Housing Dones

I was reading today about diesel construction equipment and how this state is requiring the toughest emission standards in the nation to begin to take effect by 2010. As I anticipated earlier this year, there's now a mounting movement to delay implementation...but the rub is that the industry is citing the economic downturn as reason to delay.

Here's a wonderful argument -- the downturn of housing 'starts' is at a 17-year low, and because equipment is being idled and demand for diesel is reduced, the state's emissions will be below their targets for 2010 anyway...so why should we unnecessarily burden the industry with this now? Can't it please wait? Pretty please?

My counter argument: we haven't completed all our housing 'dones.' Won't said equipment be used until all the housing dones are started? Or until all the housing starts are done? Or until all the housing dones are done?

And answer me this: when exactly is a house started? As asked by minister Rick Warren, the Obama answer would be "That's above my paygrade." McCain: "At the moment the wheel loader is turned over."

So the Evangelical Republican answer is that once you turn over a spade of dirt the house is started. Based on dug up dirt, I can run up and down Franklin Blvd. here in Elk Grove and find hundreds of housing starts -- actually, more like housing abortions. They didn't see that coming now did they.

Also, my neighbor's house burnt down two years ago and he 'started' his new house earlier this year. Is that also a 'start?' If so, a first 'start' or a second 'start?' When it burned down would it count as a second 'done'? And who reports this start shit? How could we possibly know exactly how many there were? Does the gov'ment have some set of publicly funded start accountants?

All too confusing if you ask me. We've gone down the backroad of quantifying instead of qualifying our living environments as dones and starts and quantifying instead of qualifying their occupants as consumptive units. I find this all too disturbing.