What's with "smart meters" that are being installed on our houses?

Illinois Electricity Customers Forced to Get 'Smart Meters' or Pay Fine 

... " Tammy Yeakel’s power company, PPL Energy, had helpfully installed a “smart meter” on her home that could monitor her power usage in real time. The meter uploaded that information to PPL’s website, so she could identify peak usage times during the day."

 

ComEd customers refusing smart meter will be charged $21.53 a month

Smart Meters: We can monitor everything you do in your home (Video)

"Although Smart Meters are promoted as energy efficiency components, the actual intent of these meters is to track your use of energy in real time across every 24hr. period, which will allow the provider to bill you for that period at the highest energy rate for the day.

"They have another purpose: thanks to Smart Meters, every appliance in your home will be monitored.

"As you will be rationed only so much energy for any 24 hr. period, opening and closing your refridgerator too many times during the daily billing cycle can cause your power to be disrupted. Your use of lights, appliances and even your time on the Net will be charged against your daily allowance of power."

 

Pros and Cons of Smart Meters

There is even a website on this subject: Stop Smart Meters!

Jonathan Turley: The left’s indifference to Obama’s executive power grabs is beginning to border on a cult of personality

Hot Air    "Precedents are being set that will be built on by future presidents of both parties; for all the complaining about executive overreach by Democrats circa 2006 and Republicans today, the cold realities of power are what they are. I’m tempted to say that it was O’s latest unlawful delay to ObamaCare’s employer mandate that soured Turley’s mood, but I don’t think that’s it. I think it was the State of the Union, where Obama embraced bypassing Congress as formal policy. Look out for the phrase “borders on authoritarianism.' ” 

It's official: the American press is pathetic (Updated)

 

Rick Moran;  How 'free' is our 'Free Press'?  ... "The U.S. has taken a hit largely from the post-9/11 insistence on fetishizing claims of "national security" (Rep. Mike Rogers now wants to criminalize the publication of sensitive information like that released by Edward Snowden) and from the Obama administration's crusade against whistleblowers."

 

Reporters Without Borders reports: “One step forward, two steps back for media freedom”  "These media freedom concerns are part of a wider trend that has come to light in recent months. The Obama administration has named James Rosen of Fox News as a co-conspirator in its case against State Edward Snowden, and Bradley Manning, who is currently on trial for passing documents to WikiLeaks."

Department leaker Stephen Jin-Woo Kim. Moreover, Jeffrey Sterling, the former CIA employee, is the seventh former government employee to face prosecution under the Espionage Act since Obama took office..."

 

Crazy Gets A Pass When It’s ‘Progressive’   "During his monologue segment on The Five last night, co-host Greg Gutfeld slammed the lamestream media for turning a blind eye to loons just because they happen to be leftist loons."

None of The Network Newscasts Reporting Ray Nagin’s Corruption Conviction Bother To Mention He’s A Democrat…

Michelle’s $12,000 Dress Cost More Than Median Yearly Household Income Worldwide of $9,733

 

CNS News   "The blue and black designer dress that first lady Michelle Obama wore to Tuesday’s state dinner for the French president reportedly cost between $10,000 and $12,000, according to news media, which is more than the median annual household income worldwide of $9,733, and greater than the median income for households in at least 87 countries, according to data from Gallup."

IRS Targeted Established Conservative Groups for Audits, Too

Wall Street Journal    “ 'We now know that the IRS targeted not only right-leaning applicants, but also right-leaning groups that were already operating as 501(c)(4)s,” Mr. Camp said in a statement. “At Washington, DC’s direction, dozens of groups operating as 501(c)(4)s were flagged for IRS surveillance, including monitoring of the groups’ activities, websites and any other publicly available information. Of these groups, 83% were right-leaning. And of the groups the IRS selected for audit, 100% were right-leaning.' ”

Vulnerable Democrats Want the IRS to Do More of Something that ‘Outraged’ Obama Last Year  "We can officially mark the Democrats’ feigned outrage at the IRS targeting conservative groups from 2010 through 2013 as dead. They weren’t really outraged about it then when the IRS engineered its disclosure, and they want even more of it now. Even the systematic persecution of Catherine Engelbrecht by multiple executive branch agencies doesn’t bother them. Democrat Rep. Elijah Cummings piled on even more persecution."
"What the Democrats really want is to silence everyone who disagrees with them. They want a weaponized IRS to make that happen."

Not a ‘Smidgen’ of Corruption… Vulnerable Dems Push IRS to Crack Down on Conservative Groups   "Senate Democrats facing tough elections this year want the Internal Revenue Service to play a more aggressive role in regulating outside groups expected to spend millions of dollars on their races."