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EDITOR OF REDSTATE

Save the Light Bulb

By: Erick Erickson (Diary)  |  September 4th, 2010 at 11:06 AM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

Dear John Boehner, Ted Poe, and Members of the incoming 112th Congress,

If you do only one thing in your time in Washington, and frankly I hope you do only one thing given your propensity to expand government (other than eradicating Obamacare), it is this: SAVE THE LIGHT BULB.

People may not realize it, but one of the first acts of the Democratic Congress in 2007, was to ban the light bulb effective in 2014.

Seriously.

Now, you may say that this is an exaggeration, and it is a bit, but the incandescent light bulb is the light bulb of choice for millions of Americans. It turns on instantly, it can be tossed in the trash without summoning a hazmat team, and is cheap.

The compact fluorescents cannot be treated that way and cost more. Likewise, we are forced to deal with China for every purchase.

If Republicans want to bring change, they need to save the incandescent light bulb. From christmas trees to kitchens, the incandescent light bulb is a staple of the American household and Congress’s ban is offensive.

We should get every Republican out there to pledge their support to saving the incandescent light bulb when they take back Congress.

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COMMENTS

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  • mriggio

    It’s a simple symbol for the incredible over-reach of the Feds. One tiny but meaningful step in the right direction.
    Cheers!

  • http://itsonlywords55.wordpress.com itsonlywords

    But Chinese standards for worker safety are so low that those who work manufacturing the CF bulbs are falling ill from mercury poisoning. But what are the lives of a few Chinese peasants as long as US eco-fanatics get to irrationally feel as though they’re saving Moher Earth.

  • rec0n

    They also fade and worse, they look like hell in my lamps.

  • Richard Mullins

    and I might say that he’s right even though I have CFL’s in my apartment. I’d rather have LED light bulbs, but they cost a fortune to buy.

  • acat

    And I do have a point here, yes. The incandescent light bulb also gives off heat. Some of those little points of light out in flyover country aren’t about light.. they’re about keeping livestock or a well or boiler room from freezing in the dead of winter. CFLs and LEDs don’t throw enough heat to replace incandescent bulbs for these uses.

    And yes, a generation of little girls got to emulate mommy with their easy-bake 100watt lightbulb-driven ovens, even if they mostly got tired of waiting and ate the batter raw.

    Mew

  • IJB

    There’s also something else that’s common and every-day that the current Fascists in Congress have banned that I just found out about, but I can’t remember what it is right now…

    Anyway, absolutely right – the first thing a new GOP Congress can do is strike a blow for freedom, and repeal all these Orwellian “bans” the the Fascist Dems have instituted.

  • http://www.redstate.com/etcartman Kenny Solomon

    Several cases for every type of lamp I own, including what’s in my van.

    =============

    Knock – knock – knock…… Open the door, this is The Residential Enforcement Division of The EPA….. Through an anonymous tip received from one of your neighbors, we know you have a single 40 watt incandescent light bulb in your refrigerator. Open the door or we’re coming in !

  • IJB

    And, actually, as of now, they’re just trying to ban those in California only (luckily, they just failed again…).

    But, look out, folks! – If Nancy Pelosi & Harry Reid back in there, you can be 100% certain that they’ll be looking to ban your plastic grocery bags federally next!…

  • harlan

    …in that , once they expropriate a territory (or thought), it becomes their property for all eternity.

    If and when the Republicans try to roll anything back, there will be the weeping and gnashing of teeth in the (already expropriated) media.

  • bs61

    Just after they had gone green on all of the stop lights in a Wisconsin city, the ice and snow built up and never melted, causing big traffic issues!

  • coldair

    Just need someone to publish a “How to Manufacture a Saturday Night Special Incandescent” on the Web so I can moon”shine” (heh) some bathtub bulbs starting in 2014. Wonder which agency will be after me – won’t be the revenooers, ‘cuz this is an outright ban, not just a tax stamp issue. EPA probably (“Enviro-cops”? “The ‘Viros”? “The Virus”?).

  • coldair

    “We should get every Republican out there to pledge their support to saving the incandescent light bulb when they take back Congress.”

    The Pledge we need to get them to take is not to fund a single Obama project (including Air Force One flights) until he agrees to sign the HealthCare Debacle repeal. Remember this is not Slick Willy. It’s not 1994, and – as he says – “Now they Have Me”.

  • gamechange11two

    The lefties are concerned about breakage en route to the land fills, the risk to sanitation workers and ultimatley toxic mercury in the land fills. This has accomplished nothing more than a new way for the totalitarians to exert more control over the group.

    What it hasn’t, and won’t, accomplished is a reduction in energy use.

    From the Heartland Institute:

    Sam Kazman, general counsel for the Competitive Enterprise Institute, noted: “The small town of Traer, Iowa launched the Great Light Bulb Exchange, distributing 18,000 high-efficiency bulbs to the small town’s residents. Despite the fact that over half of the town’s households participated, electricity consumption actually rose by 8 percent.”

    When you start talking about thousands, millions, billions (trillions?) of CFLs, that adds up to a lot of mercury. I’m sure the opportunity was not lost on everyone in DC when they passed the energy bill in 2007.

    Full article here:

    http://www.heartland.org/policybot/results/22775/Federal_Ban_on_Incandescent_Light_Bulbs_Will_Backfire.html

  • ywhyvon1

    Every year we replace our elderly neighbor’s incandescent bulb in her well house to keep her water pump from freezing up. this is in Metro Atlanta!

    Acat, I see you included wells, but alot of people might not get the significance.

    And Al gore et al, tell me please how we are going to keep from poisoning ourselves with mercury. Shoot, I can’t even remember to bring my green bags to the grocery store. Last count I think I now have 1982 of them, and I’m one of those people that tries to be responsible.

    Batteries? they still end up in the garbage./landfill
    plastic bags? Just reuse them in wastebaskets and they end up in landfill

  • ywhyvon1

    Every year we replace our elderly neighbor’s incandescent bulb in her well house to keep her water pump from freezing up. this is in Metro Atlanta!

    Acat, I see you included wells, but alot of people might not get the significance.

    And Al gore et al, tell me please how we are going to keep from poisoning ourselves with mercury. Shoot, I can’t even remember to bring my green bags to the grocery store. Last count I think I now have 1982 of them, and I’m one of those people that tries to be responsible.

    Batteries? they still end up in the garbage./landfill
    plastic bags? Just reuse them in wastebaskets and they end up in landfill

  • catt

    At least for me, they don’t last nearly as long as they’re supposed to. I’ve had a bunch of them go bad within a year.

    Plus, if you break an incandescent bulb the worst that happens is you have some broken glass to clean up. If you break a compact fluorescent bulb the mercury vapor released exceeds EPA limits by a factor of 100. Check out the link below where the recommendation is that if you break a CFL bulb, the first thing to do is to get all humans and pets out of the room immediately, shut off the heat/AC so that mercury fumes don’t get pulled into the system, open the windows, and give the room 15 minutes to air out before you reenter.

    http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=are-compact-fluorescent-lightbulbs-dangerous

    So a campaign to overturn the ban on incandescent bulbs seems like a winner, from more than one angle.

    I’m picturing an ad with a toddler playing with toys on the kitchen floor, while mom is cooking dinner and on the other side of the room dad is on a step ladder replacing an incandescent bullb with a CFL bulb … and then the CFL bulb falls to the floor and shatters in slow motion. Then the voice-over explains about the mercury vapor levels being 100 times the EPA maximum, and explains the proper cleanup procedures, etc. Close-up and freeze frame on the toddler’s frightened face as the family quickly evacuates the room, following EPA recommended guidelines.

    You’ve got the “tell me again why the government is doing this” angle and the “please oh please won’t someone think of the children” angle all wrapped up in one issue. Who is going to defend the incandescent ban after that?

  • coldair

    “The lefties are concerned about breakage en route to the land fills, the risk to sanitation workers and ultimately toxic mercury in the land fills. This has accomplished nothing more than a new way for the totalitarians to exert more control over the group.”

    Without a financially crippling, and socially intolerable (especially to the loony left which insists on being able to snort its coke in privacy) enforcement program, disposal will NOT become eco-safe. So elimination of the incandescent will also backfire by doing damage to the environment that takes far more energy to clean up than could be saved by a century-of-Sundays CFL bulb use.

  • Xasteius

  • Stan(ley) Pruss

    I’m off to the store to buy another 100 light bulbs. LEDs will be the solution if the cost can be reduced. They really are more eficient and last much longer.

  • bobojake
  • cboullear

    Nearly every person I have told about the mercury poisoning from the CFL bulbs has just stood there with their mouth hanging open. It is NOT well known, but it should be. And because of the lack of knowledge, many people will be sickened and many more will be later because the bulbs will not be disposed of properly.

    One of the funniest ways to bring the point home is a Beck video clip of Stu following EPA procedures to clean up a broken bulb out on a NY sidewalk:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85mb_Z34bO4

  • msctex

    . . .this is not essentially a tiny version of the Cap and Trade scam: an imaginary problem with a detrimental solution, by which someone gets rich. Had we a functioning press, someone would have followed the money and figured out who in Congress made a killing off of this. Might it be the person who proposed the legislation?

    I honestly have no idea, and I’m sure the majority of those who voted for it did so because it sounded Green. But I’d bet a steak dinner on it.

  • dsmurf

    GEs CFL bulbs and they already can’t sell their incandescents that lasted a year. Amway the Quintessetial Republican supporter, having to sell stuff for the Quintessential Democrat and left wingnuts supporter. What would expect from company stuck in Michigan and partnering with the EPA.

    Something is amiss when women at least in my house hate the Flourescents and prefer incandescents.

    Something is amiss when kids with various disfunctions are aggravated by the flourescent bulbs, but not the incandescents.

    So much for the free market if they do not support repealing this reDonkulous ban.
    Its almost like someone has to start the anti environmental wacko caucus so that America can Drill Drill Drill, reduced gasoline taxes and have choice of light bulbs.

  • RedBeard

    We use CFL outdoor spot bulbs because they are cheap to run and last a long time. It’s nice having the option, so we can make a personal choice.

    At work we have LED lighted emergency exit signs, because the small LEDs are dirt cheap and the exit signs are difficult to access for bulb changing. It’s nice having the option, so we can make a personal choice.

    We use T-8 fluorescents for general warehouse aisle lighting, again for access reasons and cost of operation. It’s nice having the option, so we can make a personal choice.

    In the house, we use incandescents, because we like the look of the light they throw, the low cost, and the insignificant extra power usage. We are experimenting with LEDs for particular applications. It’s nice having the option, so we can make a personal choice.

    Did I mention that it’s nice having the option, so we can make a personal choice? Why yes, I think I did. It’s almost like that whole freedom and liberty thing that the lefties despise so much.

  • cactusjack

    with fond hopes he may be the next chairman of the house rule or house judiciary committee. (The place where articles of impeachment are prepared and filed.) The man who got Holder to admit on live video, he “hadnt read the [Arizona] bill.” A former state district judge with a penchant for tough sentencing. From the “fighting Second District”, originally part of Rep (Good Time)Charlie Wilson’s district, a home of heroes and patriots. Ted Poe in either of those house leadership positions, would serve to concentrate the attentions of the 0 marvellously that he had better behave and uphold the Constitution his last 24 months.

  • http://www.redstate.com/etcartman Kenny Solomon

    There is no moderate IslamGreen Statism, there is only Islam Green Statism.

    Your choices: a. Convert…. b. Submit…. c. Die FEMA Camp.

    I choose the following: d. Hey peace lovers Green Statists: Go spit up a rope….. Molon Labe.

  • Xasteius

    img src=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/42010876@N07/3973030244/” width=”450″ height=”300″

  • Xasteius

  • texasgalt

    And please, for heavens sake, bring back the 100 watt interior flood lights.

    They are impossible to find in Texas- everything is now 65 watt. Doesn’t cut it for high ceilings and I am tired of being in the dark.

  • garbear

    on bulbs when the bill became law.

    As for this nonsense being overturned by an elected Republican Congress I for one will not be holding my breath. All the Democrats have to do is say “It’s for children” or “Save a tree” and voters seem to swoon. The American voter asked for this kind of silliness–they begged for it–when they returned Democracts to the majority.

    I’d just as soon see the law take effect in 2014 forcing Americans to experience on a daily basis the consequence of their vote and their “New Age” environmental beliefs.

  • acat

    who don’t get the significance. Turn on the tap, get water. Where’s it come from?

    If you’re far enough outside of a metro area, it comes from your own private well, and yes, the pump (and filters and anti-bacteria (chlorine or ozone) injector etc. etc.) needs to be kept above freezing, or it all needs to be replaced.

    Or, for the urbanites, consider stairwells in parking decks. In some cases, those big ol’ light bulbs keep the stairs from turning into a gigantic legal nightmare of ice.

    The really stupid part is there are incandescent bulbs that approach or exceed gore-type spiral bulbs in efficiency – but we can’t buy them… because they’re incandescent.

    Mew

  • conservativecurmudgeon

    Dr. Claude invented cold-cathode lighting, what, 90 years ago?These CFL’s are nothing but neon tubes wrapped in a curly-que with a solid-state ballast to light it. This is why they have to “burn in” each time you turn them on. This is also why they don’t work in cold temperatures (the argon gas in them doesn’t get excited enough to vaporized the mercury), and also why they are fire hazards.

    This is a classic case of the nincompoops in Congress getting “expert” testimony from a bunch of charlatans camouflaged as scientific brainiacs, and getting all a-swoon at their jargon.

    LED’s, on the other hand, may be a way of producing more light than heat in a super-efficient way, but, dammit, let me, as a consumer, decide.

    …Just like I hope they get rid of the three-flush 1.5 gallon toilet.

  • IJB

    I’m getting real sick of this “Oh, the Republicans won’t do it anyway, do don’t even bother” attitude.

    Two, the “It’s for the children!” argument can be *boomeranged* back on Dems in a big way on this issue – Mercury poisoning is particular bad for infants and children, so the fact that the Dems are pushing CFL bulbs pretty much proves that DEMOCRATS HATE CHILDREN!

    It’s time the GOP turned this little argument back on the Dems, and the CFL light bulb issue is *exactly* the issue to do it with.

  • littlehouse18

    That is the perfect ad to turn this back. I can’t stand those dismal bulbs, and they don’t last nearly as long as claimed.

  • throwback59

    Washington, now they want to impose them on the rest of the country.

  • gamechange11two

    They will just need some gentle, and some not so gentle, encouragement from an active, engaged and educated electorate.

    That will be the key for the next several years.

  • littlehouse18

    How many of us took extreme precautions when a mercury thermometer broke? (Well, I did my best but…) People are not even going to think about it, or will not follow guidelines properly.

    Contamination could be widespread (not to sound like an AGW nut!). I don’t know what the extent of the damage will be, but will future generations curse us for the pollution?

    Any chance this argument would get those at the lefty EPA to come around and push for repeal?

  • littlehouse18
  • http://EasyOpinions.blogspot.com/ andrew_m_garland

    Why Did my CFL Burn Out So Fast?

    “Get used to frequent recycling. One of the biggest myths in all the CFL hype is the rated life of the bulb. You’ll see blog post and article after article repeating the same misleading “fact” that you will get 6,000 or more hours of life from the CFL. Well, both consumer complaints and lab research are showing how untrue this is.”

    The rated life for a CFL is measured in either 4 hour on/off cycles or continuously on. Unfortunately, they are sensitive to the number of cycles (and many other factors), so most uses will not see near their claimed 6,000 hours or 10,000 hours of use.

    That severely reduces the savings, if any, from using CFL’s in most applications and locations. Further, if you hate the light quality or the buzz, then saving some money is a trade-off, not a no brainer.

    Did you know that CFL’s become 20%+ dimmer as they age toward failure?

    The requirement to use CFL’s is a case of regulatory capture. Big business is writing law to capture profits, in the name of green energy. The entire green energy movement is a profit-seeking venture. Al Gore, high priest of green, became a billionaire by investing in companies that were made rich by favorable regulations after the fact.

  • http://EasyOpinions.blogspot.com/ andrew_m_garland

    The CFL Advertising Account

    The good and bad about compact fluorescent lights. Why the ads are both true and false. How to save and waste money on CFL’s.

    One of the points:
    ========
    Mike: OK, no problem. Buy 10 CFL’s and save $750. Get rich!
    Techno: Yeah, if you don’t turn them off.
    ========

    My research says that the average CFL will turn on 2000 times before its electronics fail. The recommendation to leave them on for 15 minutes is a crazy interpretation of that fact. Leaving them on doesn’t heal them. But, hey, at least if you leave them on for 15 minutes each time, you will get 500 hours use out of them before they fail.

    I also present a cost analysis of expected savings.

  • graciegirl

    It’s insane to have mercury around children and yes women hate the yellow they add to the mirror. Recently I brought home some green paint samples I chose from under those lights at Home Depot only to find they were blue.

    I have also read they are very hard on your eyes for reading! Say what you will about autism but a friend of mine with an autistic son states she will never have one in her house. Luckily she will still be able to buy them in Canada since she lives in Michigan .Don’t think we will be going to Mexico here to buy bulbs!

    Are we going to take this lying down??

  • http://itsaboutfreedom.proboards.com IronDioPriest

    was a leader in protesting this gross offense against common sense and liberty when it occurred. I have no doubt that she will lead the charge again, if the people make it known that we are behind her efforts.

  • RedBeard

    …coming from the left, if Bachmann is part of a Republican majority? She drives the lefties nuts (more nuts, that is) now, but just imagine the fits and spasms if she gets committee power. What a show.

  • avgjo

    it’s not true that the muslims always keep a territory. My Spanish ancestors fought very hard for several hundred years to throw the bums out. (There’s a lesson there for us conservatives dealing with these statists. Never give up.)

    As far as the weeping and gnashing of teeth-yeah that’ll happen. But they’ll have to get over it. We’re not listening anymore. If I understand you correctly, the implication is that their moaning and whining will make the Republicans back off, perpetualizing (is that a word?) Democrats’ rule. No. Our flaming the Republicans in response will make them ignore the media and do our bidding. Americans are sick of the Dems, the media and all their rhetorical tricks.

    As for the media people, they can comfort themselves with that old expression: better p*ssed off than p*ssed on.

  • avgjo

    duh. THAT’S a word.

  • avgjo

    duh. THAT’S a word.

  • gamechange11two

    In addition to the fluorescent light bulbs’ added health and environmental hazards, consumers must significantly change their usage patterns to achieve the promised energy efficiency.

    Turning the bulbs on and off shortens their life. An article in the December 31 Weekly Standard noted, “According to Department of Energy guidelines, you need to leave it on for at least 15 minutes” every time you use such a bulb.

    That means if you are up watching television at night and want to go into the kitchen to get a glass of water, you will have to leave the light on for a full 15 minutes afterwards or risk significantly shortening the life of a bulb that already costs six to seven times as much as an incandescent one.

  • http://www.examiner.com/x-1597-Charlotte-Law--Politics-Examiner Mike gamecock DeVine

    took effect this year, i.e. ObamaCare

  • jackhammer

    and I still refuse to allow a CF in my house because the tone is horrible, and my house is all about aesthetics…

    But I’ll be honest, the Halogen screw ins are pretty damn good. I think they use 30% less energy, but the light is actually bright, and normal light, and quick.

    To be honest I built my new place with mostly dimmable halogens built in anyway, so it doesn’t really effect me.

    The strange thing was in Europe it was the big lightbulb companies like Philips and GE pushing it because they were getting too much low cost pressure from china,a nd they thought with the CP they would have breathing room.

    Actual practice came back to bite them in the butt, as the chinese were able to buy the machinery to upgrade as well….that might be why so many are on the american market for cheap too.

    LED will be viable someday, and to be honest, a lightbulb that isn’t really hot won’t be a bad thing. I am just majorly against the idea of killing it against the consumers wishes, especially when you replace it with something so poorly conceived and bad in so many ways….There will be no such thing as compact flourescent screw in’s in 15 years, I’ll put 10 grand on it.

  • Michael Dugas

    Another little glitch with these useless bulbs. I stocked up on regular bulbs and ,given my age ,I should be set for a long time. Unless the bulb police get me.

  • Michael Dugas

    Caused a few accidents this past winter.

  • Michael Dugas

    n/t

  • RedBeard

    Because I would have used a different word. ;-)

  • garbear

    because I too don’t care for the “Republicans won’t do it anyway . . .” line. The problem is, when things become law it’s much harder to make them go away. And they seldom if ever do. The majority of Americans believed that welfare (e.g., foodstamps, gov’t housing, etc.) were not the best way to handle poverty. Yet all the programs are still here. And when Republicans forced Clinton to sign on to reforms those same reforms–note nothing actually went away–have been undermined.

  • http://www.redstate.com/etcartman Kenny Solomon

    We switched it to 22LR just to save on ammo (we usually go with 223/556 (AR) or 308 (M1).

    Bigger rounds are gettin’ too expensive to keep partyin’ like it’s 1999.

    Bricks of Thunderbolts are still relatively cheap and to be really honest, poppin’ a few hundred rounds through a 10/22 is one heck of a ton of fun.

    ———

    Stock up on ammo, long-term-storage food, bottled water and other ‘supplies’ ?….. Me ?…….. Nah, I didn’t stock up,…….. much…….. kinda……. sorta……. maybe.

    ;)

  • David123

    I want the right to choose the type of lightbulbs I use.

  • bobmontgomery

    ….in the grocery section, dairy aisle. For some reason, light bulbs were on a shelf in that aisle and a customer actually knocked a CFL off onto the floor and it shattered. Had I been thinking, I would have screamed and, well, you know. As it was, i mentioned it to the greeter on my way out and said “Maybe you guys ought to call in the Hazmat Team.” He smiled and said “Yeah, probably. Have a nice day.”

  • bobmontgomery

    mercury-controlled thermostat but force you to put several mercury-filled light bulbs in every. room of your house.

  • bk

    By 2014 we’ll probably be hearing about an eco-disaster because officials are SHOCKED! to learn that people have been throwing CFLs in the trash and we have mercury seeping into drinking water.

  • bk
  • bk

    At least that’s how it seems to me.

  • bk

    We replaced a horrible 3.2 with a 1.6 and I almost never have to flush it twice. I think originally these were just made to replace one 3.2 flush with two 1.6 flushes. Now they are actually designed to properly do the job of a toilet. I was pleasantly surprised.

  • drfredc

    Saving the light bulb is easy. Just have a ‘Code Bulb’ group break a bunch of ‘innocent’ fluorescent bulbs around Congress and it’s various meeting rooms during the lame duck session and watch it shut Congress down for a couple weeks while they look for residual mercury. They won’t even be able to debate this nonsense that they’ve forced upon the population in exchange for big political payoffs from companies making these toxic bulbs…

    FYI — “Innocent” means take at the mercury before hand — only don’t tell anyone till after the shit hits the fan and is dripping half way down the walls…

  • conservativecurmudgeon

    …Can you believe this is what passes for intelligent conversation in an advanced society these days?? I mean, c’mon; Toilets, lightbulbs, how many flushes to evacuate the bowl… eesh. In a land of ten thousand brands and varieties of Shampoo and Cream Rinse, why, oh why, are we constrained to ONE kind of lightbulb now, and ONE kind of toilet? Gee whiz…

    (-oops)

  • conservativecurmudgeon

    … Because regular old cold-cathode florescent lights have had a mercury coating in them since their invention, and I don’t recall having to call in the Nuclear Containment crew when you threw one in the dumpster. Man, we’ve allowed the weenies on the Left to turn our entire nation into a bunch of limp-wrists over the most Lilliputian of invented threats, mercury among them.

  • maddog

    Incandescent vs CFL. Not to worry. The Democrats are pro-chice so naturally they’ll let you the consumer decide which one is right for you. After all, they’re pro-choice.

  • Xasteius
  • taxpayer1234

    which was built the last time fluorescents were all the green rage, in 1980. My house had a total of 12–count ‘em,12–gigantic fluorescent ballasts. Yep, even in the bathroom and the kitchen. I’ve been getting rid of them as my cash flow allows. The buzzing makes me nuts, and the garish light is horrible. Even the so-called “warm light” fluorescents are awful.

    I bet Nancy Pelosi doesn’t plaster on her makeup under CFLs.

  • taxpayer1234
  • minncon

    Oh yes, you’ve tapped into something here, Eric? Remember what the impending change to the Metric System became in the 1976 election? It became a symbol of that was wrong with Carter – capitulating to the rest of the world, trying to remake America into Europe, jettisoning the very concept of American Exceptionalism…

    I remember it well… Congress had passed the Metric Conversion law… it was all a fait accompli… and then came – RONALD MAXIMUS! And all that crap went away for a generation or two!

    It IS possible to shut down the insanity. We just need a symbol with which to shine some light on these fools… preferably, nice, warm incandescent light!

    With that in mind, I’ve put forth a couple of concept symbols… perhaps some of you can come up with captions of your own!

    file
    dark

  • Next93

    CFL bulbs, as noted above, are an expensive yet inadequete substitute for “real” bulbs, they’re well on thier way to obsolescence, they don’t fulfill the high-flying claims, and they actually make more problems for the environment, and they don’t really do that much to solve the “problem” that they claim to address.

    On the other hand, they’re making some politically well-connected companies rich through government guaranteed market share and/or subsidies, they’ll eventually provide a means of expanding the role of government even more (as the “light bulb recycling police” come on line), and they provide a means for self-righteous knobs with little or no real understanding of any form of hard science to impose thier beleif system on everyone else.

    Yep, pretty much the ideal symbol of the Greenies. As Dogbert said, “You can’t save the planet without forcing other people to sacrifice”.

  • Next93

    A group of us were talking about not printing out some forms, and the local socialist made the obligatory “save a tree” comment (which, by the way, is complete nonsense). I stated that I hate trees, and that a tree killed my mother. You could have heard a pin drop. No one knew if I was serious or not, and I think more than a few people were scandalized, and the eco-hippie’s head nearly exploded.

    And suddenly I knew how it feels to be the grain of sand in the center of a perl.

  • Next93

    I bet The One will be a heck of a lot more compliant if Michelle suddenly finds it impossible to jet hither and yon with the girls.

  • SoFiMil

    (Unless you’re prepared to go to jail.)

  • Next93

    We’re being told by the federal government what kinds of light bulbs we can use and what kinds of toilets we can install, and you DONT think we should be commenting on it?

    Just out of curiosity, exacyly where DO you draw the line? When they pass the Cheryl Crow “two sheets is enough” law?

  • mriggio

    I started stocking up 2 years ago, buying triple-quantities when I spot a sale. Figure I’ve stockpiled at least 10 year’s worth; by then perhaps something truly better will appear. Cheers!

  • Next93

    I think that for all the money the DCCC is putting into this race, Bachman’s going to walk away with it. I drive through a big part of her district every day, and while I see a lot of lawn signs for Bachman, I’ve yet to notice a sign for her opponent, Teryl Clark.

    Clark has been running ads since Bachman accused Obama of politically shaking down BP (“She wants to let BP off the hook!”), and Bachman just recently started airing her own ads – Clark is already in response mode.

    Of course, the democrats really set Bachment up for success; given the economy it’s hard to beleive that someone who voted to raise state gas taxes at the same time that rising gas prices were tanking the economy really has a chance, even in a state as stupidly Democratic as Minnesota.

  • Next93

    That was a quote one James R. Lileks, conserative and one of the funniest writers I’ve run across.

  • bk

    Do you drive past any cemeteries? Many Clark voters may hang out there.

  • http://impudent.edublogs.org/ kyle8

    they are still very very expensive. THey have a lot of advantages though, but it would cost me about $600 to change out all the lights in my house.

  • http://www.hakubi.us/ Neil Stevens
  • http://itsaboutfreedom.proboards.com IronDioPriest

    is going to have a run on incandescent bulbs very soon. I don’t intend to ever use the fluorescent POSs. My wife suffers from migraines, and it is not worth the risk. Aside from that, it is purely a protest action. I refuse to comply with an edict such as this if I can act to be in non-compliance in advance for a relatively reasonable sum.

  • partyof1

    House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called a Capitol Hill press conference Wednesday to unveil new [LED] light fixtures in the House cafeteria. The light fixtures cost $140,000 and will take almost 10 years to pay off in saved energy.

    http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/64503

    must be nice to have a bottomless pit of taxpayer money you can just scoop into for every little whim

  • sigcooper

    Some researchers believe cfl’s are linked to learning disability, which would be a problem since all school lighting is fluorescent. From my own experience working as a special educator, I know my students with sensory processing disorders are hypersensitive to the flickering of the cfl bulbs, which causes headaches. Also, there are no full color-spectrum cfls, which some researchers believe contributes to hyperactivity and visual processing problems. Several teachers in my school have put special covers over the lights in their rooms which is suppose to correct the problem. Others just leave the fluorescent overhead lights off and use lamps with incandescent bulbs placed around the room.

  • sigcooper

    Sorry

  • pamela1631

    I have a friend who has a traumatic brain injury (he had been mugged and almost beaten to death) who now has seizures if around fluorescent lights for more than an hour.

    Wonder what amount of ADHD would disappear if LED lights were used in schools instead of fluorescent lights? It would be a boon to children and their parents if all those mind altering drugs were not needed.

  • JakePrime

    nt

  • BlueStateSaint

    I talked to one of the maintenance guys at my apartment complex Friday. He had no idea that broken CFI bulbs are to be treated as toxic waste. Someone needs an education in this (probably the staff in the office).

  • Next93

    Actually, I do drive past a cemetary before I cross over the state line, I just might get a clark sign and put it up by the gate…

    On the other hand, this is the Twin Cities, not Chicago; we don’t really have much of a zombie vote, though it looks like convicted felons managed to put Franken over the top…

  • Next93

    There’s also a state prison in that district. I might make a lawn sign for “Felons for Franken” and get a pricture of it in front of the prison gates!

  • taxpayer1234

    for CFLs was a problem for some uses. LEDs have somewhat the same problem. Some cold-weather states have had problems with LED stoplights, which don’t get warm enough to melt away snow and ice, which then accumulate and block the lights. So crews have to go and manually scrape off the lights. That has to be both dangerous and expensive.

  • taxpayer1234

    I’ve heard about fluorescents contributing to migraines and seizures but not learning disorders.

    I don’t have the data to back me, but I believe fluorescents also exacerbate depression and SAD (seasonal affective disorder). Incandescents do a much better job of imitating natural light than fluorescents.

  • RedBeard

    I have my security floodlights on the barns converted to fluorescent flood bulbs. These are controlled by a light sensor, and therefore switch on only once per day, for the duration of the darkness.

    We’ll see how often I need to lug out the big extension ladder to change them; I was getting tired of doing so for the old bulbs. Cost of electricity should benefit as well.

    But that’s outside. Inside, I don’t want to see one of those sickly looking CFLs. Hey, that’s just me, deciding something for myself without the aid of the nanny state. Call me a rebel. [snort]

  • http://impudent.edublogs.org/ kyle8

    I live in Texas, and it cost a lot to cool off a house in August.

  • http://impudent.edublogs.org/ kyle8

    I live in Texas, and it cost a lot to cool off a house in August.

  • taxpayer1234

    be dictating the lighting choices available.

  • ModernAgeFan

    This has ticked me off ever since it was passed. They have done this in Germany already and people over there have horded the last incandescent bulbs. This is insane to force people to buy the fluorescent bulbs. I don’t see why consumers cannot make this decision for themselves, whether they want to buy one type of light bulb or another.This is another issue where the Democrats have taken our right to make decisions for ourselves. I’m beginning to think the Democrats don’t trust me to make decisions for myself.

  • http://wadingacross.wordpress.com logus

    Regardless of the legislation, though no doubt a response to it, some manufacturers and retailers have already begun stopping their production and/or sale of incandescent bulbs. Two cases in point, Toshiba and Ikea. Toshiba has stopped making them and Ikea has stopped stocking them.

    If you have enough manufacturers and retailers who decide that they no longer want to make or sell incandescent bulbs, it doesn’t matter if the US laws are changed back to before 2007. If they decide to operate irrespective of demand, and squelch supply, eventually the public has no option but to buy what is available. This wouldn’t be the first time manufacturers do such things.

    Now, that said, of course, if the laws were reversed and even if all or a majority of the manufacturers in the world decided to stop making and selling incandescents, one or more businessmen with the capital could make a killing, cornering the market on continued production and sales of incandescents to those of us who refuse to go gently into a cfl future.

    On a tangental note, as of right now, I think it’d be pretty impossible to ban all incandescents since there aren’t cfl, halogen or led replacements for all of the various types, sized and styles of incandescents that are produced.

  • graybeard

    Being the patriotic type, I replaced every bulb (that could be in the allotted space) with CFL. Then, I found out about the associated problems. Some burned out; some sizzled and fried; there was no environmentally safe place to dispose of them; I was getting boxes of dead bulbs. Knowing that my Federal Representatives are smart people and have all the answers, I came up with a solution….. There is no one around my Congressman’s office at 2:45 AM: I’m positive they found an environmentally safe way to dispose of those four boxes of dead CFL bulbs. I’m so proud of them.

  • graybeard

    Being the patriotic type, I replaced every bulb (that could be in the allotted space) with CFL. Then, I found out about the associated problems. Some burned out; some sizzled and fried; there was no environmentally safe place to dispose of them; I was getting boxes of dead bulbs. Knowing that my Federal Representatives are smart people and have all the answers, I came up with a solution….. There is no one around my Congressman’s office at 2:45 AM: I’m positive they found an environmentally safe way to dispose of those four boxes of dead CFL bulbs. I’m so proud of them.

  • gunslingr45

    stocking enough regular light bulbs to last the rest of my life. I will not subject my grandchildren to poor lighting at such an enormous risk to their health.
    As with anything they pass if I don?t like it, I will disobey it and they may kiss my rear bulb.

    If I let other men to determine my future, I do not need nor want it.

  • mnroadwarrior

    introduced the Light Bulb Freedom of Choice Act, to repeal the ban on conventional light bulbs in favor of compact fluorescent light bulbs. I believe it is held up in subcommittee……..there’s a surprise. Unfortunately, I live in CD4, the home of Comrade McCollum (but we have a good candidate running ….. please, Lord!)

    Anyway, Congresswoman Bachmann is one of the few bright lights in a house of low lifes………..I mean lites!

    ………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
    “What we’ve got here is… failure to communicate. Some men you just can’t reach. So you get what we had here last week, which is the way he wants it… well, he gets it. I don’t like it any more than you men.”
    Captain, Road Prison 36: Cool Hand Luke

  • Flagstaff

    heater” manufacturing business. They will generate the heat necessary, and just incidentally they will generate light as well. Imagine that!

  • Flagstaff

    disposing of the trash. Especially the Democrats.

  • Achance

    than a light bulb. Of course, a simple light bulb fixture is a lot cheaper than a heater. This is one of those things where in the long run it is cheaper to do it right, but I understand not wanting to spend the money to deal with something that happens so rarely.

    Unfortunately, a lot of boaters in warmer climates use light bulbs for freeze protection in cold snaps and never a year goes by that some boats aren’t lost to fire because of it. Light bulbs are frail unless they’re specifically made for shock, and if they break from a spash of water or a shock and there are any gas fumes in the boat’s bilge, there is a big boom.

    I don’t actually mind CFLs for general area house lighting, all the overhead lights in my house are flourescent. I just supplement it with truly blinding, high wattage halogen task lighting in the places where I really need task lighting. And, of course, the lighting above the vanity where SWMBO puts on her paint and powder is GE Reveal incandescents and I have stockpiled what I hope is a lifetime supply.

    Energy budgets are so limited on the boat if you’re on battery alone that I have replaced almost all the conventional incandescent with flourescent, halogen, and LED. The navigation lights and anchor lights have to be on pretty much all the time if visibility is limited or at least all night in most anchorages, so they’re LED. I also have LED cockpit lights that I leave on all the time in the winter months to lessen the adventure of climbing from a dark icy dock onto a dark icy boat. LEDs that give decent color fidelity in living areas are VERY expensive, so I’ve put in halogens and flourescents. I have combination red/white fixtures above the lower helm, in the galley/passageway, and in the head so I can switch them to red when operating at night and not ruin my night vision. I have a generator that enables me not to worry about the batteries, but if you run one for any length of time, even a “quiet” one, if you have any neighbors, they’ll hate you. My Honda EU2000 is a very quiet generator, but even very quiet generators are irritating as Hell after awhile. Come time to turn in, I prefer to just turn the generator and all high-power stuff off, e.g., refridgerator, and take the boat down to a few safety lights aboard and the anchor light. That way, I’ll have power in the morning and won’t have to start my day tightening or replacing the alternator belt on my stbd. engine to try to get it to pull the load to recharge the house batteries.

  • myron_j_poltroonian

    One of the first rules for shop lighting, professional or home, is never, ever have just fluorescent lighting, especially for task lighting directed on power tools. Why, ask you? Simple, we use alternating current. It changes direction (and has to turn on and off to do so) at the rate of 60 times (Cycles) every second. As do fluorescent light bulbs. Incandescent bulbs, on the other hand, “Glow” continuously. In other words, they do not produce a stroboscopic effect with moving objects They do not make rapidly turning/spinning bits/blades appear to be standing still which can, under noisy shop conditions, cause someone to believe that a machine is turned off when, in actuality, it is turning with full, dangerous and, possibly deadly, force. They are not safe to use by themselves in a shop environment.

  • momofthecastle

    I wondered what to do with those dead bulbs. I’ll send them to Nancy Pelosi!