You gotta read the fine print

When Congress passed the energy bill a few days ago (that Bush gushed over and quickly signed) most of the emphasis was on how delighted everyone was that the CAFE standards were increased. These dictate how many miles per gallon cars are to deliver at some time in the future. These glad tidings are suspect since it has been shown that the last such increase put us in a situation where we simply drove more miles in cars which are less safe. The same thing can be expected from this latest increase.

Another little problem has to do with Congress deciding that we need to do away with the incandescent light bulb which Edison invented and has served us well. Now we have politicians which have decided that the bulb uses too much electricity. Ergo, we need to do away with them and go to the compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs). These cost about $5.00 compared to maybe $0.75 on a comparable bulb. This added cost is not really the problem, however, since each CFL contains about 5 milligrams of mercury. The same loopy liberals who are worried about some specious threat from global warming seem willing to expose consumers to mercury hazards when a bulb breaks in someone's home.

Brandy Bridges in Prospect, Maine broke one and called the state Poison Control hotline to see how she should clean it up. The short version of the story is that the Department of Environmental Protection said it would cost at least $2,000 to clean it up in her daughter's bedroom. Doesn't that sound like a typical government solution to a dubious problem?