I love my wife.

The yesterday, some government stooge calls my house.  I'm not home, but my wife is and she takes the call.  I'm fairly certain our Caller ID did not identify the caller as a government stooge, or she probably would have saved herself the trouble.  This government stooge informs her that he's doing an "energy survey" in regard to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA, or Porkulus, depending on who you ask).  He then informs her that, because of Porkulus, many home owners are eligible for up to $5000 of that sweet, sweet, government cheese.  "All" she had to do was tell him how much we spend each month in electricity.

After being informed that our highest bill last year (height of one of the hottest summers on record here in Texas) was around $200, and our bill averages around $130 (really it's less than that- we spend less than $100 most months- it's those summer months that kill us), he commiserated with her (or tried- I'm not sure how she didn't just laugh at him) about how extremely high our electric bill was, and he was sure we'd qualify for some of that sweet, sweet, government cheese.

Again, "all" we'd have to do is let some Government "Energy Consultant" come in and tell us how to run our house.  From here, I'll let my wife tell it her way:

Anyhow, he says to determine exactly how much credit we qualify for, they have an "Energy Consultant" who comes out to your house, checks it out and see what needs improvement, what things you're doing right, and what you could improve on. They've got some consultants who will be in our area in the next week or so, when would be a good time for me? (At this point I'm kinda pissed.) You want to send a government "consultant" to my house to tell me when to turn my lights off and how high my AC should be?? F-you! I launched into a bit of a rant... How about never? I think the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act(yep, I didn't use the acronym) is a joke and a flagrant abuse of political power. I think rewarding stupidity by handing out money is, well, stupid. Anyone with half a brain cell should know to turn off their lights when they're not in the room or not set their AC to freeze out penguins! I don't want anything to do with any bills enacted by our asshole president.

Note: all the above was a direct quote from an email I ask her to send me- any misspellings or grammatical errors/liberties are hers. Not that I'd notice most of them anyway

Now, what's the point of telling you this?  Well, besides the fact I thought it was awesome that my wife went off like that (she never does, to strangers), I thought about what it means that the Federal Government wants to send someone to my house and tell me "Ur doing it wrong!"  Worse- there are people who accept that as normal and okay.

The Federal Government has no business telling me how to use energy in my own home.  If I want to "freeze out penguins," I should be able to without penalty- beyond a sky-high electric bill.  Also there is the double meaning of sending out an "Energy Consultant."  Oh, sure, they'll tell you how you can get your hands on some of "Obama's Stash," but what are they going to do if I'm still using incandescent light bulbs, or if I've gotten my hands on an old toilet that still actually flushes, or if I happen to like my house at 62.5 degrees? 

Because as soon as you except their "help" you're bound to their rules.  Regaining Liberty surrendered usually comes at a very high price.