Blog Credo

The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.

H.L. Mencken

Friday, November 4, 2011

I'm Ready To Cut Someone


I am now officially Samuel L. Jackson, cleaning-brains-in-the-backseat angry.

Our host have been divine.  They are actually out of town for the next few days, so we have the house to ourselves and can repay them (a tiny bit) by taking care of their dog.

But c'mon!  There is an intersection between the Main Street of my town and a major US highway where the traffic light is still out.  It's been a week!  There is a major road leading in to town that still has a downed wire and branches right in the middle of the road.

I appreciate that in some ways, CL&P is doing all it can with the resources it has.  The problem is, we officially live in a society where we don't give a shit about the commons anymore.  If it ain't mine, screw it. If it can't be commoditized, to hell with it.  If it can be downsized to make the next quarterly report look good, bring out the long knives.

CL&P doesn't have the resources, because they lay off their work crews.  They automate their systems, which works great when everything is going right.  And, I should point out, we pay some of the highest electric rates in the country.

In Wallingford, the town owns its own generating plant.  Guess who never lost power?

The sad truth of America at the dawn of the 21st century is that we have the technological ability to do fantastic things, to create a utopian world for ourselves.

But we're so greedy and shortsighted - so focused on the short term financial gain - that we can't create that society for ourselves.

Occupy Wall Street?  I just want to occupy my m************ house.

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