I totally called this one...

Reuters reports that an ice storm put nearly a million midwesterners out of power. In case you don't understand why this is enough to make me blog at midnight, let me point something out. A storm in January knocked out what may be our most critical national asset, our power grid. The government spends more than fifty billion dollars a year on homeland security, with much of it going to protecting our infrastructure. An infrastructure that can be destroyed by a perfectly normal, average storm.

The American Society of Civil Engineers, a non-partisan, non-profit organization put out their annual report card, and it isn't pretty.

2009 GRADES

• Aviation D
  
• Bridges C
  
• Dams D
  
• Drinking Water D-
  
• Energy D+
  
• Hazardous Waste D
  
• Inland Waterways D-
  
• Levees D-
  
• Public Parks & Recreation C-
  
• Rail C-
  
• Roads D-
  
• School D
  
• Solid Waste C+
  
• Transit D
  
• Wastewater D-

If you got those kinds of grades, your parents would likely be fairly pissed. Its estimated that the US needs to spend 2.2 trillion to fix it, and it was needed yesterday. In the last few days, more than 100,00 people have lost their jobs. You know what creates jobs, future wealth, and fixes these problems? Say it with me...

INFRASTRUCTURE!

UPDATE: DOE now reports that 1.3 million are without power, and may not get it until February!