying to increase the tipping fee so that it becomes economically difficult to pay for the gas and trucks that it takes to haul trash 6 or 7 hours to Michigan.

Toronto is, apparently, trying to reduce its solid waste. It is better than Michigan in some respects. But they don't have the deposits that we do. So, while Michigan has the most stringent bottle deposit law in N. America, we've got landfills piling high with pop cans.

Maybe the border patrol could catch al qaeda better if they didn't have to keep inspecting #&%!$ trucks.”