A Stitch in Haste

Time to clean out the aggregator —

ITEM: Arizona prosecutors have announced that they will not seek to use the “no lawyer, no parent” interrogation of a nine-year old boy suspected of murdering his father and another adult. A wise move, since the interrogation — besides being outrageous on its face — was patently unconstitutional. I noted the abomination on Twitter.

ITEM: Another federal court has found another part of the Adam Walsh Act unconstitutional: A Fourth Circuit panel has found that the Commerce Clause does not grant Congress the power to authorize civil confinement of an allegedly “sexually dangerous person” who has in fact not violated any federal law. I recently noted a similar holding in this post (second item). U.S. v. Comstock, No. 07-7671 (4th Cir., January 8, 2009) (PDF – 19 pages). (Simultaneously via Sex Crimes Blawg and Constitutional Law Prof Blog.)

ITEM: A New York lawmaker is suing to block any further taxpayer funding of the new Yankee Stadium. The stadium, which is not a public good, has already received $1.5 billion in taxpayer subsidies. Another of many posts here.

ITEM: Merck is seeking FDA approval for the use of its (not entirely effective) HPV vaccine, Gardasil, on boys. I guess Merck ran out of governors from whom to rent-seek compulsory Gardasil vaccinations on girls. (Via InterstateQ.)

ITEM: A recent study estimates that corporate defined-benefit pension plans are now underfunded by over $400 billion. At least some of that shortfall will inevitably be transferred to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation — which itself recently announced a $5 billion loss and which in turn will inevitably need a taxpayer bailout. (And don’t forget the defined-benefit pension shortfalls by state and local governments, already underfunded by an estimated $1.4 trillion even before the stock market collapse.)

ITEM: Self-loathing homosexual Larry Craig has abandoned the last of his frivolous appeals over his guilty plea for disorderly conduct in an airport restroom stall. About time.