Isn't it ironic? Among Bush's legacies -- BLACKOUTS

[Atman]

He won't be able to blame these "blackouts" on youthful indiscretion, though. As a result of a virtually unregulated electricity market, the utilities are no longer required to re-invest a portion of their profits in upkeep and maintenance of the power grid, and so...failure. Blackouts. And after all, could there be any more fitting tributes to Dim Son, The Crawford Cowboy?

[npincus]

1. I was just going to post this (saw on CNN)

Just another reason why Dems need to get back in 'power' in2006- no pun intended.

[snappyturtle]

2. Sad but true.

I think Reagan should share a little of the credit for the deregulation too.

[AndyA]

6. Reagan is the one who truly started all this mess.

He doesn't get all the credit he deserves, though. So many consider him a great President, when in fact he was the beginning of the end.

He did away with the Fairness Doctrine, which opened the door to the manipulative media we have today.

Don't forget he was involved in the Iran-Contra scandal. We know what that's gotten us.

His administration was supportive of Saddam Hussein.

And so much more. Reagan started it, but I think Bush will finish it off.

George W. Bush: Worst. President. Ever.
Compared to Bush, Nixon wasn't so bad.

[reichstag911]

10. Given your Nixon comment,...

...I'll posit my theory: I believe Ford's pardon of Nixon was the beginning of the end. Despite the spectacle of Watergate, both the corruption behind it and the media coverage, what we ultimately saw was that "power" was unaccountable and not subject to the laws of the land...unlike the rest of us poor slobs. The lesson has filtered down quite successfully, don'tcha think?:cry:

[AndyA]

13. Possibly Ford was the instigator, he's sure done well for himself since.

But Ford was never popular enough to carry out anything substantial. Reagan had the charisma to do that, and he took advantage. I do agree with your point that the message was loud and clear: people in power are not subject to the same laws as everyone else.

My Nixon comment comes from a bumper sticker. I get lots of thumbs up and waves from people because of that. I think it really gets the point across.

[lonestarnot]

3. Media blackouts are another type to add to the list.

[Kagemusha]

4. He'll say it's all Gray Davis' fault. Again.

That one gets old on me, but they never did stop blaming Clinton, did they?

Ever.

[originalpckelly]

5. Does this remind anyone of 1984?

Seriously, remember the shortages and rationing? Every day we live is like a page out of 1984, only it is worse because this is 2006.

[Igel]

7. Sounds more like they didn't upgrade the

grid and increase capacity. This is different from not maintaining and keeping up the grid.

California had record power consumption, and the increase number of amps being drawn holds in NYC, too; if the blackouts resulted from a degradation in the grid, you'd find the failures occurring and regular consumption levels.

It may be that in California there are plants off-line, but record power consumption is still something to take into account.

This sort of thing was widely predicted in '99 and '00 to be happening more often in some states and towns, Calif. and NYC among them, for precisely the reasons we're reading about. Steps were taken to fix some of the problem areas (NYC decided not to put in additional lines to get power into the city, nor put in a major plant, but instead scatter fuel cells around; Calif. build more generating capacity). The recession in '00-'02 or '03 caused a dropoff in use. The heat wave caused an unanticipated (obviously unanticipated) spike in consumption.

[Kagemusha]

9. Unanticipated my ass. This was the whole reasoning behind the Davis deals

which Arnold lambasted heavily during the recall and obviously no steps were taken to improve on what was done before to prepare for the eventuality we are in today. Which was much predicted and anticipated by everyone not beholden to Bush and FERC, both four-letter words in California today I imagine.

[Igel]

14. Perhaps in California.

But that hardly works for New York. Or other places that have had brownouts and rolling blackouts.

Sounds like a broader problem. Not enough capacity in some areas, not sufficient high power lines to get the capacity from where there's excess to where it's needed. It may be intentional in Calif., but elsewhere it simply sounds like people decided they had other use for funds than in backup supply and grid capacity.

[electron_blue]

8. technically yes, but this is not getting much play. in a yr almost nobody

will remember these blackouts, except those who went through it. This is not sticking to him.

[gauguin57]

11. Central London is also having a blackout today, BTW.

Anyone feel like Gaia is just kind of turning out the lights on us, now that we've spit in her eye?

[sutz12]

12. Yep, privatization

Private companies exist to make money. A small amount of customer dissatifaction is acceptable.

Public utilities exist to provide service, in this case, electricity. Failure is a violation of the law.

Love them right wing talking points, though. :sarcasm:

[malaise]

15. Poodle's as well

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/07/27/london.blackout/index.html