The right to hang

Hang-dry that it. Our home blogger over on MNN, Matt Hickman, had  a post yesterday about states tackling clothes line hang ups. Okay, welcome to day two of my ranting (well, as much as I can rant) about things that the government shouldn't be doing because we could just be doing it ourselves! Yesterday, it was banning and taxing paper and plastic bags. Today, it's drying clothes on the line outside.

There's a "right to dry movement" brewing that's out there just waiting to lower people's property values and revert families back to the 1920's. Oh, wait, no that's not what the movement is trying to do. It's fighting to make it legal for people to save energy, keep greenhouse gasses out of the atmosphere, and save money. Seriously, we need the government to make this LEGAL?

According to Matt's post

Clothesline bans, usually enacted by homeowner and condo associations, operate under the guise that they these simple energy-savers are unsightly blemishes on urban and suburban landscapes. States including Florida, Colorado, Utah, and most recently, Maine, have right-to-dry laws intact while other states such as Maine and Hawaii have similar bills in the works.

Yes, state legislatures have had to spend man hours and tax payer money to make it legal for people to dry their clothing outside. Does anyone else find this ridiculous? 

Here's what happens when I put my clothes out to dry:

• I get fresh air 
  
• I get a little exercise (hey, after a certain age just bending over repeatedly to reach into the laundry basket is considered exercise)
  
• I have a chance sometimes to chat with my neighbor (who is not offended by the site of my clean laundry)
  
• I save money
  
• I reduce my green house gas emissions
  
• I save energy

Exactly which one of those activities is so offensive to other people that the state needs to mandate that I have the right to do it?

There's a website dedicated to hang drying called Project Laundry List. They educate about line drying and they work with community activists to bring about a change in local policy. They also maintain a Community Registry of places that ban or restrict clothesline use.

I don't know. Am I missing something here? Are you against drying clothes outdoors? Do you know someone who is? Could you explain it to me, please?

Top Five Things I Could Care Less About When it Comes to the Obama Family

Can I have a completely non-green rant here? I rarely stray from the topic of this blog, but I don't have any other forum in which to vent this.

First of all, please don't take this as a rant against Barack Obama or his family. It's a rant about the things that so many people in the media and the blogosphere are fixated on when it comes to them. And now I'm fixated on how stupid it is for others to be fixated on these things. Perhaps, if I can just rant it about it all here, I can move on. As we all should.

Here it goes:

1. What kind of dog the Obamas choose. Who cares. It's a dog. The breed they choose is neither symbolic of them as a family or the president-elect's ability to lead our nation.
   
2. Whether the Obamas send Malia and Sasha to pubic or private school. It's not my business. As the girls' parents, the Obamas should do what is best for their girls and their education. Their decision shouldn't be made in response to their pubic image or how it will effect the president-elect's educational policies. I don't care if they choose public or private as long as they are doing what is right as parents, not as politicians.
   
3. If Malia and Sasha should wear their hair natural or not. Guess what. If parents want their children to portray a certain image, it's no concern of mine. It's not my business if my friends require their children to wear suits and dresses to church while I allow my boys to wear ripped jeans. Same rule applies here. It's parental privilige to have the children reflect the family. If their parents decide to have them look one way or the other, it's their decision. No one should judge them on this.
   
4. How painful it's going to be for Barack Obama to give up his Blackberry. I have no idea if he cares about this or not, but many people seem to feel this is a huge deal. Here's a man whose campaign relied heavily on new media, a man who is connected to social media and e-mailing and Internet at his fingertips. But in a few months, he's going to be President of the United States, and there are certain security measures that need to be taken. You know there will be some college student somewhere cutting classes and throwing away his parents money while he spends day and night burrowed in his dorm room figuring out how to hack the president's blackberry. And really, do we need our president distracted by texting when he's on the phone with the Prime Minister of China? I don't think so.
5. Whether Michelle Obama is channeling Coretta Scott King, Jackie O, or any other historically revered woman. Last week there were two pictures circulating that had some similarities between the late Mrs. King and the soon-to-be first lady. In both pictures, the women are sitting on the end of what seems to be a church pew. Both women have a child lying on their lap. People went all crazy/happy. Look how much Michelle Obama is like Mrs. King! Isn't it prophetic! Please. In the picture of Coretta Scott King, she's at her husband's funeral, obviously and understandably distraught. In the picture of Michelle Obama, she's at the convention (not actually in a church pew) looking understandably like she'd love to get this kid off her lap. The similarities between the two are really not that remarkable. And then there's the hoopla about Michelle Obama being the queen of the new Camelot. Sure she has a sense of style, and although I personally thought her dress the night of the election was unfortunate, I was glad to see that she didn't feel the need to wear a conservative suit, a string of pearls, and her hair in a french twist. She gets to have her own style and forge her own legacy - she doesn't need to be saddled with the standards of someone else's before she even becomes first lady.

So there you have it. The top five things I'm ready for everyone else to start caring less about so I can stop being annoyed by it all.

We can now return to our regularly scheduled greenness.

Another Reason Why Banks are Failing

My bank was recently bought out. I don't think it had anything to do with the recent financial hubbub. I think it was an actual regular old buy out that had been in the works for a while. So far, I am highly unimpressed with the new bank. 

I went in to order new checks because with the changeover it wasn't possible to do it online. The kid behind the desk told me that we could just start over from check #1. I said, "Are you sure there won't be a problem with two of the same check number floating around out there even if they were written far apart from each other." He said, "I don't think so." I asked if he would check with a manager. 

Manager comes over and tells me, "Yes, that would be a problem." Doi. (My six year old has started saying doi and even though I haven't said it in at least 20 years, I've decided to add it back into my vocabulary.)

So - Doi!

Today, I finally get the checks. All 50 0f them. Not 250 or how many usually come in an order. 50 of them. But on top of the checks in the box is a pen from the bank wrapped in a far too large plastic box. So I've got a box wrapped plastic wrap that is holding a pen I don't need, the excessive plastic box that held the pen, a new plastic checkbook cover that I don't need and only 50 checks that I do need. And soon, I'll have to reorder because they only gave me 50 checks.

Who is the marketing genius behind this? Banks are failing. I would think they would want to instill confidence in their customers instead of looking stupid. But no, they send me an environmentally unfriendly box of far too few checks. Bad for the environment. Inconvenient for me.

Doi.

My Panties are in a Huge Bunch! Senate Climate Bill Blocked

Senate climate bill blocked

By H. JOSEF HEBERT, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - Senate Republicans on Friday blocked a global warming bill that would have required major reductions in greenhouse gases, pushing debate over the world's biggest environmental concern to next year for a new Congress and president.

read the rest of the article, here.

So, why are my panties in a bunch? It's not because the bill wasn't passed. Honestly, I don't know enough about the bill to know if it was the right bill to be passed or not. Obviously, something needs to be done, but I don't know if this was it.

I'm all bunched up because the bill lost by 12 votes and John McCain, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and Ted Kennedy all missed the vote, but sent letters saying that if they were there, they would have voted for it. Now Senator Kennedy, I can understand why he isn't there. He gets a free pass because he recently had brain surgery.

The other three - they're just wussies. Now they have the luxury of saying I would have voted for it, but without the responsibility of actually doing it. Do you think that perhaps if they had been there, more of congress would have voted yes? Even if they were just trying to suck up to the next President?

If the bill was worthy of being passed, help pass it, don't send a useless letter.

So McCain and Obama, please do the job you were elected to do instead of playing with that job to make you look good for the next job you want.

And Clinton, stop begging to be let back in the game and do the job you were elected to do.

Really, when stuff like this happens, I get so frustrated. Who on earth can I vote for in November?