I've haven't been writing very much lately, but other people are keeping busy, and I thought I'd share a few items with you folks.

• Ken Lammers at Crimlaw has written a fascinating series of posts about how the criminal justice system (at least in his Virginia) determines the value of a stolen item for purposes of charging and sentencing. He covers items with a fairly obvious price tag, items without a price tag, and intangible property like music and software. It seems like a fairly thoughtful balance between an economically meaningful valuation and the need to have bright lines for making clear decisions.
• Meanwhile, over at Popehat, Ken is posting a multi-part series about his investigation of someone who tried a fake invoice scam on him: Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3. [Update: Chapter 4] He shows how much information you can get about someone like this with simple, inexpensive online tools.
• And here's the important op-ed of the day, by Orin Kerr. Looks like the government is about to get its wish and make us all guilt of something.

(Hat tip: Greenfield)

I'm going to take a break for a week or so (maybe), but here are a few random shots around the web:

• I've always wondered why the TSA doesn't make it easier for passengers at security checkpoints to mail packages that they're not allowed to take on planes. I believe Jennifer has stumbled on the answer.
• You know how some legal bloggers try to get clients by posting about current events in the news in the hope that one of the participants will Google himself and hire the blogger to represent him? Here's how the the big dog does that.
• Timothy B. Lee has a pretty good response to the Jose Antonio Vargas story, but I actually like this piece of his even better, and not just because it's so similar to one of mine.
• Then there's a post of mine at Nobody's Business about the link between consensual crime enforcement and the abuse of our civil liberties.
• Finally, I posted the "No Knock Raid" music video that everyone else has already posted. Warning: It's not cheerful.

Random shots around the web:

• I'm sure the benefit to the food contractor is purely a coincidence.
• This crap from the TSA is so wrong.
• And, the TSA is using puppies for propaganda. Have they no decency!

Random shots around the web:

• Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio. Still a complete tool.
• Rather awesome response to a racist screed. Somebody get this guy a recording contract. Or an appearance on the Colbert Report.
• There's a lot I don't understand on Twitter, such as whatever this person is up to. What is that? A tsunami bot?
• Ken Lammers attending a conference about reforming the War On Drugs? You know, judging by his posts, he's slowly turning back into a defense lawyer...
• Ah, man, what's this about?

Random shots around the web:

• Kevin Smith is releasing a horror movie in which the bad guys are, basically, the Westboro Baptist Church.
• The Scarlett P.
• Twitter in a nutshell.
• Massively idiotic anti-terrorism training.
• Can't. Get. It. Out. Of. My. Head.

(Hat tip: Ethics Alarms)

Random shots around the web:

• Congratulations to the Jews, on beating the rap.
• Carl Hiaasen, who used to write fun books, apparently believes in the government needs to know how much pain medication everyone is taking.
• Not that drug monitoring would help.
• Note to teachers unions: This is why people hate you.

Apropos of nothing, do you remember that time a few years ago when everyone seemed to go through the same pop culture transition with regard to Britney Spears? Over a period of a few weeks, she went from being just another out-of-control celebrity to someone with serious mental health problems...and therefore no longer a fitting subject for comedic scorn. I think Charlie Sheen has reached that same tipping point. We'll see soon if he goes over, or if he just stays an entertaining jerk.

Winning.

Hat tip: Hit & Run.

Random shots around the web:

• I missed this earlier, but blocking the internet kill switch seems like a good thing.
• They say that "He who represents himself has a fool for a client." Does that apply to a criminal defense lawyer charged with a traffic misdemeanor?
• Sunday night's Oscar speech by the writer of The King's Speech encouraged David Tarrell to say some really interesting things about stuttering.
• Among the reasons why cops give out tickets and arrest people.

Random shots around the web:

• The state of Illinois has made it even easier for you to pay them to get your right to drive back after they take it away from you without bothering to convict you of a crime.
• Meanwhile in D.C., changes in drunk driving arrest procedures set up officers for a bit of a perjury trap.
• So, if I record a video of some children, and then I record someone singing a sexually explicit song, how much of a gap should I allow between the shots of the children and the shots of the sexually explicit song to avoid being charged with creating child-abusive material?
• This one brings back memories. The college I went to had tons of foreign students, including a lot of Muslims. I used to stumble across them all over the place.

Random shots around the web:

• Homeland Security can seize domain names? WTF?
• A little bit of crime facilitating speech (?) from Steve Graham (useful to the 420 crowd).
• More Venn diagram humor.
• Gang fight caught on video.
• Now matter how awful I think our criminal justice system is, I can always count on the crimlaw blogosphere to come up with new criminal justice horror stories I've never heard before.

Hat tip: Jesse Walker, Radley Balko.

Random shots around the web:

• It bothers me that foreigners need advice like this to enter my country.
• A terrible fate for a telegenic white girl.
• The true face of public education and an amazingly reasonable judge.
• This is kind of awesome.
• Lindsay Beyerstein explains why the kids-getting-high-on-bath-salts story isn't as exciting as it sounds.
• A law to make people be careful when walking.

Random shots around the web:

• Yet another reason why the U.N. is a joke.
• Why Ken Lammers should stay out of England. (Explanation)
• Why Canada's Human Rights Commission is a joke and why Patrick at Popehat should stay out of Canada.
• It looks like music piracy is now a matter of homeland security.
• Why I'm putting Jennifer in charge of Homeland Security if I'm ever elected President.

(Hat tip: Radley Balko)

Random shots around the web:

• The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has been returning overhead photos of the Apollo landing sites.
• Cory Maye is getting a new trial.
• Steve Landsburg slams Krugman and then praises Krugman. Sounds right to me in both cases.
• It just kills me that teachers grade students all the time, but their unions fight anything that suggests some teachers are better than others.
• Marc Randazza is a little down on the ABA.
• Hit the bitch. If you're gangsta enough.
• Blogger Lindsay Beyerstein is now writing stories for Newsweek.
• A short film about why campaign finance regulations suck.

 (Hat tip: Megan McArdle, Virginia Postrel, Radley Balko)

Random shots around the web:

• Economist Steven Landsburg is blogging to promote his new book.
• Another example of using civil forfeiture to turn a police force into a theft ring.
• The war on people in pain continues.

(Hit tip: Pete Guither)

Random shots around the web:

• Don't mess with Texas. Or Texas' pecans.
• When you've made the sale, quit talking.
• Remember when I called Money Laundering a fake crime?
• Sound like we should hire casino security experts to do the TSA's job.

Random shots around the web:

• Lousiana justice of the peace Keith Bardwell just denied a marriage license to an interracial couple. Money quote: "I'm not a racist. I just don't believe in mixing the races that way."
• No cost-of-living adjustments for Social Security recipients this year, presumably because their cost of living has not gone up in our crappy economy. Naturally, lobbyists are outraged and politicians want to spend our money.
• If the cybersquatter you just sued thinks being outside the country means he's judgement proof, he's forgotten about some of his assets.
• Thug life revisited.

Random shots around the web:

• On a per-capita basis, Jericho, Arkansas has got to be the worst-run town in the country.
• A lot of trouble comes from people forgetting this: "The sad truth is that the parties who seek to develop sophisticated and sensible schemes for state control quickly lose control over the administrative process to persons whose ambitions for state control are not bound by any fine-grained rationale."
• A police shooting gone really, really bad. And the follow up is even worse
• When you make recreational drugs illegal, you put criminals in charge of how safely they're made.
• Our robot president.
• Count me in: Chicagoans For Rio 2016.

(Hat tip: Balko)

Random shots around the web:

• How not to conduct an emergency drill.
• Scott Greenfield: So badass he doesn't remember how to give up.
• I agree with Peter Suderman: Patrick Swayze's coolest movie was neither Ghost nor Dirty Dancing.
• ...as well they should.

Random shots around the web:

• Not the craziest religion I've ever heard about: godchuck. (Warning: Plays Music)
• My wife and I have had conversations like this.

Random shots around the web:

• Norm Pattis continues his quiet war against his former sensei.
• Eric Turkewitz has some interesting things to say about his wife's ass.
• Fascinating discussion of medical responsibility for Michael Jackson's death in the comments at Kevin M.D.
• A new book about a heroic former prosecutor being stalked by someone she tried to put away for murder. By sleezebag former prosecutor Nancy Grace.
• Software that understands natural human language is the future of internet search. And this makes me think it always will be.

Random shots around the web:

• I guess this is easier than, you know, catching criminals.
• More evidence that our harsh treatment of released sex offenders is just ineffective security theater.
• I should have seen this coming: Michael Jackson sightings.
• The death of Spiderman? Or at least the death of an interesting Spiderman...along with every other interesting Marvels superhero. Details here.

Random shots around the web:

• This could cause a lot of trouble.
• The war against illegal immigration is apparently as stupid and cruel as the war on drugs.
• Bobby G. Frederick drinks the TLC kool-aid.
• So true.
• I do this, but with a shorter lag.

 [Thanks, Bobby. The error in your comment has been noted and corrected.]

Random shots around the web:

• Motorola goes back to the brick with a mil spec cell phone.

[It was kind of a rough week.]

Random shots around the web:

• Postal service hell.
• Launch a fake North Korean Twitter feed, watch real media pick it up. Kudos to Popehat.
• Whatever else I may think of Obama, I really hope that on his last day in office he provides the "vault copy" of his birth certificate that all the idiot birthers have been asking for.
• The guys at Second City Cop chime in on the arrest of Professor Gates: It's a scheme by Gates to create an incident so he can sue.
• I understand that they're posted on Friday, but remind me why they're called "Funnies"...
• When you search for "recursion" on Google, it askes you if you meant "recursion". How cool is that?

 (Hat tip: Google Blogoscoped)

Random shots around the web:

• Obama cuts major weapons system from military budget!
• Robots that can feed off of humans. That never ends well.*
• I'm a libertarian, but...uhh...too weird.
• Ouch.
• Ouch.
• A billionaire who wants to control the weather. That never ends well.
• Cool interview with Adam Savage of MythBusters.

*Update: As my coblogger Gary points out, the robot story has been revised to cover up the horror indicate that the robots only eat plant matter. This actually makes sense, as people have been using plants for fuel for thousands of years.

Hat tip: Lawyers, Guns and Money, Majikthise, Reason.

Random shots around the web:

• Awesome Train v.s. Tornado video.
• Movie Preview: If the vampires defeated the humans, what would be left for them to eat?
• Don't try to break into the home of a former boxer, even if he's 72 years old.
• Pigs flew.
• Movie Preview: They're not just zombies. They're Nazi zombies.
• Don't follow me on Twitter. Really, I got nothing.
• Security Theater: Federal Courthouse Edition.
• I actually admire the ingenuity here. As a kid, I would have loved doing this.
• Movie Preview: They smoke, they screw, they are filled with existential angst. Why, yes, now that you ask, it is a French film.
• "There's nothing more safe than shooting electricity through someones head when they're running."
• I love stories about unorthodox criminal defense tactics, but this is a little too strange.
• Obama is pretty good about increasing transparency...for the Bush administration.
• Movie Preview: Sherlock Holmes, now with ass-kicking!

Random shots around the web:

• I have a lot of stuff to plug in, so this would work for me.
• Criminal law in Metropolis and Gotham City.
• Things that have changed since the early days of the blogosphere.
• Ever wonder what happened to Milli Vanilli's Fab Morvan?
• I can't decide if Mark Bennett is just making trouble or trying to run up his stats when all the crazies link to him as "proof" of what they've been saying.
• They used to say that puns were the lowest form of humor, but that was before someone started this.
• Ever wonder what happened to Wham!'s Andrew Ridgely?
• Here's something that could really screw up a young man's chance of ever having a normal relationship with a woman.
• The government has clearly indicated what your strategy should be if you're accused of a federal crime.
• Ever wonder what happened to Michael Jackson's chimp Bubbles?
• The United Kingdom continues its slow, strange destruction of free speech.
• Pictures from the reunion of Chicago cops who were here for the 1968 riots.
• Adolf gets the bad news about MJ.

(Hat tip: Megan McArdle, Nick Gillespie, SCC)

Random shots around the web:

• Federal conspiracy charges coming in 5...4...3...2...
• Turns out many diagnoses of Shaken Baby Syndrome weren't actually caused by people shaking the baby. Lots of people may have gone for jail for mild accidents that took place days before the murder-by-shaking supposedly occurred.
• This sort of thing is why I'll never let animal-shelter employees lecture me about caring for animals. Read all these comments for more.
• I have to admit, I really was hoping there'd be some truth to this. That would have been awesome. It would be the ultimate weird ending.

(Hat tip: Radley)

A few random shots around the web:

• When I heard that bartender-beating Chicago cop Anthony Abbate got a light sentence, I wondered if someone who wasn't a cop did the same thing, would he get off as easy? When Moser did some research, and the answers is probably yes. It was, after all, just a barfight.
• Savana Redding wins her case against ibuprofen-seeking perverts.
• I didn't love the new Transformers movie, but I liked it more than Roger Ebert did.
• Why? WHY? Why do they keep letting M. Night Shyamalan make movies! At least it's an adaptation, so maybe it will have a point.

Some random shots around the web:

• I don't know what this blog is all about, but The Broadview Blog has some cool art.
• Obama on Warrentless Wiretaping: Worse Than Bush?
• I can't remember the movie Warning From Space, but I know I must have seen it because I remember the freaky starfish aliens.
• This reads like a parody of protectionism, but I don't think he's kidding.
• Although this blogger goes off the deep end in a few places (and I disagree with some of the substantive economic issues) this pretty much sums up my feelings about the teabagging nonsense.

Things I'd probably tweet about if yada yada yada:

• I know it doesn't make sense, but I think I resent the costs of tax compliance---Quickbooks, organizational fees, Turbo Tax, filing fees, audit defense---more than the taxes themselves.
• Teabagging. I don't get it. Yeah, Boston. Yeah, it's slang. I still don't get it. Is Joe the Plumber teabagging? 'Cause that would just make sense.
• There's some truth to this.
• Shorter Andrew Klavan: Waaaaaah!
• Amazon censoring gay-themed books and then backing down? Or just a glitch? I'm going with glitch.
• A "Border Czar"? No way that could be a stupid idea.
• The Department of Homeland Security is worried about people like me because we "reject federal authority in favor of state or local authority." Damned right they should worry. If it were up to me, most of them would be out of a job.
• Jane's Law: "The devotees of the party in power are smug and arrogant. The devotees of the party out of power are insane." And every few years they switch.
• Speaking of which, it's fun to watch the Obama haters trying to spin the Somali piracy incident against him even if it makes them look pro-pirate.

Things I'd probably tweet about if I could get Tweetdeck working on my computer:

• I don't normally have much patience for conservative whining about crap like Obama not wearing a flag pin, but it really bothers me that he bowed to the King of Saudi Arabia. President Barack Obama is the elected representative of 300 million free people. King Abdullah is just a thug with something valuable...kind of like a drug kingpin. A more appropriate greating for the Saudi King would be a handshake. Or a smart bomb right into his palace. I hate dictators.
• Hey, look, Lance Armstrong is accused of violating the anti-doping rules. By the French. Again. His crime? "Armstrong 'did not respect the obligation to remain under the direct and permanent observation' of the tester." I think that's kind of like when the FBI investigates you for a crime and can't prove a thing, but they charge you with obstructing the investigation. I hope this doesn't turn out to be another frame-up. By the French. Again.
• Arrested for drugs in New York? Behold the future of your freedom. And according to Scott, that's the easy-to-read version.
• Also, from Scott, some up-and-coming law students apparently think their future employers aren't doing enough pro bono work. Scott suggests an obvious solution.
• Looks like Chicago will once again be making cops walk into traffic. The point is to ticket people who don't yield properly to pedestrians. Remember, it's only revenue raising safety-improving until someone gets hurt.

Stuff I'd have tweeted about if I gave a damn about Twitter:

• Everybody else has already commented on this bullshit from the TSA.
• Everyone else has also commented on these cops who raided a blogger who's critical of cops, but I'll link to it anyway to help give it the publicity it deserves.
• "Woman calls 911 over lack of shrimp in fried rice" plays like a story of someone abusing the emergency system, and she's taking a lot of abuse for it. But if the woman had left the restaurant without paying her full bill, and the manager had called the police, that wouldn't have been a funny story. Why not? How come people ripping off a restaurant are a police matter, but a restaurant ripping off its customers is not?
• WTF?
• Here's a somewhat technical look at the physical plant of a Google data center, and here's a server component and an explanation.
• Lindsay Beyerstein displays an almost adorable trust in government when she advocates a public news service: "What we need is a publicly-funded web-based news service from which readers could access free video, audio, and print content. Low overhead and cheap distribution would allow more money to be spent on reporting." It's like she's never heard politicians talking.

Things I'd tweet about if I cared more about Twitter:

• My dad has CSPAN on a lot, and I was listening to congresscritters discussing the latest drug scourge: DXM. It's a common incredient in medications, but apparently all the kids are abusing it, so these guys were sponsoring a bill to regulate bulk sales. In large dosages, it's a hallucinogenic---although one of the sponsors couldn't pronounce the word "hallucinogenic." Another one of them called it DMX. The real kicker, though, is that DXM is just dextromethorphan---cough medicine---on sale at corner drug stores world-wide since 1958. One of the sponsors couldn't pronounce "dextromethorphan." I have complete confidence that this couldn't possibly lead to unnecessary prosecutions.
• In a sad case about the neglectful death of a child, the plea bargain agreement includes a promise from the prosecution that the charges will be dismissed if the victim rises from the dead. Really.
• The Onion reports on the exoneration of a man falsely convicted of an inhumanly brutal murder.
• In countries that have royalty or some other ruling elite, the folks in power are never punished for their crimes the way regular folks are. Keeping that in mind, is it really possible that the only only case of prosecutorial misconduct Attorney General Eric Holder found at the Justice Department involved a U.S. Senator? Or is that just the only victim of prosecutorial misconduct whose friends Holder runs into at parties?
• I don't know if you should touch the queen, but at least no one bowed to her. Only her subjects bow, so an American who bows is lying. Also, Americans don't bow.

 Update: Scott Greenfield weighs in on the prosecutorial misconduct issue.

Things I'd tweet about if Twitter allowed longer messages:

• When you take several law enforcement agencies and throw them together into a drug task force, it tends to enhance thuggish behavior. However when the WestNET task force of Kitsap County, Washington launched a drug raid against the home of Bruce and Pamela Olson, they did manage to avoid shooting the family dogs. Instead, they poisoned them.
• It's not that I don't think we should trust cops and prosecutors. But if we trust them too much, we risk letting (alleged) bad cops and bad prosecutors like these (with bonus bad judge) get away with it.
• Speak of which, Anthony Hernandez claims he was framed on drug charges by Chicago cop Slawomir Plewa. Since Plewa has already been stripped of his police powers and charged with trying to frame someone else, Hernandez's claim has a certain plausibility.
• The mania for post-prison punishment of sex offenders continues its spiral into insanity, as the Connecticut legislature contemplates requiring 2 days advanced registration for out-of-state offenders who are just passing through.
• And just to give you an idea of what counts as a sex offender these days, an asshat named George P. Skumanick (who also happens to be District Attorney of Wyoming County, Pennsylvania) has threatened to file child pornography charges against 17 high school students for having nude or semi-nude pictures of other high school students on their cell phones. In some cases, the students would have been charged for pictures of themselves.

(Hat tip: Radley, Randazza)

Things I might have tweeted about if I "got" Twitter:

• Damn Microsoft! My Windows system crashed---full Blue Screen Of Death! All I was doing was running Windows XP booted off a RAID disk array that's not supported directly by Windows, accessing an Office document from an encrypted virtual disk mounted out of a container file on a portable USB drive, copying the contents of a CD to another USB drive, using LogMeIn to remote control two other computers elsewhere in Chicago, running another copy of Windows in a VMware virtual machine, and installing a third-party camera driver, all at the same time. What a piece of crap!
• AIG executive Jake DeSantis gives Congress a well-deserved "fuck you too":

"None of us should be cheated of our payments any more than a plumber should be cheated after he has fixed the pipes but a careless electrician causes a fire that burns down the house."

• Awww. Kitties.
• Remember the "David After Dentist" kid?

That's David DeVore. It turns out some idiots have no sense of humor:

I understand that we live in an entertainment-obsessed world, but videos of children on drugs cross the line.

You know, the War on Drugs is stupid enough when it's illegal drugs we're talking about. This is just dental anesthetic. It's medicine you dumbass!

• Apparently the US Attorney couldn't find enough of Bernie Madoff's real victims so he...well...see for yourself. I'm sure all the other victims are totally legitimate...
• Sometimes upper management seems kind of stupid, even to themselves.
• Old guys like my dad who sleep during the day tend to wake up at the damnedest times...and want me to be up too.
• (Hat tip: Kip, Scott.)

Things I would have tweeted about if I used twitter...and had more than 140 characters:

• Crimlaw blogger Ken Lammers, now with 50% more badass.
• Must not hate all cops...must not hate all cops...
• Sex offender registration---not just for sex offenders anymore.
• Apparently, shaking hands is now reasonable suspision:

The undercover officers, located approximately 10 to 20 yards away from the three vehicles, were unable to see any money or narcotics exchanged. Detective David LaRoche, however, testified that, based on his experience as a "buy" officer on undercover narcotics investigations, the purpose of touching closed fists is to keep anyone from seeing the exchange of money and narcotics during the drug deal. Likewise, Detective William Best, who also witnessed the fist bump, described it as "typical--you can conceal heroin, crack cocaine, anything in the palm of your hand. Real quick drop it off. Pick up your money same hand and you're out."

• I've been listening to CSPAN coverage of the AIG hearings in Congress. What I've learned is that members of congress don't seem to understand what a retention bonus is. When you need an employee to finish a task for you, but you plan to fire them as soon as they finish, they will start looking for another job. And if they find one, they'll quit to take it, leaving your task undone. So you have to pay them extra to stay to the bitter end. If leaving the task undone could lose your company billions of dollars and contribute to the collapse of the national economy, you have to pay them a lot.
• That doesn't mean the AIG bonuses are reasonable, but that's why they go to "the people who got us into this." Because those are the people who know the way out. It sucks, but how much money do you want to lose on principle?
• The winner of the online contest for the name of the new space station module is the write-in entry "Colbert." Second place goes to the balloted name "Serenity." Sounds like Colbert Report fans v.s. Firefly fans.
• "Police say woman used fake ID to get fake breasts." But of course.
• Now playing: Defending People 2: The Impactening. 

Random shots around the web:

• Radley Balko is tracking yet another police shooting of an unarmed person during a drug raid. The police aren't talking about it, which is usually a sign that they screwed up and are trying to get their story straight. As usual, they haven't released the name of the shooter.
• The Battle For Terra sounds like it has a pretty dismal storyline.
• Here's a novel approach to an unpleasant work environment:

BRYANT, Ark. - Police said a woman has been arrested for allegedly slipping some tranquilizers into her boss's coffee because she felt "he needed to chill out."

Yeah, I think we've all been there.

• Sometimes the national weather service seems a little alarmist:

Yeah, that abundant sunshine will get you every time.

Actually, Yahoo is just displaying the forecast poorly. If you click on the warning, you see that the real "severe weather" is this:

...FLOOD WARNING EXTENDED UNTIL THIS AFTERNOON...

THE FLOOD WARNING CONTINUES FOR
  THE DES PLAINES RIVER NEAR DES PLAINES.
* UNTIL THIS AFTERNOON...OR UNTIL THE WARNING IS CANCELLED.
* AT  845 AM SATURDAY THE STAGE WAS 5.1 FEET.
* MINOR FLOODING IS OCCURRING.
* FLOOD STAGE IS 5.0 FEET.
* FORECAST...THE RIVER WILL FALL TO BELOW FLOOD STAGE BY
  LATE THIS MORNING.

So, there will be some flooding. Water flowing out into the streets around the Des Plaines river...like it does every time there's a lot of rain.

Last time I noticed a "severe weather" alert, it was high winds. The time before that, it was freezing rain. I suppose each of those conditions causes problems---more for some people than others---but if partially flooded streets is called "severe weather," what kind of alert do they issue for the kind of bad weather that can kill you in your home?

• Speaking of misdirected alarmism, while George Bush and his supporters were playing up the goatherder culture of the Middle East as the greatest threat ever to the United States, the real greatest threat ever started to regain its strength:

MOSCOW - A Russian Air Force chief said Saturday that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has offered an island as a temporary base for strategic Russian bombers, the Interfax news agency reported.

The chief of staff of Russia's long range aviation, Maj. Gen. Anatoly Zhikharev, also said Cuba could be used to base the aircraft, Interfax reported.

What good does it do to knock down Saddam Hussein in Iraq if the Russians start to gain allies right here in the Americas?

Random shots around the web:

• I've often thought the best way to provide health insurance for pre-existing conditions would be to have the lifetime cost of the condition paid by whatever insurance company you had when you were first diagnosed. Ronald Bailey explores a hybrid variation of this called health status insurance that seems to provide portability, choice, and pretty-good market incentives.
• I think a key component of any plan to preserve American civilization is ensuring that former DOJ Office of Legal Counsel lawyer John Yoo is never allowed to work in government again.
• Here's an interesting collection of advice on how to understand and reduce attorney fees.
• You can have mine when you pry if from my hot, stinky...
• Sometimes the music video is a literal interpretation of the song, sometimes it's based on a similar conceptual them, and sometimes it intentionally undermines the song, But what if the song was a literal interpretation of the video? I've seen this done with subtitles on foreign performances, but here's a complete re-singing of Billy Idol's White Wedding.

(Hat tip, Radley)

Too busy to write much, but here are a few random shots around the web:

• Radley Balko has a way with headlines. The whole post is worth reading.
• When you go through the TSA checkpoints at some airports, body image scanners can now check you for weapons...and see you naked through your clothes. If we put up with this just to fly a plane, is there any limit to how much the government can demand to invade our privacy?
• If you're a computer geek, you'll probably appeciate this. If you're geeky enough to understand what SQL injection is, you'll laugh at this. If you're a super-geek with knowledge of non-discretionary computer security standards and covert channels, you'll gape in wonder at this.
• To balance out the computer geekiness, here are a few amateur model portfolios that came up at random: Amy, Leslie, and Bunny.

I'll try to post something I actually wrote a little later. Take that as a promise or a threat.

Random shots around the web:

• So how's that bailout coming along? Are we feeling secure yet?
• Facing foreclosure? About to be evicted? Fannie Mae will apparently forgive your debt if you take a certain painful step. Talk about creating bad incentives...
• Easy for him to say.
• What's the word?

(Hat tip: C&F)

I've been a little too busy to do proper blogging, so I'll just post a few random shots around the web:

• Heh.

• Nice Try

LONGMONT, Colo. - A man claiming to be a police detective tried to get an adult novelty shop to give him free X-rated videos, saying he wanted to make sure the performers weren't underage, authorities said.

He made three tries within nine days last month and was turned down each time. The store manager called police after the third try.

• This is a fairly topical cartoon.
• Important tips about bear safety.
  

Random shots around the web:

• Did the FBI find the real Anthrax killer?
• The drug war stupidity never ends.
• Morons want Kerry Howly to feel bad about donating her eggs.
• Al Gore reaches the logical conclusion.

• That would be like pizza without the cheese.

Random shots around the web:

• From the "What decade are you in?" file:

  At the direction of Newark Public Schools Superintendent Marion Bolden, school personnel used markers to block out the image of student Andre Jackson and his boyfriend, while allowing photos of heterosexual students kissing to remain. The photo was on a tribute page paid for by Jackson;

• Film critical of Islamic violence withdrawn due to threats.
• Ken Lammers explains why Hollywood can't make an Iraq war movie that Americans want to see.
• Scott Greenfield responds to Ken's post.

Random shots around the web:

• Meet the interior design cartel and other people who want laws to keep you buying their services.
• Another item for the list of signs that we have too many federal law enforcement employees: "The government pulls people suspected of being here illegally out of airplane lines and then pays to detain, prosecute and deport them to the country they were headed to in the first place."
• More from the folks who'd rather kill dogs than give them to unworthy people.
• Hey everybody, let's cheer on the drug warriors.

 (Hat tip: Austin Criminal Defense Lawyer)

Random shots around the web:

• I'm not a sports fan. To me, all sports coverage sounds like this.
• What time travel would really be like.
• If the Supreme Court rules in favor of the right to bear arms in Heller, I want to get one of these for home defense. And I want to paint it like this.
• Here's another of my favorite Onion videos: Are We Giving The Robots That Run Our Society Too Much Power?

Random shots around the web:

• Gideon has a great crash reel.
• Here's a pretty good top-ten list of movie car chases.
• Scott has an explanation of Mankiw's 10 Principles of Economics.
• Important career tip: Don't ask your employer to get you a hooker.

(Hat tip: Randozza)

Random shots around the web:

• John Ruberry writes about Chicago's food deserts.
• According to a University of New Hampshire study, everything the media tell you about Internet predators is wrong.
• Federal Judge Jeffrey S. White issued an apalling (and dangerous if not overturned) order to shut down an entire web site because someone complained about a few articles. As a pundit, I'm pretty sure Judge White doesn't understand the 1st Amendment. As an IT professional, I know he doesn't understand the Internet.  Disabling a domain name doesn't shut down a website.  It just makes it harder to get to.  Wikileaks is here.
• On the day of the NIU shooting, I probably watched several television dramas with gunfights and never even made a connection. That's because I know the difference between reality and fiction. Unlike some other people.
• Why I hate web links with pop-up menus.
• Big Friendly Kitty.

Random shots around the web:

• No matter what they say, they're building SKYNET.
• Joe Arpaio, America's Toughest Most Assinine Sheriff promises to arrest celebrities who misbehave at the Super Bowl.
• Speaking of troublesome celebrities, I haven't been following the whole Britney Spears mess, but it's beginning to look like she's suffering from some sort of genuine mental illness, not just substance abuse or general celebrity drama. The word on Britney has gone from "superstar child" to "overhyped lightweight" to "irresponsible celebrity" and now may be headed for "sad woman with real problems."

(Hat tip: Instapundit)

Random shots around the web:

• Here's one argument against evolution:
  
  

  One of the most basic laws in the universe is the Second Law of Thermodynamics. This states that as time goes by, entropy in an environment will increase. Evolution argues differently against a law that is accepted EVERYWHERE BY EVERYONE. Evolution says that we started out simple, and over time became more complex. That just isn't possible: UNLESS there is a giant outside source of energy supplying the Earth with huge amounts of energy. If there were such a source, scientists would certainly know about it.

  
  Uh, we call that energy source the Sun.
• I've always gone for jury duty when called, but if some judge ever grabs me off the street for a jury panel, I'm going to acquit. There's no way this sort of thing happens without some prosecutor who's all hot for a trial, and I'm not going to give him what he wants. (Found this with Google? If you're the prosecutor, I guess now you have cause to strike me. If you're defense counsel...lucky you, huh?)
• I'm a casual dresser, one might even say a bit sloppy. Never been fashionable, never will be. And if the fashionable people are dressing like this, my wife should be very grateful for my lack of fashionability. (Dear God, what were they thinking?)

(Hat tip: Classical Values, Agitator.)

Random shots around the web:

• Amazing news about Alzheimer's disease.
• Here's a trick that's just a product cycle or two from revolutionizing video games.
• And Microsoft would have done well to include this related trick in its Vista operating system. It seems like a bit of a gimmick, but I'll bet there's at least one killer application someone could do with it.
• It's like the "If You Like Pina Coladas..." song, but in Poland, and with hookers, and not a happy ending.
• If you're at an underage drinking party, don't post pictures of the party on the web.
• Beware of Wayne.

(Hat tips: Balko, Mike,

Random shots around the web:

• When the revolution comes, can somebody make sure that these RIAA jerks are the first ones up against the wall?
• Seriously, I'd probably vote for any presidential candidate that will pledge to screw the recording industry into the ground for this crap.
• Improving medical care may be illegal if you skip the stupid paperwork.
• If you're a city mayor or town manager and your police have time to do stuff like this, I think you can safely cut the police manpower budget without hurting the crime rate.
• The most difficult voting choice I've had to make in a long time: Worst Prosecutor of the Year.

Random shots around the web:

• Still not too late to send in your nomination for Criminal Defense Lawyer of the Year 2007.
• One more reason why it must suck to live in France: It's illegal for Amazon to deliver books for free.
• In old New England, if your neighbor's sheep seemed disturbed, it was a sign that you were a witch. In modern America, if a dog barks at your car, it's a sign that you're a drug dealer.
• Go Navy.

Random shots around the web:

• Some scientists think the invention of agriculture was so revolutionary that it made us humans start evolving really really fast. For example (if I understand correctly) lactose intolerance is not a defect. Rather, the ability to digest milk long after infancy is a recent mutation that hasn't spread to the entire species yet.
• You just know political speeches really are planned like this.
• Marathon Pundit has been all over the eminent domain fight in Lincoln Square, which ended in a minor victory as Alderman Schulter backed down on his plan to give someone else's land to private developers.
• But Evil never sleeps: Now the city wants to take some land in the 1800 block of Fullerton.

That last one has this great bit:

Department of Planning and Development spokesman Pete Scales said the city could eventually use eminent domain to take control of the land, though it will first negotiate with the property owner.

Some negotiation. "I could shoot you and take your wallet off your dead body, but for now I'm being a nice guy by asking you to give it to me voluntarily."

(Hat tip: Kip)

Random shots around the web:

• Speed Racer movie trailer. It's got everything and everyone. Also in high-def.
• Make yourself look like an elf at OfficeMax.  Or, make other people look like elves.
• Despite decades of losing in the courts, campus speech codes are still out there.

(Hat tip: John Ruberry)

Random shots around the web:

• Is there anything creepier than child-abusing priests? Possibly the New York Archdiocese's coloring book warning kids about the dangers of being alone with an adult.
• Asking the Federal Election Commission's permission to speak about the candidates' attempts to supress our freedom of speech.
• The God-and-Family folks are all worked up over The Golden Compass because of its apparently anti-Christian message.

Random shots around the web:

• Dallas police steal money from veterans.
• New York police go after the crime of finding someone's wallet and being a little slow to report it.
• Lindsay Beyerstein has a fascinating post about the ethics of anthropologists working with the military.

Random shots around the web:

• Arrested for possession with intent to lick.
• Police find a suspicious white powder in a residence that used to be an old sugar factory? What, oh what, could it possibly be?
• Disabled with a war wound? Guess you'll have to refund your signing bonus for failure to fulfill your contract.
• Amazingly, this is an actual campaign ad for Mike Huckabee.
• What's the most popular topic on Conservapedia? What do conservatives really want to learn more about? Follow this link and click the screen capture to find out.

(Hat tip: Drug WarRant, von Bakel Hit&Run)

Random shots around the web:

• 24: The Unaired 1994 Pilot
• Making it illegal for bosses to be assholes is one of those ideas that sounds great after a bad day at the office, but I think it would just lead to a lot of productivity-wasting lawsuits.
• Why federal-level plans to put more cops on the street didn't help and won't help.
• "you may soon be driving on a public road, doing nothing out of the ordinary and breaking no laws, then be stopped, questioned, and if the police officer doesn't like your answers, be forced to give him some of your blood. Ponder that for a sec." --- Radley Balko, "Bleed for the King"

(Hat tip: Illinois Review)

Random shots around the web:

• Bringing the hammer down on octogenerian poker games.
• Busted by the hug police.
• Unless something is done, the Chicago Transit Authority will take drastic measures in October November January.
• Danger!  Danger!  '70's fashion!
• Windypundit is still banned in China, how about you?

(Hat tips: Balko, VPo)

A few random shots:

• New York mayor Micheal Bloomberg thinks that having illegal drugs in your system when you die undoes the heroism of an NYPD detective who was one of the first on the scene at Ground Zero.
• Find out the salary of every single employee of the City of Chicago or Cook County.
• Scott H. Greenfield notes that it's "better to be gouged and fed then to not be fed at all" but then gets snarky about a bank that loans money to very poor people at 200% interest, calling it "taking advantage of the misery of others for fun and profit." Unless the bank is preventing poor people from getting money in other ways, I don't see how this is their fault. The problem is that people are so bad off that they need loans at 200%, not that they're getting the loans.

A few random shots:

• How not to run a confidential tip line. (ht Balko)
• Mike Mette's dad is driving him to prison.
• If the G.I. Joe movie ever makes it out of development, rumor has it Joe might lose his American identity and become a member of an international special forces team based in Brussels, presumably working for the European Union. Maybe he could go after automakers who don't use proper environmental warnings in their car ads.
• In Iraq, millions of voters proved they weren't afraid of terrorists by walking around with purple fingers. In Pennsylvania, they're trying to hide the list of voting locations. (ht Kip)

Interesting stuff around the web this morning:

• Reason's David Weigel watched last night's Republican debate so you didn't have to.
• Maryland Transportation Secretary John D Porcari wants to hit drivers with a $2000 fine for speeding in a highway work zone. I'm sure this is strictly out of concern for workers---even though the most common cause of injuries to construction zone workers is construction accidents---and that the revenue angle is only incidental.
• Kip talks about Sheriff Joe Arpaio's absurd attempt to get a list of everyone who reads the Phoenix New Times.
• In the UK, which is already doing its best to bring 1984 to life through millions of security cameras, they now want to use RFID tags to track school children.
• Federal prosecutors apparently have nothing better to do than prosecute a retailer for selling porno videos through the mail. As is always the case, nobody is forced to watch pornography if they don't want to...except the jurors on pornography cases.

I actually started to write a whole post about Sheriff Arpaio, so I'll end this with an edited excerpt:

Arpaio is an asshole. To give you an idea of how big an asshole he is, he bills himself as the "toughest sheriff in America." If you don't already know his story, try to imagine what he must have done to claim that. Did he break up a bank robbery single-handed? Infiltrate a drug gang? Clean out corruption in his own department? Bust an organize crime syndicate?

No, nothing like that.

He's tough on the prisoners in his jail. They don't get goodies like coffee or cigarettes or porno mags, they have very limited television viewing, and they spend a lot of time in chain gangs. Also, he makes them all wear pink underwear.

Picking on people who are disarmed, locked up, and dependent on him for basic survival requirements doesn't make Arpaio tough. It makes him a sadistic bully.

Most of the tough-on-prisoners crap does not rise to Abu Graib levels of mistreatment, but there have been accusations along those lines as well: Arpaio is one of the few Americans ever to be investigated by Amnesty International.

The Phoenix New Times has a lot more about Arpaio.

I'm busy on my day job lately, and I don't have time to write much, but here are a few stories that caught my eye:

• This appears to be yet another self-righteous animal rescue operation that has become an excuse for small people to exercise power over others. At least this time, they didn't kill the dog. Except for the unfortunate threats of violence, the shelter owners are getting the public scorn they deserve.
• A woman was accused of disorderly conduct for swearing in her own home when she got upset over a malfunctioning toilet.
• Some cops hate it when you videotape them on their job, and they make up all kinds of fake reasons why it's illegal to do so, such as that the video camera could be used as a weapon.
• Apparently, it is a crime to stand on the sidewalk and talk to friends in Times Square, proving that New York is still Rudy Giuliani's town.
• The next Attorney General of the U.S. may have more respect for the law than Alberto Gonzales, but who wouldn't?