The Independence Institute -- you know, the guys who brought you 'send-em-back' Tom Tancredo, the Andrews/Horowitz higher ed purges and Jessica Corry blacklists, shadily-funded astroturf front groups to oppose FasTracks, renewable energy, school bonds...the list goes on and on. You sent their backward ideas packing last November. They're back with a fresh round of suggestions for solving the state's budget crisis. Of course, the fact that they openly extoll the virtues of said crisis might raise a few eyebrows... Then they wonder without irony why nobody listens to them anymore: If you're wondering why they feel a little dejected -- Answer, Senator: they were the ones insisting there wasn't a problem. Still, outsourcing for some new ideas produced exactly one strongly worth considering: the 'Reason Foundation' reports that the state could save "$28 million to $42 million by allowing some nonviolent drug offenders to serve time in house arrest or other, less expensive alternatives to prison." A remarkably compassionate suggestion, and one to be endorsed; fiscal crisis or no. Perhaps someday we can get that sort of thing out of them when their pocketbook isn't threatened...