Lamest. Disaster. Ever.

The Situation Room spent hours and hours yesterday telling us there was a power outage that lasted about an hour and a half in parts of Los Angeles.

Here in the south/midwest, power outages happen. Nothing to get upset about. Certainly nothing to devote national news coverage to.

Here's my favorite snippet:

BLITZER: I am sure that this is strictly coincidental, Jen, but I do want to point out and remind our viewers only yesterday there was an al Qaeda video from an American member of al Qaeda, who suggested that Los Angeles, suggested that Los Angeles was a potential target of al Qaeda. Melbourne, Australia, was mentioned as well. But once again our Jeanne Meserve, our homeland security correspondent, quoting her sources at the Department of Homeland Security, as well as Jen Rogers, quoting sources over at the LAPD, suggesting that there's no indication that terrorism has played any role in this power outage in the Los Angeles area.

Then why are you bringing it up? There's no indication it was caused by a cult of Presbyterian gnomes, either. Why not bring up that possibility and then say there's no indication of that.

It is just such attempts to hype events that caused a lot of people to stay in New Orleans. Remember the hyperventilating Anderson Cooper did on an earlier hurricane this year when it blew down a sign? Remember Hurricane One?

So this time, when tne networks warned the people of New Orleans about the approach of Katrina, isn't it reasonable to assume that some people believed the networks were just crying wolf again?

Oh my God. The wind is blowing. Maybe CNN should break in for live coverage.