Do You Know What It Means To Diss New Orleans - or Tick Off Dick Cheney?

RJ Eskow of the Huffington Post writes:

Why won't the Bush Administration help the Entergy Corporation in Louisiana? After all, they helped bail out the airlines after 9/11, and Entergy is led by a former Trent Lott crony, Curt Hebert, an advocate at the far right end of the free-market spectrum. Don't they usually come to the aid of a company - and a crony - in need?

What's different this time?

The government's rebuff of this corporation, which is led by a longtime Republican insider (albeit one appointed originally by a Democrat), appears inconsistent with their typical way of doing business.

There's more than one possible explanation for it, but it could be payback for crossing Dick Cheney and Ken Lay. Whatever you think of Entergy and whether or not you support helping them with federal money, it would be a shame if hurricane victims are hit yet again - with higher utility costs - as part of a political vendetta.

As the worst of the Enron-driven fiasco was laying waste to California (remember those traders gloating over screwing grandmothers out of their life savings?) Hebert was head of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). He was quoted as saying at the time that "the good people of ... California are much smarter than anybody in Washington ever gives them credit for, and they know when to turn their lights off."

His statements reflected badly on the role of government as protector of the people's interests, but in that respect Hebert was certainly echoing the views of his Administration. So why has that same Administration, which has bailed out other corporations, turned on his company? Not only won't they step in, but they've made it clear that they'll refuse to let Congress help.

The rest of the post can be found here:
Do You Know What It Means To Diss New Orleans - or Tick Off Dick Cheney? | The Huffington Post