A Stitch in Haste

Reason laments the use by law enforcement of consent searches to evade the Fourth Amendment's requirement of probable cause to search or seize:
The other day, the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois issued a report on "consent searches" that sometimes accompany traffic stops. Relying on data provided by local and state law enforcement agencies, the [...]

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This time it's Supreme Chancellor Schwarzenegger:
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger of California has moved to end a budget crisis by sacking 22,000 state workers and ordering pay cuts for 200,000.
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"Today I am exercising my executive authority to avoid a full-blown crisis and keep our state moving forward," he said.
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California's state financial controller, John Chiang, a Democrat, has [...]

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How the heck was this allowed to happen?
Some North Dakota attorneys are outraged over the latest North Dakota Law Review, saying the scholarly publication was hijacked by national religious rights [sic] activists bent on stopping gay marriage.
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By Wednesday, lawyers' protests had become so passionate and widespread that University of North Dakota Law School Dean Paul [...]

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Behold yet another "Christian" speaking on behalf of Focus on the Family —

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To review: While I certainly concur with the overwhelming majority of my fellow libertarians that there is a presumptive right to raise one's children as one sees fit, I sometimes get into trouble for insisting that this presumption is rebuttable. Whatever the "right to raise one's children" may be, it simply cannot include a "right [...]

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There's been some panic-mongering in the blogs over a supposed provision in the housing bill requiring credit card processors to report (or be able to report) all, absolutely all, transactions to the IRS.
That is not correct. The bill includes a
de minimis exception for transactions of $10,000 or less and 200 transactions or less [that] applies [...]

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–Is it a proper function of government to shut down "America's last proper paddle-wheeled steamboat"?
Congress granted the Delta Queen an exemption because she is never more than a few hundred yards from the safety of the river bank should a fire occur. Since then, the exemption has been extended nine times. But probably not for [...]

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So, are you New Gay or "New Old Gay? (Note: Apparently those are your only two choices.)
Project Runway Season 1 contestant Austin Scarlett is New Old Gay, Project Runway Season 4 winner Christian Siriano is New Gay. The Scissor Sisters are New Gay. Rufus Wainwright flirts with being New Old Gay, but he's really New [...]

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An email I just sent to seven academics:
Hello,
I would like to bring to your attention the use of your published research by a militant Christian attorney in a piece opposing same-sex marriage in California, on the grounds that gay parenting is "harmful" to children:
Given that research by other scholars has been misused by similar “Christian” [...]

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As is always the case with emergency sausage-style legislation in an election season, there is something for everyone:
–Renegotiating mortgages. Of course, any borrower is always able to renegotiate their debt — assuming the lender is willing. And given a choice between "renegotiate" and "sue for foreclosure," most lenders readily choose "renegotiate" anyway. Remember: Unlike Silas [...]

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