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Hey kids! Governor Manchin here! Last week was big. My favorite part was the grand opening of the A-1 Car Wash. Here's my schedule this week:Today, 9-10 a.m.: Greeter at South Charleston Wal-Mart.Wednesday, noon.: Serving my own leftover turkey at Wyoming Senior Center.Thursday, 4-5 p.m.: Judging homemade pie contest at Parkersburg Fish Fry.Saturday, 6 p.m.: Calling Bingo at Continuous Care Center, Wheeling. 
If a recent ruling by the West Virginia Supreme Court was the law of the land everywhere, federal authorities likely could never have stopped the planned terrorist attack on Fort Dix.After a Circuit City clerk viewed a video tape of several Muslims discussing "jihad," he alerted authorities. The FBI then followed up with months of surveillance, including "conversations taped with paid informants who had infiltrated the group," according to news reports.But on Feb. 28, the West Virginia Supreme Court ruled in State v. Mullens that informants cannot be wired inside a suspect's home without a court-issued warrant, even when they are invited in by the suspect. The court has made it virtually impossible to obtain taped evidence, since it is entirely impractical to obtain a warrant between the time an informant is invited into a home and the time he actually enters the home.Fortunately, the informants helping with the Fort Dix case were operating under no such constraints, and were therefore able to gain taped evidence against the jihadists, including from inside their homes as they viewed tapes from Osama Bin Laden and others.Offering another reason he will never be a United States congressman, state Sen. John Unger told The (Martinsburg) Journal on Saturday he has been "too busy" with committee work to file his expense report.The Journal was doing a story on expenses claimed by Eastern Panhandle legislators. But Unger told the paper, “I’ve been so busy on transportation issues and infrastructure, I just do it when I can get down there to file.”Unger should be a writer for Leno or Letterman. As The Charleston Gazette's Phil Kabler pointed out recently, the Senate Transportation Committee is not even a real committee, busying itself primarily with naming bridges and culverts.As one lawmaker said over the weekend, "Interesting how the Senate President, the Majority Leader, and the chairs of the major committees have time to fill out their reports."As other legislators point out, most of their expense reports are actually compiled by staffers who then ask lawmakers to review and sign the reports.As Sen. John Yoder pointed out to The Journal, Unger's expense reports are usually for more money than Yoder's, even though Yoder lives further from Charleston.Unger most likely is doing one of two things, or both:* Waiting to see Yoder's report so he can claim slightly fewer expenses than Yoder.* Waiting until the media is finished scrutinizing the reports in hopes of filing his under the radar.Either way, as a congressional candidate Unger would have to come up with answers much better than the one he gave to The Journal to stand up to the media scrutiny that would accompany that race.Friday's edition indicated the state Supreme Court would hear the table games case in a couple of weeks. In fact, the Court will simply be deciding then whether or not to accept the case. As a reporter recently reminded me, you can always find accurate and complete information in The Charleston Gazette. The state Lottery Commission now wants to oversee the Problem Gamblers Hotline, and in other news, Jack Daniels has purchased the rights to oversee Alcoholics Anonymous.Del. Kelli Sobonya, for one, is questioning the already cozy relationship between the Lottery Commission and the racetracks, described a couple of years ago by the lottery commissioner as a "partnership." Also, Scott Finn of West Virginia Public Broadcasting filed a story Thursday shedding light on a disturbing occurrence just last year when lottery officials asked to see whether a lottery employee had contacted the hotline, despite the fact those names are confidential.The lottery now wants to take over the problem hotline itself? Please.