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.
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