Dated detrius

I’m never too proud to borrow a well-chosen phrase. A chairman of NEH (National Endowment of the Humanities) admires the National Gallery of Art building in Washington but says it is “surrounded by the dated detritus of subsequent federal patronage.” Substitute the last two words federal patronage with ‘political correctness’ or ‘liberal agenda’ and you have current milieu across our hills and fruited plains. We are surrounded with garbage.

In Chillicothe, Ohio, at taxpayers’ expense, the fire department will come to the home and install a fire alarm and/or batteries for those in ‘need.’

In Boulder, Colorado (Kooky, Boulder), at taxpayers’ expense, officials plan to switch thousands of incandescent light bulbs for green fluorescent. Installation of energy efficient light bulbs proves that we are literally screwed. We’re two America’s, one fluorescent, one incandescent. These jobs will probably count as some of the 95,000 jobs created or saved each month as touted by our Obama administration. Because skiing is a gentrifed sport, and Colorado thrives on the slope trade, Colorado residents over time, have given up helping cowboys with reminders like, “Look out, Gene, behind the rock,” and replaced this reality with regulations against horse plops because they were not environmentally correct. Or have they?

Many years in the making, the government now has upgraded its definitions of organic meat and milk with percentage requirements for grass feeding and grazing times. Yet a cow or chicken will always produce beef or poultry.

Subsidized audits for home energy have been ongoing but the evaluation still costs $200 which many citizens won’t pay. Only ½ of households implement the suggestions after the audits.

Cash 4 appliances, a 300 million dollar government program, will provide incentives to Americans ( and in some states only those with low incomes!) to buy high-priced energy efficient appliances.

A man who invested $125,000 in energy efficient home improvements, thanks to government rebates, still had to pay $35,000 out of pocket.

Some light, however, glows on the horizon. In spite of Colorado residents going green, like driving hybrids, recycling and installing fluorescent light bulbs, some old fashioned light bulbs continue to burn. With his self-interest intact, one art dealer refuses to close the door to his business, because it welcomes customers, in spite of loss of efficiency in his heating and air conditioning. “I don’t care,” he says. When asked if the green movement is succeeding, a Colorado official had to admit, “We have a long way to go.” When asked if it will succeed, he admits, “Not necessarily.”

Good news of my morning - a local man received a recommendation to West Point. More good news dawns. Many Americans still sing the song, “My way,” even in Boulder, CO. When the guy in the black hat from Washington comes to town, enough residents are still willing to warn Gene (Autry if you are too young to remember) to look out behind the rock because government’s arrival means it’s out to kill individual freedom.