How come some get so worked up about the right to bear arms

[stuartj]

Soemone postred about push mowers recently.....How come some can get so worked up about the right to bear arms when, in the Land of Free, it seems you dont have a right to a clothes line....

I once heard that if the US weaned itself from clothes dryers, it wouldnt need the level of base load provided by nuclear power (im an advocate of nuc power myself) I doubt its true, but 6% of national consumption....

Stuart

http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/getting-pegged-for-letting-it-all-hang-out/2008/05/09/1210131264435.html

Getting pegged for letting it all hang out
Ian Munro in Southington, Connecticut
May 10, 2008

THIS New England morning has unfolded into an idyll of spring sunshine and soft breezes. It is, quite simply, one perfect day - ideal for drying laundry and, as it happens, for civil disobedience.

That is how it adds up in Sharon Vocke's backyard, where clotheslines are banned, as they are in much of the United States.

It is a prohibition she routinely breaches when she hangs her laundry on her line, homemade of course, since there is little joy for Hills hoist retailers here.

Mrs Vocke's line is rigged with a pulley system and slung from her porch to the garage in this affluent pocket of sweeping, unfenced gardens and sprawling homes.

Electric clothes dryers represent about 6 per cent of domestic power consumption, according to official estimates, and while the world searches for responses to global warming, Mrs Vocke points to her backyard, wind and solar power.

"It takes me about six minutes to violate my neighbourhood covenant and it's worth every second to have my clothes smell nice and to know I am not harming the air we breathe," the 46-year-old said recently in a submission to Connecticut's General Assembly Energy and Technology Committee.

The committee was considering a law giving homeowners the right to use clotheslines despite neighbourhood fears that displays of underwear would undermine property values. But as with similar proposals in Vermont and New Hampshire, the reformers failed and bans stay in place.

In Vermont, Richard McCormack sponsored an unsuccessful "Right to Dry" law.

"I did not get a definitive 'right to dry' in the state of Vermont," said the state senator. "What I did get was an energy conservation bill that includes the statement that the Government recognises that voluntary energy conservation is a good thing and that it recognises there are impediments to it." But an explicit statement, that citizens had a right to use clotheslines, was struck out.

Last September, the town of Poughkeepsie in New York State passed a "laundry law" imposing $US100 ($106) fines on anyone caught drying on front porches.

"I wonder if this is all a commentary on our consumer-oriented American traits," Mrs Vocke said. "I don't know how common this is - just the fact it was ever written into our [neighbourhood rules] really bothers me."

Line-drying advocates will persist. Alexander Lee, a New Hampshire lawyer who created the lobby group Project Laundry List in 1995, said people were anxious to reduce energy consumption and, while solar panels were expensive, anyone could afford a clothesline.

Mr Lee said the estimated 6 per cent of domestic power consumed by electric dryers did not account for commercial laundromats or 17 million homes with gas-powered dryers.

Bans on clotheslines are relatively recent, and seem to be based on the opinion they are unsightly and a mark of poverty.

"In the last 30 years, it's increased exponentially," Mr Lee said. "Really, it's since World War II, since people started moving into homeowners associations which introduced lots of prohibitions."

Martin Mador, a lobbyist and author of Connecticut's "Right to Dry Bill", will try again next year.

In rejecting the Vermont bill, Senator McCormack's colleagues said clotheslines were too trivial to be bothered with, to which he responds that is why communities should not be banning them.

"It's very hard getting Americans to get with the idea of saving energy," Senator McCormack said. "I so love my country. But I look at [it] from time to time and say to myself, 'This place is insane'."

[Tyson Schmidt]

[HardDrive]

Last I checked, our forefathers did not use clothes lines to end the tyranny of the British and give birth to a new nation.

I don't recall hunting rabbits with my father as a boy using clothes line.

If someone were to break into my home, I would not reach for a clothes line as my first line of defense.

[HardDrive]

Originally Posted by Tyson Schmidt

LOL!!!! That rules.

[Normy]

Have you ever caught a snake in your yard?

A garter snake perhaps? He tries to bite the hell out of you, but after a few bites, he realizes that this fish-like mouth can't do much. Problem: He's probably been captured by a 10 year old boy, and he is now resident of a 10 gallon bucket from Home Depot.

This tiny snake quicky becomes tame. You can play with him all the time- you take him out of the bucket, run him through your hands, and he goes right along with it. So much for the serpent being the "Evil of man"~

-What you learn from snakes and guns is that they are only as evil as you think they are. A snake, such as a python or a boa can bite you good, but they generally don't. But people think that they are the ugliest, most anathema animal in existance. Yet, if you made the people that really hate snakes sit there with a 3 foot boa constrictor in their lap...you'd watch them watch the snake slowly work its way toward their butt. The snake feels cold at 85 degrees, and a person who is sitting is 98.6? The snake tries to go toward the person's body. That snake loves you! He wants to get as close to you as he can, and your butt is the perfect place for him. I know- I went to this girls house in Palm Beach a few years ago, and her female boa constrictor tried to get into my pants!

[Heh! I'm bigger than her~]

Yes, In case you are wondering, I proved it to my girlfriend~

Anyway, you get the idea. People hate snakes for no reason at all, and some people hate guns for no reason at all. They view a gun the same way that they view a snake. That is, something that they've NEVER dealt with. I've never been afraid of snakes because my dad caught a garter snake for me in Michigan when I was 4. And he handed me a .22 caliper rifle the same year. So what? I learned that neither were anything to worry about, though they both needed to be properly handled.

In my opinion, the second amendment means that we have the right to cary weapons. The upcoming Supreme Court decision had better confirm this.

N!

[widgeon13]

WTF is wrong with hanging clothes on the line!

"Right to dry" don't these ******* people have things more important than this shlt.

When I moved into my neighborhood in CT years ago there was a covenant in the neighborhood assn that you could only have one dog, we had two. I just told them, anything happens to my dogs and there will be hell to pay, not one more thing was said, end of story, they were spinless P'sOS.

[Lil Black Car]

I have to agree with Normy. It is a case of unfamililarity and as we become more urban and the politics shifts more to the left (and we all know that only right wing nuts want guns anyways!) we will become more unfamiliar with them, because there is that part of the population that crys that guns kill people, and that we would all be safer without them.

I am about to move back to the US after living in Germany for a few years and one of the first things I am doing is to get my weapons back from my fathers house because I want to be able to protect my family. Strange thing is that I have never felt in danger or threatened while living in Germany where handguns are not allowed and other weapons are closely watched. But I have also never felt in danger or in need to protect my family here either. I think that a lot of Americans only pay lip service when it comes to law enforcement and have no respect for them and that this is also a part of the cry against weapons. My $.02. but who am I anyways?

[m21sniper]

Originally Posted by Tyson Schmidt

Apparently i am not intelligent enough to decipher the meaning of this cartoon.

[m21sniper]

Originally Posted by Normy

In my opinion, the second amendment means that we have the right to cary weapons. The upcoming Supreme Court decision had better confirm this.

N!

Agreed.

Originally Posted by widgeon13

"Right to dry" don't these ******* people have things more important than this shlt.

No.

[Lil Black Car]

Sniperdude, the second amendment is the right to "Bear" arms. In this case, probably grizzly!!!

[m21sniper]

LOL! Totally escaped me!!!

[red-beard]

Originally Posted by Lil Black Car

I am about to move back to the US after living in Germany for a few years and one of the first things I am doing is to get my weapons back from my fathers house because I want to be able to protect my family. Strange thing is that I have never felt in danger or threatened while living in Germany where handguns are not allowed and other weapons are closely watched. But I have also never felt in danger or in need to protect my family here either. I think that a lot of Americans only pay lip service when it comes to law enforcement and have no respect for them and that this is also a part of the cry against weapons. My $.02. but who am I anyways?

I have been working on a theory about why I some areas which don't have guns and you also at the same time feel safe. I think there possibly 2 explanations.

1. The culture is more homogenous and most of or more of the people have the same basic values. With this, you have less "personal" crime.

2. You are not in tune with the country, and so you miss the signs. Around here, I can tell when I'm in a not so nice area.

#1 has a last to be refuted, when in the USA, there is a lot of same on same violence. We also have the gang issues, that do not seem to plague other countries. And the demographics are changing in many of the European countries. So, maybe it will become more like the US.

[stuartj]

Well, the rest of the wolrd could mostly care less that you cant get through life wothout guns in the nightstand. Really not the point.

If it is true, as is thrown about, that the USA uses 25% of the worlds energy, and if ist true,as stated in this article, that 6% of US energy consumption is CLOTHES DRYING....then 1.5% of world energy is consumed drying your undies.

Ive seen it myself in a house in Palm Springs. 110F of dry desert heat outside, house full of airconditioning, and a clothes dryer running....

Does this seem sensible to anyone?

[billyboy]

Does this seem sensible to anyone

? No it doesn't. I use the clothes line at least 9 months out of the year. It pisses me off when my wife or kids use the drier during the nice weather months, but then again, I'm a stingy bastard. Oh, and I'm glad that we can finally find some common ground!

[stuartj]

[9dreizig]

"clotheslining " is also banned in the NFL....

[red-beard]

I've been closelined before....

[Rot 911]

Originally Posted by stuartj

Ive seen it myself in a house in Palm Springs. 110F of dry desert heat outside, house full of airconditioning, and a clothes dryer running....

Does this seem sensible to anyone?

We're America, we can do any ******* thing we want.

[sammyg2]

Originally Posted by widgeon13

"Right to dry" don't these ******* people have things more important than this shlt.
.

Oh great, now the democrat politicians are going to try and give drying licenses to illegal aliens.

[kstar]

I'm all for folks being able to own guns; got a handgun myself.

I also love my electric clothes dryer and believe I have a right to use it at will. I just want to power it with wind or solar.

Most folks focus on costs over any other factor. Once the costs of traditional energy rise above that of "green" energy, then the clean, green stuff will be widely adopted.

A highly efficient clothes dryer powered by the sun or wind is more in-line with what I think the future holds.

Best,