Here’s Lie No. 2.
House Republicans are also being told that there is no public outcry about the incandescent bulb ban. Politico reports,
“The only people we are aware of who have opposed the bulb standards are some politicians and some conservative commentators,” said Bill Wicker, a spokesman for Senate Energy and Natural Resources Chairman Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.).
But as reported in July by the Salem Leader (Indiana):
A poll released today by the free enterprise group Americans for Limited Government showed the potency of the light bulb ban issue amongst both core Republican and Independent likely voters.
Conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, the survey showed that 46 percent of likely voters were aware that Congress had banned traditional light bulbs beginning in 2012, and 58 percent respondents opposed banning the bulbs.
The issue would repeal mandates in legislation passed by Congress and signed into law by President George W. Bush in 2007, which had the effect of banning the domestic production and sale of the incandescent light bulb in favor of fluorescent bulbs.
Controversy over the ban has intensified across the nation with Texas Governor Rick Perry signing a state law that allows incandescent bulbs to be manufactured in the state for sale only in the state. Similar legislation is also pending in South Carolina where it has passed one house of the legislature.
Bill Wilson, President of Americans for Limited Government called repealing the light bulb ban, “a big political winner for elected officials like Governor Perry with 72 percent of self-described Republican voters and 57 percent of the Independent voters opposing the ban.”
40 percent of respondents indicated that they would be less likely to vote for a politician who supported the light bulb ban.
The U.S. House of Representatives is expected to take up the ban next week when they consider HR 2417, “The BULB Act.”
The public is overwhelmed by a raft of oppression emanating from Washington DC as well as a bad economy. But if you ask people about the ban, many will say they oppose it.
Just because there is no march on Washington DC about light bulbs doesn’t mean there is no public antipathy toward the ban.
Four 60 watt incandescent light bulbs for $.88 vs 1 CFL bulb for $2.75? Where’s the problem?
/sarcasm off
May I propose a new animal to represent the Environmentalists, as a counterpart to the Democrat Donkey and the Republican Elephant: the Green Ostrich. It is characterized by its willful ignorance of disagreement, it’s limited intelligence, its powerful kick when threatened, and its habit of running at top speed with long strides in whichever direction it chooses to go, with occasional tripping over itself, until it runs out of breath.