Posted on 01/05/2014 5:38:17 AM PST by IbJensen
Actually, just like Barack Obama’s promise regarding health insurance, this one’s not true either. As of Jan. 1 (Happy New Year, by the way!), the import or manufacture of 40-watt or 60-watt light bulbs is now forbidden in the United States. This follows the ban on 75-watt and 100-watt bulbs, which had already been implemented.
I wish we could blame this on the current Administration, but actually this assault on our freedom of choice goes back to 2007, when Congress passed the Energy Independence and Security Act and it was signed into law by President George W. Bush.
Yep, the prohibition on incandescent bulbs is actually six years old. It just didn’t get much publicity until replacement light bulbs began disappearing from store shelves. Now that more consumers realize what’s happening, a whole bunch of people are stockpiling the ones that remain. If this is the first you’re learning of it and you want to keep some incandescent bulbs on hand, good luck finding some.
The experts who’ve decided they know what’s good for us say that, in time, we’ll learn to appreciate the wisdom of their policies. After all, the new compact fluorescent bulbs (CFLs) and light-emitting diodes (LEDs) that we’re being forced to use are much more energy-efficient than the trusty old favorites. The new bulbs last so much longer — up to 23 years, we’re told — that we’ll save money in the long run. So what if they cost 10 times more money than the old, familiar light bulbs that we’ve used for the past 100 years?
And so what if we hate the way these new light bulbs look? Or the weird kind of light many of them give out? Your not-so-friendly Federal government has decided that it doesn’t matter what your preferences might be. No consumer choice here — except which kind of new, energy-efficient light bulb you’re going to buy.
Welcome to one more way that Big Nanny government manages to intrude into the bedroom — not to mention the kitchen, living room and anyplace else where you flip a switch and expect a light to come on.
Oh, and how do you like how long it takes for some of these bulbs to come to full strength? I went into a guest bathroom recently. When I turned on the switch, it was still so dark in the room that I could barely find the toilet. In time, the room got a little bit brighter. But forget about bringing any reading material in with you.
Don’t look to Congress for any relief from these edicts. The House tried twice, back in 2007, to let us keep our incandescent bulbs. But two alternatives offered up by conservative lawmakers, the Better Use of Light Bulbs Act or the Light Bulb Freedom of Choice Act, failed to pass the House.
Facing the inevitable, General Electric has closed the last factory in the U.S. that manufactured incandescent bulbs. The shutdown of the plant in Winchester, Virginia cost 200 employees their jobs. And don’t count on the forced demand for CFLs and LEDs creating a bunch of new jobs in this country. All of those are being manufactured abroad, mostly in China. Thanks, Uncle Sam, for helping export even more U.S. jobs.
The assault on the light bulb is mere trifle, however, compared to the job losses and financial costs of Obama’s war on coal. And this isn’t happening because of any laws passed by Congress. No, the culprits here are the bureaucrats in the Environmental Protection Agency, who simply decree whatever regulations they deem necessary to achieve their goals.
Estimates are that some 600,000 jobs will be lost because of the EPA directives, mostly in Kentucky and West Virginia. Last week, both Kentucky Senators, as well as all five of the State’s Representatives, filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the Supreme Court, in support of a lawsuit challenging the EPA’s authority to regulate coal plants.
Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said the case is “an egregious example of the EPA’s violation of the law in pursuit of its overzealous, anti-coal agenda.” And he added, “The ability to create laws is the purview of Congress and the EPA has clearly overstepped its authority.”
We’ll find out later this year if the Supreme Court agrees with him and does anything to retard the EPA’s onslaught against the coal industry. If not, you can expect to pay a lot more for electricity in this country. Nicolas Loris, an economist at the Heritage Foundation, warned that the EPA assault on coal-fired power plants “will deliver a blow to the economy and raise costs for consumers.” He added: “Any way you shake this, it’s a no-win for our economy.”
And speaking of a no-win, how about the latest on Obamacare? Just before Christmas, the Obama Administration announced that it was waiving the individual mandate for people who have had their existing health insurance policies canceled.
Geez, wasn’t it only a few weeks ago that the Democrats allowed a partial shutdown of the federal government, rather than pass any Republican-endorsed measure to delay the individual mandate? Now it seems that Obama and his allies are tacitly admitting that Senator Ted Cruz and the House Republicans were right in demanding a delay.
This is just one more example of how the Obama Administration is changing the law without bothering to get Congress involved. Columnist John Fund says delaying the individual mandate “is at least the 14th unilateral change to Obamacare that’s been made without consulting Congress.”
Ho-hum, another crisis, another unconstitutional edict from the folks in the White House.
Considering all of the attacks on our freedoms, is it any wonder that the latest Gallup poll says that 72 percent of Americans now say that Big Government is a threat to our liberties? That number is a new record high, by the way.
As I said last week, there are some encouraging signs that more and more Americans are standing up and speaking out in defense of their principles. It was wonderful to see the furor that erupted when A&E Networks suspended “Duck Dynasty” patriarch Phil Robertson.
Let’s hope the new year will bring us some more such victories. I hope that one of your resolutions will be to do your part in making it happen.
Until next time, keep some powder dry.
Made in China
Id’ bet we can’t find bulbs made anywhere else.
And instead of funding research in minimizing emissions from coal-fired plants, they are throwing money at unproven or proven inefficient and non-cost effective technology, in return for a slice of the pie.
The only positive note: Hey, Coal Workers Unions, serves you right for backing RATs all these years!
The Bush family and the GOPe then undid all that was Reagan but the memory, which too will be gone soon enough, and re-aligned our trajectory for a kinder, gentler, more rational progression to the new US.
Welcome to post 9/11, post-Constitutional America.
At one time, your post wouldn’t have lasted 10 minutes on this forum, and you would have fallen victim to the Viking Kitties. Thumbs up to you!
How many of us- including me have table lamps which have the shade clipping around the bulb???
Those shades don’t fit the CFL bulbs. So-—either more American jobs lost here or more shades being made in China or both.
Some of us get headaches with the CFL bulbs. I am one.
The new type bulbs don’t like cold. IF you have them in your UNHEATED garage, expect their life to be VERY short.
I had a bookkeeping client who turned off his heat every weekend. His CFL bulbs didn’t last 3 months.
I not only get headaches, words blur when I try to read by their light. With flourescent lights, I can't always discern subtle differences in color.
To read, I depend on 100-watt light bulbs or natural light. I found that time in modern classrooms with flourescent lights, a lot of technology for reading and no natural lights affect my concentration and reading comprehension.
I can't help but think that it's a not-uncommon problem, and a lot of learning and behavioral issues are caused by that artificial environment for vision.
Check this out for a bright light on this topic http://www.brightlights-inc.com/
My electricity was out for a couple weeks after Hurricane Lili in 2002. Since then, I've become a big advocate of oil lamps/lanterns. You can pick them up cheap at Wal-Mart, and even get spare components (i.e., burners, wicks, etc.) Knock on wood, but kerosene/lamp oil is still pretty cheap, and you can even get scented stuff if you want to pay a little extra.
My problem with LEDs is that they are rated to replace VERY low-light incandescent bulbs. I read their labels: 15w, 20w, etc. I haven’t yet seen 40w or higher in stores. I would gladly replace my CFLs (when they finally burn out) with LEDs IF the light output would be the same AND the light quality (warmth, color) would be the same. Every time I see a display in a store with an LED bulb, a CFL bulb, an incandescent bulb and a halogen bulb, it’s not plugged in! That’s frustrating, because I really would like to see the difference in light quantity and quality.
Speaking of heat. In cold country, the heat given off by incandescent bulbs has to contribute to the heating of homes, along with body heat, heat from cooking,water heaters, etc. As you watch your electric bills fall, you get to watch your heat bills climb......
I don’t know where you’re shopping, but 40-watt and 60-watt LED equivalents are very common. To get an idea, go to Amazon and do a search.
We replaced the 60-watt incandescent light bulbs in our bathroom months ago with LED bulbs and I couldn’t be more pleased. They come on instantly and have a nice color. I’m never going back to incandescent bulbs when I can get cool, bright, instant-on, low-energy using LED bulbs!
I found some at Lowe’s that were made in Cleveland, Ohio and in Mexico.
I must have gotten a wrong batch when I bought some to try out a year or so ago. They all burned out!
Meanwhile, I’ve a 75 watt U. S. made bulb that has been burning in compliance with the fire laws governing condominiums for over six years.
It was his pen that inked the bill! He made no comment at that time.
Here in Japan incandescent bulbs are still for sale and still made in Japan .
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