Just in case anyone was wondering, the briefing schedule has been set in Speaker Bosma’s appeal of the prayer decision. Bosma’s brief is due May 10, the appellee’s brief of Hinrichs, Herold, Quigley, and Gerner is due June 12, 2006. The reply brief, if any, is due June 26, 2006.

Congressmen are like diapers; they need to be changed, and for the same reason.

—Pete McCloskey, Republican primary challenger to Rep. Richard Pombo in California’s 11th Congressional District.  (Seen here.)

This is old and only tangentially related to the immigration debate, but it involves my alma mater, Miami University, so I’ll go ahead an post it.

Back on April 10, a group of white supremacist protesters showed up on the wrong place. The ACLU was conducting a panel discussion on immigration reform at the Miami University – Hamilton campus. The KKK and Aryan Nation members showed up at Miami’s main campus in Oxford carrying signs proclaiming “White people unite” and shouting “White power” but with no immigration discussion to protest.

Maybe things have changed, but back when I went to Miami, it was one of the whitest places on earth. So, other than the odd overly tanned sorority girl, I’ll bet those mouth breathing white supremacist yahoos even had trouble finding an impromptu brown person to harass.

Not at all relevant to Indiana politics, but here is a picture of me reading to my son and two nieces. So despite all my grousing about the road trip to and from North Carolina, I had a lot of fun.

More pictures here.

WSBT reported that the Citizens Action Coalition filed a lawsuit challenging the Toll Road privatization. I’m away from my normal resources, so I’ll keep it brief. Basically they challenge its Constitutionality. There is an Indiana Constitutional provision stemming from the days of the canal debacle that makes it illegal to use proceeds from the sale of infrastructure on anything other than paying down the “public debt.” A lot of privatization proceeds were used as pork to grease the skids on the deal.

Specifically, Article 10 section 2 of Indiana’s Constitution says:

All the revenues derived from the sale of any of the public works belonging to the State, and from the net annual income thereof, and any surplus that may, at any time, remain in the Treasury, derived from taxation for general State purposes, after the payment of the ordinary expenses of the government, and of the interest on bonds of the State, other than Bank bonds; shall be annually applied, under the direction of the General Assembly, to the payment of the principal of the Public Debt.

So, the State will presumably argue that Toll Road privatization wasn’t a “sale,” notwithstanding the fact that the agreement refers to the deal as a sale for federal tax purposes and the reality that the State will have sold a portion of their rights in the property — specifically the property rights to charge and collect tolls for the next 75 years.

I have an unresearched opinion that nanotech will be the source of our major technological advances in the next generation or two. That’s why you’ll occasionally see nanotech related items here.

Slashdot has an entry entitled “Nanotech Gone Awry.” It has a link to a Chemical and Engineering news report about a recall of a nanotech based product used to make glass and ceramic surfaces repel dirt and water. The product is suspected to have caused illness in at least 77 people in Germany after they used the product.

The Slashdot entry also references a Washington Post story about the unknown dangers facing employees of nanotech firms and a CDC strategic plan on nanotech.

From the “you get what you pay for” department, an AP story in the Louisville Courier-Journal indicates that college debt is pricing graduates out of teaching, social work, and other modestly paying public-service careers. So, the graduates get a decent education because they’re paying for it. Indiana does not get enough good teachers or quality social services because we are unwilling or unable to pay adequately for those services.

The report from the Indiana Public Interest Research Group says 28 percent of public university graduates and 46 percent of private college graduates in Indiana would face unmanageable debt payments on a starting teacher’s salary.

Unlike me lately with my obsession with horse race politics and DST, Rep. Dvorak has an entry on a topic that probably matters quite a bit more: university research and economic development. Among other things, IU has announced the acquisition of one of the fastest computers in the world, and Purdue’s Hydrogen Initiative Symposium concluded its inaugural meeting.

The Northwest Indiana News reports that the Citizen’s Action Coalition is considering a legal challenge to the toll road deal. They are trying to raise $30,000 for legal fees before the April 13 challenge deadline.

According to a CAC release reported by Taking Down Words:

A legal analysis of HB 1008 by an Indianapolis law firm indicates the Major Moves legislation, which authorizes the lease of the Indiana Toll Road, and the Lease Agreement together violate the Indiana Constitution.

Key provisions of the legislation and Agreement provide that the ‘net annual income’ derived from the Indiana Toll Road, a public works belonging to the State, shall be retained by the private entity, and that a significant portion of the lump-sum payment shall go to fund transportation projects rather than being placed in the State General Fund to be applied to reducing the public debt.

Article 10, § 2 of the Indiana Constitution prohibits such an arrangement and mandates that net annual income from public works to be used to pay down public debt. This analysis is born out by a textual and historical review of the constitutional provision as well as a review of Court cases interpreting the provision.

Article 10, Section 2 of the Indiana Constitution cited above states:

Section 2. All the revenues derived from the sale of any of the public works belonging to the State, and from the net annual income thereof, and any surplus that may, at any time, remain in the Treasury, derived from taxation for general State purposes, after the payment of the ordinary expenses of the government, and of the interest on bonds of the State, other than Bank bonds; shall be annually applied, under the direction of the General Assembly, to the payment of the principal of the Public Debt.

That would seem to cast some doubt on some of the pork larded onto HB 1008 to get the toll road privatization bill through the legislature.