“Why don’t we just fly a communist flag while we are at it?”

There is a government in your thermostat! The regulators in California want to have the ability to remotely control the temperature of various devices in your home. Under the plan, every new heating and cooling system would include a non-removable FM receiver. The idea is that this would avoid blackouts by allowing power companies to control power consumption.

From the article:

The thermostat is also capable of controlling other appliances in the house, such as electric water heaters, refrigerators, pool pumps, computers and lights in response to signals from utility companies. If contractors and residents refuse to comply with the mandate, their building permits will be denied.

I will, however, give credit to the government for coming up with yet another witty acronym for this latest intervention. It’s called DREAM: Demand Response Electrical Appliance Manager. And just like the PATRIOT Act is anti-patriotic, this DREAM will surely be a nightmare.

The cycle continues. One intervention leads to another; middle-of-the-road leads to socialism.

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4:01 pm on January 11, 2008