HR 2454 and Your House

George Rebane

I keep thinking that it can’t get worse.  Today I got an email from a reader that detailed just a small part of the horrors of this bill – the part describing how the feds are going to get into our pants on how we must live in and dispose of our private residences.  It sounded like a bunch of hyper-ventilation from the Right.  But I decided to check it out anyway.

The email detailed how the federal government will require the retrofitting of all private residences in order to qualify them for resale.  It claimed that one year after becoming law, this monstrosity will require all houses to start conforming to an escalating set of energy codes before they can be sold or rented.  Houses would be regularly inspected by a new state level bureaucracy and receive a “label” that is similar to a car license plate which must be displayed for all to see.  The label will also have the energy efficiency score of your house on it.

Well, that sounds like a new full employment act for another legion of double dummies.  I could not conceive that, in addition to all the other horrors that are in HR2454 (aka Waxman-Markey), that Congress would also include such blatant provisions to remove more liberties from American citizens.  This would go beyond the slow creep of incrementalism designed to make us into a coddled, controlled, and compliant population that the socialists have been working on for decades.  HR 2454 would be a quantum leap.

So I went to the government site where the latest version of HR2454 is posted and read the relevant sections (Nothing is easy about getting to a bill in Congress.  Go to this site, and then on the left side of the page click on ‘full text on Thomas’.  From there click on the most recent HR 2454 which gets you to the hyperlinked table of contents.  Click on Sections 202, 204, and 304 to read the text.  Courage!).  And there it was, as advertised.  I read it again and then came to some new conclusions.

Rush Limbaugh and his ilk on the media have probably been co-opted by the Left.  Given the reality, for years these guys have been soft-soaping the advances of collectivists.  If they had really wanted to get the message across, they’d have had us with our pitchforks and torches out in the town squares ripping up cobblestones for barricades and singing the Battle Hymn of the Republic.  But they have so downplayed our loss of liberties, and what’s yet to come, that we are now numb as we listen to their daily screeds.  Don’t believe me?  Just look at yourself.  You’ll just shrug this off – ‘what can I do?’ – and go about your business, never noticing that it gets conducted within an ever tightening circle.  You probably didn’t even read the goddam sections that I pointed out.

Comments

[Mikey McD]

George, thanks for the links and commentary. Glad I did not read the bill on a full stomach. In addition to the blow to liberty the bill also requires states to bow and kiss the ring of the feds. This bill = insanity.

"Section 701 Findings- The Congress finds as follows:
(1) Global warming poses a significant threat to the national security...of the United States"

[Russ Steele]

National security indeed:

LANGLEY, Va., Sept. 28 (UPI) -- The Central Intelligence Agency announced plans to launch a center on climate change to examine the potential security risks of environmental issues.

The CIA said it was working on its new Center on Climate Change and National Security to examine the national security impact of environmental issues such as population shifts, rising sea levels and increased competition for natural resources.

CIA Director Leon Panetta described the center as an effective support tool for U.S. lawmakers examining international agreements on the environment.

"Decision makers need information and analysis on the effects climate change can have on security," said the director. "The CIA is well positioned to deliver that intelligence."

The CIA will use the center to coordinate with other members of the intelligence community to review and declassify imagery and other data for use in environmental and climate-related issues.

I wonder if the CIA spooks can figure out that the data used to prove global warming was cherry picked to show a hockey stick. Using all the data it shows cooling. Details at NC Media Watch.

[Chris]

So, does this mean that skepticism of AGW constitutes a threat to national security? That really opens a can of worms.

[Dixon Cruickshank]

I saw this the other day, being a mortgage guy and 15 yrs in RE biz this will effectively kill any housing movement. It will be virtually impossiable to sell anything without spending ten grand at least. I didn't see the part about rentals, thats a another killer, tents maybe ??

[Touey's Mom]

This will force landlords to go "underground" with their rentals and more people on the streets. Chaulk up another brilliant brain cluster (you know what) to the Obama Hitler Regime.

[Steve Enos]

"Chaulk up another brilliant brain cluster (you know what) to the Obama Hitler Regime".

Does anyone think that tossing in the "Hitler" card makes the conservatives look sane and rational?

You sure don't help the cause by using "Hitler" regardless if you are right, left or in the middle.

[George Rebane]

Steve, I think the 'Hitler' reference acknowledges/underlines the autocratic tack that Obama is taking our country, and expresses a level of frustration that it is hard to communicate the alarm many of us feel. You surely agree that these are extra-ordinary times, but no doubt for reasons other than mine. I would have used 'Stalinist' myself because of the international vs national aims that Team Obama have in their sights.

[Steve Enos]

No excuse or value to use "Nazi", it takes away from any opportunity to have a rational discussion or to make ones point in a rational manner. Most people shut off once the ‘Nazi” card is used and for good reason.

I don’t care what anyone’s position is, tossing the "Nazi" card undermines ones credibility, it’s insulting and damaging to do so. No excuses.