While checking out the news that Iraq is pumping oil to Turkey again, I was able to read this fascinating story in the Denver Post about how Montana Power basically willed itself out of existance in five years.

I have feelings towards deregulation that are akin to those I described regarding pharmaceutical companies, a vague uneasy feeling that I have trouble quantifying. In this case thought I feel that I have a little more direction, as utilities have always struck me as the sort of thing the government should be keeping an eye on (if not both eyes).

Not that it always helps. I have a feeling my hometown's approach to water has screwed folks for decades, given that a town of under 6000 has more than one sewage treatment plant. While it may verify what I've felt- that many of the folks in my hometown are indeed full of crap - it also suggests someone was keeping an eye on things while their brain was on holiday.