The law and the jungle

I think District Court Judge David Hamilton made the right call that Indiana's law allowing warrantless monitoring of former sex offenders' Internet activity was unconstitutionally broad. The law would have applied to those who had already served the sentences handed down to themand who, therefore, presumably have the same rights as everybody else.

Good:

Indianapolis -- On June 25th, personnel assigned to the Indiana State Police Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Division working with troopers assigned to the Indianapolis district will be focusing their efforts on enforcing the Indiana Move Over Law for commercial motor vehicles.

Here we go again -- a 4-4 tie, so Kennedy gets to write the majority opinion:

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 Wednesday that child rapists cannot be executed, concluding capital punishment is reserved for murderers.

The ruling stemmed from the case of Patrick Kennedy, who has been on Louisiana's death row since 2003, when he was sentenced to be executed for raping his 8-year-old stepdaughter.

Massachusetts is considering a Jessica's Law that would require a mandatory 20-year sentence for the rape of a child under 12. State Rep. James Fagan, who is also a defense attorney, has outraged victims' rights advocates by saying, during a recent floor debate, that he would "rip apart"  6-year-old victims on the witness stand and "make sure the rest of their life is ruined." Reports the Boston Herald:

What's the world coming to? The chief justice of the United States Supreme Court quotes a pop icon  (pdf file) in his dissent on a court ruling:

The absence of any right to the substantive recovery means that respondents cannot benefit from the judgment they seek and thus lack Article III standing. "When you got nothing, you got nothing to lose." Bob Dylan. Like a Rolling Stone, on Highway 61 Revisited (Columbia Records 1965).

In addition to the "educational neglect" charge, there should be felony stupidity charge available for people like this:

Letting your child miss school is enough to land you a felony charge in Indiana - and up to three years in prison - as one Wabash woman has discovered.

With all the information out there about cheap, easily obtainable, impossible-to-trace "Saturday Night Specials," what does this teller-shooting dummy use?

In the police report, shell casings from the scene matched the characteristics of a rare 9 millimeter Calico handgun. A witness later reported that the suspect had carried a similar type of weapon.

Certainly Americans could stand to lose a little weight. One way to aid that cause is for governments to mandate that restaurant menus contain more information on nutrition (California and New York leading the way, natch). That's legitimate, right? One thing government can do without screwing it up too much is to get information to consumers so they can make informed decisions. But (you knew one was coming, right?):

If I get the gist of this guy's argument, it's that gambling that merely cannibalizes what local residents already spend doesn't add much to the state's economy. To be a successful economic development strategy, gambling has to attract a lot of out-of-state gamblers:

Get sick, get doctor. How hard is that?

GLADSTONE, Ore. - Authorities say a teenager from a faith-healing family died from an illness that could have been easily treated, just a few months after a toddler cousin of his died in a case that has led to criminal charges.