Free Republic

Just hours after the Northeastern power grid went down shutting off electricity for 50 million Americans, New York Sen. Hillary Clinton took to the airwaves to blame President Bush and his administration's energy policies for pushing deregulation and coddling corrupt power companies like Enron. "I happen to think that making sure we have a reliable, affordable system of energy is a national priority - and I don't think that this administration sees it that way," Clinton told CNN's "Larry King Live." "They have continued to try to push deregulation and privatization, and to try to undo a lot of the...

WASHINGTON (AP) - The last thing the United States and Canada needed was another feud. The fast round of finger-pointing over what caused the great power blackout was the latest flare-up in a long string of quarrels, snubs, insults and disagreements over everything from the U.S.-led war in Iraq to Canada's moves to legalize same-sex marriage and small amounts of marijuana. "Have you ever seen the United States take the blame for anything?" fumed Toronto Mayor Mel Lastman after Canadian and U.S. officials blamed problems in each other's country for the massive loss of electrical power that was the worst...

Well, obviously, it's Canada's fault. We should invade. Or, at least, take this opportunity to say really mean things about them while their computers are out. Here's a hot tip for you -- after the blackout in the Northeast is over, there will be a few companies who will have won, big time. Top of the list is RadioShack (NYSE: RSH - News). Need a battery, go to the Shack. Need a flashlight? Flashlights and batteries galore come from Energizer (NYSE: ENR - News). For these companies, the blackout created a second Christmas. Good thing RadioShack no longer requires putting...

It's all your fault, Canada and US tell each other By David Rennie in Washington (Filed: 16/08/2003) As engineers struggled to find the cause of the power failure yesterday, Canadian and American officials exchanged mutual accusations. Though their explanations were at times contradictory, all shared a single theme: this began in the other country.The office of the Canadian prime minister, Jean Chretien, said the cause was a lightning strike at a plant near Niagara Falls, but on the southern, American bank. Mr Chretien's spokesman said: "We have been informed that lightning struck a power plant in the Niagara region on...

Aug 14, 2003Canadian Officials Provide Conflicting Accounts, Blaming Outage on Lightning or FireBy Tom CohenAssociated Press Writer TORONTO (AP) - Canadian officials insisted a massive blackout Thursday across the Northeast and parts of Canada originated in the United States, though U.S. power workers denied that and American officials blamed Canada. In the hours of confusion after the outage - the biggest in U.S. history - Canada's government offered conflicting explanations for the blackout, blaming it first on lightning in Niagara, then a fire at a Niagara plant, and next a fire at a Pennsylvania nuclear power plant. Canada's defense minister...

<p>Everyone knows America's vaccine industry is in serious trouble, with an ever dwindling number of producers and recent severe vaccine shortages. What everyone also should know is that the National Academy of Science's Institute of Medicine has now pinned much of the blame on Hillary Rodham Clinton.</p>

Missile triumph descends into chaos and blame By David Rennie and Sean O'Neill (Filed: 15/08/2003) Less than 48 hours after Americans boasted they had caught a Briton trying to sell missiles to terrorists, their "incredible triumph" descended into recriminations, including the claim that the BBC ruined a larger operation by breaking news of the arrest. The BBC, already regarded as anti-American by many US conservatives, was accused yesterday of wrecking the 18-month operation that ended up netting only Hemant Lakhani, a 68-year-old London businessman with no known terrorist links. Unnamed "top officials" from the US Justice Department told Newsweek magazine...

Want to know why Gray Davis may soon become only the second governor in U.S. history to be popularly removed from office? One reason may be California's $38 billion deficit. And, while governors in other states are not about to be recalled, many other state budgets are troubled--48 of the 50 are currently in the red. In the new fiscal year, which began recently for most, states face an estimated $70 billion shortfall, and the majority have already spent their rainy-day funds while exhausting the accounting gimmicks that can be used to postpone days of reckoning. Regardless of who ends...

Blaming China for US economic woes is a fool's game By TOM PLATEFOR THE STRAITS TIMESLONDON - The United States economy is recovering very slowly; everyone in Europe knows that. Tourism is down, and the terrorists can't be blamed for everything. From Europe, it appears the mood in the US is getting ugly.Culprits are being identified. On the US West Coast, cheerless California Governor Gray Davis is being blamed for everything from the budget shortfall to the energy crisis, and may be kicked out of office through a referendum.Perhaps he is a deserving target, but others are much less so....

But It's Not My Fault! An essay by 4mycountry Have you ever read those stories? You know -- the ones where a person is suing a fast-food chain because they're obese? Or the ones where a person is getting an abortion because a baby would "ruin their life"? I, even as a first-year teen, find these stories not only to be repulsive, but saddening. What happened to responsibility? What happened to saying you were wrong and taking the blame yourself? The more and more I look at the news and read the articles here, it becomes increasingly evident that we...

<p>WASHINGTON - Dazzled by views of mountains, deserts and wildlife, visitors to America's national parks rarely notice that there also are missing signs, rotting buildings and fewer rangers to answer questions.</p> <p>On Sept. 13, 2000, presidential candidate George W. Bush posed before the Cascade Mountains in Washington state and warned that national parks were ``at the breaking point.'' He vowed to eliminate a $4.9 billion backlog in deferred maintenance.</p>

<p>That same tendency to blame America for the moral shortcomings of others unfortunately permeates the left and the Democratic Party. I wish it were otherwise, but I got the first whiff of it after Sept. 11 when some people reacted to the terrorist attacks here by blaming U.S. policy--in the Middle East specifically but around the world in general.</p>

NEW YORK - Two weeks after acting erratically at a New York Knicks basketball game, fashion designer Calvin Klein has announced he is seeking treatment for a drug problem. A spokeswoman for Klein, 60, would not specify the type of treatment he will receive. In 1988, Klein entered the Hazelden Institute in Minnesota for alcohol and prescription drug abuse. "For many years, I've been able to successfully address my substance abuse issues, which for anyone is a lifelong process, through strict adherence to counseling and regular attendance at meetings," Klein said in a statement. "However, when I recently stopped attending...

Monday's killing of 10 Iraqi women and children at a checkpoint near the southern city of Najaf ranks among the great tragedies of the war thus far. The incident occurred when a four-wheel drive vehicle stuffed with 15 passengers drove toward a U.S.-manned checkpoint and refused to stop. Army spokesmen say soldiers of the 3rd Infantry Division fired warning shots over the vehicle, and then targeted its engine, before a Bradley fighting vehicle finally launched a deadly fusillade at the passenger compartment. The shooting was not only a great human tragedy, but a huge public relations blow for the coalition:...

Amiri Baraka meet Pat Buchanan We've dealt with Amiri Baraka, the former poet laureate of the entire State of New Jersey in this space before. Indeed, my answering lyric to Mr. Baraka has enjoyed success among the cognoscenti rivaling that accorded to Sir Walter Raleigh's answer to Marlowe's Passionate Shepherd. Hence I do not hesitate to perform the honor of introducing Baraka to Buchanan, that is, the author of Somebody Bombed America to the author of Whose War?. The target in both cases is the same. Mr. Buchanan subtitles his essay A neoconservative clique seeks to ensnare our country in...

Dems say Bush led nation to crises By JIM ABRAMS, Associated Press January 28, 2003 WASHINGTON (AP) - America under President Bush has been left with fewer jobs and not enough money for security, education and health, Democrats said Tuesday in a combative response to Bush's State of the Union speech. "In too many ways, our country is headed in the wrong direction," Gov. Gary Locke of Washington state said in the official response from Democrats, who lost control of the Senate in the November elections and saw Republicans increase their majority in the House. He called Bush's plan to...

"People of the region hold the United States completely responsible for Israel's policy and for the no-peace situation," the radio said. DAMASCUS, Syria - A day after two Palestinian suicide bombers killed 22 bystanders in Israel, hard-line Arab state Syria blamed U.S. support of Israel and continued aggression by the Jewish state for the ongoing instability in the Middle East. State-run Damascus radio on Monday said in a commentary that the Palestinian "resistance" will continue against the Israeli occupation of Arab lands. In reference to Sunday's twin blasts, the radio said: "The region will never know security or stability...

My goodness, what's happened at London's bastion of left-wing looniness, The Guardian? Has someone spiked the newspaper's water fountain with Prozac, or is it some bizarre symptom of Mad Cow's Disease? Today, the poster publication for moral relativism, multicultural sophistry and Third World utopianism has actually published a reasoned opinion piece, about the Miss World rioting in Nigeria, that makes total sense. We direct your attention to a Guardian commentary today by Ian Buruma entitledLET'S HEAR IT FOR BAD TASTE . It's a surprisingly sensible look at the strange response of the mainstream Western press to the murderous "Miss World"...

I can’t believe it. We were so close to getting him. All we had to was beat Jeb in Florida and pick up one or two Senate seats and some Governors. We could have played it as a huge defeat for Bush. I worked so hard. I flew all over the place night and day. I gave up all this money from speeches and everything. All for nothing. The problem was we had such bad candidates. I had nothing to work with at all. McBride. He had to be the worst candidate I ever saw in my life. How could...

It has been my pleasure to participate as a caller to the Jayne Carroll program, which may be heard most weekdays....During such a call on Friday, November 8, 2002, I expressed some opinions that are also printed in this issue of Oregon Magazine, in two essays titled What Just Happened and The Media's the Message. A small firestorm erupted....(snip Too many conservative talk show hosts have been blaming the Libertarians for the Kulongoski victory. Kevin Mannix's campaign was, in fact, just not good enough to win under the circumstances.....Besides calling the Libertarians anarchists, which did not endear him to that...