Repugs ,ready to blame Clinton for blackouts !

[NicRic]

Up early this Sunday ,I seen a report that the repugs are going to be on all of the talk shows blaming the Clinton Presendency for 8 years of neglecting the problem of our aging electric delivery system ! Iam not informed enough to have a good argument on this .I would suspect that everytime Clinton tried to do something about it the Repug congress would vote to allow the utility companies to get away with out having to re invest any of the millions in profit in modernizing our infrastucture ! If this is the way it went ,then I hope the Dems will counter this attempt to deflect the blame to Clinton once again. Iam so sick of this joke of a pResident blaming Clinton for everthing thats wrong, bush cant even shine Clintons shoes. Once again ,like with 9/11 ,the repugs are trying to get politicial gain out of something that should do the opposite ! However with thew media repeating all of their talking points as news, and the elected Dems with their mouth ears and eyes covered ,dont seem to do much about it!
Take Care Nick

[radwriter0555]

1. There are a couple of lies going around. Tree Huggers and Clinton are

the primary targets for these freaks. They're FIRST trying to say "tree huggers' prevented the building of new plants. Well, NOT true. Couldn't find a single instance where any group halted the proposed building or upgrading of plants. None were proposed.

Second, what would clinton have to do with it? Inasmuch as bush's gubment shouldn't build power plants, niether should have clinton.

It's up to the POWER COS to build their own plants. Not us, not gubment, not presidents, not congress.

Fat cat greedy corporate power plants are responsible for dipping into their profits to do these things. Just point it ALL back to the power cos.

[joeybee12]

2. In 2001, three times, along party lines, GOP voted down...

...a bill to provide $350 million to upgrade the grid. Three times--and Dumbo lobbied against it. All the Dems have to do is hammer this point over and over--it's very simple to pin the blame on Dumbo and the Nazi Party for this.

[OHdem10]

5. Agreed--Dems must hammer homeGop 3x votedagainst improvemtns for Grid.

Amen! Amen! Amen. If the Dems could ever learn to stand together with one message they would get somewhere. They have to learn to select out and speak plainly. If they used your few sentence they would get somewhere. Maybe give dates to show how recently the Repubs voted against improving Grid.

[Tennessee Gal]

7. More info?

Do you have a link on that?

[huckleberry]

9. It's the distribution (i.e. GRID), not the power plants!

This long article from MIT Technology Review in 2001 explains it well.

A Smarter Power Grid
New "power electronics" that swap voltage from line to line may be the best—and cheapest—fix for our aging electric grid.

By Peter Fairley
July/August 2001


"In light of this situation, the North American Electric Reliability Council, the industry’s voluntary watchdog group, is telling just about anyone who will listen that the system is at risk. “The question is not whether, but when, the next major failure of the grid will occur,” wrote the group’s general counsel David Cook in a recent entreaty to the U.S. Department of Energy in Washington, DC.

snip

"So why roll the dice on expensive equipment? The engineering answer is that for the foreseeable future, anyway, power electronics is the best hope for stabilizing the electric grid. The more pragmatic answer is that the New York Power Authority, a state-owned corporation, is directly accountable to politicians who fear the wrath of voters if the rolling blackouts darkening California’s economy roll across the Empire State. Unfortunately, it may take a few more dark days and cold nights without electricity before the rest of the grid’s numerous interested parties begin to see the light."

more at
http://www.technologyreview.com/articles/fairley0701.asp?p=1

[ClassWarrior]

3. Oh, a former prez is to blame alright...

But his name is Ronnie Raygun. The blackout in the East happened as a result of the catastrophic deregulation of the 80's - the very same deregulation that allowed vultures like Enron to flourish on the energy side, and Fox to flourish on the media side.

The same deregulation that caused the blackouts and price gouging in California that the party of Nixon is now trying to blame on Grey Davis. Apparently the grid wasn't built to be efficient - it was built to facilitate greedy energy traders.

Whenever anyone brings up the California recall or the blackouts in the Northeast, scream ENRON and CHENEY'S SECRET ENERGY TASK FORCE to the highest rafters, and make sure anyone within earshot knows damn well that this the result of deregulation and laissez faire energy policy.

Oh yeah, and go here to oppose the FCC's latest round of deregulation rulemaking. Demand that your reps restore the Fairness Doctrine!!!

http://meetings.commoncause.ctsg.com/meetings/selectMeeting.asp?event_id=1

[tabasco]

4. I'm shocked!

The repugs are usually such stand-up guys.

[Atlant]

6. You heard it here first...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=179983

[Kamika]

8. Clinton responsible for bad economy!

See because of this power failure Bush economic plan wont work and since Usa would have been utopia in bush economical plan it is Clintons fault our economy is bad too.

So just blame clinton

[TahitiNut]

10. No public infrastructure investments for decades.

Our nation has been "coasting" on two of the 20th Century's most beneficial (to the US) programs: public works projects of the 30's and the GI Bill of the late 40's. (One might argue that the Interstate Highway system of the 50's also helped, but I'd argue that it siphoned needed funds from public mass transportation which would have created a far more long-lived benefit.) IMHO, no other public expenditures yielded greater "bang for the buck" in terms of enabling US productivity and enhancing our nation's quality of life. Both were initiated in response to dire events; neither were passed easily.

The forces of narrow private interests diametrically opposed to the general public interest have only been overcome in a few instances -- despite the fact that such broad public interest has also been beneficial to those same narrow interests. Our national failure to invest in public infrastructure (closely correlated with similar failures in public education) is driven by predatory interests -- predators having no hesitancy to obliterate their "food source" leading to their own demise as well.

[gully]

11. MSNBC reported that Republicans blocked 3 attempts in

congress? to upgrade/fix issues. Of course I cant find the link. It was on Keith Olbermans show. I'll keep checking

[jbfam4]

12. ”House GOP Rejected Bill Improving Grid in ’01”

Eric Alterman: Altercation

http://msnbc.com/news/752664.asp?0dm=C15NO
“We’ll have time to look at it and determine whether or not our grid needs to be modernized. I happen to think it does, and have said so all along.” — George Bush, 8/14/03

FACT
In June of 2001, Bush opposed and the congressional GOP voted down legislation to provide $350 million worth of loans to modernize the nation’s power grid because of known weaknesses in reliability and capacity. Supporters of the amendment pointed to studies by the Energy Department showing that the grid was in desperate need of upgrades as proof that their legislation sponsored by U.S. Rep. Sam Farr (D-CA) should pass.

Unfortunately, the Bush Administration lobbied against it and the Republicans voted it down three separate times: First, on a straight party line in the U.S. House Appropriations Committee, then on a straigng party line the U.S. House Rules Committee, and finally on a party line on the floor of the full House . As AP reported at the time, the amendment would have amendments that would have doubled the bill’s money for energy assistance for the poor to $600 “provided $350 million to support loans to improve the capacity of transmission grids. ‘It’s pure demagoguery,’ House Majority Whip Tom DeLay, R-Texas, said in a brief interview regarding the Democratic amendments. ‘If Democrats had an energy policy, they’d have had one in the last eight years. They have no credibility on this issue whatsoever. They are responsible for the energy crunch more than anybody I know.’

[NicRic]

13. Thanks !

I copied you reply ,so I can send it to a couple of repugs I know ! Iam so sick of the American public being kept in the dark by the media ,and always having some conservative on feeding them a line of crap and passing the blame. We should quickly and loudly couter with fair and honest information. Al Gore is right to try and start a network that gives our side a voice !