In a church no less.

**Update** CNN reports it wasn't the finger but rather the hand-under-the-chin "fuck-off" gesture. I guess that makes it better, he only pulled a Cheney.

And in other random news I was glad to hear that people south of the border are rejecting the privatization myth as well.

I would like this myth of private enterprise being better than public to be studied and conclusively debunked, because I know that in a side-by-side comparison between government and private industry on regulation of major utilities, government is going to do a better job. Again and again government-run utilities, or (highly regulated and licensed private companies) perform better because they have accountability measures, no motivation for price-gouging (or it is hampered by regulation), and no stockholders to enrich. Utilities always end up resembling monopolies in the areas they serve because they own the pipes, cables, wires etc., and when they're handed over to businesses, it's like giving them permission to violate anti-trust laws. They never end up innovating and creating the infrastructure that would allow the competition they always promise, and what you end up with instead is the same old system for 5 times as much.

Enough of this privatization crap already. The argument about "self-regulation" and the "invisible hand of the market" is over. Free market utilies haven't worked anywhere they've been tried, and instead have created widespread consumer dissatisfaction (like in MD, VA etc.) and the biggest corporate scandals in history (Enron). Let's go back to public utilities and well-regulated private utilities, at least those worked and didn't rip everyone off.

**Update**
In Tuesday's post there is this article describing efforts by Marylanders to seize control of their public utilities from business interests. It is well known that the deregulation campaign in Maryland has been disastrous, and the remaining regulatory committee is a joke.

Want proof? The protestors demanding control of their public utilities have lost all power to their tanning beds.