PG&E and its Power Games

For years PG&E has routinely siphoned money it should have been spending on maintaining and updating its equipment for safety reasons into the hands of CEOs. Kind of a standard business practice in the age of out-of-control capitalism. This lack of safety has mixed with idiotic forestry practices initially pushed by big lumber companies and climate change to create a situation that has burned down thousands upon thousands of acres of forests, destroyed towns, and killed people. Now, when facing lawsuits, PG&E has taken an order from Governor Brown to the extreme and has started shutting off power to communities whenever the wind blows ... literally.

Fuck Armageddon, this is Hell -- PG&E style!

PG&E has never been known for its business sense, so to examine it there would be an exercise in futility. Instead, I like looking at the reaction of the public it serves.

First, when there is any cry of putting PG&E into the public's hands (not a foreign concept at all in America), there are the usual alarmist cries of "socialism." Those cries don't come for the other public services in the public's hands, but when it comes to PG&E ... yikes! Those fearful puppies aren't exactly incorrect, but they aren't totally faithful to their beliefs, either. Instead, they just seem to be repeating what they heard from someone else without really thinking about it, which is how a surprisingly large amount of PG&E's service district reacts. You would almost think they have been trained ...

There are those, and it's a growing number, who have taken this opportunity of PG&E's game playing to blame Governor Newsom and demand his recall. Some are even saying he is directly ordering the power company as to when to shut down the power. Never mind the fact that PG&E's own CEO has testimony on record, easily read by anyone who cares, that blatantly states the decision to cut power to communities is all on PG&E. All of it. On record. Do these recallers tell anyone that? No. Of course not. They want Newsom gone because he isn't a Republican, and they are latching onto this decidedly heated topic in order to gain support. If only they had picked a different reason I may have supported them.

Then there is the segment of the population, and it is large, that says, don't blame the PG&E workers out there fixing the lines (some have been attacked apparently). It isn't their fault. Say prayers for them instead. I have no problem with this, but then PG&E put out a PSA asking for the same thing, and nobody batted an eye. Nobody said, "Hey, wait, PG&E. You put your workers in these situations. Yes, those workers' families are affected by this, too, because you created this situation. Don't ask the public to treat them with respect. Just stop cutting the fucking power and do maintenance on your lines."

The end result is pretty clear. With PG&E filing for bankruptcy, asking for a rates increase to fix the safety issues (that worked so well in the years prior), and the fact that it had to give so many rebates out to affected communities, it's easy to see that the company in its present state is not going to make it through another ten years. I'd love for it to be in the public's hands with people running it who are accountable to the public and not stockholders. I would also feel pretty confident that the money I'm paying to make the lines safe would actually be making the lines safe and not going toward purchasing someone a summer home. It's all about accountability. The powers that be at PG&E have accountability to its shareholders only, which would not be the case if the company were a public entity.

So, when all those around you are losing their minds and defending the company, hit them with some facts and see where that conversation goes. My guess is they go as quiet as quickly as the lights have been being shut off, and there is nothing wrong with that. Stupid is as PG&E does.

I Have Returned

After four years (!) of not updating this blog, I have returned. Why? In-N-Out Burger. Eureka, CA is finally getting one, and as expected, as if on cue, the community is going apeshit.

The responses, as seen in various social media outlets, range from the person being so excited that they "can't sleep" to those lamenting about what is happening to the locally owned burger joints when such an establishment comes in. For the most part, though, people are really, really excited. It's new! It's going to bring jobs! It's got great burgers! (Having eaten at one once, I can say I was not impressed, but that is, of course, just a matter of taste.)

It is new. It will bring a few jobs. And ... nothing. Nothing else. Picture having the kind of life where you get so excited over a burger place coming to your town that is in several other locations that you can't sleep. You can't sleep. Over a burger barn. A restaurant. A chain restaurant, at that. I can only imagine what would happen if we got an Olive Garden. That person would probably have a heart attack.

There are other responses in the media outlets. Some turn into an attack on Trump, which then causes the Trump puppets to start throwing around terms like "snowflake" and "libtard." Irony, it should be noted, is easily lost on the Trump puppets. It all plays out like this well-scripted show that we've seen a thousand times before. Another same episode of a long-running sitcom that was never all that funny to begin with. This is the state of Humboldt County, California. It would be hilarious if people weren't so damn proud of it.

So, yeah, after four years I'm back filled with anger and sarcasm. Some will say I've become harsher. Some will say I've become softer. Some will have missed me. Some will have wished I stayed gone. I don't care either way. I'm back. You, however, are free to leave.