Will we get to the point where just leaving the house means we are giving our implied consent to be stopped and searched anywhere, any time?
Janet Napolitano hinted this week that the body scanners and "enhanced" pat-downs that have caused a ruckus at airports across the country could be coming to a train station, port or subway near you.
Seven things from American that are insanely popular overseas, including Pabst Blue Ribbon in China, Kit-Kat candy bars in Japan, 7-Eleven in Taiwan, David Hasselhoff in Germany and my favorite, Spam in Guam:
Rats. I was ready to declare another victory for the Vast Rightwing Conspiracy's efforts to drive the country crazy with All Things Palin, but my fellow wingnuts fell down on the job:
Before "Dancing with the Stars" crowned Jennifer Grey its champion Tuesday night, there was all kinds of discussion about how the ABC competition series could lose its credibility if Bristol Palin won.
Is Mike Pence being coy beyond the point where being coy makes sense?
Pence has been mentioned as a possible 2012 GOP presidential candidate and as an Indiana gubernatorial candidate. He said he is mulling over the possibilities.
"We've been humbled by the encouragement we have had around the state and the country to seek higher office," he said.
Now that Fort Wayne has joined the "accommodating bicycles" trend, could ugly disputes be in our future?
Well, the evidence is in, and the debate is over -- global warming is, er, that is, dogs are smarter than cats:
It was often thought that the feline pet was smarter than its canine counterpart because it needed less attention but researchers have discovered that cat's brains are smaller because they are less social
No day is so bleak that it can't be enlivened with a little cheering news:
I don't have high expectations for Obama. I cannot recall a president who generated so much excitement as a candidate but who turned out to be such a political dud as chief executive. Nor do his actions since the election inspire confidence that he will be reborn as a fighter.
You remember "12 Angry Men," in which one juror with doubts persuaded all 11 other jury members to switch their votes to innocent. This is the way such things more often happen in real life:
Jurors in the Chandra Levy murder trial could have rendered a verdict as early as Friday, after just two days of deliberations. In fact, all but one of the jurors were convinced that Ingmar Guandique had accidentally killed the young government intern during a robbery.
For the "learning something new every day" file:
Why is it so challenging to properly roast a turkey?
Has the future of journalism arrived?
Speaking to a crowd at the annual convention of the Federalist Society, an influential organization of conservative and libertarian lawyers, McConnell is among friends. They are happy to hear him declare, "Americans want less government, less spending and less debt."
Then the senator tells them what his party is going to do to bring the runaway federal budget under control. "We will vote to freeze and cut discretionary spending," he vows.
We've talked here before about how our notions of privacy are changing in the digital age. Here's a couple really pushing the limits on what's in the public square:
Is this an enhanced patdown, or are you just happy to see me? Charles Krauthammer has an inspired (and uncharacteristcally vulgar) rant about Americans rebelling against the TSA's new secutiry measures:
Who says journalists wildly exaggerate the meaning of surveys to pump excitement into an otherwise humdrum news day?
Marriage is increasingly optional and could be on its way to obsolescence, according to a survey of more than 2,600 Americans that examines changing attitudes about relationships today.
Today's quiz. Which one of these Supreme Court justices would your rather trust the First Amendment to? First, there's Stephen Breyer, one of the "living Constitution," change-the-meaning-to-suit-the-times guys:
Dick, Dick, Dick. What are we gonna do with you?
I've always been taught that an instituion can't be defamed; only individuals can be. What is "defamed," after all, is a person's good reputation. But perhaps they do things differently in northwest Indiana, or maybe the stories are just being sloppily written:
An emergency room incident involving alleged patient abuse at a Crown Point hospital has escalated into dueling lawsuits between the region's largest hospital system and the patient's daughter-in-law.
A new report shows Indiana is falling behind other states across the country when it comes to using money from a 1998 multi-state tobacco settlement to pay for smoker prevention programs.
The state is ranked 28th in the study called "A Broken Promise to Our Children: The 1998 State Tobacco Settlement 12 Years Later," which was commissioned by the coalition of public health organizations.
This will drive the Hoosier road warriors insane:
Bucking a tide of resistance in state capitals and a free-spirited breed of motorcyclists, the National Transportation Safety Board on Tuesday said states should require riders to wear federally approved helmets.
