Reason articles from August 2005

Reason archives from August 2005

Medical marijuana madness.(Editor's Note)
August 1, 2005... JUNE'S U.S. SUPREME Court ruling against medical marijuana was widely expected, but that makes the decision no more defensible from a legal or moral perspective. Writing for the 6-3 majority in Gonzales v. Raich, the 85-year-old liberal...

Straight shooting on gun control.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
August 1, 2005... I would urge moderation to Abigail Kohn's enthusiasm ("Straight Shooting on Gun Control," May) in assuring us that the Second Amendment is safe. There is too much evidence to the contrary. Although in the 1700s Americans enjoyed civilian...

Thomas Szasz takes on his critics.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
August 1, 2005... I appreciated Jacob Sullum's thoughtful and generally balanced review of Szasz. Under Fire ("Thomas Szasz Takes on His Critics," May). But it is critical to distinguish Szaszian claims about the nature of "disease" from claims regarding the...

Correction.(Letters)(Correction Notice)
August 1, 2005... An article about the drug war in Colombia ("Legalization Now!," June) quoted Sandro Calvani of the United Nations office on Drugs and Crime as saying "we're spending around $5,000 per hectare fumigated." The figure refers to spending by the...

Reason news.
August 1, 2005... This is our annual double issue. The next issue subscribers receive will be dated October. We're happy to report that the June 2004 reason has won the Western Publication Association's "Maggie" award in the "politics and social issues"...

TSA on eBay: selling passengers 'possessions.(Transportation Security Administration)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2005... SINCE IT WAS created in 2002, the Transportation Security, Administration (TSA) has confiscated more than 18 million items from travelers. Deadly scissors, baleful pen knives, evil sewing needles all these and more have been seized from...

Quien es Libre? Cut off from Cuba.
August 1, 2005... ON APRIL 6, the day of Pope John Paul II's funeral, The Miami Herald reported that the U.S. government had tightened a policy the late pope described as "monstrously immoral": the 42year-old embargo against Cuba. In a new twist on a tired...

30 years ago in reason.(Citings)
August 1, 2005... "I don't think we have to get involved in every goddamned brush fire war around the world." --"The CIA: Protector or Menace? An Interview with Victor Marchetti" "One group in society, and one alone, supports, and gives potency to this...

Lifetime commitment: surveillance in the sunshine state.(Florida)
August 1, 2005... IN APRIL FLORIDA Gov. Jeb Bush signed a bill designed to keep child molesters within the state of Florida. The Jessica Lunsford Act, named for a murdered 9-year-old girl, mandates that after molesters are released from prison they be fitted...

Armed with a camera: protecting protesters' rights.(I-Witness Video)
August 1, 2005... "IT IS ALREADY far too late to prevent the invasion of cameras and databases," David Brin wrote in his prescient 1998 book The Transparent Society. The only question left to ask, he argued, was this: "Will common folk have, and exercise, a...

Quotes.(Citings)
August 1, 2005... "The claim that Roosevelt betrayed Eastern Europe at Yalta, and that he set the stage for 40 years of Soviet domination, is an old right-wing canard... Bush was simply engaging in cheap historical revisionism. His glib comments belong to the...

Source.(Citings)
August 1, 2005... Looking to open a resort in Burkina Faso? Or maybe move your business to Bhutan? The World Bank's Doing Business Database (rru.worldbank.org/Doing-Business) will catalog all the obstacles in your way. The site compares statistics on the...

The Nevada Legislature won't impose a new tax on the state's legal brothels.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2005... The Nevada Legislature won't impose a new tax on the state's legal brothels. Apparently, that's bad news for the brothels: Industry lobbyists had actually asked for a tax of to percent on air food and drink served in brothels and a $2 per...

Robert Mihaly's legal troubles had only started when he was sentenced to prison for theft.(illegal organ trading, kidney)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2005... Robert Mihaly's legal troubles had only started when he was sentenced to prison for theft. During a routine physical exam, Romanian prison authorities discovered he was missing a kidney. He told them he'd had it removed because of medical...

Police in Thames Valley, England, have set up a point system to help officers prioritize their work.(Brickbats)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2005... Police in Thames Valley, England, have set up a point system to help officers prioritize their work. The goal for each officer is to amass at least 200 points a month. Stopping a drunk driver or arresting a rapist are both worth 10 points....

The Swedish group Social Democratic Youth admits it signed up 73-year-old Kjell-Olof Feldt as a member without his knowledge.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2005... The Swedish group Social Democratic Youth admits it signed up 73-year-old Kjell-Olof Feldt as a member without his knowledge. The youth wing of the ruling Social Democratic Party padded its membership rolls to get more government funding.

For years Louisiana law enforcement agencies have allowed businesses to host card games as long as they don't take a cut or charge admission.(Office of Alcohol and Tobacco Control )(Brief Article)
August 1, 2005... For years Louisiana law enforcement agencies have allowed businesses to host card games as long as they don't take a cut or charge admission. But now that Texas hold 'em poker games have become popular--and are competing with legal casinos--the...

Overall, 11 percent of Norway's corporate board members are women.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2005... Overall, 11 percent of Norway's corporate board members are women. The government says all companies must have boards of directors that are at least 40 percent women by 2007. Those that don't meet the quota will be forcibly liquidated.

Pacific High School in San Bernardino, California, suspended James Herndon for wearing black lipstick and red eye makeup.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2005... Pacific High School in San Bernardino, California, suspended James Herndon for wearing black lipstick and red eye makeup. Neither the school code nor state education rules ban makeup, but the school says its handbook bars clothing that "creates...

Saudi officials razed what they say was a makeshift Hindu temple and deported three men they say worshipped there.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2005... Saudi officials razed what they say was a makeshift Hindu temple and deported three men they say worshipped there. The nation bans all forms of worship other than Islam. Officials apparently stumbled across the temple while searching for booze...

Bad buzz: blocking alcohol inhalers.(alcohol without liquid)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2005... THE EUROPEAN fad of inhaling liquor vapor through a contraption known as AWOL (for Alcohol Without Liquid) hasn't exactly taken the U.S. by storm. But AWOL's absence has not stopped legislators from trying to ban it. "It's not something i...

Saudi censors: friendly tyrants.(Saudi Arabia )
August 1, 2005... WHEN CROWN Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia paid a visit to President George Bush's Crawford, Texas, ranch last April, he refused to take questions from reporters and limited his public interaction to a hand-in-hand stroll with Bush. Though this...

Base desires.(Pentagon, closing military bases)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2005... It's a longway from over, but the Pentagon's base-closing list includes such Cold War relics as a B-1 bomber base and an attack sub pen. Now for the lobbying, followed by more lobbying.

Shacking gets stirred.(North Carolina law, unmarried couple should'nt live together)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2005... The American Civil Liberties Union challenges North Carolina's law against unmarried couples living together. The anti-cohabitation law has been on the books since 1805.

Second, first.(Condoleezza Rice support right to bear arms)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2005... Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice tells Larry King the right to keep and bear firearms is as vital as First Amendment protections for speech and religion. Rice recalls from experience that in the South of the early 1960s, armed blacks had to...

Justice nerds.(Lad Wrecking Crew, freelance anti-Internet fraud squads)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2005... So-called vigilante hackers such as the Lad Wrecking Crew take down and otherwise hobble various Net scams and phishing operations. Law enforcement must wait until sometimes reluctant victims come forward, which is often too late to catch...

Mod squat.(property rights, Tanzania)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2005... Officials in Dares Salaam, Tanzania, move to formalize a chunk of the informal economy by granting official land titles to some 400,000 squatter shanties. Lack of modern property rights remains a stumbling block to growth in many parts of the...

Supreme vintage.(out of states wine imports)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2005... The Supreme Court rules that state governments may not discriminate against out-of-state wine makers.

Ritual abuse.(Balance Sheet)
August 1, 2005... A Marion County, Indiana, judge rules that a divorced couple, both of whom practice Wicca, may not expose their 9-year-boy to "non-mainstream religious beliefs and rituals." The ruling is under appeal.

Secret sex ed.(Balance Sheet)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2005... In Montgomery County, Maryland, parental visits to schools during sex education lessons are not welcome, lest they disturb the atmosphere. Officials cite a "chilling effect" parents would have on a new sex curriculum.

Plane disgusting.(Balance Sheet)
August 1, 2005... Tiny, lost general aviation craft spur governmental panic across D.C., complete with police officers urging building evacuees to run to the nearest exit. A planned warning-laser system evidently will not work in the rain. Various bureaucratic...

Corrupted info.(Balance Sheet)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2005... A former immigration inspector, a former Army sergeant, a former federal prison guard, current and former members of the state corrections department, and a local police officer are among those charged with taking bribes to help smuggle drugs...

Space nuts.(Balance Sheet)(Federal Aviation Administration)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2005... The Federal Aviation Administration is worried about billboards in space and wants clear authority to stop any "obtrusive" ads. Good to know that the FAA has solved all other issues related to air travel in the U.S.

Judge-less justice.(Balance Sheet)
August 1, 2005... The PATRIOT Act not being sufficient, the FBI wants new powers to use so-called administrative subpoenas to quickly seize business and private records. This will combat terrorism and protect freedom from... wait, scratch that. This will combat...

Pot bust.(Data)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2005... If you have any lingering doubts about the political establishment's hypocrisy when it comes to drugs, consider this: Marijuana arrests reached an all-time high during the administration of the first acknowledged pot smoker to occupy the White...

Death of the auteur: film filtering freedom.(Family Movie Act, censorhip)
August 1, 2005... HAMLET WITHOUT the prince may not make much sense, but it's legal. In April Congress passed the Family Movie Act, which established that filtering movies to remove sex or violence or profanity--or any other bits you don't like--doesn't run...

Flood assurance: Koranic weather forecast.(Ziad Silwadi, Islamic scholar)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2005... MASSIVE TSUNAMIS will wipe out the United States in 2007, according to Ziad Silwadi. The Palestinian Koranic scholar has become convinced that passages in the Koran dealing with the divine punishment of terrible sin are actually about the U.S....

Spokesman for speech.(Soundbite)(Floyd Abrams )(Interview)
August 1, 2005... From the landmark Pentagon Papers case to the fight against speech-squelching campaign finance laws, attorney Floyd Abrams has been at the heart of some of the last three decades' most important battles over free expression. His new book,...

Capturing Tom Friedman: the Times columnist does foreign policy punditry by cliche.(The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century)(Book Review)
August 1, 2005... ON MAY 11, THOMAS Friedman, America's most influential foreign affairs columnist, began his twice-weekly New York Times op-ed this way: "In his book 'The Ideas That Conquered the World,' Michael Mandelbaum tells a story about a young girl...

Soul survival: is "the new neuromorality" a threat to traditional views of right and wrong?
August 1, 2005... WILL NEUROSCIENCE revolutionize our understanding of law and morality? If so, can law and morality be saved? That was the question posed by a June conference at the American Enterprise Institute on "The New Neuromorality." Despite being...

ID card trick: can we count on the DMV to foil terrorists?(Department of Motor Vehicles )
August 1, 2005... IDEALLY, THE DEBATE about national ID cards should have happened before Congress approved them. But better late than never. The Real ID Act--which was slipped into a bill appropriating money for U.S. troops in Iraq, assuring its passage in...

The iconoclast: Salman Rushdie discusses free speech, fundamentalism, America's place in the world, and his new essay collection.(Interview)(Cover Story)
August 1, 2005... SALMAN RUSHDIE IS a political novelist whose political and novelistic instincts have long been in tension with each other. From age 15 he was drawn to the Marxist left, an attraction that eventually led him to the jungles of Nicaragua as a...

All happy families: the looming battle over gay parenting.
August 1, 2005... WAYNE LARUE SMITH had never been so happy to be called bitch. About two months earlier, Smith and his partner, Dan Skahen, had taken in a 3-year-old foster child we'll call Charlie. The boy had emerged from the caseworker's car redolent of...

Locking up life-saving drugs: prescription laws make us sicker and poorer.
August 1, 2005... AT A TIME WHEN blockbuster drugs are revolutionizing the treatment of high cholesterol, Janice Alston can feel the first effects of heart disease creeping up on her. The 51-year-old resident of North Carolina says a common drug called Zetia...

Self-medicating in Burma: pharmaceutical freedom in an outpost of tyranny.
August 1, 2005... Weeks before leaving for a year-long stint in Burma during the fall of 2003, I listened as a New York City travel doctor rattled off a list of sinister-sounding ailments. There was malaria to worry about; also typhoid, tetanus, tuberculosis,...

The mental health crisis that wasn't: how the trauma industry exploited 9/11.(One Nation Under Therapy: How the Helping Culture is Eroding Self-Reliance)(Reprint)
August 1, 2005... On September 14, 2001, three days after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, a group of psychologists sent an open letter to the American Psychological Association. The 19 signatories, all established experts in...

A menace to society: sick people who smoke pot to get better ... and our government's tireless efforts to stop them!(Culture and Reviews)(Cartoon)
August 1, 2005... YEAH, I'M TRYING TO LEARN HEBREW, BUT IT'S HARD! A RABBI IS HELPING ME, THOUGH... I'M WHAT YOU'D CALL A MESSIANIC JEW, SINCE I STILL PRAY IN LUTHERAN... I WANT TO MOVE TO ISRAEL IN TIME FOR THE RAPTURE--WHICH SHOULD BE SOON. DON'T...

Who killed PayPal? "Consumer advocates" can make life miserable for consumers.(The PayPal Wars: Battles With eBay, the Media, the Mafia, and the Rest of Planet Earth)(Book Review)
August 1, 2005... The PayPal Wars: Battles With eBay, the Media, the Mafia, and the Rest of Planet Earth, by Eric M. Jackson, Gardena, Calif.: World Ahead Publishing, 344 pages, $27.95 IN SEPTEMBER 2004 Bill Quick received a notice from PayPal, the online...

A rumble on Sesame Street: the politics of public broadcasting.(Culture and Reviews)
August 1, 2005... Ten years ago, the Gingrich Congress briefly toyed with the idea of defunding public broadcasting--an event we all should remember, because our liberal friends and relatives are still e-mailing us petitions to stop it. According to The Nation,...

Illegal cities: life among the third world's squatters.(Shadow Cities: A Billion Squatters a New Urban World)(Book Review)
August 1, 2005... Shadow Cities: A Billion Squatters A New Urban World, by Robert Neuwirth, New York: Routledge, 335 pages, $28.95 SINCE 1950 THE population of the world has increased from 2.5 billion to 6.1 billion. Many of these newcomers earn less than $1...

Under the spell of Malthus: biology doesn't explain why societies collapse.(Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed)(Book Review)
August 1, 2005... Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed, by Jared Diamond, New York: Viking, 592 pages, $29.95 JARED DIAMOND'S new book, Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed, is neither "superb" (The New Statesman), "incisive" (The...

The search for real absinthe: like Tinkerbell, the Green Fairy lives only if we believe in her.(Hideous Absinthe: A History of the Devil in a Bottle )(Book Review)
August 1, 2005... THE AD IN High Times for King of Spirits Absinth promises "Authentic Czech Absinthe." But according to La Fee Verte (feeverte.net), there's no such thing. The Web site, named after the "Green Fairy" that personifies the notorious...

Genghis Kitsch.(Genghis Khan, most popular brand in Mongolia)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2005... AT ITS HEIGHT, the empire founded by Genghis Khan stretched from Southeast Asia to Europe and encompassed half the world's population. Eight hundred years later, he may not have the reach he once enjoyed, but in his country of origin he is once...

Putin's Russia--Stalin lite.(Vladimir Putin, Joseph Stalin)
August 1, 2005... World democratic opinion has yet to realize the alarming implications of President Vladimir Putin's State of the Union speech on April 25, 2005, in which he said that the collapse of the Soviet Union represented the "greatest geopolitical...