Posted by
Bob Siegel on Tuesday, December 23, 2008 11:09:18 AM
Originally published in December of 2007 on Town Hall by Bob Siegel
The town of Barrington, Massachusetts is a
beautiful town. I drove through once
while taking some time off from a business trip on the east coast. But I’m sure
you’ll be relieved to know that the city’s town council is not merely concerned
about beauty. They are also bending over
backwards to be environmentally conscious. Whew! We’ll all sleep better now. What is the
latest charge? Car emissions? Blasts of pollutant matter from factories? Not at all. The city council wants to put a
limit on how long people can keep up their Christmas lights. Yes, you heard me
correctly. Evidently Christmas lights contribute to Global Warming. Exactly how this happens, I’m sure I don’t
know. I’ll let the scientists slug this
one out, but assuming for a moment that particles of artificial light have stepped to
the plate as the new batter whose swings may just knock down our ozone layer, I
find myself wondering if the Earth sensitive council will also politely invade
people’s lives with instructions about how long they may burn their regular
electric illuminations such as porch lights or lamps for the night owl who
likes to work late on his plugged in lap top or watch TV till all hours of the
morning. Such nocturnal creatures remember what it was like to be a kid having fun
at camp, only to hear those fatal shouts,, “ All right, bed time! Lights out!”
These children were under the mistaken impression that once they became
adults they could leave their lights on as long as they wanted, especially if
the light switch was their own property.
Perhaps there’s more to this story than meets the eye. When Bill O’Reilly of Fox News sent one of
his assistants to a Barrington council
meeting, the reporter asked if Global Warming was really an excuse to start
regulating Christmas. The distinguished gentlemen of the council got quite
agitated and retorted with, “This has nothing to do with Christmas! These are HOLIDAY lights!”
Hmm…Holiday lights. They sure
convinced me. Oh no, there’s no war
against Christmas at all. Evidently
there’s no war against stupidity either.
This is Bob Siegel, making the obvious, obvious.
The Bob
Siegel Show can be heard every Sunday from 3:00 to 4:00 PM on KCBQ 1170 on the dial or KCBQ.com to listen live
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