Politics and other nightmares

Today's reading assignment is a two-parter on the Constitution. 1. Our "imbecilic" Constitution is the problem:

Even those of us who shudder at the thought of how close John Edwards got to the White House can admire him a little for his straightforward nonflinching self-assessment that almost amounted to an apology:

The climate-change debate is one of those issues we've tossed into the great polarizing kettle. Either climate change is a catastrophe just around the corner requiring massive government intervention, or it's a lot of noise about nothing, perhaps even a hoax.

Can't make this stuff up. Apaprently, there is a "time-wasting gap" -- poor kids are spending more time than well-off children using their televisions and gadgets. Government actually spent millions to cause this problem, so now the government wants to spend millions to "fix" it:

Silly lower classes! Don't they realize this wonderful new technology is for self-improvement, not for pleasure? Something must be done.

Here's today's trivia question, which you may use to win a bar bet while you're fidgeting and waiting to run outside for a smoke. What's the largest Indiana city now left without a smoking ban affecting diners? The answer:

A new smoking ban takes effect Friday in Indianapolis, leaving South Bend as the largest among a dwindling number of Indiana cities that still allow restaurant and bar patrons to light up during a meal or a drink.

Indianapolis' most notorious liberal, the Star's Dan Carpenter, laments the deterioration of Wisconsin to a point where it is, alas, more like Indiana, that is, less civil, more divisive, less neighborly and more controlled by those nasty outside rightwing nut millionaires. Less liberal, in other words:

If we were to pick the one person most likely to push nanny statism absolutely as far as it can go, I'd probably nominate the mayor of New York:

Learning from Richard Lugar's mistakes -- who says politicians aren't educable?

Bob Kerrey has purchased a home in Nebraska.

The Democratic U.S. Senate candidate who registered to vote in Nebraska a day before he filed for office said Wednesday that he purchased a home in central Omaha at 415 N. 61st St. It's not far from the Dundee-Memorial Park-area home he had when last he lived in Nebraska.

Inch by inch, we reach the point of no return:

 According to U.S. Census Bureau data, 49.1% of the US population lives in a household where at least one member is receiving government benefits:

The 49.1% of the population in a household that gets benefits is up from 30% in the early 1980s and 44.4% as recently as the third quarter of 2008.

New York Times exclusive -- Obama personally overseeing U.S. Intel's al Qaida "kill list"  -- and the story wasnn't even the result of a leak: