Blackouts and Terrorism: Well, it's clear that without 9/11, the blackout in NYC (no other areas were affected, right?) would have been perhaps front-page news, but certainly without the banner headlines. And, CNN wouldn't have devoted nearly all of its airtime to it, nor would my viewing of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy been interrupted to watch W stumble through an impromptu address to the American people from California (to call him ineloquent does a disservice to stammerers everywhere). I saw some quote on the news where they were interviewing people on the street in NYC (again, fortunately, the only city affected) who were rushing to the ferry as they "were scared" and "didn't know what was going on." I guess the thousands of extra police (NYPD) and fire (FDNY) personnel on the scene telling them not to panic due to the "Blackout" was not enough.

One funny aside was in one of the several interviews with Gov. Pataki (well, as the governor of the state where the only city afflicted by this blackout, you can see why he'd be consulted) took the opportunity to blame the A.G. of Conn. who had apparently sued NY over its attempt to create some new power avenues. Even in the trenches, the political animal stalks his prey.