Still Afraid Of The Dark ?
Still Afraid Of The Dark
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Exclusive commentary by Bob Parks
Aug 20, 2003
They’re afraid of the ozone hole, the Pledge of Allegiance, conservative judges, school vouchers, the Fox News Channel, tax cuts, John Ashcroft, welfare reform, the Ten Commandments, fast food, and now liberals are afraid of the dark. This was more than evidenced by the *****fest performed by the media and some attention-starved politicians afflicted with the “Do something” disease.
Sure, our national power grid needs an upgrade and our energy needs require a reliable source but every reasonable attempt and solution has been dubbed unreasonable and a scheme by the very people *****ing now and the solutions they’ve come up with are simply, nonsensical.
Republicans have been proposing realistic alternatives to our power concerns and have endured the scorn of liberal environmental whackos that demand federal funding for wind power fields, solar power programs and other, for lack of a better word, schemes that cannot do the job. So, despite the sound improvements in technology, environmentalists and their elected liberals prevent offshore and deep tundra drilling or nuclear power that will solve energy problems TODAY.
It seems like clockwork: when a disaster happens, liberals are all too quick to make it political. Remember Hillary Clinton on the senate floor after 9/11 holding up a newspaper with the bold headline “Bush knew”. Now she seemed to be leading the latest offensive on the administration: the Northeast blackout was his fault.
Funny, up to that point, no one could say with any certainty what triggered the events that placed millions in the dark, ‘cept Hillary.
The Media
First they relayed the official statements that the blackouts weren’t terrorism related. But if no one knew what initiated the blackouts, how could they make such a pronouncement?
Also laughable was the phrase they all started using calling the blackout a “natural” event. It seems to me it would be more “natural” if the power stayed on; “unnatural” being the power going off unexpectedly, but that’s only me.
Most irritating were the long shots of Big Apple streets and those stupid people constantly waving in the foreground. Any idea who they were waving to? Surely the majority of people they knew also had no power and couldn’t see them.
I also found the information disseminated such as telling New Yorkers to go onto a city website for more information amusing. Hello!? Don’t most computers going online require power…?
C’est What?
The same Canadians who were scolding us, lecturing us, and enlightening us about our irrational Iraq war stance, couldn’t seem to locate their own leaders during the blackout. The one they did locate, Prime Minister Jean Chretien, was hoping lightning would strike twice.
Chretien’s spokesman claimed the blackout was initiated by a lightning strike on part of a power plant in the Niagara region of upstate New York. It took minutes for almost every American meteorologist to provide radar images of clear skies over upper New York State for the last few hours.
And Chretien called Bush a liar and moron….
Mischief Aboot
During the blackout in the United States’ most populated city, there were no reports of looting or the chaotic “taking to the streets” that occur in a lot of today’s more primitive cultures. But when the lights went out in Canada so went the credibility on her own virtuosity.
"There is serious looting going on," declared Ottawa police chief Vince Bevan. He alluded to reports of break-ins, broken windows, theft, and the declaration of a state of emergency in Ontario.
Whoops.
Hacking Away
Bill Richardson said the nation’s power grid is archaic. “ We’re the world’s greatest superpower, but we have a Third World electricity grid.”
Richardson should know. While Bill Clinton’s energy secretary, Richardson did little to shore up our power grid. In fact, to appease the environmentalists who undoubtedly donated generously to Democrat candidates who voted the right way, Richardson did nothing to upgrade the grids.
Why is it when Democrats do nothing and subsequently something bad happens, Republicans get the blame and later have to repair their damage?
Kinda sounds like California today.
Rather Than…
Usual suspect Dan Rather was questioning the wisdom of George Bush’s attendance at a San Diego fundraiser the night of the power outage:
"Any serious thought given to the President canceling his appearance at that big fundraising, campaign fundraising dinner tonight given the fact that so many millions of people are going through this in the Northeast?"
Did Rather decide it was more important for Bush campaign donors to stay home and watch CBS’ primetime lineup, since the earth-shattering blackout wasn’t serious enough as to pre-empt important programming like “CSI” and “Without A Trace”?
The Grand Dame
It didn’t take Miss Hillary long to start the second-guessing and blame gaming.
"Well, the administration wants to continue with this failed policy of deregulation that caused so much trouble in California a few years ago. They to want to actually, you know, impose it on the entire country. They want to take off a lot of the regulation that at least gave us some framework for determining how to ensure reliability and affordability of electricity in the past. And, you know, I think that, once again, they're going too far. There's a role for that. There certainly need to be incentives in the system. But there has to be a federal role that is a back up. And, you know, when we couldn't even pass an amendment to the energy bill at would prevent the kind of schemes that Enron used to practically, you know, bring California to a standstill. We couldn't even get any federal regulation that would address all of those kinds of outrageous schemes that have been perpetrated..."
With all due respect to the junior senator from New York, why does there always have to be a “federal role” in every aspect of our lives? Is the federal government without it’s own brand of schemes and mismanagement? Remember the 900-plus FBI files and the Travel Office? Should I go on?
It was Democrat-interference that created the partial deregulation that gave us this mess in the first place.
Deregulation
I’ll try to make this as simple as possible and leave the confusion to Beltway “energy experts”.
Some people go into business to make money and provide a more secure and independent future for themselves and their families. Liberals believe businesses are there to provide services and jobs. Profits are secondary (of course, unless liberals own those businesses).
There is no passage in our Constitution that even implies receiving energy is a right. Liberals who erroneously believe the founding documents are “living documents” that can be reinterpreted to suit their cause de jour, obviously believe having power in your home should be included in the Bill of Rights and that providers produce that power and distribute it to consumers at cost.
Energy companies make their money providing reliable energy to your home and business on demand. However liberal policy makers regulated the industry and imposed a limit on how much the consumer could be charged for power (since it is a right… :-P). Now where is the incentive for power companies to build more plants and produce more needed power if they spend the money to expand and the government says they can’t recoup their costs?
There is no incentive, so don’t expect improvements, period.
What Enron and companies like them did was wrong and not enough of them can go to jail as far as I’m concerned, but in a sincere search for the truth, we shouldn’t be selective as to the beneficiaries of crooked CEO’s and their companies. DNC Grand Poobah and Clinton plant Terry McAuliffe earned an $18 million windfall when Global Crossing tanked under questionable circumstances, but Hillary is curiously selective with her critiques.
Reality Check
The United States power grid may be “prehistoric”, but it still works a lot better than places where 90% of those who are *****ing have never visited. It’s been over 35 years since the last serious blackout in a major U.S. city, but cities on the outskirts of Manila are lucky to have their power on for 35 straight hours let alone years. I don’t think we know just how good we have it.
The major newspapers and networks predicted a Friday stock market crash due to the uncertain condition of our power infrastructure. But the crash never occurred because the blackout itself was, in reality, NO BIG DEAL.
Those Wacky Iraqis
“Gloating” was a word some used to describe the glee the people we liberated from a brutal dictator were expressing upon receiving news of the blackout.
"Let them taste what we have tasted."
"Let them sit outside drinking tea and smoking cigarettes waiting for the power to come back, just like the Iraqis."
"I hope it lasts for 20 years. Let them feel our suffering."
"We go to the river, just like in the old days."
"I take showers all day."
"Let them take experts from Iraq. Our experts have a lot of experience in these matters."
This all coming from people who haven’t had a change of clothes in centuries….
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Bob Parks is a former Republican congressional candidate (California 24th District), Navy veteran, dad, graphic designer, producer/composer, and New England Patriots fan. You can email him at feedback@washingtondispatch.com.
http://www.washingtondispatch.com/article_6422.shtml
Sempers,
Roger
:marine:
