Nice column today in Princeton’s paper. Celebrating circulation records: Among the provisions of one of the various “Patriot Acts” designed by Mr. Ashcroft and his friends to allow us all to sleep sounder in our beds each night is one allowing the Feds to snoop on our library records. The theory behind the legislation is pretty simple. Say there’s this brownish guy with facial hair and a weird name with Zs or U-less Qs or something, and he comes into the local branch library and wants to check out “Ten Tips from Top Terrorists” or renew “Home-Made Bombs for Fun and Profit.” Well, he’ll have lots of time to read at Camp X-Ray. Any college professor knows the legislation is based on two highly questionable assumptions: viz (1) people actually read the books they check out and (2) they actually understand what they read.