If you're eating out in Salt Lake County, you now can check health-inspection records to make sure you're eating at a clean restaurant (go to www.slvhealth.org/). This reminds me of a fight a few years ago at the Legislature. Conservatives there, who would have been on the side of open government if they truly understood their own ideology, were behind an unsuccessful attempt to make restaurant inspections secret statewide. The reason? We in the media are evil and would use the information to exaggerate small problems and hurt restaurant owners.

So, did you notice the first story in this newspaper on the new database? It was headlined, "102 eateries in S.L. Valley get perfect health scores."

 Do you feel better about your credit cards now that Washington passed a law making it harder for banks to tinker with interest rates and punish delinquent customers? Just remember, free markets are like running water. Governments can try to impede flows, but the water will just find new places to cut paths. In this case, the credit-card companies are likely to punish good customers, especially those who pay off balances each month, by taking away perks and charging fees.

By the way, that credit-card law includes an unrelated item making it legal to carry loaded weapons into national parks. The left thinks this will lead to carnage. Let's see what happens. About 270 million people visit the parks each year, with about 10 to 20 homicides. My guess? You'll see little change.

If the old saying, "as GM goes, so goes the nation" is true, we could be in real trouble.

Jay Evensen is editor of the Deseret News editorial page. E-mail: even@desnews.com. Visit his blog at www.deseretnews.com/blogs.