Carin Froehlich of Perkasie, Pennsylvania is staging her own private little rebellion against the powers-that-be.

The 54-year-old grandmother is fighting for the right to … bear arms? … host a Bible study? … fly an American flag?

No, no, and no.

Mrs. Froehlich is fighting for the right to hang her laundry on an outdoor clothesline in her front yard.

Although there is no ordinance in Perkasie currently prohibiting an increasingly retro practice, Mrs. Froehlich was asked by a local official to “stop drying clothes in the sun.” Neighbors have sent her anonymous (the cowards!) notes complaining that they don’t want to see her “unmentionables,” although this clothesline freedom fighter is a discreet lady. While she continues to hang garments and linens outside, the underwear is hung indoors.

Talk show host Michael Savage is finally getting some support from the political world in his battle against the British government. But while the intrepid radio star will no doubt prevail, is his case a portent of things to come?   

After six months on a list of individuals banned from travel to Britain, talk show host Michael Savage finally has an ally in government. Taking up the cudgels for the radio star, Texas congressman John Culberson has written a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urging her to pressure the U.K. into rescinding the travel ban.

This story began on May 5, when Britain’s Home Office created a real “What’s wrong with this picture?” scenario, announcing that Savage was lumped in with terrorists, murderers and neo-Nazis on the banned list. And it appears that they did this simply to “balance” out Muslims on the list and avoid accusations of bigotry. As to this, the U.K.’s Daily Mail cited British government documents released under a freedom of information law and wrote:

We’ve all heard the concern expressed over the years that Americans were watching too much television. But I was pretty sure that was a commentary on the amount of time people were spending in front of the tube — not an assessment of the size of the television that people were watching. But California’s Energy Commission is going to set everyone straight about what constitutes “too much television.”

For the energy commission, “too much” — at least for the present — is measured in wattage not time. As Wired.com reports,

California’s Energy Commission voted unanimously today to set limits on the energy consumption of televisions.

The new TV efficiency standards, which go into effect on Jan. 1, 2011, limit power draw to a certain number of watts based on the total screen area. The bigger the screen, the more power it is allowed to consume. An even tighter standard will go into effect Jan. 1, 2013.