"Sir Arthur C. B. E. Wholeflaffers A.S.A." <nospam@newsranger.com> wrote in
message news:vxq0b.16367$cJ5.1625@www.newsranger.com...
> Did Bush & Cheney "Order" The Great Blackout? by Cheryl Seal
> Baltimore Indymedia, 17 August 2003 -- www.globalresearch.ca 19 August
2003
> The URL of this article is: http://globalresearch.ca/articles/SEA308A.html
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> The timing was way too convenient - just days to weeks before crucial
votes on
> Bush’s sweeping energy plan and Clear Skies Initiative - both designed to
> dramatically overempower and expand the fossil-fuel-driven electrical
power
> generating industry. After all, if the 9/11 disaster got G.W. the Patriot
Acts,
> why shouldn’t a massive power outage get him "Energy Acts"? The timing of
the
> Thursday blackout was amazingly coincidental. It occurred just weeks
before Bush
> plans to shove a sweeping energy plan through Congress that will not only
force
> America to be ever more dependent on fossil fuel for decades to come, but
will
> turn the American electrical utility system into a giant megacorporation
sans
> competition, sans recourse by consumers.
>
> It also occurred just as Bush’s sick-joke of an alternative to the Clean
Air
> Act, ‘The Clear Skies Initiative’ was facing a very uncertain future -as
of
> August 5, Bush had resorted to using the EPA website as a ‘sales promo’
for the
> plan (see http://www.epa.gov/clearskies/) to try to drum up public support
he
> was highly unlikely to obtain. The Clear Skies scheme, hiding behind its
> deceptive corporate euphemism, would give the electrical power generation
> industry a license to pollute: According to David Doniger of the Natural
> Resources Defense Council, Clear Skies will allow power plant carbon
emissions
> (the top greenhouse gas) to increase by up to 16 percent between 2000 and
2010
> -and this at a time when the ravages of global warming are becoming
alarmingly
> obvious and air pollution related asthma among children have been steadily
> climbing. Says Vivian Stockman of the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition:
"If
> there were requirements for truth in government labeling, the ‘Clear Skies
’
> initiative would be called ‘Clear Lies.’ This is just another sadly
typical case
> of doublespeak, which the administration uses in attempts to hide the
truth
> about its environmental policies."
>
> The Bush energy plan, also up for consideration in Congress, is nearly as
bad,
> aiming just a little lower, at the pocket instead of the lungs. Here’s how
the
> New York Times put it in their August 15 edition:
>
> "The focus of the energy bill has been on a controversial plan from the
Federal
> Energy Regulatory Commission to rewrite power grid rules and require U.S.
> utilities to join super-regional grid groups...The industry needs about
$50
> billion to $100 billion in new investment, according to the Electric Power
> Research Institute, an industry funded group in Palo Alto, California."
>
> What this would mean, physically, is the construction of an unbelievably
> massive, unbelievably ugly network of giant new power lines marching
across the
> countryside. This means that millions of acres of land could be claimed by
the
> federal government as ‘public domain.’ Your nice little suburb or
farmhouse
> could soon be sitting in the shadow of power lines and/or switching
stations.
>
> What this will mean, economically, is disaster for the consumer. Bush
plans to
> deregulate the industry as well as calling for tens of billions in grid
> ‘upgrades.’ To the average electrical engineer, an upgrade would no doubt
mean a
> renovation of an existing utility. To Bush, an ‘upgrade’ means handing his
> corporate pals billions of dollars and a license to screw the public,
> environment, and future. In fact, when the Farr Amendment was introduced
in
> 2001, calling for funds to be devoted to real grid upgrades, guess who
killed
> it? Yep: Bush & Co. In any case, does anyone not a permanent resident of
Romper
> Room seriously imagine that this will not translate into skyrocketing
power
> bills -a cost that will hit the poor, the ill, small business, and
strapped
> local governments the hardest? What truly shows the Bush lie in his quest
for
> new power plants is that there is NO POWER SHORTAGE. There is in fact a
SURPLUS
> of power in the U.S. It is just the distribution system needs an
overhaul -which
> can be done with sophisticated computerized distribution centers and
interfaces
> that more efficiently shunt power from place to place.
>
> What is truly ironic is that this week’s power failure occurred in the
area
> where the power industry had been most deregulated! In the Mid-Atlantic,
by
> contrast, the grid was able to protect itself from the cascade and
customers
> remained unaffected. Yet Bush will without doubt start pushing immediately
for
> deregulation as part of his famous ‘energy plan.’ By the way, isn’t this
the
> same ‘energy plan’ that featured a list of still-secret names? An energy
plan
> that will be sold using, as an incentive, a massive blackout that held
millions
> hostage for dozens of hours, and headed up by a list of shadowy corporate
> figures whose names are being withheld from the public in violation of
federal
> law? Yep, sounds like the Bush Reich to me.
>
> Back to the amazingly coincidental blackout. As soon as it happened, Bush
didn’t
> miss a beat. Three minutes into his truly cheezy, semi-lucid statement on
the
> night of August 14 (he acted as if someone had either just waked him up or
> sobered him up and shoved him before the cameras) he was calling for
‘upgrades.’
> After a major disaster of any sort, most leaders, be they mayors or
presidents,
> don’t bring that sort of thing up as their first issue. The human element
comes
> first -for the sake of political correctness if nothing else! What if,
standing
> next to the destroyed WTC towers, Guiliani’s first comment had been,
"Guess its
> time to get busy building better towers!"? You would expect that sort of
> colossally insensitive comment after a disaster only from a sharkish
> contractor...The sort who are now circling Iraq ...not to mention the
> Congressional halls where Bush’s energy plan will soon be debated.
>
> But make no mistake (to use a favorite White House phrase) Bush’s comment
on
> 8/14 was the statement of a sharkish contractor. He was making sure, early
on,
> to inject the notion that the power grid system failed because the whole
thing
> needs to be upgraded and the only way to upgrade (we will soon be hearing)
is
> through the Bush energy plan.. He and his henchman will, without doubt,
repeat
> this fallacy over and over in coming days, just as they did the Al-Queda-
Saddam
> lie.
>
> Yet Bush, while worrying about contractor-benefiting upgrades, failed to
even at
> least offer to cancel his fund-raising dinner for Arnold Schwartzenegger
and
> come back East. This action suggests he is either more outrageously out of
touch
> with the requirements of being a leader than we already assumed, or that
he knew
> the power outage would be a short-lived, non-catastrophic event. Afterall,
if he
> did not know this to be so, then, as a good leader, he should have assumed
> things could get worse before they got better and planned accordingly.
>
> The very fact that Bush was in California the moment of the blackout seems
> orchestrated to me -as if the event had been staged as a crude way to both
> distance Bush from the ‘scene of the crime’ and to draw attention back to
the
> California energy crisis. In the simple-mindedly devious world of Karl
Rove and
> other White House schemers, if you hit the public over the head hard and
long
> enough with the same lie or with the pairing of two images (Al
Queda-Saddam,
> nukes-Iraq, California-blackouts/energy crisis), they can, like so many
heifers,
> be steered in any direction you want.
>
> Another suspicious point in the blackout scenario is New York City
Republican
> Mayor Bloomberg’s ABSOLUTE PROMISE on the afternoon of 8/14 that the power
would
> be back on by Friday. How could anyone possibly predict this with such
certainty
> -would even dare to, in Bloomberg’s position of public trust...unless, of
> course, the knew the cause for the outage was readily correctable - a
temporary
> glitch in the system, rather than severe physical damage somewhere. This
is a
> diagnosis power engineers were not willing to make even hours after the
outage
> began. Yet Bloomberg made this bold prediction within an hour of the
blackout’s
> start. That he was wrong is simply proof that the best laid evil plans of
mice
> and morons sometime go astray.
>
> The New York grid has a very sophisticated system for responding to
failures at
> any given point in the system to prevent any cascade effect. As the
engineers
> are now saying - it shouldn’t have happened. Not without help, anyway. By
the
> way -if we are all forced to be on the same super grids, what happens if
there
> is a real disaster? We (as communities) all go down together? No thank
you! I
> don’t think any of us wants to become a domino.
>
> All through the night of August 14-15 power engineering experts across the
> country were already weighing in on the mysterious giant blackout in the
> Northeastern US on radio talk shows and Internet postings. It shouldn’t
have
> happened, they said -not with the ‘checks and balances’ built into that
system.
> Lightening? No tangible sign of such an event, say eyewitnesses in the
vicinity
> of the Niagara Falls Mohawk power plant -in fact, the conditions weren’t
even
> right. Yes, a ‘point blackout’ could have happened, but a massive cascade?
> Something is fishy here. Such has been the repeated assessment.
>
> My own first observation last night was how very ‘accommodating’ the
outage was
> of Wall Street: the lights did not go out until the stock market closed
for the
> day. And it happened on a Thursday, as if to insure that travel would have
a
> good chance to resume by the weekend.
>
> Now that widespread suspicions are being raised about the cause of the
blackout,
> and the restoration of power is taking longer than Bloomberg, et al.
predicted,
> the Bush camp is changing its tune. On the morning of August 15,
Bloomberg
> asserted that the whole thing was Canada’s fault! I’m just surprised they
didn’t
> try to blame France.
>
> I suspect the plan was only supposed to just last a few hours, just long
enough
> to create high anxiety and chaos (without high anxiety and chaos, Bush
cannot
> remain unimpeached for long), and make a nifty case for the Bush energy
plan and
> Clear Skies Initiative. But, just as the ‘smart bombs’ in Iraq were not so
smart
> after all, the Bush blackout plan has not proved to be such a sweet
off—and-on
> operation. Instead, it is going to cost America a packet -in fact,
probably at
> least as much as all the money just returned in tax cuts.
>
> Of course, the prolonged nature of the blackout in New York could have a
more
> sinister cause: Could it be that the plucky, unperturbed response of New
Yorkers
> wasn’t what the Bush Reich was hoping for? And that the prolonged blackout
in
> miserable heat is just the Reich’s way of putting the screws to their
victims,
> pushing them to the desired point of desperation where they will
gratefully
> (Bush hopes) ‘sign away their firstborn?’ My bet is that New Yorkers are
made of
> sterner stuff than this and the Bush scheme will still fail to bring them
to
> their knees.
>
> What Zapped the Northeastern Grid? An Electromagnetic Pulse -or a Failure
to
> Follow the Rules?
>
> So what modus operandi could someone use to disable the entire
Northeastern
> power grid? The favorite conspiracy theory being fielded so far is an EMP,
or
> electromagnetic pulse. As of the night of 8/16, the Freeper brigades were
out in
> force, trying to divert public attention by planting outlandish and
outlandishly
> varied theories via call-ins to radio shows and postings on the Internet.
> However, the US Military has being seeking to develop EMP weaponry capable
of
> disabling aspects of enemy infrastructure, especially communications
systems. A
> strategically targeted ‘zap’ by such a weapon could, theoretically, have
> achieved the desired effect. Here’s an excerpt from ‘Above Top Secret,’ a
> website dedicated to recording such developments as EMP:
>
> "Commercial computer equipment is particularly vulnerable to EMP effects,
as it
> is largely built up of high density Metal Oxide Semiconductor (MOS)
devices,
> which are very sensitive to exposure to high voltage transients. What is
> significant about MOS devices is that very little energy is required to
> permanently wound or destroy them, any voltage in typically in excess of
tens of
> Volts can produce an effect termed gate breakdown, which effectively
destroys
> the device. Even if the pulse is not powerful enough to produce thermal
damage,
> the power supply in the equipment will readily supply enough energy to
complete
> the destructive process. Wounded devices may still function, but their
> reliability will be seriously impaired. Shielding electronics by equipment
> chassis provides only limited protection, as any cables running in and out
of
> the equipment will behave very much like antennae, in effect guiding the
high
> voltage transients into the equipment. "
> http://www.abovetopsecret.com/pages/ebomb.html
>
> A far less exotic scenario is that someone at one of the northeastern
power
> stations caused the cascade simply by failing to follow the
rules -intentionally
> or unintentionally. As one engineer put it during an interview on August
15, in
> the deregulated system , the rules are now ‘suggested’ rather than
mandatory.
> Even if caught, the guilty party would not be technically culpable.
>
> In any case Bush and Co. have a lot to answer for. Maybe it’s time they
started.
>
> THE ENERGY PLOT THICKENS....
>
> Now, to another important aspect of the contrived ‘energy crisis’ and the
issues
> surrounding it. Ironically, I had started the following article several
hours
> before the blackout, on the morning of the 14th. August 14 Decision by
Bush
> Administration Panders to the Ohio Valley Coal Industry -Leading Supplier
of
> Coal to the Power Industry
>
> "Daddy won’t you take me back to Muhlenberg County, Down by the Green
River
> where Paradise lay? I’m sorry, my son, but you’re too late in asking, Mr.
> Peabody’s coal train has hauled it away." -Appalachian Folk song
>
> When it came to handing more power over to the already-bloated media
through the
> proposed changes in FCC regulations, the Bush administration gave the
public the
> bum’s rush, allowing barely 6 weeks for comments and refusing to extend
the
> public input period.
>
> Now, the coal industry is trying to fight proposed regulations that would
> protect the ravaged Appalachian environment from the devastating effects
of
> lopping off the tops of mountains to cheaply extract the coal there. This
> hideous practice is ruining formerly pristine mountain streams and rivers.
It
> isn’t too surprising that there have been extremely few public comments
OPPOSING
> the proposed protective regulations.
>
> So what does the Bush administration do? It extends the deadline period.
Not by
> the paltry two or three weeks the FCC issue got, but by over four months
(130
> days) to January 4, 2004. That will give the corporazis plenty of time to
> mobilize their Freeper brigades, who will do their damnedest to ‘stuff the
> ballot box.’
>
> Of course, the Bush case justifying ‘topping’ is based on the supposedly
urgent
> need for more and cheaper coal to fuel new power plants. And, the need for
new
> power plants, of course, has just been oh-so-conveniently ‘highlighted’ by
the
> mysterious power blackout. This event, with astonishingly opportune
timing,
> occurred the very day it was announced that the time for ‘comments’ on the
> mountain topping had been extended. No doubt Bush & Co. imagined that the
public
> would rush right out and clamor for mountain top coal as a way to avoid
another
> blackout.
>
> To read about just how deep into the pocket of the coal industry this
> administration read the following article, a reprint from last Spring.
Peabody
> Coal Company Barons Top Cheney's Secret Energy Task Force List
> http://baltimore.indymedia.org/newsw...3847/index.php
>
> CURIOUS TIMELINE
>
> August 5: Bush’s Clear Skies Initiative, designed to all but overturn the
Clean
> Air Initiative and give power-generating utilities a license to spew the
worst
> greenhouse gases into the air, unrestricted, faces a stiff uphill battle
in
> Congress in the coming weeks. The Bush EPA creates what amounts to a sales
pitch
> for the Initiative in its website. But opposition to the initiative is
building,
> especially with the summer’s abundant evidence of global warming.
>
> Morning of August 14: In the Ohio Valley, in the coal-mining district, the
coal
> industry has aggressively been seeking to block regulations prohibiting
them
> from trashing the environment by loppipng off the tops of mountains to
mine coal
> - a practice that has been devastating rivers and streams, and desecrating
the
> landscape. But, so far, the public input period for regulations has
yielded an
> overwhelming majority of anti-mining comments.
>
> Morning of the 14th: the Bush administration allows the period for public
> comment to be extended, outrageously, until January 4.POINT TO REMEMBER:
The
> number one consumer of coal from the Ohio Valley is the ELECTRICAL
GENERATION
> INDUSTRY.
>
> Morning August 14: Bush in California, distancing himself from the
Northeast by
> 3,500 miles and placing himself at the site of the last massive
electricity
> crisis, a crisis that proved to have been largely engineered by Ken Lay
and
> other energy barons looking for easy billions.
> Afternoon of August 14: an inexplicably huge blackout hits the Northeast,
> including the Ohio Valley.
>
> Evening, August 14: Bush makes a three-minute statement that includes a
call to
> upgrade the national power grid (and by extension, of course, the energy
> generating system, regulations and all). He will repeat this call every
single
> time he speaks for the next 24 hours (and no doubt beyond)
> Evening of August 14:Several possible causes for the blackout are being
fielded,
> but many people in the industry express suspicion that it was
"engineered."
>
> Afternoon of August 15 It now being suggested in the mainstream media that
the
> power outage originated in the OHIO VALLEY.
>
> Here’s hoping that the future timeline does not include an entry citing
the
> fear-driven, no-questions asked passage of the Clear Skies Initiative and
Energy
> Plan by Congress.
> ------------------------------------------------------------------
> "Power Outage Traced to Dim Bulb in White House: The tale of the Brits who
> swiped 800 jobs from New York, carted off $90 million, then tonight,
turned off
> our lights. " Greg Palast at
http://globalresearch.ca/articles/PAL308A.html
>
> "Refresher" from 2001: Bush Energy Plan to Heavily Feature Coal-Fired
Power
> Plants...burning Ohio Valley Coal
> http://www.cnn.com/2001/ALLPOLITICS/05/17/bush.coal/
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> © Copyright Cheryll Seal 2003 For fair use only/ pour usage équitable
seulement
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