Just curious.

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.

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.”

Other than Congress meddling with your lives by mandating the use of CFLs, what is the problem here?

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.

Have to admit though, they do save money.

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

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?

On April 11th, 2008 at 11:29 am, WarTip said:
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.

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.

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?

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.