There is a right to privacy and a right to petition and a right to assemble and a right to bear arms — and now, maybe, a right to dry. Yes, several northeastern state legislatures are trying to pass laws that would grant homeowners the "right" to dry clothes on outdoor lines, according to the Boston Globe.

Vermont and Connecticut have laws pending in state assemblies that would grant this right to dry — a right made necessary by persnickety home owners associations that have outlawed the use of clotheslines. "In some minds...clotheslines connote a landscape of poverty rather than flowering fields," writes Jenna Russell. "Opponents of the proposed legislation say homeowners' groups have the right to protect property values by forbidding practices they consider unsightly, such as storing junk cars in driveways - and hanging wet laundry outside."

Proponents of line drying say it cuts the need for electric power and, in a small way, helps reduce the gasses that contribute to global warming. However, opponents say shirts and undies flapping in the breeze would reduce the "curb appeal" (and market value). All of which should make everyone in Yonder happy that they live there.

The New York Times described Kevin Gover, the new director of the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian, as "a tall man with a regal bearing." What the Times didn't mention was that Gover had been found in contempt of court for destroying documents in a landmark suit filed by American Indians.

The Times did refer to the most recent expense account shenanigans at the Smithsonian. Gover's predecessor at the museum, W. Richard West Jr., "spent more than $250,000 on travel and hotels during his final four years in office and paid $48,500 to a New York artist to paint his museum portrait." Gover said he "felt bad for Rick."

No mention in the Times, however, that Gover and others in the Interior Department were found in contempt by a federal judge for destroying 162 boxes of evidence in a case brought by tribal members who contended the federal government had mismanaged Indian lands. "This isn't my first rodeo," Gover told the Times. Indeed.