Politics and other nightmares

Unbelievably, the Supreme Court has been considering other issues besides gay marriage. In a apparent victory for privacy rights, it ruled this week that using a trained dog to sniff for drugs on the porch of a home constitutes a seach and if it's done without a warrant it violates the Fourth Amendment prohibition again unsreasonable searches. I say "apparent," because some legal analysts are unhappy with how narrowly the case was decided:

You really don't have to get into politics to explain the decline of newspapers today. People are abandoning print as they turn to the Web and other alternatives. The more people quit the paper, the fewer resources the paper has, so the more it cuts back on coverage, and the more people stop reading because of the decline in quality. Vicious circle.

Gotta hand it to Justice Sotomayor. She asked the most pertinent question about gay marriage of Ted Olson, one of its advocates arguing before the Supreme Court:

Mr. Olson, the bottom line that you're being asked -- and -- and it is one that I'm interested in the answer: If you say that marriage is a fundamental right, what state restrictions could ever exist?” Justice Sonia Sotomayor asked.

The Indiana Supreme Court on the state's school voucher program --  Ain't saying it's good, just saying it's legal:

The state Supreme Court agreed with that, saying in a 22-page opinion written by Chief Justice Brent Dickson that the program primarily benefited parents, not schools, because it gave parents choice in their children's education.

It's a new world, kids:

TACOMA, Wash. — John Connelly leaned forward on his barstool, set his lips against a clear glass pipe and inhaled a white cloud of marijuana vapor.

A handful of people milled around him. Three young women stood behind the bar, ready to assist with the preparation of the bongs, as the strains of a blues band playing downstairs sounded faintly off the exposed brick walls.

Go ahead and set that phaser on "kill," Capt. Kirk:

An intriguing idea:

Rep. Steve Pearce (R-N.M.) wants to create a "virtual Congress," where lawmakers would leverage videoconferencing and other remote work technology to conduct their daily duties in Washington from their home districts.

I've been trying, without much success, to figure out exactly what the big deal is for those opposed to Indiana deer preserves. The state Department of Natural Resources outlawed "canned hunting" in 2005, and there is proposed legislation to allow five operations that were already in existence to continue, thus ending an eight-year-old lawsuit.

The attorneys general of 21 states, including Indiana, have filed briefs before the Suprem Court in defense of the right of states to ban same-sex unions. The attorneys general of 15 states have filed briefs on the other side of the issue. Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller explains his actions:

Interesting:

The federal government and states across the country have spent billions of dollars in recent years on sprawling, privately run halfway houses, which are supposed to save money and rehabilitate inmates more effectively than prisons do.