"We have a Bill of Rights. What we need is a Bill of Responsibilities." -- Bill Maher

McDonald's wins this one ... maybe: The judge threw out the "McDonald's food made me fat and sick" lawsuit, but said it could be reinstated under certain circumstances. This one should just go away.

Forget flat taxes -- let's make 'em progressive again: According to this Slate piece, taxes (in total, i.e., federal, state, local, etc.) are basically the same percentage of income, no matter how rich or poor you are. Back atcha, Steve Forbes.

Eldred FAQ: Here's a good idea to stem the tide of troubles emanating from the Supremes' ruling that copyright can continue for ridiculous periods (Volokh Conspiracy has a good overview of the outcome), courtesy of Larry Lessig, who argued Eldred.

This is brilliant: David Post argues that abortion is a local issue, like civil unions. How about like gun control? Let the municipalities decide what they want to do with abortions, with civil unions, and with guns -- don't make it an issue of national import. Sadly, the NRA has used the 2nd Amendment to keep the issue national in scope, thus making the debate, to take Post as my text, "completely unreasonable, on both sides, with otherwise sensible and decent people heaping contempt and hate upon those on the other side."

That Sen. Collins gets around: Another investigation instigated by Sen. Collins (R-Maine) turns up fake schools generating fraudulent requests for student financial aid.

The toothbrush?: Yes, the toothbrush has been designated the most indispensible invention among these 5: toothbrush, automobile, PC, cell phone and microwave. Not the most stellar crop of indispensible inventions (consider vaccines, electric light, the printing press, invasive surgery, pasteurization, and many others). Interesting to see both what MIT folks and CNN readers think is important.