Whatever happened to updating the U.S. power grid . . .

[CrispyQ]

after the October '02 blackout?

Couldn't bush-&-team figure out how to outsource those jobs to some other country?

[billybob537]

1. That would cost money

money ear marked for tax relief for the rich.

[tom_paine]

2. Down the Memory Hole.

Besides, what do Filthy Little Nobodies like us do with that power, anyway?

The Busheviks could give a shit about the Filthy Little Nobodies like us unless they are stealing from us.

[ronatchig]

3. Billybob beat me to it n/t

[NC_Nurse]

4. It went the way of

the mission to Mars, the war on steroids, and other initatives that failed to give * the bounce he was hoping for...

[fob]

5. Don't worry PNR, Herr asskroft's goons will be coming for you

soon enough. Your power needs will soon be reduced to a 10 watt bulb in a cage in Cuba somewhere.

What's that honey, some men in black suits are here for me too?

[CrispyQ]

11. Together we'll have 20 watts! ;-o

[leftofthedial]

6. we're paying Halliburton

and a bunch of ex-Enron guys to rebuild the one we bombed in iraq instead

[lostnfound]

7. Actually, they gave contracts to ABB, Rumsfeld's former employer

rescuing it from the brink of financial disaster.

[MaryH]

8. Halliburton Probably Got the Contract

But they are still busy in Iraq.

[Donkeyboy75]

9. Out of sight, out of mind.

It'll happen again, and it will be Clinton's fault.

[ThomWV]

10. The Grid Is Not What You Might Think

Everyone talks about the power grid but I really don't think anyone understands what it is and what it isn't. There really is no such thing as a grid in this country, and not even at the regional level, althought its often thought about that. What the grid is, quite simply, is the interconnection of a lot of power company's stations with either those that are its sisters or with other power companys, but in any event with contigous borders of coverage. Some power is a pass through on the way to large markets. However, in a very general sense, you can't really transmit electricity much farther than about 400 miles so some notions of how power gets around are just plain and simply nuts. You can not make power in Kentucky and run the cable to sell it in California. There wouldn't be enough power left to fire up a flash light after a couple of thousand miles. At any rate that is what it really is, the connection of one plant to another but not in any preplanned fashion and certainly not with some sort of network like the interstate highway system where the companys simply payed tolls. At least that's how it was prior to deregulation of the Power industry, but that has nothing to do with the existance of an actual grid.

[WVhill]

13. Why should the taxpayers pay to upgrade the grid?

It's privately owned. Someone here want to take up a collection? You can KMA. You're not getting anything from me.

[Deja Q]

12. What happened to the US helping Russia destroy its nukes?

Too much money and we want to make it easy for terrorists to attack again.

[WVhill]

14. Next time you have a few days off and can pay your way to INEL in Idaho

and have the appropriate security clearance, you can check out the plutonium stored there that we took off the Russians.

[Lefty48197]

15. The Republicans that run the House, the Senate, and the White House

are waiting for the Democrats to fix the problem.

[Lefty48197]

16. Did you mean the August 2003 blackout from NY to Michigan?

or did I miss a blackout?

[CrispyQ]

17. You're right. It was Sept 2003.

Seems much further in the past than that.

[smirkymonkey]

18. Weren't there a number of blackouts last summer

not only in the US, but throughout Europe as well? A lot of them never made front page news, but I remember getting all tinfoiled up at the frequency and scope of the blackouts.

It just seemed to be more than coincidental, and considering the lame excuses (like, a bird flew into the transformer or something - I think that was Italy) it sounded like the whole truth about the blackouts was being kept under wraps.