Legalectric

Demand is down, ja, we know that, you betcha… and it seems word is finally getting out!

And we know those utilities and how badly they want to “prove” need, but hey, bullshit by any other name smells as sweet!

Reserve margins are at an all time high and projected to get higher, from the 2010 NERC Long Term Reliability Assessment:

And then there’s the MISO State of the Market Report agreeing:

Including all demand response capability, we estimate a planning reserve margin in the range of 28 percent to 37 percent depending on the summer capability of the resources that are assumed.  These margins substantially exceed MISO’s planning reserve requirements that have recently increased from 15 percent to 17 percent.

p. iii, Ex. Summary, 2010 MISO State of the Market Report.    Increased required reserve margins?  Hmmmmm, part of their hype on transmission build-out was that it would DECREASE reserve margins… but hey, they said “competition would decrease prices” didn’t they… and they ARE, but not for US, cost of electricity is only lower for those elsewhere, and not for those of us in a “low cost” state.  Consider Xcel’s request to raise electric rates 37.5% over the next 5 years…

And here is Associated Press saying what we already know…

Shocker: Power demand from US homes is falling

By JONATHAN FAHEY, AP Energy Writer – 23 hours ago

NEW YORK (AP) — American homes are more cluttered than ever with devices, and they all need power: Cellphones and iPads that have to be charged, DVRs that run all hours, TVs that light up in high definition.

But something shocking is happening to demand for electricity in the Age of the Gadget: It’s leveling off.

Over the next decade, experts expect residential power use to fall, reversing an upward trend that has been almost uninterrupted since Thomas Edison invented the modern light bulb.

In part it’s because Edison’s light bulb is being replaced by more efficient types of lighting, and electric devices of all kinds are getting much more efficient. But there are other factors.

New homes are being built to use less juice, and government subsidies for home energy savings programs are helping older homes use less power. In the short term, the tough economy and a weak housing market are prompting people to cut their usage.

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Yesterday at the Fair…

There’s Alan at the booth, and note the guy in the green…

As you all know, I’ve got a lot on my plate, what with utility money-mongers trying to remake their world, and ours… and all this flap about “gay marriage” is what I regard as a political distraction from the harm the right is doing with their mutant and malignant capitalism.  But yesterday at the “Our State Fair is a Great State Fair” some people really got to me with their hateful and absurd agenda.  As Alan asked, “Why do you care about this?”  What is it that drives someone to sit at a little wooden booth in the sun all day to argue that someone who is gay should not be able to marry their partner?  I passed the “Minnesota for Marriage” booth in disgust, noting there was a video camera on a tripod at the southern end of the booth.  And Alan, fresh from a visit to the Republican building, wanted to have a chat.  He’s such a quiet and calm questioner, and is able to elicit the most amazing statement from people in any venue.  He did it again.  He went up to the booth and began to ask a woman there some questions.  The first, “Why do you care about this?”  And instead of responding, she said “Do you mind if I ask you a couple questions?” and he said, demeanor well depicted above, ‘Well, actually, I do, I asked you a question, why do you care about this?”

Note the guy in the green…

After I took this photo, I turned to catch the full booth…

… and the woman on the left told me I can’t take photos.  Excuse me?  I said I could and did!  She demanded to know who I was taking it for, and I said, “For me, Carol A. Overland, legalectric.org, you’ll find it there if you’re interested.”  She again said I couldn’t take photos, and that I have to get permission and fill out a form, it’s “down there” waving toward the other end.  She also said one of the others at the other end was an attorney… (drat, should have had a chat with THAT person, maybe it was the guy in green, though I think she may have meant the woman talking to Alan).  I told her I don’t have to sign anything… Then I ask whether their agenda includes outlawing D-I-V-O-R-C-E (!) and she gets pissed and hollers that I’m off point.  EH?  MOI?  OFF POINT?  I’m asking the question, and that’s my point.

The guy in the green comes over and gets very close into my space and in front of me and says “we’ve had about enough” and I’m just getting going, so I say, “OK, great, I’ll get your photo too” and got out the camera again, this time catching him with the camera and camera guy that was off to the left — what were they doing with that video camera:

So were they filming everyone who came up to the booth???  It was positioned to get the front of the booth… Hmmmmm… anyway, at this point I left to sit in the shade and catch up with Alan after he finished.

The punchline?  The woman he was talking to had been scripted to ask questions, and to get you to a point where you agreed that there should be some limits on who could marry, and actually told him, “You know, in Europe, people are marrying animals!”  He asked what country and what animals, and she didn’t know… uh-huh, right… so logically, we NEED this amendment in Minnesota so we won’t be marrying animals.  Alan missed his opportunity to tell her all about our wonderful German Shepherds who we so love…

Their “Minnesota for Marriage” website has no “About Us” information, not one name there, it’s an anonymous shell, “powered by ACT Right.com” where:

You choose your favorite candidates, causes, and actions, tell your friends, and get to work immediately helping the right people and organizations instantly. If you are pro-life, pro-second amendment, and pro-traditional marriage, want to support the Susan B. Anthony List, the National Organization for Marriage and the NRA, while helping a House candidate in Texas and a Senate candidate in Maine, you can do it at ActRight.com .

Minnesota for Marriage is registered as a Ballot Question group: Minnesota for Marriage

Here’s their 2010 Lobbying Report, via Minnesota Family Council fax.