The NRA are a bunch of crackers, but I’m beginning to see sense in the Second Amendment if government officials are going to send energy cops to people’s homes.

‘Energy wardens’ will police homes and offices to ensure that they do not waste gas and electricity under a radical plan being considered by John Prescott. An extraordinary blueprint being studied by the Deputy Prime Minister suggests conserving energy by monitoring the habits of home owners in the same way that air raid wardens made people turn off their lights during the Blitz. Householders will also be forced to conduct an “annual energy audit” of their homes, defending the amount of fuel they have consumed.

Not being of violent disposition, I’d rather train the garden hose than a shotgun on such public servants, but I’m afraid I’ll get arrested by the Water Conservation Police.

Kidding aside, England is rapidly becoming a country where a million petty tyrants with badges rule. I know some of the following must sound like I have my tin-foil hat on too tight, but it all checks out, and I have written about all these things — with solid sourcing — on my own blog, Nobody’s Business. Here’s just a quick, random selection of Orwellian excess in a country that once epitomized fair play:

* Carrying a Swiss Army knife in your car is an arrestable offense.

* National I.D. cards are a done deal.

* Speaking critically of another person’s religion can land you in jail.

* A single innocuous word on a public sign is enough to receive an Anti-Social Behavior Order. Don’t know what that is? Read on.

* A British legal innovation, the Anti-Social Behavior Order is a new form of capricious punishment, such as a curfew or house arrest, for offenders like the man who howled like a werewolf, and the mother who yelled at her kids and pissed off the neighbors. If they break the order, jailtime follows — up to five years.

* Being too fat can get you carted off to a mental institution.

* To enable a new highway toll scheme, all vehicles in the U.K. will soon be tracked by satellite, every hour of the day.

* Another satellite system under development is intended to monitor every car’s speed, and will automatically apply the brakes if the driver breaks the posted limit.

[cross-posted on Nobody's Business; comments enabled there]

This entry was posted on Monday, September 19th, 2005 at 12:08 pm by Rogier van Bakel and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.