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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
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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/newswire/display/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.
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"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/
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� Copyright Cheryll Seal 2003 For fair use only/ pour usage �quitable
seulement
It's all must be true because it appeared on Usenet.