Someone tell me why the Gasoline Shortage issues is NOT front page news in the media???

[LynneSin]

Hurricane Ike hit HOW MANY weeks ago and we're still out of gas in the south. This is a major story. If there was some sort of pipe line burst you think that the government would be right on top of that so they could get gasoline flowing again. But instead this story is getting buried because who would it make look bad - REPUBLICANS

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iXL53Rj9GZchAO3DZxjwZFHHjRFAD93GKPBO0

Gas shortage plagues the Southeast
By KATE BRUMBACK – 1 day ago

ATLANTA (AP) — Motorists are rising before dawn so they can be at the filling station when the delivery truck arrives. Some are skipping work or telecommuting. Others are taking the extreme step — for Atlanta — of switching to public transportation.

Across a section of the South, a hurricane-induced gasoline shortage that was expected to last only a few days is dragging into its third week, and experts say it could persist into mid-October. The Atlanta area has been hit particularly hard, along with Nashville and western North Carolina.

Those lucky enough to find gas are paying more than drivers elsewhere around the country.

"I've used up gas just looking for gas," said Larry Jenkins, a construction worker who pulled his red pickup truck into a Citgo station in Charlotte, N.C., on Monday. The sign said $3.99 a gallon, but the pumps were closed. Many filling stations in the area have not had gas for days.

"Right now, I'll pay anything for gas," Jenkins said. "I don't care if it's $5 or $6 a gallon. I need it."

The shortage started with the one-two punch of Hurricanes Gustav and Ike, which shut down refineries along the Gulf Coast. Now, more than two weeks after Ike, many refineries are still making fuel at reduced levels.

[spanone]

1. into our third week of shortages in middle tenn.....it's an issue here.

[LynneSin]

4. Well I'm in the Northeast and it's hardly a message out there

and I wish it was - the rest of the country needs to be aware of what kind of shape the south is in. Perhaps this is attributing to Georgia's sudden swing to the left.

[meegbear]

8. You're in Delaware, NOT the Northeast ...

and here in the Northeast, we're not affected at all. But I have seen my local news cover it; not the first story, but covered.

[LynneSin]

18. OMG, I never realized that

UGH and some maps have me part of the *** gasp *** SOUTH!!!

No way, as far as I'm concerned anything north of the canal here in Delaware is the Northeast. Worst case we'll just be the Mid-Atlantic States - that I can live with

[meegbear]

23. You're Mid-Atlantic ...

us Northeasters gotta keep our pride.

[LynneSin]

31. Technically the Mid-Atlantic is a subset of the Northeast so deal with it

Don't you want to say the new VP of the US is from the Northeast?

[marions ghost]

34. It's debatable...

After all, Delaware was a slave state.

My Dad comes from Del-Mar-Va. The whole peninsula that Delaware is a part of is very like Virginia.

"Mid-Atlantic" works for me, but historically, Delaware has more in common with South than North.

I see it as a North-South border state, like West VA.


---------------------

As a cultural boundary
Modern definition

See map at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mason-Dixon_Line

The states in dark red are almost always included in modern day definitions of the South, while those in medium red are usually included. The striped states are sometimes/occasionally considered Southern. Note that the Mason-Dixon line forms part of the northern boundary of the striped states<2>

The Mason-Dixon line became symbolic of the division between the "free states" and "slave states" from the Missouri Compromise until the end of the American Civil War. Pennsylvania abolished slavery before the end of the American Revolution while Maryland, Delaware, Kentucky, and Missouri remained slave states until the end of the war.

After the Civil War, the line continued to be considered a cultural boundary. Some have imagined it continuing westward from Pennsylvania down the Ohio River to the Mississippi River, and crossing the Mississippi to place Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas south of the line. Debate whether border states such as Missouri, Kentucky, Maryland and West Virginia belong on the north or south side of this boundary line continues to this day.

[LynneSin]

35. That's not true with the entire state

The break is the canal. Anything below the canal is what we northerns refer to as "Slower Delaware". New Castle County is definately Yankee Mentality here but the southern counties of delaware it's like a different world down there - one I try to avoid and one that is not as populous as the northern blue state

[marions ghost]

39. OK....

most states have an urban/rural divide. If you want to sever off that more rural part of the state for being terminally Southern (and therefore backward in your book), go ahead. That certainly fits the definition of border state schizo mentality.

Lots of good people in the part of that you wish to avoid. And I'm sure they're fine with you avoiding them. You really buy into the whole "red-blue" divide as being North-South. It's an artificial construct--this country is purple.

[protect our future]

45. "Slower Delaware" LOL! nt

[protect our future]

10. My opinion is because the deep South is unimportant to this election.

No matter what, the South will vote Republican. If the gas shortage is alleviated, the South votes Republican. If the gas shortage continues, the South votes Republican.

So it's not big news.

What is big news is what the country is going through concerning the bailout bill.

[protect our future]

14. Republicans don't care. Why should they? The South will always vote for them.

No matter what.

[bdamomma]

37. even send their sons and daughters to fight for these pigs.

[lurky]

21. Obama is looking surprisingly strong in Georgia

and last I saw he is ahead in NC.

Sure, he's not going to win in Alabama, but he is making big inroads into the Southeast, especially in the large states (read: most electoral votes).

[protect our future]

30. The MSM doesn't want we the people to know that Obama is

ahead in NC because that would signal a possible landslide. The MSM has to maintain that the election is very close or their big bucks would be smaller.

[Mutley]

38. Dupe

[Mutley]

40. Are you saying you only care about Americans in blue states?

A significant portion of Americans can't get gas to go to work, take their kids to school, restock groceries, run their businesses, etc. Seems like it should be big news to me.

[protect our future]

44. No, I'm saying that the South is unimportant in this election. nt

[KamaAina]

47. Some polls give Obama a slim lead in NC

where people have been working the gas lines registering voters! :yourock:

edit: header

[raccoon]

17. In upstate SC, it is too. nt

[fed_up_mother]

32. We have plenty of gas right where the hurricane hit

I think a pipeline was damaged in your area or not working properly , so all gas is having to be trucked in. Hopefully, this will be fixed very soon.

[tekisui]

2. Good question.

It's been bad here in Asheville, NC. This week had been better, no 3 hour lines for gas, but it's still scarce.

I don't know why the national media ignores it.

[frickaline]

3. maybe so people don't panic and make things worse than they are?

The story is getting some coverage, which is good, but I think to put this front page would be a bit irresponsible.

[LynneSin]

7. I think to put it on the frontpage would create an outrage as to why we aren't fixing this

The only people who would panic over this story getting more widespread attention are the republicans, who once again have their hands mucked in this mess

[Phentex]

28. No, it has created more panic...

and part of it IS human nature.

There are people who really need gas to get to and from work each day, stopping for gas a few times a week. Commute times can be long and unpredictable. Then there are those who just need gas on a regular basis about every few weeks, or even just once a week. But when you hear that you may not be able to find gas, when you do see a station open, you stop and fill up...because you don't know if you'll see it again when you actually need it. Stations are getting gas. People are just sheeping it up.

So now we're down to stations having for gas for short periods of time, long waits, police patrols, constant discussion about it at the water cooler, newspeople camped at gas stations for up to the minute reports on any fights breaking out...it's quite fun. UGH!

[taterguy]

5. Because people dumb enough to live in the Southeast deserve whatever bad things happen to them

Obviously

[TheCowsCameHome]

6. It's getting 0 coverage in most places

One report I did hear was 7 in 10 stations in Charlotte were dry.

How is this not getting more attention?

[daa]

9. Here in Georgia it is big

but it is only Carolina, Tenn. and Ga.

[supernova]

11. Because the rest of the country does not care about the South

:sarcasm:

:pals: Thanks, LynneSin!

[stray cat]

12. I'm in NY and i hear about it regularly even though we are not affected

[raccoon]

13. Reckon it's because the election is so near?

Naaaaaaaaahh, couldn't be. :sarcasm:

[TankLV]

15. Because it's not happening to US - so WE DON'T CARE. There.

sorry t0 say - that is the philosophy we're operating under...

[nolabels]

16. They only want to play happy-happy fun-fun news !

Except for part of the trained monkey telling us about the doom and gloom if congress doesn't pass the bail-out :shrug:

[RufusEarl]

19. If this continues, it'll be hard for allot of people to get to the polls

in November. And of course it's only happening in the south, as of today. Who knows what it will be like come election day, just saying..........

Peace!

[Mika]

20. Yeah. Like Exxon/Mobil/Shell/Chevron paid news bobbleheads are going to cover it.

[SmokingJacket]

22. What I find weird is that prices here are going down, while elsewhere

there's a shortage. Historically, haven't prices always shot up when there's a shortage anywhere? I mean, remember Katrina, when shortages were just threatened?

My tinfoil says that there's a very powerful downward force on prices shortly before the election. And a corresponding blindness to the shortages people are experiences.

[NashVegas]

24. I Guess No One Thinks They Have Anything to Gain By It

The American press is lazy. That's the #1 axiom. If it's not getting as much coverage as it should, that's because there are no publicity agencies pushing the story to news editors, and offering their clients to be interviewed. This leaves the press to *gasp* work - if they want to cover the story.

On a more altruistic level, they might not wish to cause further panic. When word got out in Nashville Monday morning after Ike that the east part of the state was out of gas, the rush started.

[SammyWinstonJack]

27. $3.39 here in San Antonio and no shortage that I am aware of.

[Phentex]

29. as been repeated...

the threat of snow in Atlanta causes a shortage of toilet paper, milk and bread. :)

[dkofos]

25. I'm guessing this will persist until after the election.

There is no reason for it.
The Dallas area had minor shortages for about
5 days in the outlying areas. Nothing since.

I call bullshit on the one two punch of Gustav & Ike as an excuse.

There are refineries in Miss. Al. and La. that didn't shut down.

Try asking the stations where they get their gas from normally.
That may help you understand where the shortage problem is coming from.

[ogneopasno]

26. Having worked for a daily newspaper, I can tell you

that it has much to do with the big "local, local, local" push that most newspapers now follow. It takes a lot to get a non-local story on the front page, especially at second-tier dailies. If you're asking specifically about why it's not on every front page across the nation right now, that's why -- not the editors and reporters sitting around trying to figure out if each and every story that comes across the wire makes Republicans look bad or not.

[chicagoexpat]

33. When ur house is burning down, no one cares that ur cat ran off

Except those who deal w/ the fire by burying their heads in the kitty litter box

[bdamomma]

36. also gone from the headlines is how

people are doing in Texas after the Hurricane, don't hear anything about that either. never hear about Iraq either. shameful, the media needs to be kicked to the curb.

[Dover]

41. I have only been peripherally aware but a google brings up LOTS of links to MSM stories.

I don't watch T.V. much, or subscribe to a major paper. So I'm not a good
judge of its newsworthiness. But it seems to have gotten mainstream coverage.
Don't really understand this shortage though.


Gas shortage spurs telework in southeast U.S.
http://www.networkworld.com/news/2008/092808-gas.html

South Copes With Severe Gas Shortages
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/22/us/22gas.html


Gas shortage leads to fights, threatens college football in South
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/09/26/gas.shortage.roundup/index.html


Gas Shortage In the South Creates Panic, Long Lines
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2008/09/26/ST2008092600422.html

[RepublicanElephant]

42. the fix is in.

gov sonny perdue has a history of manipulating local gas supplies for his big business buddies.

after katrina, he closed schools, claiming there wasn't enough gas to go around. later, it was discovered that metro atlanta gas was being divereted to his buddies in big agriculture to keep their massive farming operations going.

this time around, ol' sonny is helping his oil buddies by using this "shortage" to pressure the epa into allowing lower grade, cheaper, dirtier gas to be put on the market at the same primo prices they're getting for cleaner gas. not to mention adding fuel to the offshore drilling fire - even though the damage to offshore oil rigs started all this in the first place.

some of this gas crises is hurricane-related and some is sonny-related.

[Janice325]

43. I live in the Atlanta area, and it's been no fun at all trying to

find a gas station that HAS gas and that doesn't have blocks long (yes, I said BLOCKS LONG lines).

Rachel Maddow of MSNBC did an interview with the business-editor of the Atlanta-Journal Constitution last night discussing the shortage. There's tons of media coverage of this locally, I guess it's not too big a story elsewhere-yet. I've seen some coverage on CNN, but that's based out of Atlanta anyway.

For what it's worth, our "dear" :sarcasm: governor Perdue(R) has been out of the country for the last several days. He's been quite helpful regarding the gas shortage situation. :sarcasm:

[tech3149]

46. Consider this.....It's a localized problem

I see it as a trial balloon to see what people will take before they revolt. In my area the gas price has been dropping and there's no shortage. Are distribution networks that localized? I can't think of a reason they should be.

Should this be national news? Hell yes! Someone is gaming us and I don't care who it is they should be exposed. The big question is why. There isn't much difference in delivering gas from NJ refineries or Gulf coast refineries, so there shouldn't be a problem with delivery.

I can only speculate and my guess is that we're being primed for a catastrophic lack of energy or probed to see just how much we'll take before we revolt.