There must be more to the Senator Craig story than we have heard, despite all of the news coverage. From the descriptions I have heard it appears that the Senator plead guilty to actions that may not have actually been a crime. His behavior, while bizarre, was not lewd. The arresting officer simply assumed (perhaps correctly) that the Senator was contemplating committing a crime. This is esentially a "thought crime." That is similar to the "hate crime" philosophy that liberals usually favor. I can't help but wonder if the police "sting" operation was specifically intended to entrap the Senator. It would be interesting to know how many people besides Senator Craig were arrested in the sting operation. It seems to me that if the Minneapolis police wanted to stop lewd acts in the airport restrooms it would have been more effective to simply have uniformed police patrol the area. It seems to me that uniformed police would be better at preventing illegal activity than the vice squad. I'm libertarian enough to be suspicious of the vice squad.

It is also odd to me that the gay community is not complaining about the possibly unconstitutional activities of the Minneapolis police. As far as I know it is not illegal for gays to "hook up" in restrooms or anywhere else. It would be illegal for them to perform sex acts in the restroom, but not to meet there, no matter what bizarre rituals they use to make contact. If it is illegal in Minneapolis, what about heterosexuals "hooking up" in bars? Shouldn't that also be illegal? Wouldn't the line Michael Douglas used to pick up Catherine Zeta-Jones ("I want you to be the mother of my children") also be illegal? (I can't believe Douglas's line worked, but apparently it did.)