Think about it for a moment. Every human activity is either taxed, regulated or controlled by government. Nothing anyone does is not first touched by government.

Sit on your front lawn…the government determines just what part of that lawn is yours, regulates the water that goes on it, the fertilizer, and the hose and sprinkler construction. They tax the lawn as property. The chair you are sitting on is taxed and its construction regulated. The very air you breath is touched by government pollution regulations. The beer you lift, taxed and the content regulated and the can itself manufactured under government regulation and more taxes.

Say you need to use the can…the toilet itself is regulated as to water flow, taxed, and the city has codes about the bathroom construction…

Nothing one does is not touched by government. Snow removal is not unique.

– Wouldn’t perfectly-maintained winter roads attract a further influx of outsiders? Criminy, Mr. Guardian… look on the bright side! (I hope the word gets out that Boise SUCKS in the winter time!)

– Isn’t this the perfect opportunity for those milquetoasts who drive big ol’ macho Ford Excursions and F350 dually turbo diesel super-duties, to be REAL heroes, assisting their helpless sedan-driving neighbors to get from place to place?

– I was walking on N. Cole Road a week ago, navigating treacherous sidewalks. One of the worst was right in front of the “one call – that’s all” ambulance-chasing attorney’s office. I thought how ironic it would be, if I slipped and fell and called Bill Litster to sue him for damages.

– Speaking of slipping and falling, let me quote Jack Handey on the subject: “Whenever I see an old lady slip and fall on a wet sidewalk, my first instinct is to laugh. But then I think, ‘What if I was an ant and she fell on me?’ Then it wouldn’t seem quite so funny.”

I was not advocating the government stick its nose into the issue, but that adults behave like adults and shovel their sidewalks before someone innocent gets hurt.

On the sidewalk issue, this has nothing to do with socialism, but everything to do with libertarianism. It’s not about expecting things to be done for you, but about neighbors helping each other out. It’s just being a good neighbor to keep your sidewalks cleared of snow and it’s also being a good neighbor to clear someone else’s sidewalk who is incapable of doing it themselves…Of course, every-man-for-himself cowboys may feel this makes them too much of a do-gooder or girlie-man.

EDITOR NOTE– Sounds like she has good neighbors–assume Northend as they have the most sidewalks. If she wants to share an address and phone, the GUARDIAN will act as contact point for any wishing to help.

The story I’d like to hear is what is all of this de-icing chemical going to do to the fish in the river and eventually the ocean, and the people downstream who use the river for drinking water?