Underpants in the Wind

Last year the Democrats in the state legislature wanted to tax your underpants. This year they are adamant about your God-given right to hang your underpants outside, to inflate on the wind and awe your neighbors.

The Courant reports this morning that the legislature's Energy Committee is having a hearing today on a bill that would give all of us the right to hang our clothes outside to dry, even if we live in an apartment or condominium. It is supported by Rep. Steve Fonatana (D-North Stoning-haven), the same genius that is one half of the team that brought us the anti-bullhook bill last year.

Says Fontana: "Having the freedom to dry [on a clothesline] helps save money and contributes to the safety of the planet."

The safety of the planet. I see. Underpants on a clothesline makes the world safer. Perhaps increasing the number of our clotheslines will somehow confound suicide attacks of Al Qaeda. Perhaps large underpants on a clothesline can snag incoming meteorites. Safer?

People of North Haven, you should be required to explain why you keep sending this dim bulb back to the legislature every two years.

Now, I see that the reason that they think this bill has energy implications, and is therefore before the energy committee, is because if Connecticut residents band together and abandon the use of a clothes dryer, energy consumption will decrease, albeit nominally.

I would have thought a gentle man like Steve Fontana would have found some sort of deeper appreciation for the Snuggle fabric softener bear. Guess not. But what is clear is that Democrats like Fontana enjoy this kind of junk legislation, pretending to take significant action on a serious issue, while completely failing to adopt any proper energy cost relief for residents of Connecticut.

Remember last year after all of our energy bills jumped to new heights, and the Democrats promised us they would enact quick relief for us? How's that working out? Anyone paying less than the did last year? Mua ha ha ha ha! You have to be kidding me.

If the best Democrats like Steve Fontana can offer us for energy relief is a bill giving us the right not to use clothes dryers, I'd say he's all wet. Like his underpants.