July 08, 2004
Stories That Fell Behind - The CA Energy Crisis
The California deregulation nightmare is still a huge story that has not gotten the coverage that it deserves in the press. It was kind of like the Iraq war - any of us who were paying attention knew it was a sham when it was happening, but were treated like we were left-wing conspiracy-theorist scum when we tried bring up the possibility. And then later we dealt with news - quiet news cycles, mumbled admissions - that confirmed everything we were trying to say. It hasn't been acknowledged yet in the mainstream media, not in the way it deserves.This was corporations holding families and businesses hostage for political purposes. A huge energy shortage that caused fear and anxiety and caused billions of dollars worth of damage was invented and manipulated for political purposes. If the blackouts and brownouts led to any deaths, it would be tantamount to a terrorist attack. The fact that this hasn't ruined political careers (other than Gray Davis's, who was right all along) is an exposure of how grotesquely incompetent the mainstream media is at uncovering the real story.
There's still opportunity to make up for it - Ken Lay was indicted, and while the scam was much bigger than just Lay, it's a huge opportunity for the press to make up for their eight years of incompetence on this matter and finally grow some balls.