Current Affairs

I swear, bottled water is the greatest scam in the history of marketing. Water comes out of every tap in America, there at a simple touch, yet people are willing to spend something like $8 a gallon to drink it out of plastic six-packs, more than three times the cost of the gasoline we get so apoplectic about.

Monday's editorial page will be devoted to the "top 10 arguments of 2005" as selected by the editorial page staff -- basically, me and editorial writer Bob Caylor. In defining a good argument, we didn't consider only the ones in favor of a cause or effort we supported. A good argument just needs to be effective, based on one or more of several criteria. Was it especially eloquent for or against something in particular? Did it energize a political base or wake up the opposition? Did it advance our understanding of a complicated issue or shed new light on an old controversy?

Here's an example of what drives some people stark, raving nuts about the immigration situation in our country. Even in a state as conservative as Indiana, there is a movement to give driver's licenses to illegal immigrants. If you talk to local law-enforcement officials, they'll tell you the federal government won't even come for a single illegal -- if there isn't a busload, forget it. At a time when there is a legitimate fear of terrorists sneaking into the country, our borders are more porous than ever.

Much has been written about the demise of the family meal symbolizing the unraveling of this or that fabric of society. We shouldn't overlook the obvious point that it has also removed the best way to learn how to eat properly:

Let's see, I'm really, really bored, and I have a choice of two magazines to read -- Sylvester Stallone's fitness publication or one devoted to shoe fetishism. Tough call.

The Clinton impeachment, "in a gray area of history, too long ago to be a current event, too recent to be judged in perspective," has now hit school textbooks. The textbooks vary in how they treat the scandal, but all of them, even the college-level ones, are equally reluctant to get into the, um, details of what Clinton lied about:

I'm not crazy about Al Franken; I think he's wrong on just about everything and, worse, he's not really funny anymore. But you have to give him credit for being willing to entertain the troops and trying to leave his politics at home when he does.

This, from the Reason Foundation, is one of the more interesting "top 10"  lists of the year. It features "key domestic policy developments affecting individual liberty, free markets, government accountability and the rule of law" and also includes what to look for next year as the issues develop. Note that one of the 10 is about the privatization of toll roads.

People who don't think the Iraqis' fight for liberty is worthy probably won't appreciate the larger story, either -- but 2005 has been a good year for freedom. And the best news:

If you feel like getting away from it all, too bad. There's no place where they can't find you:

Britain is to become the first country in the world where the movements of all vehicles on the roads are recorded. A new national surveillance system will hold the records for at least two years.