Where there is smoke, there are Jerks.

Sing it with me now, "Oh Smoke gets in your eyes!"

Goodness Gracious, Great Balls of Fire!

In much older times, when I was a very small child, my family lived in a simple house that had neither running water or electricity. (Yes Dammit, I am that old! Get over it!) My mother cooked our meals on a very large wood burning stove and the whole house was heated by two very large fireplaces front and back. If it had not been for those heat sources, we could have very easily frozen to death during the long winters. Even today, many people still use wood burning stoves and heaters to heat their homes either for aesthetic purposes or as a way to get away from industrially produced electricity.

Now the various governmental sections of our country wish to begin a crackdown on people who still use wood stoves. Whereas I do think their Stated intent is admirable since I am all for reducing pollution where ever we can, I do find the reality of their attitudes more than a little hypocritical. The proponents of these new actions state that it is necessary to crack down on future emissions to reduce air pollution. They wish to induce tighter regulations on wood burning stoves to protect our environment and peoples' health. The hypocrisy comes into play when these same “save the environment” people are whining about tighter emission controls on Coal Fired Power Plants.

But Baby its cold outside!

 Think about it folks. These jerks want to place brand new restrictions on fireplaces, wood stoves and even wood fired boilers which heat one home, but want restrictions loosened for massive Coal Fired Plants that heat 1000s of homes. Which do you think creates more air pollution? There roughly 12 million wood burning stoves in the US and about 2% of those are the sole source of heat for the homes. There are just under 600 coal fired power plants in the US that produce about 37% of the US power requirements. I ask again which do you think generates more pollution?

Our politicians are all hot for regulating things that don't effect their bottom line or interfere with the Big Business that fills their pockets, but the little guy? Meh, they be alright if we restrict the way they live. I so love the one where they are speaking about stopping wood burning in the MIDDLE OF WINTER!! Yeah that makes a lot of sense.

As a closing note, let state that encouraging wood stove producers to make models that operate more cleanly is a good idea, just like encouraging Coal Fire Plants to upgrade their systems is a good idea. However, both should be a slow gradual process not some impossible goal set by people so far removed from what I like to call Real Life is not the answer. I suggest we put these Schmucks in a cabin out in the Deep Woods in the middle of winter without stoves and see how quickly they change their minds.