Just another dumb government thing

Just a few more days left, and then we trade sensible standard time for daylight saving time. What a dumb thing to do.

Only Congress could show that it has a firm grasp of the obvious and mandate that clocks move forward an hour at a time when days are getting longer anyway.

Daylight saving time did indeed come from the government but it started during World War I supposedly to save energy costs. After the war was over the country went back to normal time and stayed there until World War II, for the same reason.

Did someone start World War III and forget to mention it? Why are we springing forward again? The time ain’t broke; don’t fix it. But we are talking about Congress here.....

DST is being pushed on the country because someone believes it saves energy. Studies have shown that having Indiana switch to DST would cost households in that state about $8.6 million in electricity bills each year. The reduced cost of lighting in afternoons during DST was offset by higher air-conditioning costs on hot afternoons and increased heating costs on cool mornings. Just where is that savings, again?

It used to be that daylight saving time ended before Halloween, so it was moved up to accommodate candy-begging children who should be at home doing their homework, not out looking for a sugar high and contemplating vandalism if they don’t get the candy they want.

Some contend that auto accidents are reduced when DST is in effect. Maybe that means it’s lighter out and drivers can more easily see their cell phones to send text messages and aren’t so inclined to cause an accident.

Not that I’m condoning this, just throwing it out for consideration — patrons of bars that stay open past 2 a.m. lose an hour of drinking time and get really cranky. You know how mean some drunks can get.

Passenger trains have to stand still on the tracks for an hour to adjust their schedules for the time change.

Time change makes no difference for farmers; cows need to be milked at the same time each day, and chickens need to be fed. Chickens, cows and other livestock don’t care about saving daylight; they have their own schedules. And they make more sense.

This is just a little something to think about when you’re resetting all your clocks, the VCR, telephones, cell phones, automatic sprinkler timers, computer monitors, and the automatic coffee maker. And when the alarm goes off and you sleepily — and grumpily — realize that although the clock says it’s 7 a.m., it’s really 6 a.m., and you’d rather be sleeping that extra hour. You can, and you probably will, go to sleep an hour earlier at night, but then what would be the point of messing around with the time in the first place?

Brought to you by the same government that brought you those interesting bailout situations we’re all paying for.