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Up to the minute notes on the current state of free thinking and free living: Kentucky moonshine - original analysis and reporting from MoreThings, and all round pop culture museum of sight and sound - photo galleries, mp3 and video downloads.
Al Barger and MoreThings - getting people's goats since 1998.
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August 15, 2003
Honey, the electric's out- better call the president
Honey, the electric's out- better call the President.
Call me crazy, but when the electric goes out down on the farm, we generally call the electric company. Screw the mayor or some county councilman. I want to see the Wichita lineman.
Yet when the electric went out for a big chunk of the country yesterday, everyone was waiting with baited breath to hear from President Bush. Why?
Really it comes down to the functioning of our lower brains. It's basic mammalian instincts, stuff we pick up as toddlers. When there's any kind of crisis, turn to the alpha male.
Of course, this just doesn't really apply to all situations in a modern industrial state with highly specialized labor. What the hell is any president supposed to do? Democrats and cheap shot commentators have given Bush hell for attending his scheduled fund raising events in California while the electric was out, even blaming him for somehow being the cause of the blackout. What was he supposed to do, grab a wrench and personally go to work on the grid?
Other than determining that there was no terrorist attack involved, the POTUS has no obvious immediate connection to a power outage. Why is he expected to be on tv? I was more interested in hearing from someone at Con Ed.
We're working with a bazillion year old bunch of lines and stations trying to meet ever increasing demands. They actually work surprisingly well, considering. One bad blackout every 25 years seems to me like a fantastic record, actually. It would have been a huge pain in the ass to get stuck in Manhattan yesterday with no way to get home to the 'burbs, but that's life.
Now, it might be good if we take this little blip as a sign to consider our vulnerability and needs for energy policy reforms, that's well and good. It's prudent.
It's just dumb, however, for congressmen who have been in Washington for many years to be wailing on about how a problem with a 50 to 75 year old power grid is the fault of a president who's been here for less than three years, particularly considering that he's got a war on terror to win. This looks even more stupid considering that we still don't even know what happened to cause the blackout in the first place.
The only thing stupider than blaming the president for the lights going out is standing around waiting for him to fix them.
posted by Al at 8/15/2003 07:54:00 PM
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