Free In Idaho!

We braved the cold this morning  and went up to town for the annual Wintertime Festival Parade.  I’ve always loved the small town parades here in Southwestern Idaho.  Whether it is the Dairy Days Parade, or Fourth of July, or Christmas, the town parade is a special thing.  Lots of old cars, always the rodeo queens on horses, Boys and Girls clubs and 4-H groups, often riding on flat trailers pulled by Ford 350 King Ranch pickups, and of course the high school and middle school bands… real America.  God bless us, every one.

The enviros are setting themselves up for another intrasquad fight.  Evil incandesent bulbs versus evil mercury containing compact flourescents.  This will be fun to watch, but either way, we’re all going to take it in the wallet.

..WASHINGTON – Al Gore says switching from incandescent light bulbs to compact fluorescents can help save the planet from global warming.

California, Canada and the European Union are so persuaded he’s right, the three governments are in the process of banning the sale of incandescent light bulbs, following the trailblazing paths of Fidel Castro in Cuba and Hugo Chavez in Venezuela.

Even the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is on board, urging American citizens to do their part for the environment and switch to the twisty little CFL bulbs that last longer and use less electricity.

But opposition is building among other environmentalists who say the threat of mercury contamination as a result of hundreds of millions of broken CFLS, each containing about 5 milligrams of the highly toxic substance, outweighs any benefits from a switch from Thomas Edison’s trusty old invention.

As a card carrying right-wing wacko, my first reaction is to run up to Freddie’s and buy as many Edisons as I can and hide them in my attic.  After all, that’s what we do.   And then the REAL intent hit me… may I propose that this is all just another attack on Christmas?  I mean, really, Christmas lights are all old fashioned incandescents (kinda like the people who believe in Christmas, but that’s another post).  Track with me people, and look out your front window.  If your neighborhood is like mine, you see about 30 gazillion multi-colored INCANDESCENT bulbs quietly burning away, raising the planet’s temperature and putting us all in peril of our lives, not to mention the poor polar bears.  What better way to solve two problems at once?  Ban incandescent lights, and knock Christmas back into the dark ages where it belongs!  Brilliant.

All kidding aside, I do love it when they get themselves into these endless loop/no easy answer positions.  Reminds me of the Indians wanting to hunt whales up in Washington state… 

USA Today has a little vote going on, about the intent of the Founders with respect to the Second Amendment.  Is the right to bear arms an individual right?  Get on over and vote… last I looked it was running 98% YES.  We’ll pray the Supremes vote the same way, in the same percentage next summer!

(Yes, I know it has been there awhile.  But it’s more interesting with 15,000+ votes than it was with 1500, don’t you agree?)