News From The Future:
From the excellent group blog When Falls The Coliseum comes this intriguing report from the future:
Future headline: Boy, 7, in critical condition after light bulb raid
February 3, 2015
A Culvert County second-grader is in critical condition tonight after a SWAT team shot him four times in the process of serving a warrant to check his home for illegal light bulbs.
The Culvert County SWAT team was responding to a tip that was forwarded to them by General Electric, which says it received [1] the tip from an anonymous source concerned that Timmy Bartholomew, 7, was doing his math homework by light provided by a 100 watt incandescent bulb, rather than [2] GE's more energy-efficient CFLs. Thanks to light bulb efficiency standards passed as part of the 2008 [3] energy bill, traditional incandescent bulbs are no longer legal.
A police spokesman said he regretted the fact that Mr. Bartholomew needed to be shot so many times, but he said that an internal review conducted before lunch today showed that the police had followed [4] standard protocol.
"The police officers walked up to the front door and rang the bell," the spokesman said. "They calmly and clearly announced that they had come to check the family's home for incandescents. Mr. Bartholomew became belligerent, and refused to allow entry to officers, who were forced to use a battering ram to break down the door. At this point, Mr. Bartholomew attempted to urinate upon the officers."
Hey, we were there, baby, when war was declared on incandescent light bulbs (thanks for another great law, George W. Bush!):
Reason's Radley Balko has been all over the misuse of SWAT teams like, well, SWAT teams all over orchid growers. Read on, MacDuff.