Welcome back, Ma.

(AP) The Justice Department gave its unconditional approval to AT&T Inc.'s buyout of BellSouth Corp. on Wednesday, a coast-to-coast behemoth that would be the largest U.S. provider of telephone, wireless and broadband Internet services.

You're still glowin', you're still crowin', you're still goin' strong.

"AT&T is focused on bringing more video choices and next-generation broadband services to as many consumers as possible, and our merger with BellSouth will help deliver these benefits to more consumers, more quickly," Ellis said.

"Ellis" is a lawyer. AT&T has been run by lawyers since the mid-50s.

Full disclosure here. I worked, not for AT&T but for a major subsidiary thereto, in the 60s and 70s. I thought then and still do that AT&T was a much better company than is popularly believed where providing universal telephone service is concerned. But this new merger is not about providing telephone service - it is, as "Ellis" points out, about video and the Internet. And it is, IMHO, YA really, really bad idea.