Nice call, there, Judge.

When the constitution was written one of the big concerns was controlling government. One senses the feeling that human beings are creatures vulnerable to their urges to abuse one another, kept from doing so only only by a lack of opportunity. Thus, the constitutional balance of power that was explained to us in middle school -- when we were unable to pay attention by reason of hormonal afflictions.

We all recognize that in human beings there is the dark side of greed, ambition, pride, vengefulness, and indifference to the needs or rights of others. Oh, and hormones, too. These considerations give us reason to worry about putting creatures such as ourselves into positions of power, and justify constitutional checks and balances.

But there is another human failing that the constitution does nothing to prevent. I refer, of course, to sheer, roaring boneheadedness, such as that displayed by a federal judge ordering the D.C. police department to hand over security information in discovery, as reported by Sherrie Gossett in Accuracy in Media.

You know how sometimes you might say to a person, "What were you thinking?"

Well, sometimes, that won't cover it.

It's more like, "What the hell part of your body were you using to think with, and ohmigod please don't do that anymore."