Sunday, June 22, 2008
The charge of the light...uh...er...police!
CFLs, Compact Florescent Lights. One of the latest technologies in lighting is making a strong showing as the technology matures. I have a few around my home. In some ways I like them. Long life, low cost to use.
Though they are much more expensive, the 3-way I bought was about $9.75 compared to $2.85 for a comparable incandescent 3-way, the longer life and lower cost to operate make them a good buy in the long run.
Of course there are downsides. Due to their size, especially the base, not all lamp receptacles will accept them. I have one 3-way floor lamp that won't. To use a 3-way CFL in that location I'll have to buy a different lamp. But hey, it's good for the economy, isn't it?
They are also considered hazardous waste by the EPA and require special methods for cleanup and disposal, especially if broken. What about the long term "unintended" consequences. We Americans are good about that. Rush out to the latest, greatest, best thing, only to find out months or years later there's something terribly wrong with it.
But wait, these things are made in China, only China. Let's send more trade deficit to the nation that in 2007 brought us lead paint in children's toys, industrial chemical poison in pet foods, antifreeze in toothpaste and more.
OK, all that aside, now comes along Congress and they want to tell us we "MUST" stop buying incandescent bulbs and switch everything over to CFLs. Looks like the CFL manufacturers lobby made some campaign contributions.
I'm all for conservative use of energy. After all, I AM a conservative. But what I don't want is Congress telling me what I WILL do, especially in the privacy of my own home.
Liberals rail against those who have strong convictions on abortion and homosexuality. Their primary argument is no one should tell anyone what they should do in the privacy of their homes or even bedrooms.
But now this Liberal congress wants to invade the privacy of my home and mandate I use a technology that they dictate. Doesn't this smack of hypocrisy?
Just for the record, I don't want government telling me I have to wear a seat belt either. Should I wear one? Yes. Do I wear one? Of course. Do I wear it because the law requires it? Absolutely not!
I wear a seat belt because it's stupid not to. Years of tests and studies have proven seat belts save lives. Two weeks ago I came upon a rollover accident moments after it happened where both occupants were thrown 10's, perhaps 100's of feet because they had no seat belts.
In the same way, CFL's have benefits. But one thing they don't have the benefit of is years of research. Do we really know how they will perform and what dangers they may impose years down the road?
So to Congress, get out of my personal life, quit telling me what I should buy to light up my life. CFL's are OK and have many uses, but it's not up to Congress to tell me to use them.
But, wait a second. I have a thought on how we can use them and maybe clean up Congress at the same time. Rep. Poe mentioned something that may help. Lets all grab a few CFL's and toss them into Congress! According to the EPA, they will have to evacuate!
If we throw enough of 'em, maybe the cleanup will take so long they'll be out of session for several years and "we the people" will be able to take our country back from the career politicians and we can do something positive for this nation.
How 'bout it!
"We are all in the same boat on a stormy sea and
we owe each other a terrible loyalty." - G. K. Chesterson
Labels: CFL, Compact Florescent Lights, conservatives, Democrats, energy, politics, power, technology
Friday, February 08, 2008
Medias campaign to disuade Republican voters
With Mitt Romney now out of the race, the media can now start their attack on the leading Republican presidential candidate. Up to this point they’ve nearly had a “love fest” with John McCain, essentially defending him against the concerns of conservatives.
For weeks the media has disparaged Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter and Sean Hannity as the "goon squad" for their, ah hem, lack of support for candidate McCain. Flying false flags and characterizing the concerns of conservative pundits more as personality issues and ignoring the real ideological and policy issues these commentators have postulated.
Now, after the Romney withdrawal, the national media suddenly begins its attack on McCain, the AP enumerating his failure to show up for “half” the Senate votes in the past year. All the while demonstrating that while Sens. Obama and Clinton’s failure to show records were less than stellar, they still recorded more Senate votes than McCain.
That is just the initial salvo. Reporting on McCains’s speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference, the San Francisco Chronicle’s Zachary Coile reported some of the specifics of conservatives disagreements with the front runner.
"It's not just that he voted against the tax cuts - he rallied moderate Republicans and Democrats to oppose the tax cuts"
“… his McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform bill, which they called an affront to the First Amendment.”
“…McCain is too eager to compromise with Democrats.”
“…his vote against the 2001 tax cuts…”
“…his immigration bill, which failed in the Senate last year…”
“…the Gang of fourteen.”
Suddenly, these and other issues, that conservatives contend reveal McCain’s liberal mindset, are making headlines. This worry, along with McCain’s propensity to link arms with liberal Democrats like Russ Feingold and Ted Kennedy, and even more moderate Democrats such as Joe Lieberman, rankle conservatives who have watched McCain abandon them repeatedly over the years while championing liberal causes.
When the details of the pundits’ disagreement with McCain may have been educational to and had an effect on Republican primary voters, the media was silent. Now, with McCain the frontrunner and presumed nominee, these issues become headlines.
It seems to me this is the beginning of the liberal medias effort to discourage the Republican voter and dissuade them for casting a vote come November. I think their strategy is, if Republicans flee the voting booth, no matter who the Democrat nominee is, Hillary or Obama, they will have smooth sailing to the inauguration.
I have to say I was having problems thinking positively about our now presumed nominee any way. I didn’t support him in our Florida primary, and working up support now is going to be real tough.
James Dobson, Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh, Laura Ingram, Sean Hannity, Michael Savage all have come out against McCain. But they aren’t the only ones. Conservative voters across the nation have serious problems with John McCain. Those who don’t probably haven’t studied his record.
Granted there are varying degrees of conservativism, and even conservatives will disagree on various issues, but all will find in John McCain to have abandoned them in many of the issues they hold dear. I place myself firmly in their camp.
Labels: conservatives, election, McCain, politics