• Marriage Is an Institution

    Wedding bells are in the air for Mary Kay LeTourneau and Vili Fualaau, and isn’t it about time these two crazy kids got hitched? Get them a gift. People have often noted that society normally treats statutory rape differently depending on whether the older person is a man or a woman. A man is assumed… Read more

  • A Letter to the Governor

    Governor Rod R. Blagojevich Office of the Governor 207 State House Springfield, IL 62706 Dear Governor Blagojevich, I’m a taxpayer, voter, and 40-year resident of Illinois. I’m writing to thank you for signing SB3007, which mitigates the damage to people’s lives as a result of a minor criminal conviction. It was so very much the… Read more

  • Creepy Parallels

    There’s a sculpture in a public park in Chicago that people aren’t allowed to photograph because the artist still owns the copyright. Apparently the guards hassle people they see taking pictures. According to the comments in this Hit and Run article, this is pretty common, although usually in private displays, not on public property. Also,… Read more

  • Frightening Decision

    Big Bill Of Rights news today, as the Illinois Police and the Supreme Court pile another rock on the chest of the Fourth Amendment, hoping this time to crush it to death. (Metaphor courtesy of Bryan Gates at I respectfully dissent.) The court’s ruling in Illinois v. Caballes says that police can use a drug… Read more

  • Digital Immortality

    Glenn Reynolds says: Digital images are potentially immortal, so long as they get recopied from time to time onto fresh media, but reality being what it is, hardcopy in a shoebox is probably likely to outlast things that require actual human effort. What effort? Hard drive technology improves so fast that every time I get… Read more