"This is a valid news story. The casualty figures for this monster storm have been incredibly low thus far. If there are more victims than have been reported, the public has a right to know. I would further argue that the public has a right to see. It goes without saying that the public has a right to transparency in government, even in, particularly in, a disaster situation.

Nothing good is going to come of this blackout. The timing of it, six weeks prior to the fall election, is suspect, and it’s not tinfoil territory to suspect opportunism on the part of authorities at some or all levels, to take advantage of the badly-fucked up infrastructure and still-scattered populace and avoid the kind of graphic photos of death and destruction we’ve all still got in our heads from post-Katrina."

"Hopkins then lays out the twelve steps (not sequential) necessary to create a transition town:

1. Set up a steering group with a temporary life
2. Raise awareness
3. Network with others in the community to lay foundations
4. Organize the launch ('unleashing')
5. Self-organize working groups
6. Use Open Space methodology
7. Develop visible practical manifestations of the project
8. Develop a reskilling project
9. Build a bridge to co-opt local government
10. Honour the elders (and learn important local history from them)
11. Let it evolve the way it wants to
12. Include an energy descent plan to be prepared for the End of Oil"

"OK, got it cracked. Don’t be a shareholder, or a preferred shareholder, or even a creditor or a policyholder. Just be a counterparty to a sleazy derivatives bucket shop — AIG Financial Products (AIG), to pick a name at random — and your chips, with applicable profits, will be returned no questions asked. "