"Plus que ca change, plus que c'est la meme chose".

Roughly, "the more it changes, the more it is the same thing."

Ma Bell is back. AT&T has grabbed BellSouth, one of the original split-offs of the great breakup engineered for "anti-trust" reasons. The combined BellSouth-AT&T will have 70 million local-phone customers in 22 states including four of the largest: Texas, California, Illinois and Florida. Ownership of Cingular Wireless LLC, the largest mobile-phone carrier, will give AT&T 54.1 million wireless subscribers and along with the business segment will make up 72 percent of total revenue. Sound familiar?

Of course, 10,000 jobs will be axed to the greater glory of corporate good and the ways of the free market ... oh dang, what free market? What happens if Dubai telephone decides to make a hostile bid for AT&T? Or is there some greater conspiracy to corner the US telecoms market ... again?

Wait, I can see Elliott Spitzer firing up the subpoena machine!!!