what's wrong with this story?

Peter Luke is a first-rate reporter. This story about Michigan's struggle over water withdrawal legislation has no inaccuracies. Yet it's as unsatisfying as a bag of expired potato chips.

The longer version, which ran in other newspapers in the same chain around Michigan, has particular problems. It quotes an advocate on behalf of Nestle saying that water exported out of Michigan in bottles is no different from beer made with Great Lakes water as an ingredient shipped out of Wisconsin.

Among other fallacies:

* Water is not a man-made product. It's natural. Beer isn't.

* You can live without beer (although some in Wisconsin might disagree). You can't live without water.