And now... Gardening While Brown

[KamaAina]

Seriesly.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100507/india_nm/india483210

In Washington, an American of Pakistani heritage who would only be identified as Farhan, said a manager of a suburban home-improvement store prevented him from buying two bags of fertilizer for his family's lawn on Tuesday.

Farhan, who was born in northern Virginia, said police arrived soon after, investigated and allowed him to buy the fertilizer.

"What kind of a country are we living in when a 22-year-old male can't buy fertilizer?" Farhan asked. "I'm American. I'm not Pakistani."

:wtf:

[Raineyb]

1. And yet white men can buy fertilizer without problem despite the number of them

who like to use them for incendiary devices.

Go figure.

:shrug:

[donco6]

2. And the last one who used fertilizer to make an actual bomb was . . .

White.

[Kajsa]

3. True!

Thanks for pointing that out.

[KamaAina]

4. At least the Fertilizer Squad responded promptly

:eyes:

[csziggy]

5. The last time I bought amonium nitrate I just had to show my driver license

Even though the manager of the store has known me for over twenty years, he said it is required. His policy is to xerox the license so there is no question that he checked it.

Mr. Farhan should sue to home improvement store for discrimination, particularly if it was any other kind of fertilizer other than ammonium nitrate.

[kentauros]

8. I'm guessing he wasn't buying ammonium nitrate

and that was what the police noticed in their "investigation". It's too bad the story didn't point that little fact out as it's pertinent to such suspicions.

[EFerrari]

6. Just wait until the 4rth of July.

:(

[HereSince1628]

7. Didn't the industry modify retail nitrate fertilizer so that it doesn't

even burn very well? Somewhere in the way-back files I seem to remember this having been done.

Besides why do that? Many hardware stores sell both xylenes and XXXXXX XXXX? Double trouble when you boil them bubbles


FYI, this thread was pre-edited by Agent Mike!

[blue sky at night]

9. funny they don't metion the store by name....

me thinks it rhymes with Bone Repo......hate that place.

[kentauros]

10. Home Despot?

:P

[blue sky at night]

22. ya...not like them at all....

especially after what the CEO said about unions.

[hedgehog]

11. Given the amount of non-point source nitrates that end up in our waterways,

probably no suburbanites should be allowed to buy fertilizers!

Think about it - a certain amount of the fertilizer that a farmer applies does wash into nearby streams, but at least he has to balance the cost of the fertilizer against the profit from the crop. He's not going to apply more than absolutely necessary. The average homeowner figures if some is good, more is better, right? He readily throws down another $20 for that extra bag of fertilizer that does nothing for his lawn but a lot for that algae bloom down stream.

[kentauros]

12. If only more of them would learn organic gardening methods,

that toxic runoff could be reduced considerably.

The two alternatives I remember that are best:
1. compost: it adds organic matter to the soil and makes it a haven for earthworms, too. Moisture is retained longer as well.
2. Alfalfa pellets (sheep feed) - similar to compost, but higher in nitrogen content, while still adding organic matter to the soil.

[WeDidIt]

14. Every suburb should require compost bins by statute

Stiff fines for homes that do not compost.

[kentauros]

15. And I would bet that there would be plenty that would pay the fines.

I've known people that refused to compost, giving this lame excuse, "But it smells!" And yet, they'll gladly pay for a ChemLawn spraying...

[WeDidIt]

16. All the while, Chemlawn destroys their garden

and smells horrible.

I use a pelletized chicken poo fertilizer as a spread on my lawn. Works great. I generally wait for my neighbors to be gone, spread it, water for about an hour, and walk away for about four because it does smell like a chicken coop for about four hours.

Smells better than Chemlawn, though. That shit is nasty and will make you sick.

Oh, and if your compost smells bad, you aren't turning it enough. :D

[kentauros]

17. The ones most likely to complain about compost smell

are the least likely to get their hands dirty to begin with ;)

I have no lawn, so I don't have to worry about such care at the moment. The chicken poo thing sounds interesting, but I had always read to be careful with chicken poo as it was so high in nitrogen that you took the risk of burning your lawn or garden.

I do agree with a compost bin, or a compostable-materials bin like you'd have for recyclables. Let the city do the composting for people (as there is equipment made for large-scale composting) and then either give it back to the residents or sell it back to them! :D

[WeDidIt]

18. Teh Chicken poo is pelletized

and you give it a light spread on the lawn.

If you put straight chicken poo on your lawn, you will defnitely burn it. It's very high in nitrogen, so just a little dab'll do ya.

[kentauros]

19. I wonder if chicken poo and cat pee

will become the next explosives ingredients... :evilgrin:

[knitter4democracy]

23. Our city does that with yard waste.

They compost it and give it away free. Same with mulch they make from chipping any branches or trees they have to cut down.

[kentauros]

24. I don't think where I live (Houston) does that even if they should.

It would probably cost them too much, but they could still do some pilot programs to test feasibility. Getting Houston leaders to actually 'lead' is much like pulling teeth, at least when it comes to innovation.

[WeDidIt]

13. This is BULLSHIT!

:evilgrin:

[npk]

20. Damn it! I got her too late

That was going to be my wise ass remark for the day.

[WeDidIt]

26. I saw my chance and I took it!

:evilgrin:

[EFerrari]

21. Judge Raul Castro was asked for his green card while working in his own garden.

You can't make this sh!t up.

SB 1070 upsets Ariz.’s only Hispanic governor



Outside his Tucson home in the 1960s, a Mexican-American was doing yard work when law enforcement officers yelled at him in Spanish: “Do you have a card?” When he said no, they hollered: “Who do you work for?”

“The senorita inside,” the man shouted back, pointing toward the house — and referring to his wife. He tried to explain who he was, but they weren’t listening. Finally, he pointed them to a sign that said “Judge Castro.”

This was no illegal immigrant, no day laborer, no drug smuggler who snuck across the border. It was Raul Castro, a judge of Pima County Superior Court and former Pima County Attorney who would go on to serve as a U.S. Ambassador to three countries — El Salvador, Bolivia and Argentina — and make state history by becoming Arizona’s only Mexican-American governor.

http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/153241

[Robbie88]

25. My god...

I can't believe some of the comments posted on Yahoo in response to this article. A few examples:

Indians have given the world yoga, spirituality and technology; Pakistanis have given terrorism. Apart from an extremely small minority in Pakistan probably in the upper classes, the rest are fanatic lunatics.

The paks could learn a lot from the indians. At least the indians are productive members of our country and they appreciate the hell out of it. The paks just come here to send money back home to their terrorist friends. I say deport them all, then wipe pakistan off the map!

Indians are productive because they aren't Muslims. Muslim countries are only capable of producing terror, poverty, and turmoil.

we should send every muslim packing... our forefathers earned the right to freedom of religion. they haven't earned if if they wanna blow people up. until they can play nice and stop turning into fanatics randomly lets send them back to the middle east.

There are some hateful people in this country...

[KamaAina]

29. "Indians are productive because they aren't Muslims."

India's sizable Muslim minority makes it the second-largest Muslim country on Earth, behind only Indonesia.

Teabagger FAIL. :dunce:

[Liberal_in_LA]

27. amazing

[-..__...]

28. Not the store owners fautt.

Farhans name was probably incorrectly/mistakenly entered on the 'no fertilizer list'.