Fans of the country's most popular light bulbs - the traditional 40 and 60-watt incandescent bulbs - are encouraged to start stocking up as on January 1 it will become illegal for American businesses to either manufacture or import the old-style bulbs.
The beginning of 2013 saw the phasing out of incandescent 75 and 100-watt light bulbs. Those are my favorite watts and disappearing, they are.
Possible alternatives to the old-style bulbs are halogen bulbs, compact fluorescent bulbs (CFL), LED bulbs and high efficiency incandescents - all are more energy efficient, but also more expensive. ...and also, the light they cast is unusable.
'Get them while you still can,' Home Depot, the nation's largest bulb retailer, is urging on its website. 'Stock up on incandescent light bulbs before they are completely discontinued.'
'Home Depot anticipates running out of their stock of 40W to 60W bulbs six months into 2014,' Mark Voykovic, the store's national light bulb merchant, told FoxNews.
#1
A wasteful, inefficient government, that reads my e-mail, listens to my tellie conversations, that cannot balance it's checkbook, wants to take away my .22 rifle, makes me fund abortion, gives money and weapons to terrorists, and is destroying the best health care system in the world..... is now telling me what light bulb to buy.
#2
I guess it's time to start hoarding other stuff the gov't wants. Well hell, I am already hoarding .45 and 308 rounds just in case they want them too. Is 300 rounds enough of each? Oh and I forgot, I have 300 rnds for my .357 Mag, too.
And guess what "burgers, the IRS audited me this year.
#3
When they came for the 100 & 75 watt bulb I didn't protest because I was neither a 100 nor a 75 watt bulb, when they came for the 60 and 40 watts bulb I didn't protest because I was neither a 60 nor 40 watts bulb, when they came for me nobody protested because nobody saw anything
#6
Can't wait until they ban the CFLs for mercury issues.....
Posted by: BA ||
12/16/2013 7:57 Comments ||
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#7
Texhooey:
In Georgia and Alabama you'd be off to a very respectable start ;-)
Some random thoughts. IRS audits seem to come in bunches of 5, [get one, expect 4 more years of auditing]. One method that appears to shake them off is to hire your taxes done by a respectable tax person or CPA. I avoid H&R Block however, they're little more than a numbers mill.
Tax prep people and agencies generally make fewer mistakes and when you are audited, it's on them to go to bat for you. My tax lady knows more about taxes than most IRS agents. An over-generalization, but it is my belief that IRS agents are lazy. They don't wish to be challenged by a tax pro or CPA and thus [appear] to avoid professionally prepared returns. I suspect they're rather concentrate on the large number of rubes out there attempting to sneak one by.
Overseas work and spikes in annual income appear to trigger audits, as do domestic, six-digit earners.
Particularly troubling to the IRS is the so-called underground economy or work and services performed for cash or barter. This is the area where real tax avoidance takes place. This is the first year in Georgia where the sale or transfer of a privately owned vehicle [not involving a dealer] required reporting and the payment of sales taxes. For obvious reasons I believe the government's goal is to mandate that all transaction be conducted electronically. Appears they have mastered, and deemed legal all types of electronic monitoring.
#8
I wouldn't let the c*cksuckers at H & R Blockhead balance my checkbook.
IRS agents are lazy, but as long as your bank statements line up with what's been filed, that's usually as far as an personal tax return audit will go.
Certain schedules (Sch. C & E) and the use of certain other forms (like the home office deduction) also trigger audits.
#9
When my father-in-law was an Illinois State rep - before the Dems redistricted him out of office - he was audited by the IRS, two years in a row. He told them it was illegal, two years in a row, and read them the statute. They left him alone after that.
That was 30 years ago, before Illinois politics got really nasty.
Posted by: Bobby ||
12/16/2013 8:49 Comments ||
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#10
Gerrymandering of districts has not worked as well in Georgia as it has in Illinois and elsewhere. Prior to the real estate, Fannie/Fredie crash, low/no interest, gov't back loans [you have a RIGHT to own a home] were used to alter the demographics of historically conservative voting districts and counties. It's still going on, a bit more subtle than previously, but once it begins it seldom reverses itself.
#14
Hate to be a contrarian, but our entire house is CFL except for the LED's I've been buying lately. Instapundit notes that the CFLs don't last as long as claimed and I think he's right, but they do help hold down the electric bill.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/16/2013 14:56 Comments ||
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#15
Have lots of old incandescents. Also use a fair number of curly-fried fluorescents. They clearly don't last as long as advertised, and as they age, get dimmer and slower to warm up, but the light quality has gotten acceptable. LEDs are coming, but quality and cost are still not good enough for most applications. I don't mind using different kinds of bulbs, I just mind the government making all the decisions for me. When I choose unwisely, it's just on me, but when they do it, it's on all of us.
#19
Those are 130V bulbs, so they don't have the typical lumen output of standard 120V bulbs. Also, that particular item has some bad one star reviews - lots of defectives. But, I did find some better quality 130V at Amazon. They are good for closets and basements where the cost of an LED isn't warranted. I have a couple of cfls, but don't like them much - they flicker and slow start and are pretty useless in cold locations. I'll be investing in LEDs, just bought a couple of outdoor spots.
My main light is a three way 150 watt incandescent reading light beside my chair. I've been looking for an led replacement, so far without luck. And, frankly, sitting here I can feel a small amount of heat on the side of my face, and it feels good, with the temp outside being 20 degrees and the wood stove going across the room.
Put out good products: led, cfl, incandescent, candles, whatever, and let me make my own decisions, dammit!
U.S. Senators John McCain and Chris Murphy joined around 200,000 anti-government protesters in the central square of Ukraine's capital Sunday, threatening sanctions against the government of President Viktor Yanukovych if authorities use more violence to disperse demonstrators.
Anti-government protesters have set up an extensive tent camp in Kiev and erected barricades of snow hardened with freezing water and studded with scrap wood and other junk.
McCain, R-Ariz., and Murphy, D-Conn., joined the anti-government demonstration to express support for them and their European ambitions. The protests began Nov. 21 after Yanukovych announced he was backing away from signing a long-awaited agreement to deepen trade and political ties with the EU and instead focus on Russia, and have grown in size and intensity after two violent police dispersals.
"We are here to support your just cause, the sovereign right of Ukraine to determine its own destiny freely and independently. And the destiny you seek lies in Europe," McCain said during a speech, according to Reuters.
"We ... want to make it clear to Russia and Vladimir Putin that interference in the affairs of Ukraine is not acceptable to the United States," he added.
McCain and Murphy told reporters after the rally that sanctions were possible and "that there will be consequences to our relationship if there is any more violence on the streets of Kiev."
But the rally was shadowed by suggestions that their goal of closer ties with Europe may be imperiled.
A much smaller demonstration of government supporters, about 15,000, was taking place about less than a mile away from Kiev's Independence Square.
In the face of the protests, which present a serious challenge to Yanukovych's leadership, Ukrainian officials this week renewed talks with the EU agreement and promised that they would sign the deal once some issues are worked out.
However, the EU's top official on expansion issues, Stefan Fuele, cast doubt on the prospect Sunday, saying on his Twitter account that work is "on hold" and that the words and actions of Yanukovych and his government are "further and further apart."
Yanukovych backed off the agreement on the grounds that the EU was not providing adequate compensation to his economically struggling nation for potential trades losses with Russia. Russia, which for centuries controlled or exerted heavy influence on Ukraine, wants the country to join a customs union, analogous to the EU, which also includes Belarus and Kazakhstan.
The opposition says that union would effectively reconstitute the Soviet Union and remain suspicious that Yanukovych might agree to it when he meets Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday.
Arseniy Yatsenyk, a top opposition leader, warned Yanukovych against making such a move.
"If the agreement is signed, he can remain in Moscow and not return to Kiev," Yatsenyuk told the crowd at the protest on Independence Square, also known as the Maidan.
Yuri Lutsenko, another opposition politician and former interior minister, told the protesters they were fighting for Ukraine's independence.
"What is happening on the Maidan today? It is an anticolonial revolution," he said. "Above all, Ukrainians turned out to say to Moscow: 'We are no longer under your command, we are an independent country."
The mood was starkly different at the smaller pro-government rally across town. Many people from eastern Ukraine, the country's industrial heartland and Yanukovych's support base, are against the protesters in Kiev and want the country to have closer economic ties with Russia.
"We'll become the slaves of Europe if we go into it," said 43-year-old demonstrator Segei Antonovich. "Look at history -- only union with Russia can save Ukraine from catastrophe."
Over the past week, Ukrainian officials have made some steps toward the opposition, with Yanukovych proposing an amnesty for demonstrators arrested in the police break-ups of protests and suspending two senior officials under investigation for the violence
The opposition, however, is holding to stronger demands, including the resignation of the government and early elections for both president and parliament.
McCain suggested those moves may not be enough to end the crisis, referring to the suspended officials.
"At least some people have been held responsible," he told reporters. "Whether they are responsible or not is not clear."
#1
Just look at what McCain and the US government did in their support of the so-called rebels in Syria. The US supports extremism and de-stabilization of other governments. Wake up Ukraine you do not want John McCain on your side. Just look at what NATO and the US do with drones which are nothing but assassination tools from a distance. Using a drone on US soil to take out an armed assailant which results in killing nearby civilians would cause an outcry all over America. But this is what is happening to normal people every day in countries where the US has drone strikes. US Government has no morals and is full of hypocracy, with their support of repressive non-democratic regimes such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar. There is no political freedom in the west anymore just police states and tightly controlled media and censorship. The US has become the very thing it thought against in world war 2, it is now a NAZI state.
An estimated 200,000 pro-EU protesters have gathered on Kiev's Independence Square, as protesters continue demonstrations against President Viktor Yanukovych's rejection of an association accord with the European Union in favor of closer ties with Russia.
Senator John McCain addressed the opposition rally, telling protesters that "Ukraine will make Europe better and Europe will make Ukraine better."
McCain told the cheering crowd, "America stands with you. We are here because your peaceful process and peaceful protest is inspiring your country and inspiring the world. We are here to support your just cause -- the sovereign right of Ukraine to determine its own destiny freely and independently. And the destiny you seek lies in Europe."
McCain who visited the rally together with Senator Chris Murphy had earlier met with opposition leaders and protesters.
Pro-EU demonstrators have been holding nearly four weeks of daily protests at Independence Square against Yanukovych's decision to back off from the association and not sign free trade accords with the EU which have been under negotiation for years.
The European Union said on December 15 it was suspending talks with Ukraine on the agreements, saying there was a growing disparity between the Ukrainian government's words and deeds.
As the massive opposition protest was occuring on Independence Square, an estimated 15,000 protesters gathered a kilometer away to support Yanukovych's decision. Yanukovych is expected on December 17 in Moscow for talks with President Vladimir Putin.
It's the NYTs but nonetheless it almost reads like a newspaper instead of bird cage or kitty litter box liner.
GREELEY, Colo. -- When Sheriff John Cooke of Weld County explains in speeches why he is not enforcing the state's new gun laws, he holds up two 30-round magazines. One, he says, he had before July 1, when the law banning the possession, sale or transfer of the large-capacity magazines went into effect. The other, he "maybe" obtained afterward. He shuffles the magazines, which look identical, and then challenges the audience to tell the difference.
Why is it wrong for Champ to disregard the law but okay for a sheriff to disregard the law? If he thinks that the gun-control law is unconstitutional, file a lawsuit and ask a judge to toss it. Grrr...
"How is a deputy or an officer supposed to know which is which?" he asks. ...he "maybe" obtained afterward? Selective memory is sometimes a good thing. "How is a deputy or an officer supposed to know which is which?" Good question.
Colorado's package of gun laws, enacted this year after mass shootings in Aurora, Colo., and Newtown, Conn., has been hailed as a victory by advocates of gun control. But if Sheriff Cooke and a majority of the other county sheriffs in Colorado offer any indication, the new laws -- which mandate background checks for private gun transfers and outlaw magazines over 15 rounds -- may prove nearly irrelevant across much of the state's rural regions. The party of gun control has paid a political price in Colorado recently when some of their members got retired from government. The will most likely pay a price in 2014 also.
Some sheriffs, like Sheriff Cooke, are refusing to enforce the laws, saying that they are too vague and violate Second Amendment rights. Many more say that enforcement will be "a very low priority," as several sheriffs put it. All but seven of the 62 elected sheriffs in Colorado signed on in May to a federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the statutes. For some the Constitution is selectively followed--you know like the 10 Commandments; for others both are taken seriously.
The resistance of sheriffs in Colorado is playing out in other states, raising questions about whether tougher rules passed since Newtown will have a muted effect in parts of the American heartland, where gun ownership is common and grass-roots opposition to tighter restrictions is high.
Countering the elected sheriffs are some police chiefs, especially in urban areas, and state officials who say that the laws are not only enforceable but that they are already having an effect. Who best represents the people in Colorado--The sheriffs or the police chiefs?
#3
A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish liberal brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
The first stages of the revolution don't involve citizens taking to the streets, merely local officials refusing to enforce the demands of the "ruling class."
Posted by: Fred ||
12/16/2013 14:26 Comments ||
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#4
There are six counties in Colorado that have an aggregate population of over 4 million -- out of a statewide population of 4.5 million. Those counties are Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder, Denver, Douglas, and Jefferson. They all have one thing in common: they are part of the greater Denver metropolitan area. Guess which counties have the highest level of crime -- and the strictest gun control.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
12/16/2013 14:38 Comments ||
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#5
The good sheriff is abiding by the foundation of all laws. The 2nd Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America. Those attempting to circumvent the US Constitution can go ahead and take HIM to court. But We The People will be in His corner.
Tom Laughlin, the maverick actor and filmmaker best known for the "Billy Jack" films, has died. He was 82.
Laughlin died Thursday in Thousand Oaks, his family announced.
Laughlin had been married to actress Delores Taylor since 1954 and also had several ill-fated runs for president. But he was best known for the "Billy Jack" films, which also starred Taylor. In 1967, he wrote and directed (under the pseudonym T.C. Frank) and starred in "The Born Losers," a motorcycle exploitation film that became a big box-office hit. It introduced the world to the part-Native American Vietnam veteran title character.
#2
"I'm gonna put my right foot alongside your head! And there's nothing you can do about it!"
Still love that line even after 47 years. Even though at my age I'm starting to identify with the bad guys in the movie.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Tom Laughlin, the maverick actor and filmmaker best known for the "Billy Jack" films, has died. He was 82.
