Reading a couple of more right-focused blogs this afternoon where people were shouting about widespread and relatively long lasting power outages in Queens, NY (going on for days) and with blistering heat in California, I can honestly pay I "feel your pain". In Vermont, I've suffered many days-long outages that not only stopped my life but also my work.
But let me point out that inconvenient truth I mentioned above. In Baghdad, since Bush had the military take over at the point of a tank, electricity yet remains more of a luxury than a dependable resource. Parts of the city are often without power for 10-18 hours out of every 24 hour period, a problem they have only seen under U.S. control and not under the despot Saddam Hussein. Nor is Baghdad the only Iraqi city or town with such service woes.
And in the 11 days since Israel first began dropping huge bombs and missiles on Lebanon, many people have been without power in Beirut and other communities for just that long. Many parts of the Gaza where so many Palestinians live have been without power for most of a month since Israel wiped out their electrical plant. Neither place probably expects to see electricity again for a very long time; certainly Israel would have to stop the attacks first and there is no sign that will happen any time soon.
In America, a power outage is the end of the world. If we're without electricity even 15 minutes, we whine and complain and "want something done about it right here, right now". Yet I'm sure a number of Americans - including those without electricity right now - see zero problem with the U.S. causing Iraq to be dark and Israel cutting off electricity to Gaza and Lebanon. On a few blogs today, I've seen the same people shouting about no power here in about the same breath call those in Iraq, Lebanon, and Gaza "babies" for demanding electricity.
Strange how that works, eh? Perspective is everything.
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