"Michigan would be part of the Great Lakes Compact (throwing away one of it's only remaining comparative advantages, deepening the state's depression and reducing further already dim chances for recovery - Hayekian) under bills approved unanimously by the Senate Natural Resources and Environmental Affairs Committee Wednesday.

"In a meeting that was cut short by session and taken up by a room full of elementary students and their bill to make a frog the state's official amphibian, the House Great Lakes and Environment Committee heard a small portion of testimony on Wednesday on a similar package of bills. After passing HB 4703, which designates the Spring Peeper as the state's amphibian, the panel used the short time it had left to delve into what Committee Chair Rebekah Warren (D-Ann Arbor) said after three months of work is now a package in 85 percent agreement with the Senate's version of conservation bills."

This reminds me of the scene in Dr. Strangelove, where Herr Doktor demands that the Soviet ambassador explain why his country did not reveal their new end-of-the-world device, set to go off automatically in the event of a nuclear attack on Russia:

Dr. Strangelove (in thick German accent):
"Yes, but the... whole point of the doomsday machine... is lost... if you keep it a secret! Why didn't you tell the world, eh?"

Soviet Ambassador DeSadeski:
"It was to be announced at the Party Congress on Monday. As you know, the Premier loves surprises."

Yes, and legislators love their meaningless symbols. But the Great Lakes Water Compact is one "symbol" whose effect on the state economy is likely to be the equivalent of a cobalt bomb. The Mackinac Center's Russ Harding has explained why.