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Update Sunday afternoon...Reader Dan points out that this was done before, US-wide, back in licorice pizzified Nixonian end times days (1974)...People (and an actually responsive Congress) hated it so much that it was gone the following fall.
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Around here, we've been talking about permanent daylight savings time for quite awhile.
Heckfire, the provincial government even passed legislation to help make it happen three years ago.
But, as John Horgan mentioned just before this year's time change last weekend, we've been waiting for the western American states to follow suit:
And then this week this happened:
But here's the thing...
It turns out that the passage of the 'Sunshine Protection Act' sailed through the Senate on the wings of some sort of weird unanimous consent quirk that caught a whole lot of US'ian Senators by surprise, including Republican Tom Cotton:
And then there was Democrat Chris Coons:
So how did this happen?
Well...
Gosh.
Heckfire, the provincial government even passed legislation to help make it happen three years ago.
But, as John Horgan mentioned just before this year's time change last weekend, we've been waiting for the western American states to follow suit:
While speaking at an unrelated news conference (last) Friday (March 11th), Horgan said the province is ready to get rid of the seasonal time change once neighbouring states in the U.S. change their policies too...
And then this week this happened:
Senators caught most of America by surprise on Tuesday when they unanimously passed a bill that would make daylight saving time permanent nationwide...
But here's the thing...
It turns out that the passage of the 'Sunshine Protection Act' sailed through the Senate on the wings of some sort of weird unanimous consent quirk that caught a whole lot of US'ian Senators by surprise, including Republican Tom Cotton:
...One Senate source with knowledge of the situation said Sen. Tom Cotton vehemently opposes making daylight saving time permanent.
“No comment,” Cotton told BuzzFeed News when asked if he opposed the bill.
The source said that Cotton would have objected to the unanimous consent request, but his staff never told him it was happening.
“No comment,” Cotton told BuzzFeed News when asked why he didn’t object to the bill.
And then there was Democrat Chris Coons:
...Asked to re-create his reaction to the news, Sen. Chris Coons issued a series of shocked stammers that is impossible to phonetically translate...
So how did this happen?
Well...
...Any single senator could have blocked the daylight saving bill from passing but many didn’t know it was even happening. Sen. Rick Scott, a permanent daylight saving time proponent who signed a similar bill into law when he was governor of Florida, said he would have gone to give a speech on the Senate floor if he had known...
Gosh.
What a way to run a country, especially when it comes to something that will actually affect everybody in it.
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Meanwhile, while Mr. Horgan is happy with this week's development in Washington, it's important to realize that this 'Act' with the bizarre Orwellian name has not yet passed the House or been signed by a wide-awake-in-the-daylight-savings-time-Delaware-sunrise light, Joe Biden.
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Meanwhile, while Mr. Horgan is happy with this week's development in Washington, it's important to realize that this 'Act' with the bizarre Orwellian name has not yet passed the House or been signed by a wide-awake-in-the-daylight-savings-time-Delaware-sunrise light, Joe Biden.
Image at the top of the post...Sunrise over Bethany Beach, Delaware courtesy Flickr photographer Jack Slagle.
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4 comments:
Permanent daylight savings time seems to be very popular so I feel obliged to speak up against it.
Firstly, people make a big deal out of changing their clocks one hour twice a year. Some people claims it messes them up for weeks. Well, do you go to bed at the same time every day? You never go to bed early, or stay up later to watch a movie, go to a party, or whatever? Do you ever travel across a time zone? No? Really?
Think about it...it will be dark at 9 o'clock in the morning in the middle of winter. You'll be at work and your kids will be in their classroom before the sun comes up.
Changing your clock is not that onerous. Many electronic clocks do it themselves now.
Finally, if we really can't change our clocks twice a year, how about just staying on standard time so it's not so dark in the morning in the winter.
It's an excellent point Gordie--
Especially for folks in the Eastern part of the province where sunrise would be crazy late in December and January.
Personally, despite the loss of the hour, I actually really like how the spring time change suddenly opens up the day.
Was already tried decades back in 1974.
https://www.washingtonian.com/2022/03/15/the-us-tried-permanent-daylight-saving-time-in-the-70s-people-hated-it/?utm_source=pocket-newtab
Wow!
Thanks Dan - can't believe I didn't know that given that I came of age at that time and certainly remember the 'Drive 55'* initiative in the States around the time.
Looks like early winter morning darkness due to permanent daylight time was a Nixonian initiative designed to save energy during the oil crisis of the early 1970's. However, public approval went from 79% to 42% within the first three months from late '73 into early '74...The initiative was killed by Congress before the next scheduled time change in the fall of 1974 in the aftermath of the Watergate-driven resignation of the foul-mouthed bad trickster.
*And, no, there will be no evening audio cover of the S. Hagar pre-pre-glint-of-a-convoyed-eyed lament against driving at 55 mph anytime soon.
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