18 August 2003

Blacking out the mandate of Heaven

From Maxspeak:

The suspicion that the blackout was a karma payoff for the failure to restore electrical service in Iraq may have a more than metaphorical truth to it. Occupied Iraq begins to look like a blueprint for the future of occupied North America under the auspices of "Neo-con Edison" and faith-based transmission systems.


The conventional wisdom seems (rightly in my opinion, to be settling on underinvestment in the US electricity grid as explanation for their blackout. George Bush who (as we know) advocates privatisation is suddenly involved enough in power transmission issues to support measures he has previously opposed. Indeed he's so passionate about political electrical power that he seems to have forgotten that he ever opposed a bill to modernise the grid.

When Sydney had a water contamination crisis in 1998, no-one ever thought of holding the board of directors of Sydney Water responsible. the government dealt with it and Sydney Water did as they were told. It's the great weakness of privatisation, in a crisis public action becomes necessary.

Failing hydraulic works were bad news for the Son of Heaven. Blackouts are bad news for a president appointed by God. The reasons for it being bad news are the same in both examples.