They Got Something (Half) Right

Every once in a while the politically well-connected lawyers on the Supreme Court issue an opinion that is narrowly consistent with personal liberty. Today they did that, denying police employees the legal authority to forcibly extract blood samples from drivers suspected of driving under the influence. Instead, one set of government employees will have to get the approval of another set of government employees in the form of a warrant.

Kansas City radio hosts Scott Parks and Dana Wright discussed the issue, and a caller mentioned that in Missouri (the state the case originated from) littering is a Class A misdemeanor, while DUI is only a Class B. Of course this didn’t sit well with them; they thought it should be the other way around.

It shouldn’t bother them, or anyone. Driving drunk isn’t really a crime, in so far as there is no victim. Littering on the other hand does have a victim, in that it may represent a trespass against someone’s property. (Walter Block’s argument notwithstanding, since his example refers to a voluntary transaction.)

Oh Great

There’s a group trying to secure Kansas City as the site of the 2016 GOP convention. Gross.

Fear Not Citizen, Public Works Will Save You…

…From garage sale signs? A post-dawn operation was conducted yesterday by a joint task force made up of agents from the Public Works and Neighborhood and Community Services departments of Kansas City, Missouri. To augment the force and maximize their efforts, local residents were deputized, and each was armed with garbage bags. The purpose of the action, according to Councilman Scott Taylor, was to “enhance the appearance of our great city.”

At long last, after being forced to live in the dark shadow of missing pet flyers and help wanted ads, our courageous municipal bureaucrats have stepped into the breach to eradicate this tyranny. Residents may sleep peaceably in their beds at night because of these brave souls standing ready to do violence to homemade signage on our behalf. Now, if only they could free us from those despotic, not to mention grotesquely hideous, coupon mailers, our wretched lives might be half-bearable.

They can’t repair broken water mains, fix the roads, or clear them of snow and ice. Their water department employees are known for sleeping on the job. So this is exactly what we’d expect of inept bureaucrats: conjure up some unproductive make-work scheme and grandstand about it. This way they can say “look at all the good that we do for you people.”