Lights are On

The lights are back on in the East Village – the very last of the blacked-out neighborhoods to get relit. I’m sure the preponderence of ‘projects’ here has nothing to do with our status on the priority list.

The blackout made for an interesting couple of days, particularly down in Tompkins Square, where a Burning-Man-like festival started up around midnight. They made a big bonfire out of trashcans and danced around it, jumped over it and made general mayhem. I don’t know if the second night would have been quite as fun-packed, because people seemed to be getting more irrate at the thought of another dark steamy night. With no water.

Great but disturbing article on the real backstory to this minor disruption of modernity at GregPalast.com. It’s all the result of a certain kind of monopoly-driven deregulation, which isn’t really deregulation at all.

Remember: the Bush administration has been about Energy Money from the beginning. No conspiracy theories required. Just follow the money, or the front page of the newspaper. Consider changes in Mideast policy, the history of Bush relations with Bin Laden, or why Gray Davis is getting recalled.

All is one. All is one.