A good point.

My friend, Free Thought, recently left a comment on my post entitled "Insanity." In the post, I quoted Albert Einstein's suggestion that to do the same thing over and over while expecting a different result is the very definition of insanity. I pointed out that we are losing money on several of our city's ventures, yet we seem to be plowing ahead on a half a billion dollar coal plant with the assumption that it won't happen again. His comment:

You keep saying you want to support the plant. At what point do you decide we cannot take the gamble since we do not have enough information?

It seems to me that the public is in the position of (a) trusting our elected (and under them, appointed and hired) officials, or (b) taking active stances against the plant.

Not being a trusting type, I think we are needing to go to opposition, at least until your questions are answered.

I answered him privately:

A very cogent point. But I am not prepared to go there, quite yet. Primarily because I think there is an awful lot of backup, Tim Gregori, the underwriters, etc. (Not that New York bankers can't hose us. See: Utility Deregulation.)

So far I think it is more an issue of ongoing lousy governance than a bad plan.

He responded to me with the best point I have seen in a while, especially given the whole point of the original post:

So, If a person asks the same questions over and over, getting a condescending pat on the head and evasion each time, how would you define the act of repeating those questions?