California Dreamin’ Turns into Nightmare with Latest Draconian Law

Go ahead and click: Join the resistance by buying and sharing some plastic straws

We all know about the passing of the ordinance by Santa Barbara that imposes fines and potential jail time for those in “restaurants, bars, and other purveyors of prepared foods and beverages, including supermarkets, from giving plastic straws to their customers….”

After an initial warning, the next offense and any afterward, will receive a fine of $1,000 and a jail sentence of up to six months. Even worse, each subsequent offense will be considered a separate offense.

Totalitarian Councilman Jason Dominguez said ““we have to regulate every aspect of people’s lives,” when fellow councilman Randy Rowse said they should let people make their own decisions about the straws.

With absolutely no proof, supporters of the draconian legislation have already drawn the conclusion that straws significantly contribute to the plastic pollution in the oceans of the world.

John Stossel noted that plastic straws only account for approximately 0.02 percent of plastic in the oceans, and the majority of it comes from Asian countries that lack modern waste-disposal systems.

Bizarrely, a 10-year-old boy was the impetus behind the silliness, when he called on some straw manufacturers to find out how many straws are consumed per day. The false number the little kid came up with was 500 million straws are consumed in America per day. It’s far lower than that, according to Stossel.

This will disenfranchise disabled people, many of whom need plastic straws to drink with. Alternative paper straws are worse because they not only cost more, but don’t degrade in landfills, fall apart when getting wet, and use up more energy when they’re made.

I guess this makes the environmental quacks and clueless politicians feel better, even though it does nothing for the environment, and does more harm to many others.