The Academic Freedom Coalition wants to bring radical-turned-scholar William Ayers to Nebraska to make a point about academic freedom.

Sounds interesting.

Wonder what conservatives will do to counter Ayer's appearance, if it happens?

I suppose they could protest, which seems kind of lame to me.

Maybe they will invite Larry Grathwohl, who describes himself as an informant who infiltrated the Weather Underground. I don't know what to make of the man's credibility, but he's written a book and apparently testified before a congressional committee.

If both Ayers and Grathwhol showed up at the same time, might be even more interesting. (For the record, I don't think any of this has relevance to the Obama administration.)

I thought Berk Brown of the Platte Institute, a local, conservative think tank, presented a persuasive argument on why Nebraska should loosen fireworks laws.

One strong point Brown made in his Local View column in Sunday's paper is that the idea that Nebraska's restrictions don't seem to be effective in reducing injuries.

In Missouri, which has (ahem) more liberal laws, injuries are declining. In contrast, the injury rate is rising in Nebraska.

For me the deciding factor is that Nebraskans already ignore the law. On the Fourth of July my neighborhood sounds like Baghdad before the surge. At night on the Fourth I can sit in my lawn chair and see a sky full of aerial bursts. And without spending a dime, I might add.

The American Pyrotechnics Association says that there is a trend among states to ease restrictions. The association says that the most recent states to modify their fireworks laws to be less restrictive and more pro-fireworks include Connecticut, Minnesota, Maryland, Vermont, Georgia, Indiana and Arizona. Furthermore, according to the group the number of fireworks-related injuries and fires has declined since these states have loosened their laws.

For those who haven't kept up, the federal government sets a minimum standard. Since 1966 powerful fireworks of yore like chery bombs, M-80s, silver salutes and the like have been illegal under federal law.

Twenty-one states, including Missouri, permit almost everything allowed by the feds.

UPDATE: Click here to review Nebraska regulations on fireworks.

As far political spectaculars go, the flame-out by Gov, Mark Sanford surely will rank as best of the year.

Was he really so delusional he thought he could get away with it?

First Sanford just disappeared. His wife said he didn't know where he had gone for Father's Day weekend. Then aides said he was hiking the Appalalchian Trail. Then they stopped answering questions.

Finally the governor returned and admitted he was seeing a woman in Argentina.

And this was a gentleman that conservative pundits were touting as a presidential contender. Sanford last made an appearance in this blog for trying to turn down federal stimulus aid. (No snickering, please.)

This story still has some legs. Soon to come...photos of the mystery woman.

Sanford stepped down as chair of the Republican Governors Association, but I don't think the unraveling is done. I predict that it won't be long before Sanford steps down. He might have survived an affair. But his unexplained disappearance was so erratic and irresponsible that I think South Carolinians will no longer trust him to head state government.

UPDATE: The State has published excerpts of e-mails between Sanford and his lover. I couldn't get through them myself. I lost it when he started quoting the Bible...

Lincoln is not alone when it comes to budget problems at City Hall.

The World-Herald recently gave front-page attention to revenue shortfalls in Omaha. On Saturday the paper reported that Omaha Mayor Jim Suttle met with business leaders Friday to outline possible tax hikes — including new taxes on entertainment and workers — as ways to resolve the city's budget crisis.

On Sunday came the response: "Several Omaha business leaders and elected officials say they would prefer additional cuts in city services over higher taxes as a solution to the city's budget crisis."

Omaha residents, as everyone should know, pay a higher city taxes than Lincoln. Omaha's city tax rate is 43.4 cents per $100 of valuation. Lincoln's is 28.7 cents.
The biggest excuse that Omaha has for its higher tax rate is that City Hall provides garbage pickup. Interestingly, one of the budget cuts they are discussing is elimination of yard waste pickup. In Lincoln that service is optional and is provided by a private hauler.

Personally, when I review where my property tax goes, I think I get the most bang for my buck from the city share.

What little interest I had in Twitter until lately was mainly because it was co-founded by a Nebraskan.

My interest has jumped this week because of chatter that it has played a role in the protests in Iran.

I was unaware that Twitter has an open architecture that makes it hard for government to control. MSNBC blogger Bob Sullivan says "users to both send and receive messages on a variety of platforms -- cell phones, Blackberries and, of course, other Web sites." The government can shut off access to sites like Facebook, but Twitter keeps tweeting right along, as Sullivan might have said.

Another fascinating tidbit reported by Nicholas D. Kristoff in the New York Times is that tweeters in Iran used a "secret" Internet lifeline originally set up to evade Chinese government censorship of the Falun Gong.

“We don’t have the heart to cut off the Iranians,” one of the computer scientists in the Chinese effort, called the Global Internet Freedom Consortium, told Kristof. The scientist said that the lifeline set a record on Wednesday of more than 200 million hits from Iran, representing more than 400,000 people.

The role of Twitter in the protests prompted the Obama administration to request a delay in scheduled maintenance during daylight hours in Iran.

There are a few contrarians who think that Twitter's role is being overblown, but I think it's clear that it's been used in ways and for purposes never envisoned by its founders. I relish its subversive potential.

Judging from the more than 60 comments on the story, I wasn't the only one bothered by the edict forbidding people to smile for their driver's license.

When I heard that the reason for the rule was to aid facial recognition software, my mind raced ahead to the thought the authorities are setting up a system that will allow them to track anyone who ventures into a public space.

Turns out, though, that software will be used so alert authorities if a counterfeiter tries to use someone else's photo to get a fake driver's license.

Still, a Blade Runner-style future doesn't seem that far away.

Remember the so-called "red hoodie robber?" Police had photos not only from the convenience store's surveillance cameras, they also had shots from an apartment building's security cameras, which showed a man with a red hoodie carrying what appeared to be a cash box with a yellow tag into the building.

I suppose I should be reassured by all these measures that help keep me safe -- for now. But I'm a little creeped out. New technology seems tailor-made for totalitarians.

On one level Sen. Scott Price's plan sounds reasonable.

Price, a new senator from Bellevue, wants fourth graders across the state to raise money to install fountains in the courtyards in the State Capitol.

Kathy Goens, an IT Programmer at the Capitol, reads in the window light above the southwest courtyard at the Capitol on Thursday. (Gwyneth Roberts)

No doubt in my mind that the scheme would work. I've turned over hundreds of dollars to earnest little faces who show up on my doorstep raising money for youth sports, school projects and so forth.

The question on these fund-raising plans is knowing where to draw the line. If it's a good idea to have fourth-graders raise money for capitol fountains, how about having fifth-graders raise money to rehab the fountains in Centennial Mall?

We could put grade-schoolers to work raising funds on all sorts of worthy projects.

And incidentally, when those fountains get built, who will pay for operation and maintenance?

Where do I apply for my curmudgeon license?

Even in today's media-saturated society Peter Peterson is having success attracting attention.

He appeared today on Good Morning America, where he explains to Diane Sawyer why he thinks that Wall Streeters who complained about million dollar bonuses are a "bunch of spoiled and ungrateful schumcks."

One reason is that Peterson is capturing the limelight is that he has a compelling personal story. He worked in his father's diner in Kearney starting at age eight, won a college scholarship and kept going. (Lengthy excerpt on this ABC website.) Now he's on a campaign to get America to do something about its fiscal problems.

Another reason for Peterson's knack for raising his profile is that he is a good storyteller. He has an ear for the colorful anecdote. The Economist has this: "...when he was finally sacked as commerce secretary, he infuriated his former boss by joking, at a leaving party, that he had flunked the Nixon loyalty test because: “my calves are so fat that I couldn’t click my heels.”

A Youtube clip shows Peterson telling a story about a conversation at a hedge fund mansion in the Hamptons between novelists Joe Heller (Catch 22) and Kurt Vonnegut (Slaughterhouse Five.) Heller says he has something the owner of the house does not. "I know the meaning of enough."

I wish Peterson success. Eventually Americans will have to confront their financial problems. The longer we ignore Peterson's message, the harder it will be to solve the problem.

The Senate Finance Committee has proposed raising the tax on wine and beer.

The horror!

Time to marshal arguments against this dastardly plot.

Best argument I can think of is the health benefits that study after study shows flow from moderate consumption of alcohol, much to the dismay of cheerless neoprohibitionists. The chief benefit is improvement in cholesterol levels.

As the Harvard School of Public Health puts it, "The idea that moderate drinking protects against cardiovascular disease makes sense biologically and scientifically. Moderate amounts of alcohol raise levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL, or "good" cholesterol), (10) and higher HDL levels are associated with greater protection against heart disease."

Clearly the nation's founders would be appalled at the senators' plan.

Thomas Jefferson said, "I think it is a great error to consider a heavy tax on wines as a tax on luxury. On the contrary, it is a tax on the health of our citizens."

I'd like to use that quote usually attributed to Ben Franklin that "Beer is God's proof that he loves us and wants us to be happy."

Unfortunately it turns out to be a misquote. Here's what Franklin apparently said in a letter addressed to André Morellet in 1779: Behold the rain which descends from heaven upon our vineyards, there it enters the roots of the vines, to be changed into wine, a constant proof that God loves us, and loves to see us happy."

Still works as an argument against wine taxes though.

Ooops. Gotta run. Want to get a case discount on a summer's worth of sauvignon blanc, probably one from New Zealand, love that special zing.

Imposition of the smoking ban across Nebraska is sparking anger, resentment and argument.

The Journal Star devoted two pages to the topic on Sunday. Other papers, like the Columbus Telegram , the Beatrice Sun and the Fremont Tribune have their own local reports.

For Lincoln residents it's like watching a rerun. Been there. Heard that. Saw that. Moved on.

The usual complaints are that government shouldn't take away rights, and that the government's authority is being applied capriciously.

Those arguments are not sufficient to persuade courts to overturn the ban. The government has been restricting the use of dangerous drugs since the early days of the Republic. That's all the ban really is, just a tightening of restrictions. If the ban has any vulnerability at all, it would be because the Legislature provided an exemption for cigar bars. I still think the ban will survive as written.

I smoked Winstons back in the day, but kicked the habit. I'm all for the ban. Going out is more pleasurable now, not to mention more healthy. I believe I speak for the non-smoking majority. Democracy rules.