So I am quite literally snowed in right now. Front door won’t open. It’s been crazy. Photos and videos of puppy snow frolicking forthcoming.

In the meantime….

• Actual sentence from an actual news story: “It’s designed for young girls ages 8 and older, but some say the mysterious product is a “dangerous spiritual game” that opens up anyone, particularly Christians, to attacks on their soul.”
• Because anything that tastes good is obviously an appeal to children.
• Looks like the former DA Texas Gov. Rick Perry appointed to head up the state’s forensics panel is doing all he can to make sure the panel does nothing to help the state’s forensics system.
• Here’s a good cop story: Bozeman, Montana cop buys food for man caught shoplifting school supplies for his kids.
• Time to renew my ACLU membership.
• Gun-free snowball fights. Novel idea!
• Twelve-year-old Queens girl hauled out of school in handcuffs for writing on desk.

Love it when I get a Google alert because something I’ve written was assigned in a college composition or rhetoric class.

This week: Won one, lost one.

Joe Henry’s “Channel,” from his new album Blood From Stars.

This is a beautiful, beautiful song.

Pike Place Market, Seattle.

I mentioned last week that I’d have an update on the Anthony Smelley case, profiled in my Reason feature on asset forfeiture.

I have piece up at Slate today with a bit more on the case. Here are the portions not in the Reason piece:

Smelley’s case then got even stranger. At the preliminary hearing last February, Judge Headley actually ruled in Smelley’s favor. But under state law, Putnam County had an additional 10 days to amend its brief. Three days after his ruling, Headley mysteriously pulled himself from the case. Gambill thinks he knows why. “Several months ago, [the judge] asked the Putnam County prosecutor if he could have $5,000 from the forfeiture fund to buy some new AV equipment for his courtroom. He was turned down,” Gambill said. “Since then Judge Headley has had, well, I’ll just say he’s had a much different demeanor in forfeiture cases.” Gambill thinks that in his eagerness to question the county, Headley misstated state law during Smelley’s preliminary hearing, then took himself off the case once he realized his mistake.

Headley confirmed to me that he had made the AV equipment request. But he denied that the denial of his request for forfeiture funds had any bearing on his ruling. Maybe that’s true, and Gambill is wrong. But think about the impropriety of it all: A judge asked for $5,000 to upgrade his courtroom from a fund filled with money from defendants over whose cases he presides….

As for Anthony Smelley, he finally had his new hearing last Friday. But it could be another month or more to hear whether he’ll get his money back.

Freddie Peacock, 60, of Rochester, New York has become the 250th person exonerated by DNA testing. Peacock was convicted of rape in 1976 and paroled in 1982. He tried to remain on parole so he’d still have access to the courts to clear his name.

The Innocence Project breaks down the 250 exonerations over the last 20 years:

• There have been DNA exonerations in 33 states and the District of Columbia.

• The top three states for DNA exonerations are New York (with 25), Texas (with 40) and Illinois (with 29).

• 76% of the wrongful convictions involved eyewitness misidentification.

• 50% involved unvalidated or improper forensic science.

• 27% relied on a false confession, admission or guilty plea.

• 70% of the 250 people exonerated are people of color (60% are black; nearly 9% are Latino; 29% are white).

Dallas County, Texas alone has had 19 DNA exonerations, in part because it’s one of the only jurisdictions in the country with a district attorney who is actually seeking out false convictions. That’s a pretty good indication that the 250 figure would be higher if there were more DAs like him.

One other point: The subset of cases for which DNA testing is dispositive of guilt is pretty small. So it also seems safe to say that whatever flaws in the criminal justice system that allowed these wrongful convictions to happen are just as prevalent in the much larger set of cases where DNA isn’t a factor.

The possible repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell has right-wingers frothing like a fresh batch of santorum.

(Sorry! Couldn’t resist.)

Here’s Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.), who not only never served, but got six deferments to avoid Vietnam, then once questioned the patriotism of a political opponent who lost three limbs while serving:

“In my opinion, the presence in the armed forces of persons who demonstrate a propensity or intent to engage in homosexual acts would very likely create an unacceptable risk to those high standards.”

Such as?

“Alcohol use, adultery, fraternization, and body art.”

Dear God!  Soldiers drinking alcohol? Fraternizing? Getting tattoos? The debauchery!

Family Research Center flack Peter Sprigg (which, come to think of it, wouldn’t be a bad gay porn name) flat cut to the case. He just wants to outlaw the gays entirely.

And then there’s Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.). His worry? Hermaphrodites!

Philadelphia.

More surprising, the study was actually sponsored by auto insurers.

The study, released Friday by the Highway Loss Data Institute, examined insurance claims from crashes before and after such bans took effect in California, New York, Connecticut and Washington, D.C.

The organization found that claims rates did not go down after the laws were enacted. It also found no change in patterns compared with nearby states without such bans.

Adrian Lund, the group’s president, said the finding doesn’t bode well “for any safety payoff from all the new laws.”

Six states and the District of Columbia ban talking on a hand-held device for all drivers, while 19 states and the District of Columbia bantexting while driving, according to the Governors Highway Safety Association.

The Highway Loss Data Institute, an affiliate of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, said its findings “don’t match what we already know about the risk of phoning andtexting while driving” and said it is gathering data to “figure out this mismatch.”

It said one explanation could be an increase in the use of handsfree devices in places with bans on handset use while driving.

That’s true of talking on a cell phone. Not sure how you can use a hands-free device to send a text message. But I’d imagine that withtexting bans, a big problem is that the laws really aren’t enforceable.

Also, I hate to say “I told you so,” but . . . okay, that’s a lie. I don’t mind saying it at all.

So I told you so.

(Thanks to Patrick Geisler for the tip.)

Indiana.

There’s been much heated discussion and anticipation in the comments section* about whether I will be American Idol blogging this year. The answer is yes! Although not until we get out of the Hollywood rounds. My favorite contestant so far: The hillbilly girl who sang Old Crow Medicine Show at her audition. Mostly because she sang Old Crow Medicine Show at her audition.

Also, is it me or does every other contestant seem to have some sort of sad back story this year? So far, we have several cancers, Tourette’s, divorce, facial paralysis, single moms, single dads, and autism.

In any case, get your “I’m really disappointed in you, Radley” and “I don’t come here to read this crap” comments out of the way, now!

(*Note: By “much heated discussion,” I mean “no discussion at all.” And by “anticipation,” I mean, “the topic hasn’t come up a single time.”)

….has been a life dream of mine.

Although I don’t drink much beer these days. Maybe I could train Daisy to mix me a Woodford old fashioned instead.

Hirshhorn Museum, Washington, D.C.

My crime column this week looks at a fun new paper by economist Pete Leeson on the Dark Ages practice of settling criminal trials with ordeals.

Monty Python make an appearance.

Chicago.