Foreclosures up 63% Since Last Year

New Housing Starts Down 7.4%

Some economy, eh?

Thanks For The Deregulation

Former Missoula Mayor, Mike Kadis worked dilligently to get some power generation under public ownership while he was in that office. It is unfortunate that he did not succeed.

Read it and weep

Efforts by PPL Montana to sell its Montana power capacity out of state could leave the public here worse off than California consumers during the “California meltdown,” Montana Consumer Counsel attorneys argue.

The Counsel is asking federal regulators to move quickly to stop PPL Montana from replacing contracts with NorthWestern Energy by selling power outside of Montana.

“Montana’s electricity users depend upon this PPL Montana capacity,” attorneys for the Counsel wrote in a motion this week. They asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to move quickly to avoid “consumer abuse.”

This week’s motion was prompted by comments that Pennsylvania Power and Light Chairman and Chief Executive Officer William F. Hecht made to financial analysts on Sunday. In response to a question, he said that PPL had been selling some production in the Pacific Northwest and might be able to replace its contract with NorthWestern with smaller contracts elsewhere that carry higher profit margins.

PPL Montana’s contract with NorthWestern Energy expires in June 2007. While FERC has been considering whether to allow PPL Montana to charge rates based on what the market will bear rather than on its costs, the company has been “hedging” the contract by selling power outside Montana where it can charge market rates, Mr. Hecht said.

The Counsel already was seeking an expedited ruling from FERC on its contention that PPL Montana should be required to sell power in Montana on a cost basis rather than a market basis. The Counsel argues that competitive markets for power do not exist in Montana.

It worked So Well In Iraq

Welcome to the Divided Police States of America.

The President has no plan to get the troops out of...our own country?

NSA Wiretapping

Somewhere in the avalanche of distractions in my mind is the recollection that Congress explicitly defunded TIA so the Bush Administration did a run around on it.

So, if Congress defunded the data mining, who is paying for it?

While I was there, I noticed that Shakespeares Sister posted Mission Creepy about

“Chief Privacy Officer” (WTF?) of Claria (nee Gator) being appointed to a four-year term on the Department of Homeland Security's Data Privacy and Integrity Advisory Committee.

How can this be anything but unconstitutional?

back up links in case we end up like correntewire here and here.

farmer has more on the recent telecom info dump.

Discouraging Democratic Participation

Georges Will an Stephanopolis really had a heyday about the level of community service that young Progressives are doing now. They said that no generation has ever done more and joked about them locating a group of lepers to read to.

They talked about how these kids need to be kids, yada yada yada. Why can't they cheerlead the war between video games on their daddy's couch like the young Republicans? Omigod, please make them stop helping others before the Proles notice!

Big money is getting pretty darn scared of our beautiful next generation.