From the archive. Isabel is about seven weeks old here.

This story made the rounds last week. Apparently the Virginia DMV has banned smiling in driver’s license photos, in order to implement some sort of facial recognition software.

But I want to note the article’s intro sentence:

Few places in Virginia are as draining to the soul and as numbing to the buttocks as the branch offices of the Department of Motor Vehicles.

So here’s the thing: Everyone knows the Virginia DMV sucks. The employees are rude to the people they’re supposed to be serving. I’ve never spent less than three hours in the place, no matter what I was there to do.

A few years ago, I had an issue with the DMV that’s too complicated to go into for the purposes of this post. But resolving it required phone calls to a couple of different car insurance companies and the City of Alexandria Finance Department. Virginia-based reps from both Geico and State Farm made comments about the DMV–not only about the agency’s ineptitude, but about how its employees can be vindictive, and are known to actually slap license restrictions on customers who rub them the wrong way.

My particular problem got bad enough that I ended up calling my state delegate, Brian Moran (who is now running for governor). When I started to explain the problem, the staffer laughed and said, “Oh, it’s a DMV thing. Sometimes, they seem to think their mission is to make life hell for Virginia drivers.”

I was astounded. I replied, “I don’t really think it’s all that funny. Isn’t it the state legislature’s job to oversee the DMV? Instead of laughing about how the agency makes life a living hell for residents of Virginia, shouldn’t you be doing something about it? Isn’t that your job?”

She did at least stop laughing. But Moran’s office didn’t help.

So everyone, from Washington Post reporters to state legislators to auto insurers to anyone in city and state government knows the Virginia DMV is awful, and doesn’t really give a damn about its customers. So why haven’t any politicians done anything about it? I gotta’ think that taking up DMV reform would be pretty popular with voters. What’s the downside, here?

If anyone out there is working for one of the major gubernatorial candidates right now, tell them to take up this issue. I don’t find any of the candidates particularly inspiring. I would probably be willing to cast my vote on this issue alone.*

(*Unless it’s Terry McCauliffe, whom I wouldn’t vote for under any circumstances.)

My friend Curtis Melvin, whom I posted about last week, was on the Rachel Maddow show recently to talk about his North Korea project.

Wow, this is embarrassing.

Earlier today, I linked to a story about a charity poker game in Maine raided by the state police. The police seized $500 that would have otherwise gone toward stocking a food co-op.

Here’s part of an email from an Agitator reader who wishes to remain anonymous:

I went to the TV station’s web-site and viewed the video report. How ridiculous have our federal and local government agencies become?

Well long story short, I called Mrs. Groder and let her know I am going to mail her a $500.00 check on Monday. I also called the TV station to tell them my intentions. I’m not looking for any PR out of this donation . . . I just want them to know at least someone cares a little bit about freedom and liberty.. and that both go hand in hand with volunteer charity.

Seattle waterfront. Taken in 2007.

….she’s not really blazing trails on the First Amendment, either.

For #6, we’ll go with “Mississippi,” off of Love and Theft.. I’m probably partial to this one due to having spent quite a bit of time in that state over the last few years.

This isn’t encouraging.

Someone at Time has a wicked sense of humor.

Mountain peak in the Alaska Range.

In an article about the feds’ 70 percent ownership stake in GM, a New York Times reporter asks:

There are cultural challenges, too. Can the government help turn around a company known for its bureaucratic approach to business?

The Illinois senate narrowly approved a medical marijuana bill today. From the Marijuana Policy Project’s press release:

The Illinois Senate passed a bill today, 30-28, that would allow seriously ill patients with certain debilitating conditions to use marijuana for medical purposes if their physician has recommended it.

Okay, so it’s not exactly a ringing endorsement of individual freedom. But that a heartland state’s senate could muster the votes to get even this through seems pretty significant.

Poydras Street, New Orleans.

In January 2007, state police in Illinois seized a shiny new, souped-up Dodge Charger after arresting the car’s owner on drunk driving charges. The state apparently passed a law in 2006 that allows police to take and keep the cars of repeat drunk driving offenders.

But this car didn’t get auctioned off, as often happens in seizure cases. Instead, it was given to Ronald Cooley, head of the State Police Merit Board. The Merit Board oversees state police hirings, firings, discipline, and promotions.

According to the A.P., Cooley “drives the Charger between his office and Petersburg home, for local work assignments and for a handful of out-of-town state business trips.” The A.P. says other police officials may be driving seized luxury vehicles, too.

The transfer also raises questions about how the department uses nearly two dozen other vehicles the police have seized, including a 2003 Cadillac Escalade, a 2004 Audi Quattro and a 2005 GMC Sierra. The agency refused to tell the AP who drives those vehicles, citing the possibility that it would jeopardize officer safety.

Compton said there’s nothing improper about handing over the sports car to the director of an agency that administers state troopers’ hiring, firing and discipline. Cooley agreed.

“It’s not a situation where I’d do anything for them or they for me,” Cooley said. “It helped our budget and they had something they couldn’t use.”

Yet another sign of the right’s increasing irrelevance.

If she’s confirmed, I suspect I’ll disagree with the way Sotomayor votes more times than not. But the ridiculous criticisms of her coming from the loudest voices in conservatism at the moment make me want to pull for her.

Frankly, at this point if she’s good on civil liberties, criminal justice, and executive power, I’ll be happy. That’s a big if. But looking for the Court to enforce constitutional restraints on the government when it comes to economic freedom is a lost cause. A patchwork, case-by-case defense of personal freedom is about all that’s left.

MORE: Some of you are reading way too much into the second paragraph. I’m not endorsing Sotomayor’s confirmation. Not that any endorsement from me would matter, anyway. It was more a flip comment on the silliness of the criticisms of her coming from the right. There are legitimate reasons to criticize Sotomayor, and there are legitimate questions to ask about her undergirding legal phiolosophy. Pulling a line from a speech she once gave about her own background and concluding that she’s “racist” isn’t a legitimate criticism.

Ultimately, libertarians will have to measure her based on how much better or worse we could have expected from Obama. Let’s face it, he’s never going to nominate Richard Posner or Janice Rogers Brown. That in mind, I still don’t know enough about her to have a strong opinion.

Here, he frets that Sonia Sotomayor was chosen for a prestigious position in the federal government because of the legal outcomes her personal politics will yield, instead of being chosen because of her careful legal analysis.

The FCC claims it can come into your home without a warrant to conduct searches.

It’s at 42 percent of GDP right now, a number that’s expected to double in 10 years.

Economist John Taylor explains why that just isn’t sustainable.

Taken in Memphis, Tennessee, last year.

First, I owe thank-yous for the handful of subscriptions and tip jar rattlings over the last couple of weeks. So thank you!

Second, thanks also to those of you who expressed interest in offering tech help for the mysterious liberty-oriented project I mentioned a few weeks ago. I promise to get back to you. Just a little busy right now.