Prohibition on Election Day: When an election doesn't go their way, some voters might want to drown their sorrows. Otherwise, there's not much connection between voting and booze. Nevertheless, Utah law prohibits the sale of liquor, wine and heavy beer while the polls are open. You can't get a glass of wine with lunch in a restaurant on Election Day, or buy a fifth at a state liquor store. Sen. Scott McCoy, D-Salt Lake City, wants to put an end to this pointless prohibition. We'll drink to that.

Bitter litter: There's a logical, make that scatological, solution to safely disposing of abuse-prone prescription medications. Instead of flushing them down the toilet and imperiling aquatic life, or throwing them out with the trash, the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration suggests you mix them with used cat litter. While it's not a panacea, drug abusers will need more than a strong desire to steal the drugs from your garbage can. They'll also need strong stomachs and a weak sense of smell.

Tortured confirmation: Yes, the tattered U.S. Justice Department needs new leadership after the wretched reign of Alberto Gonzales. Yes, retired federal judge Michael Mukasey, sworn in Friday as Gonzales' replacement, has impressive credentials. But no, he should not have been recommended by the Senate Judiciary Committee and confirmed by the full Senate. Anyone who refuses to acknowledge that waterboarding simulated drowning of a prisoner under interrogation is simply a euphemism for torture, has no business being the nation's top law enforcement officer. The Bush administration, which claims that waterboarding is just an "enhanced technique" of interrogation, clearly got the AG it wanted. But Bush and his companion-in-torture, Dick Cheney, shouldn't get too comfortable. They may yet be called to account by a new administration willing to state the obvious: Waterboarding is torture, and torture is a crime.