Current Affairs

While following a couple of threads about the California gay-marriage decision, I ran across this two month-old post by Jim Manzi at the corner. It's about "subsidiarity" (the principle that matters ought to be handled by the smallest competent authority) and what conservatives and libertarians could learn from each other:

Oh, those brave TV journalists, risking life, limb and being caught outside the hospitality tent without an umbrella in order to understand the plight of the homeless:

Local media stars are sleeping under the stars this week as part of a campaign to raise awareness and funds for homeless Hoosiers.

Gulp:

Tuesday morning, many area gas stations raised their prices to just a few cents shy of $4.00 a gallon.

It's a nearly twenty cent jump from Monday's prices, and many customers say this is forcing them to change their lifestyle.

Fancy houses are one of my weaknesses. The Parade of Homes has always been one of my favorite events, and I liked the short-lived Street of Dreams even more because the houses were even bigger. If I had a lot of money, I'd probably spend too much of it on a really luxurious home with every amenity imaginable. But this is too much even for me:

Not sure how I feel about this:

Congressional Democrats are pushing what could become the most dramatic expansion of college aid for military veterans since World War II, with a bill they hope will buoy them this election season and become an albatross for Republicans.

Well, this won't be controversial:

To Mark Bauerlein, a professor of English at Emory University, the present is a good time to be young only if you don't mind a tendency toward empty-headedness. In "The Dumbest Generation," he argues that cultural and technological forces, far from opening up an exciting new world of learning and thinking, have conspired to create a level of public ignorance so high as to threaten our democracy.

I usually avoid commenting of "family values hypocrites," because the left does such a good job of bashing them, and there are plenty of hypocrites out there of all political persuasions. But this guy is just beyond the pale:

Vito Fossella built a career as a staunch "family values" pol, polishing his image in his predominantly Catholic district with a string of anti-gay votes.

I don't know about you, but I'm going to sleep a lot better knowing that somebody is paying attention to White House wedding trends:

Apparently, sitting in the car while black is just as much a crime as driving while black:

NEW YORK (AP) — A white police officer was disciplined for acting "in a discourteous manner" when he confronted a black motorist who turned out to be one of the highest-ranking commanders in the New York City Police Department, an agency spokesman said Saturday.

Finally, after all the frivolous lawsuits we've had, here's an important one:

 A Florida man has sued the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, seeking recognition of 10 men he says served as president before George Washington.