Townhall columnist has bright idea about Gorebulbs
(Post by See-Dubya)
Michelle’s sick of the Gore-bulbs, and so is Ed, and so am I. As I said at that last link,
People complain about social conservatives needing to stay out of their bedrooms. But globwarming greens are fooling around in every damned room in my house…. For all the perceived busybodiness (is that a word?) of the Christian right, there is an even more overwhelming busybodiness practiced by the Greenie Left who claim jurisdiction over any activity of your life that affects the environment. It is a rights issue.
Well, a smart lady who writes for Townhall.com is also incensed by the rights issue:
Doesn’t it seem like year after year, more and more decisions we should be making for ourselves, are instead being made by nameless bureaucrats in Washington? They tell us how to spend our money. They tell us how to run our businesses. They tell us how to raise our families. And now, when you thought things couldn’t become anymore absurd, they even tell us what kind of light bulbs we can use in our own homes.
Yes, that’s right, a recent piece of legislation passed in Washington has outlawed the everyday household light bulb.
But rather than just complain about Congress’ intrusion, she actually offers a legislative solution:
So I’ve the [sic] Light Bulb Freedom of Choice Act, which makes a simple challenge to Big Brother: either Congress’ own independent investigative arm, the Government Accountability Office (GAO), marshals evidence to back up the assumptions behind the light bulb ban – or Congress repeals the mandate.
In other words, I’m asking Congress to actually be – hold your breath – accountable to the people. If they are going to intrude into our lives, and control our most basic decisions, the least they can do is have enough respect for the American people to back-up their claims.
Fair enough; now if someone will just introduce it. Oh wait, someone already has: Michelle Bachmann, Republican representing Minnesota’s Sixth District who notes that “If the Democrats can hose up a light bulb, don’t trust them with the country.”
Actually, I was kind of holding out on you there. Rep. Bachmann was also the smart lady who wrote the column for Townhall.
A Republican taking the initiative, proposing pro-freedom, common-sense legislation, and then going out and promoting it to conservatives herself? That’s a rare thing these days. But I could get used to it very quickly.
See what others have said
Note from Michelle: This section is for comments from michellemalkin.com's community of registered readers. Please don't assume that I agree with or endorse any particular comment just because I let it stand. A reminder: Anyone who fails to comply with my terms of use may lose his or her posting privilege.
Comments
You must be logged in to post a comment.
 |
Reminder: Global Warming Still Going to Cause Chocolate Shortage
February 11, 2012 02:31 PM by Doug Powers
24 Comments
Concrete Evidence Man is Causing Glacier Retreat
February 2, 2012 03:07 PM by Doug Powers
68 Comments
E-mail of the day: Media Matters coordinates with Capitol Hill “allies” on Keystone XL; Plus: 20,000 jobs “is not that many”
January 25, 2012 11:23 PM by Michelle Malkin
86 CommentsObama’s Green Robber Barons
January 25, 2012 09:13 AM by Michelle Malkin
89 Comments
Obama Admin. Rejects Keystone Pipeline; TransCanada Can Reapply After Finding Alternate Route; Updated
January 18, 2012 12:13 PM by Doug Powers
159 Comments
GM to Call Back Chevy Volts
January 5, 2012 08:59 PM by Doug Powers
71 CommentsNew Light Bulb Standards Enforced Via Honor System… for Now
December 30, 2011 12:48 PM by Doug Powers
67 Comments
Categories: Enviro-nitwits
Riehl World View
» Whitney Houston: If I should stay I would only be in your wayPatterico
» Rick Santorum and the two playbooksRiehl World View
» Romney's Blood Is Blue, Not ConservativePundit & Pundette
» King Barack vs. the NonconformistsJustOneMinute
» Cat Blogging In A Harsh New Light
We have already stocked up on incandescent bulbs here.
Wonderful, bright, cheap, nonpoisonous incandescent bulbs.
Unfortunately, this type of incremental creeping control of our lives is too far gone to check it, much less ever reverse it. Government never met a power they did not like, much less ever find one that they would give up. Little by little they are assuming more control and repealing the rights of we the people.
Am I the only one who can not seem to find any happy ending for this story?
Over the past decades, the government has, very quietly and slowly, intruded into our lives and taken away our rights, all to “help us” and look the hero. It seems a day doesn’t go by without some “snip” here or there on our freedoms. One day, we will wake up and find them all gone, and then wonder where they went. It will be too late then. Long ago, we gave up a federal style government, settling for a national government, in order to feed our demands for “instant gratification” and “entitlements”. Joe Stalin would be proud. The sad part is that there are many people who want their rights rescinded in order to have a “nanny state”. Once they are gone, they won’t be coming back. Owning/buying a home, or operating/starting a small business is a nightmare today. (I notice none of the candidates support small business). Yet, people follow along and obey like sheep. It’s easier to play the victim and get on the news. I refuse to buy those mercury filled dangers. Soon, they will regulate what and how we eat. Oh, to “keep us healthy and protect us”, of course. It’s already started. When the candidates announce they support and want more regulation and control in our lives, people cheer. A very sad state of affairs.
You beat me to it, Wartip.
S’okay, I believe your posting was much more eloquent and well worth the additional time you spent posting it so clearly
IMHO
With the recent spats of infighting we seem to be having as well, it seems that, in the interest of fairness, we should spend an equal amount of time praising one another as well.
Did I say that out loud?
Understanding of course that we live in a Constitutional Republic and not in a democracy (All of which are destined to failure before they begin) it still reminds me of a line in the third star wars movie … “So this is how
democracya Constitutional Republic dies … to thunderous applause.”In this particular instance, I wish life would not imitate art quite so literally.
So who will pay for the medical bills from mercury poisoning, and clean up all the long-term damage from discarded ecobulbs leaking mercury into the ground?
Besides that, they give off a horrible blue-white institutionalized light that gives me a nasty headache – I can’t stand the things.
It reminds me of a story involving Ben Franklin and a lady, after the Constitutional convention, when she asked if they had a monarchy or a republic. “A republic, ma’am, if you can keep it.”
In a nutshell? We the People but you could clarify it further by stating that it is we, the productive members of society who make our own decisions, become self-supportive (and hopefully rational) adults.
As for the headaches? It is all part of the sacrifice that liberals expect us to make so that they can feel progressively better about themselves while they destroy everything around them.
The thoughtless dolts in DC have are putting the entire public in a life threatening situation with continued acquiesence to the global warming idiocy.
The Mercury that is contained in these new light bulbs makes a mere broken light bulb a HAZMAT EMERGENCY that you can’t even safely clean up yourself. This is already documented and has happened a number of times.
The vapors that are released into the air when one of these bulbs breaks can result in death. That is a pretty serious side-effect from a simple and common household accident.
Check out the following link for more information on this.
CFL Mercury Danger
I guess this means that if someone gets mad and throws a lamp with a CFL bulb that breaks they could be charged with murder if the neurotoxicity of the Mercury (Hg) causes death and attempted murder if the person doesn’t die.
So … Who You Gonna Call? … do you call the police or the paramedics or a HAZMAT cleanup crew when a light bulb gets broken? Which one gets called first?
Hopefully, none, desertlover. Try to clean it up yourself, or you will be arrested and charged with creating an environmental hazard, not to mention all your neighbors suing you for “emotional distress” and “health damages”.
A catch-22.
lol
As one of those people who played with mercury in science class and have no after effects 50 years later, I wonder if we don’t worry too much.
Every time I go to Wal-Mart or Home Depot, I purchase several packages of ‘Edison’ light bulbs. Gore-the-Bore’s bulbs won’t work on my dimmer switches and don’t (yet) come in the small, chandelier sizes. Now I need to expand my storage space to accommodate the growing numbers of safe bulbs.
“Congress – another way of spelling FOOLS”.
/sarc on
What has been happening with life spans? (they have been going up)
What did almost every American kid play with in school if they are over the age of 45? (Mercury. They cleaned pennies with it, they rolled it around on the floor. It’s cool stuff)
Do we see a correlation between life span and playing with mercury?
Therefore: Mercury is a necessary life lengthening chemical and we should all be exposed to it at exactly the rate of one play day per year.
And let us not forget the greenhouse gases caused by driving our cars to facilities that can dispose of the new bulbs for us.
Darn it; I’m making sense again. Sorry, folks.
I don’t get the headaches, but I agree with the horrible light. It is just too harsh. Incandesant light is warm and glowing and pleasant to live under.
If it weren’t so true, it would be so funny! Granted, all politicians have issues, but lately it just seems that the dems have been on the bad side of everything and it’s gotten worse since they started “the most ethical congress in history.”
I’m not sure why we’re complaining about a little mercury poisoning as a result of replacing a safe light bulb with a dangerous eco light that congress mandated, GE produced and China manufactured?
How else is GE going to get a legit monopoly without our congress helping?
Besides, we are world famous for our re-cycling habits here in the USA!
Americans would never throw a poisonous substance into our landfills. That might upset all the wackos that are preventing us from drilling for oil in our own country!
More nonsense from a do nothing Congress. SO far they’ve made every wrong decision they can for the past two years, if that were me I’d be fired.
Congress….you fail.
Read Wikipedia’s entry on Minamata disease.
And then consider all those Democratic cities, like NYC, that dump their trash in the ocean. Or truck it to a dump in someone else’s watershed.
Oh well, maybe California will be the first for symptoms.
Big Brother will pay for everything and it won’t cost us a cent!
Let’s be grateful for CFLs. Without them we would never have witnessed the left’s new love affair with Mercury.
hey, that’s not a mistake. “I’ve the” is no different than “I have the”.
all i want to know is…who’s the idiot i get to sue if i break a bulb and inhale poisonous mercury particles? do i get to sue the government? the company? both?
people drop bulbs everyday. to mandate these bulbs be the only option for home owners should be considered manslaughter.
This is a significant reason why men aren’t men anymore. Government dependancy has created a lethargy in so many, that we’ve become soft and weak. Our grandparents must be ashamed of us.
I have a better idea. Instead of legislation why don’t we hold a rally on the steps of the Capital? Instruct everybody who plans on attending to bring one Gore bulb each. And all at once smash them on the steps of the Capital. And if they are so safe as to save the world the only thing needed to clean them up will be a dustpan and a broom.
But as I suspect, a haz-mat group will be called upon to cordon off the area while they decontaminate it of mercury. Not so safe after all, are they? Do you think that will get their attention?
I’ll admit that the incandescent bulb is very inefficient. Most of the energy is converted into heat rather than light.
However, that’s exactly why they are used in places where one wants both heat and light. My parents kept one in the well house on our farm, so it wouldn’t freeze during winter.
Also, incandescent light is closer to sunlight, meaning it has health benefits. Flourescent light, as nyc123me pointed out, can sometimes be harmful.
Flourescent lights are useful lighting large areas, but I’ll just keep my incandesents in my house.
We have already had two of these CFL’s short out and start to burn, creating a smoke and a very bad melting plastic/burning wire smell. And of course, they’re poisonous if you break one, and can potentially poison your house with mercury. Also, they don’t last nearly as long as the manufacturers claim.
Great concept but not still not as safe or reliable as incandescent bulbs.
coffee,
I do believe you have stumbled onto something with this idea. It could be as simple as dropping one by accident (of course)in the right place at the right time.
Let’s face it, CFLs are the lighting equivalent of Sony’s Betamax videotapes. If Big Brother had been in charge of the media market, we would never have seen CDs or DVDs. We’d still be recording on Betamax and Congress would be mandating the installation of Betamax players in autos.
I’m content to stick with incandescents until the price of LED bulbs drop. If both lobes of my brain were marinating in Jack Daniels I could make better cost-benefit decisions than Big Brother.
Smart woman I have to agree 100% with her thesis on the Democrats and would go further to include all RINOs. I keep stockpiling incandescent light bulbs in the hope that I will not have to convert to the dangerous alternative as long as I am a residence of planet Earth. But, at the rate the liberals are going it is just a matter of time before the light bulb Stazzi come a knocking.
Does anyone know who introduced this this piece of uh… legislation? I would like to start sending my dead mercury – filled bulbs to them instead of the trash.
I have a suggestion on what we could do with those bulbs … but it would get me banned.
….As far as smashing them in DC, I have a vision of some “extreme right wing” protesters smuggling them into the Senate. And when the likes of “Killer Kennedy”, “Dofuss Dodd”, “Wacko Reid”, “Traitors Murtha and Kerry”, et al take the lecturn, the protesters lob the “Green Grenades” toward the lecturn.
I too have been stockpiling the great incandesent bulbs. My local supermarket has been running them on sale 4 for $.79. You can fit alot of light bulbs in an empty old 4 drawer file cabinet in the basement.
I would suggest that as a form of protest everyone mail a broken cfl bulb to Congress, but seeing as they are hazardous material it is agaisnt the law to mail them. Hmm, to dangerous to put in the mail, but mandated in my daughter’s nursery??
Obviously the little lightbuld that pops up over you’re head when you have a good idea was missing in D.C.
williamnr,
Last time I bought one of these eco lights, I did not read any warnings or instruction for disposal on the packaging. Therefore, I see no reason why we can’t mail them to our reps to have them inspect and dispose.
I assume they are safe, or is it that the morons don’t want to alarm the citizens of the real contents or dangers of their legislative stupidity?
OK my comments are going to make me about as popular as the plague here, but here goes.
Other than Congress meddling with your lives by mandating the use of CFLs, what is the problem here?
If I substituted nuclear energy for CFLs on this thread I’d think I was looking at a DAILYKos treehugger thread.
OK, CFLs contain a trace amount of Mercury. So does every other fluorensent lamp you own, go to work, and school to use, and in almost every store you patronize. They are everywhere.
And it has been that way for many years, especially since the first energy crisis in 1973-74. They give more lumens per watt and bang for the buck. If they didn’t they wouldn’t still be in use.
What is the beef? They are a known quantity and save electricity (not a bad thing when you’re paying honor bar rates for power to CON ED). Yeah some flicker but if you pay attention you can buy the brands that don’t. The warm white color bulbs (not the daylight bulbs that would put the glare of a prison to shame) are really good these days, and companies are figruing out how to make the CFLs fit into a conventional lamp’s bulb space.
Agreed, they don’t dim very well unless you buy one for that application and they stink at being spotlights on the back porch, or candleabra bulbs for lantern like fixtures. They aren’t a one-size fits-all solution. However, I have saved well over what I paid for my CFLs over the years because the price of electricity is so damn high. {and in some states, power companies have programs where you can buy CFLs and fixtures at a reduced cost or free}.
It has allowed me to offset the costs of running my A/C in the summer.
If you want to buy and use a 100 watt incandescent bulb, that should be your right – not the government’s to tell you otherwise. Agreed.
As for the disposal of CFLs, there is more mercury in a 4foor fluorescent tube then in 6 CFLs – and we know these things have been thrown out in the trash for years. Only now were are more consciencious and careful about disposing of things (like used car oil and batteries). If there was a significant mercury poisoning problem posede by fluorescent lighting, don’t you think we would have heard something about it by now? They’ve only been around sinced the 1939 World’s Fair. But to malign these things as the worst thing since Jimmy Carter was elected is to not look at the true upside of using them. They aren’t for everything or everybody – but they can be useful and cost effective.
Go ahead. Blast away.
Mixer14
Since my family has made the switch to CFL’s, here are some things that I have observed:
* So far, I have had two CFL’s burn out prematurely (out of a about 30 or so).
* Since we have made the switch-over, our electric bill averages about $15 a month less than before, and that includes cost increases due to the increased cost of natural gas. You are replacing a 60w bulb with a 13w bulb, and a 100w bulb with a 26w bulb. Do the math.
* There is no loss in luminosity. Some CFL’s take 10 to 30 seconds to warm up and reach their full brightness, though. So of you are talking about an area where you turn on the light for just a few seconds then turn in off (like a closet) then CFL’s won’t work as well. Otherwise, there is no difference.
* You can buy CFL’s in both daylight and incandescent tones (just like regular fluorescent bulbs) and in all shapes and sizes, including CFL’s that are housed in a glass globe instead of the twisty tube that most of us are familiar with. So unless you don’t know what you are doing, you should be able to match all of your existing light sources, whether they are from the sun or from incandescent bulbs.
That being said, here are some of the problems that we have encountered.
Our home was built in 1915 and we still have a number of vintage light fixtures. In many of these fixtures (and in some of the vintage-style replacement fixtures that we have installed) the CFL’s won’t fit. I would imagine that this will be a problem for many kinds of light fixtures that were designed to accommodate the “skinny” base of the incandescent glass globe.
The US has yet to address the disposal problem associated with the mercury that these bulbs contain. A realistic approach would be to re-evaluate the actual health hazard posed by the release of a few milligrams of aerosolized mercury. We should do this first, rather than try to force a universal CFL mandate down everyone’s throat. Also, for people who are struggling to make ends meet, CFL’s are cost-prohibitive.
My two cents.
HAZMAT training 101
Thats how the EPA says to clean up a broken CFL bulb. Sounds a lot like they want us all to become HAZMAT experts.
What a coincidence – the lady and the legislator have the same name!
and what’s with the missing verb?
You answered your own question right there. That IS the problem with this. Where does it stop? No smoking of legal tobacco in your own home? Government control of thermostats without regards to individual needs … much less desire? What you can and cannot eat. What kind of light bulbs you use?
Somebody tell me this only happens elsewhere?
Nope, right here in the good ol’ US of A huh?
Again, that is the very heart of the problem.
Mixer and Mike, good posts…your thoughts basically reflect my experiences.
I agreed with this.
Let’s make the thread about government intrusion – the CFL is only one example. Showerheads and toilets come to mind. Regionall gasoline blends.
Yes it has to stop.
I disagree with the notion that these bulbs are harmless, or the moral equivalence of camparing them to nuclear power? Hate to defend France, but most of their power is produced safely from nuclear.
I think some miss the point of the dangers of the new bulbs. If it were a matter of a few making it to our landfills, no big deal. However, because these bulbs are mandated, those few making the landfills turns into millions! We don’t recycle here and if we do, there are no real enforcements or actual recycling centers. We can’t enforce our borders, how can we enforce how peoples dispose of a light bulb?
We have warnings for everything, but any warnings are conviently missing from the new bulbs pushed by big business and manufactured in China.
WHY???
I look at it as security in the War on Terror. Just as we willingly give up our freedoms to fight the enemy, fluorescent lighting at 1/4 the cost of operation will enable us to install four times as many security lights so we can better see and videotape Islamofascists skulking around sensitive targets.
I’d like to point out traditional light bulbs cannot be recycled.
Just like the Billions of fluorescent tubes manufactured since the 1930s
Maybe where you live, but I do beleive if you look hard enough you’ll find one or a semi annual collecvtion day of some sort at Home Depot or strip mall. Recycling is becoming more and more prevelant. where I live we have recycling centers and hazardous materials collections days and there are stiff fines for putting hazardous materials in the the trash.
Could we concentrate on one government created problem at a time here? We can’t stop Congress from rasing taxes and giving themselves raises either. I’m not saying it’s going to be easy or uniformly practiced, but you have to start somewhere with recycling.
‘Big Business’ is what we conservatives and moderates live for. You need sheer volume to make things cost effective. This smack at business is borderline Kos folks. As for being manufactured in China – laws of supply and demand. If we can’t make it cost effectively here, it will be made somewhere else.
I don’t like it any more than you, but if it were ecoomically beneficial to make these CFLs here, GE would be making them by the thousands!
BTW do you know where your incandenscent lamp is really made?.
If it isn’t a GE, chances are it came from Mexico, China, Japan, the Netherlands, or France.
You know what, I’m going to resist the impulse, as long as possible, to get these new, seemingly more “green” and energy efficient light bulbs. They’re also way more expensive than the regular ones. Based on a basic pricing comparison any consumer would know they’re getting “hosed.”
I say FIGHT THE POWER as long as possible. I’m sorry, but nobody, not even ignorant greenies like AL “Energy Efficient” Gore, or other liberal/RINO demagogues is going to tell me how to live my life or spend my money. It’s my money and my life. If liberals don’t want conservatives in their personal lives then why can’t the same be true in this situation?
There is nothing wrong with incandescent light bulbs it’s just that they don’t make enough money for liberals and their environmental, corporate arms. Guess what? I don’t care. You’re going to have to pry my last incandescent bulb from my hands first before you make me switch.
You got that, you enviroloons?
Rooster … Just a side note. I used to do asbestos abatement and we had to build full containment fields to work within. All of the asbestos was then double bagged, washed and bagged again. Yet every time I personally made a load to the “special” section of the dumps, some guy was up there, at best with maybe a comfo2 mask on and running over all of our carefully bagged and contaminated waste with a High-Track D8 Dozer. Needless to say, no matter how good the plastic bags were, they did not hold up long under the tracks of a big bulldozer.
While the safety aspects alone are certainly with investigating to see if they are merited, the fact that the government is taking even more rights away from us and taking more active control in our lives is what really scares me. Throw in their inability to make wise decisions, their lust for more power and the questionable (at best) congress, senate and presidential candidates and the picture quickly gets downright ugly and more frightening.
Scenarios from the near future (a spoof, kind of):
Citizens begin to lose respect for the law as more and more silly and arbitrary laws are passed. Bribery, corruption, and graft begin to rise alarmingly.
After a bank robber threatens to break a CFL on the counter if the teller doesn’t hand over the money, CFLs are legislated as a dangerous weapon and must be individually registered.
A large criminal network of manufacturers and distributers of incandescent light bulbs arises. There are turf wars and blood runs in the street.
Alaska secedes from the Union because of problems with CFLs in low temperature conditions. They become part of Russia so they may use the lightbulbs of their choice. “Read Free or Die” is their motto.
This is TOO funny. Now if you put a CFL in the hands of a Islamic terrorist on an airplane…………
Unfortunately, one of the side effects resulting from the centralized federal form of government established as a result of the civil war, I do not believe that states have the right to secede from the union any more do they? If they do, I say we form our own and be done with this beast we have created and called government.
I think a little C.S.Lewis would be appropriate here:
“”Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.”
Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann is the only good thing going for The Peoples Republic of Minnesota. I’m (unfortunately) over in the 3rd District with Betty McCommie as my rep.
As to the bulbs, so far they suck. I put one in my front porch light and it looks like the vapor light in a barnyard. Yuck! In addition, I live up north where it is 10 below in the winter. Heat from the bulbs is not an issue. In the summer it’s light outside until 10pm. Again, heat from lamps is not a problem. Stupidity and overreaching into my private life by Congress IS a problem.
Although I think Congress banning incandescent bulbs is unconstitutional, we do use a lot of CFL bulbs.
If you have a fairly new house like we do, you discover that there are a bazillion can lights. We have 9 in the kitchen plus 4 in each hallway, 3 or 4 over each bathroom sink, etc. If you have more than a 9 ft ceiling, it’s great not to have to change bulbs often since it’s such a chore – large ladder, etc.
We’ve used CFLs since we bought the house 8 years ago and they’ve been great. They lasted more than 7 years and have greatly reduced our electric bill. We’ve never had any problems with them.
The light does take getting used to, mostly because it takes a minute for them to warm up to full brightness.
And we haven’t dropped one yet.
That said, we still have regular bulbs in our chandeliers and night stand lights. Whatever works best or fits best.
It’s very disturbing to me that the left has co-opted conservation, something that used to be the domain of conservatives. Anyone who lived through the Depression knew the value of not wasting resources and passed those values to their children. Why would I want to pay more than I have to for heat, light, and water? If solar were cheaper, I’d install it in a heartbeat. Wouldn’t it be great for the electric company to pay me for my extra electricity than for me to pay them big bucks every month?
My point exactly. This happened with you under rigid recycling standards.
I was born at night, but not last night. I do not for one second think that average citizen is going to recycle just because its mandated. Most are going to do what they want, when they want.
Incandescents made where? I believe everything is made in China. Flourescents? They are supposed to be recycled also, are they. I don’t know what that has to do with the price of tea in China.
It is very disturbing that the government mandate a light bulb, and said light bulb is hazardous, and said light bulb is primarily produced by big green business here in the US. Amazingly the “big business”, is our standard true blue American companies, like GE diversifying to cash in on us the average sucker!
Look and see who is behind the push to all this eco crap and you will probably see well established businesses lobbying for this green bullsh@t.
For those of you that remember, Rush Limbaugh warned us that this would happen if we allowed the Federal Government mandate low flow fixtures and the 1.6 gallons per flush toilets.He predicted that bureaucrats would be emboldened to take control of more of our lives.
For me, this is a Liberty and Freedom issue rather than which light bulb is more efficient or the safest. For far to long, we have allowed the Government to take a larger role in managing our lives with little protest.
The CS Lewis passage posted by mystically,says it all.
These kind of mandates from on high are Tyranny and the end result is the loss of Liberty and Freedom.
As a senior, I can barely recognize the country I grew up in as a child.
Just about everything I once enjoyed is either illegal, taxed or regulated to the point of not being fun anymore.
Is this why we declared independence from Great Britain to allow another tyrannical Government to be formed?
Let me first state that I like fluorescent light bulbs. I’ve been using them for years to replace the incandescent light bulbs in our home. My wife has fought me over cost issues, but after prices dropped in the past year and after she got tired of replacing the same light bulb over and over again (something about our apartment’s wiring kills incandescents fast), I’ve converted MOST of our bulbs and seen a savings in our energy bill. The thing is that fluorescent light isn’t perfect for everything. I happen to like the warmth of incandescents. I like them in my art studio. She likes them in the bathroom. There are other places in our house we prefer them over fluorescent.
When Congress went and made it a law, they took some of the joy out of buying fluorescents for me. They took my choice away. They made it mandatory, and it seemed they were outlawing light in my private sanctums. I really oppose the new law. It seemed so arbitrary. I strongly oppose laws that mandate technology. The free market should not be tinkered with. And I’m so tired of our law makers pandering to AGW proponents with feel good legislation. I wish my senators Hatch and Bennett and my representative Mattheson would get active behind legislation I support for a change instead of pandering to the illegal immigrant crowd and the MPAA/RIAA – where they seem more active. Rep. Bachmann is going to need a lot of luck and support with this proposal, though I fear it may go nowhere since she is obviously being funded by Big Lightbulb and the issue will lose support on the floor. /sarcasm
Another good post Mixer.
We too have about 20 of the canned lights, outfitted with the more costly squigglies within the outer bulb. To replace one was about $5.00 but you can hardly tell the difference between them and the incandescents when lit. I’m thinking that if the gubmint requires us to buy these things they’ll get around to mandating we also buy some type of disposal bag or container? In our area, there is only a hazmat collection close (down the street) about once a year – the regular hazmat collection area is 15 miles away. So, to dispose of a $.97 bulb I’ll need to spend $5.00 in fuel to dispose of it. Perfect!
Have to admit though, they do save money.
Why isn’t that’s enough?
They also cause debilitating migraines (for me) and trigger seizures (in epileptics). I know the “greater good” means we don’t get to avoid the CFL light in public buildings and businesses, but why on Earth are we being denied the right to avoid pain in our own homes?!?!
(I get a kick out of asking Gorists why they hate epileptics.)
I’ve got nothing against people choosing to use the bulbs, I’m just against people telling me I can’t choose not to.
Some years ago, in a previous job, a real genius wasn’t paying attention to what he was doing with a forklift, and tried to stack a pallet of car batteries on top of a pallet of lightbulbs. Now, while that was messy, and the guy is lucky that no one got hurt, can you imagine what would happen if those bulbs had been CFLs?
I have some of them in the house, but I prefer incandescents for my painting area, and other areas around the house. But I choose to put them in – no one forced me, and I resent someone whose “carbon footprint” is probably 5-10 times mine telling me how I need to switch to “save the environment.”
I agree this issue isn’t CFLs or their disposal. It is government mandates.
CFLs
Showerheads
Faucets
Toilets
Appliances (Energy Star Rating)
Swiss Cheese (don’t laugh, there was a bill from the Dept of Agriculture before Congress to regulate how big the holes should be in swiss cheese so that consumers wouldn’t be cheated at the deli – eventough the stuf is sold by weight
Automobiles (mileage, safety)
Baby Clothing (Fire resistent)
Food (all of the nutrition information – organic vs. natural vs. fresh)
Weight (CDC BMI Index and Obesity scares)
…and the list goes on.
Yes, government is on that slippery nanny-state slope. CFLs are just the most current poster child.
If the gov’t is going to take away my incandescent light bulbs, are they going to pay for the medicine I’ll need to combat the resulting migraines?
Just curious.
Mail your used CFL bulbs to your own member of Congress!
What are CFL’s made of…
M-E-R-C-U-R-Y
Whats that spell…
Poisoned water supply