Severe thunderstorms Tuesday and Wednesday left over 100,000 people in the DC area without power. Then last night yet ANOTHER round of strong storms rolled through. Even this morning, several thousand remain without power. Many of those have been so since round one back on Tuesday.

The severity of the storms, coupled with the extended blackouts, have of course led to an abundance of TV stories about how people are coping. One TV reporter in particular who excells at this is the very serious sounding Pat Collins, who always sounds like he's talking about some horrible calamity. He could be doing a story on the successful rescue of a kitten from a tree, and it would end up sounding so depressing you'll want to jump off the roof.

Typically these stories begin with a very somber Collins saying something like "We are on Mayberry Street in Rockville. Behind me you can see a tree lying across a street. Until yesterday that tree had stood for 169 years in the front yard of the Finkel family's townhouse. But no longer. And not only is the tree but a memory now, so is the Finkels' electricity." Collins will then turn to the man standing next to him and ask, "Mr. Finkel, what is it like without electricity?" Mr. Finkel will then give some inane answer about the family becoming closer.

In other words, a load of crap....

Just once I'd like to see the interview go in a, shall we say, "different direction:"

Collins: Mr. Finkel? I'm Pat Collins with WRC news. We're live on the air. Would you tell our viewers what's it's like with no electricity?

Mr. Finkel: Dark.

Collins: (Sounding deadly serious) Dark?

Mr. Finkel: Yeah, dark. There's no electricity, you f*cking moron. What did you think it would be like with no f*cking electricity!?!?! Do they actually pay you real money to come out here and ask stupid f*cking questions like that?

Collins: Uh.....
Mr. Finkel: And the whole f*cking family is at one another's throats!!! The kids are bored f*cking stiff, and the wife is bitchin' about my drinking again!!! Well, YOU try living in THAT house with THOSE people and YOU'D start drinking too!!! Drinking is the only f*cking thing in this miserable hell I'm living that gives me the strength to drag my unemployed ass out of the bed in the f*cking morning!!!

Collins: Uh....

Mr. Finkel: And now you want to know what it's like to be stuck in a dark overheated house with a dysfunctional family that hasn't bathed in four days!?! Well, I'm ready to EAT MY GUN!!! Does THAT answer your stupid f*cking question, you stupid f*ck!?! (Finkel grabs Collins by the throat).

Collins: Urgh.....

Camera flails wildly as sounds of scuffle ensue. Screen goes blank. Station cuts to acid reflux ad.