MESSING WITH MOTHER NATURE

Anyone who doesn't think there is too much government need only look at what has been going on the past week at the Grand Canyon.

No, it isn't deeper or wider or longer for the gawking tourists. But the Colorado River, tamed since 1963 by the Glen Canyon Dam, had been regulated into a full-blown flood.

The government agency that pulled out the plugs is the same agency, of course, that permitted the dam to be built for use by power companies. But by controlling -- over-regulating, some might say -- the flow of the river that was mighty enough to carve out the Grand Canyon in the first place, the canyon's environment has gone to pot.

Government's solution? Flood week. Let the water stir up the muck and imitate nature for awhile.

This is the same government that has dammed up rivers and built levees and turned vast swamps into farmland -- mostly with little or no consideration for the long-term consequences.

What next? Earthquake week?