Current Affairs

Vaclav Havel has died:

Oops. We forgot to celebrate Bill of Rights Day yesterday. Not there was much to celebrate, considering the frequency with which our constitutional safeguards are ignored:

Hallelujah:

The shutdown-averting budget bill will block federal light bulb efficiency standards, giving a win to House Republicans fighting the so-called ban on incandescent light bulbs.

Heading toward a momentous milestone:

For Amazon, lavish praise. For bookstores, not so much:

I know I risk inviting a juvenile retaliation here, like, "Oh, he was just being redundant," but I think this warrants notice:

Fort Wayne city councilman, Glynn Hines apologized Tuesday night for a F acebook comment he made earlier in the day.

On his Facebook account, Hines said, "...we must re-elect President Obama or settle for some.....Retard Republican!"

This is an interesting take on Newt Gingrich:

Inside D.C., it sounds very strange to say that Gingrich is an "outsider." Gingrich has eaten from just about every trough imaginable inside the Beltway. And yet, he's always been very clear that he wants to ("fundamentally," "historically," "categorically" and "radically") overturn the existing order. Some critics always thought, plausibly, that such pronouncements were part of his act or a sign of his megalomania.

We've had discussions here before about one line between legitimate government dictates (those aimed at keeping us from harming others) and inappropriate nannying (trying to keep us from hurting ourselves. The National Transportation Safety Board is jumping into an issue that sort of straddles the line by recommending that all 50 states enact bans on "driver use of personal electronic devices."

Some good news on the Sunday TV front. It looks like Christiane Amanpour may be out as host of ABC's "This Week."

There's been a lot of carping from libertarian quarters about how Ron Paul don't get no respect. But isn't that over now? He's been invited to the debates, and his standing in the polls in some of the early-voting states puts him in the top tier of contenders. But what about Gary Johnson? There's somebody with a legitimate gripe: