« Soulful Strut | Main | Electoral Calculus »
June 17, 2004
I've Got The Power
Given the remarkable number of scandals that have bubbled to the surface during these oh-so-glorious Bush II years (Halliburton no-bid contracts, the Chalabi mess, the Abu Ghraib prison fiasco, the Plame affair, the yellowcake lies, no WMDs, those pre-9/11 intelligence memos, the medicare bill cost distortions, the list just goes on and on...), it's no wonder that people would have mostly forgotten about the California energy crisis of 2000-2001. I barely thought about it during the last couple of years and I actually lived in CA back then. Granted, I only lost my electricity once for a very brief period and I never had to pay exorbitant power rates (thanks to laws preventing PG&E from passing on those ridiculous wholesale electricity costs to customers). Anyway, big kudos to CBS News and reporter Vince Gonzales for bringing the California energy crisis back into the light with several recent stories about some very incriminating audio tapes of Enron energy traders discussing the situation in extremely colorful and coarse language (example: "Oh best thing that could happen is fuckin' an earthquake, let that thing float out to the Pacific and put 'em fuckin' candles"). The tapes are basically a smoking gun that proves what Gov. Gray Davis (who, despite his many other faults, indirectly and unfairly lost his job because of the whole budget-busting energy fiasco) and a lot of other people suspected all along: that there was no real power shortage and that Enron and the other energy companies were completely manipulating the recently deregulated electricity market in order to drive up prices and maximize their profits. The Seattle Times recently posted sample audio clips and written transcripts of several of these Enron trader conversations and they're pretty outrageous - in both the "hilarious" and "infuriating" senses of the word.
Ever since the big Enron bankruptcy and subsequent accounting scandal broke a couple of years ago, I've gotten a perverse pleasure from laughing at all things Enron-related. I still enjoy hunting for Enron memorabilia on eBay....funny stuff like the "Enron Code of Ethics" (unused, of course!!) or Enron schwag peppered with ironic quotes like "Ask Why" or MLK's "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter." But I digress....I got such a kick out of these Enron trader conversations that I decided to take portions of the audio clips and incorporate them into a remix of a song that seemed pretty topical: Snap!'s big 1990 hit "The Power". I uploaded the mp3 file here in case anyone is interested in hearing it. While I was working on this tonight I discovered that more tapes are actually being released, perhaps due to pressure from Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA). Cantwell has rightfully pointed out that the corporate lackeys at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission have been suppressing these tapes for over two years now. If the new tapes have some even juicier Enron trader conversations (and I bet they do), someone with superior digital audio skills should try a remix of the Electric Slide (aka "Electric Boogie" by Marcia Griffiths) or maybe Eddy Grant's "Electric Avenue". And then we'll take it higher...
Posted by Tim at June 17, 2004 01:21 AM
Comments
I have a friend whose husband used to work for Enron - she sent me a package once with a note enclosed on his personal stationery with the big "E" on it. I have to say it gave me pause.
Posted by: pinky at June 17, 2004 01:26 PM
have you seen the boingboing love: http://www.boingboing.net/2004/06/17/enroni_got_the_power.html
Posted by: justin at June 17, 2004 05:39 PM
The state of California is now being forced to "pay back" money to the energy companies that swindled it. No joke. This just came out last week or so.
Posted by: robin at June 18, 2004 09:07 PM
Thanks for this! Love the truth remix. That's what I call it. Thank you. People need to understand that the equation is people over profits not profits over people. Keep capitalism in check or we're done.
Posted by: John Lucas at July 13, 2004 02:25 PM