PALM BEACH, Fla. – With public anger building against what many perceive to be intrusive measures by the federal government, talk-radio giant Rush Limbaugh is urging the incoming Congress to flip the switch off on the incandescent lightbulb ban.

"One of the first things the Democrat Congress did when they were sworn in and took the oath in 2007 was this lightbulb ban," Limbaugh said today. "So I think symbolically one of the first things we ought to do is repeal it. ...

"The government ought to have not a damn thing to say about the lightbulb I buy.  It's none of their business, especially when this is based on a total, freaking hoax."

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Limbaugh insisted traditional bulbs can't change the climate.

"It insults my intelligence that so many people can be made to believe that lightbulbs could destroy or irreparably harm something as complex and out of our control as the climate!" he shouted. "I don't care if there are billions of lightbulbs on at the same time. I don't care. It's not a factor."

Limbaugh then went on a tirade about Big Brother-style intrusion and incompetence:

They have no business whether I buy a Big Mac, nobody's business how many calories are in it, nobody's business whether there's food justice or what the hell, what kind of toys are in a Big Mac Happy Meal. These people are an order of fries short of a Happy Meal, as far as I'm concerned, and they got no business telling me what kind of lightbulb I can and can't have and when I can turn the damn thing on and off, but they sure want that power. ...

For crying out loud, we got a missile we can't even figure out what it was. We can't figure out where it came from. And they're telling us not to worry about it even though they don't have the slightest clue what it is. Bottom line is they do know what it is and they don't think we can handle being told what it is. They know what it is, we got satellites all over the world that pinpoint this kind of thing.

And now we've got the stupid TSA, Big Sis, all the radiation and crotch grabs, people wearing latex gloves for cavity searches now for people getting on airplanes under the guise of preventing terrorism and so forth. No matter where you look, these incompetent SOBs are trying to take over every aspect of our lives.

As WND reported two months ago, three Republicans in Congress have introduced a proposal that would offer a fix to the "silly" problem created by a Democrat plan to ban incandescent bulbs and replace them with compact florescent lights containing poisonous mercury.

H.R. 6144, the Better Use of Light Bulbs Act, was introduced by U.S. Reps. Joe Barton, Texas; Michael Burgess, Texas; and Marsha Blackburn, Tenn.

The bill is intended to repeal Subtitle B of Title III of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, which is a de facto ban on the incandescent light bulb that has been in use since it was created in Thomas Alva Edison's laboratory.

It would address concerns that most CFLs are not made in the U.S. Opponents of the ban note a General Electric plant in Virginia recently was killed, eliminating 200 jobs.

The CFL bulbs also require special handling when they break, since there is enough mercury in one bulb to contaminate up to 6,000 gallons of water. The federal government suggests special cleanup rituals for breakages, including throwing away any clothes or bedding that has come in contact with the mercury.

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