Brian Gongol
While it's unfortunate that Vice President Cheney accidentally shot a man on a hunting trip, perhaps it will shed light on the fact that the victim is involved in an eminent-domain dispute with the city of Austin, Texas. The problems with eminent domain simply haven't generated enough outrage, but members of the Iowa Legislature are apparently taking steps to strengthen private-property rights.
Also on the subject of private property, AOL and Yahoo are talking about placing a surcharge to label bulk mail as legitimate when it comes from reliable sources. There are several reasons why it probably won't deter spam, but most importantly, it imposes the costs of spam on people who aren't sending it.
Finally, some bad news: Some schools are trying to make kids comfortable with the Big Brother state, despite very limited evidence that their security measures are doing any good.
And some good news: The private sector has set a new flight record, sending Steve Fossett around the world non-stop for 26,389 miles.