I’ve got a lot to do today, so rapid posting now with return later in commments, go read this tale of what I’m going to start calling “predatory government.” Here’s a sample:

federal appeals court has revived California’s request for at least $1 billion in refunds to electricity customers, saying federal regulators who denied the repayments had ignored tapes in which Enron traders joked about gouging customers during the energy crisis of 2000-2001.

The ruling was issued Friday by the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, which repeatedly has found that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission abused its authority or violated its own rules in considering the state’s claims of multibillion-dollar overcharges during the energy crisis.  Read more