Reason articles from August 2006

Reason archives from August 2006

What immigration crisis?(United States)
August 1, 2006... HERE'S THE oddest thing about the ongoing--never-ending may be more apt--donnybrook over immigration: Amidst all the finger pointing and fury, all the column inches and congressional speeches dedicated to hammering out the last best hope for...

Peak oil panic.(Letter to the editor)
August 1, 2006... I enjoyed Ronald Bailey's "Peak Oil Panic" (May 2006), but cannot agree on many points. Mexico's Cantarell field has peaked and is going into decline. That is the third largest field ever found. Kuwait recently reduced its claimed reserves by...

The Jihad against Muslims.(Letter to the editor)
August 1, 2006... Cathy Young presumes that Islam is only a religion ("The Jihad Against Muslims," June 2006). It would be more accurately positioned as a sociopolitical system. Since its origins in the seventh century, it has been involved with warfare directed...

Reason news.(Taylor W. Buley, and Macy Hanson joins the magazine as interns)(Brief article)
August 1, 2006... reason is happy to welcome two summer interns. Taylor W. Buley, this year's Burton Gray Memorial Intern, recently completed his junior year at University of Pennsylvania. Macy Hanson, a participant in the Institute for Humane Studies' Charles...

Nothing personal: the NSA's illegal data collection.(National Security Agency )
August 1, 2006... IN MAY, USA Today reported that the federal government is collecting data on the phone calls made and received by tens of million of Americans. According to the program's defenders, your grocery store, your cable company, and your credit card...

Hit list: deadly sex offender registries.(Stephen A. Marshall kills sex offenders)(Brief article)
August 1, 2006... ON EASTER Sunday, Stephen A. Marshall, a 20-year-old Cape Breton dishwasher visiting Maine, borrowed his father's truck, rifle, and two handguns, shot and killed two men in two different towns, then boarded a bus to Boston, where he was...

25 years ago in reason.(cable television broadcasting regulations)(Brief article)
August 1, 2006... "Cries for controls are being heard over cable television's more 'explicit' offerings, even though cable and subscription TV customers voluntarily pay for the service, and if they're offended, they can always cancel... The networks have been...

Open secrets: classification overkill.(United States. National Archives and Records Administration)
August 1, 2006... LAST DECEMBER an intelligence historian named Matthew Aid was doing research at the National Archives when he noticed that documents he had copied years before, including State Department reports from the Korean War era, had mysteriously...

Tax and lend: small-business subsidies.(Small Business Administration regulation)(Brief article)
August 1, 2006... CONGRESS CREATED the Small Business Administration (SBA) in 1953 to fix a specific problem: Lenders allegedly pass over large numbers of creditworthy small businesses. An April study from the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) concludes there...

Quotes.(Brief article)
August 1, 2006... "If I were Osama bin Laden... I couldn't ask for anything better than for America's entertainers to bash their president, denigrate him, make him seem like an idiot and a self-serving fool." --Pat Boone, quoted in WorldNetDaily, May 22...

Free to paint: Graffiti law tagged out?(youth can use spray painting and marker)(Brief article)
August 1, 2006... A LAWSUIT spurred by the fashion and video game designer Mark Ecko has at least temporarily won back for young New Yorkers (ages 18 to 21) the right to purchase spray paint and broad-tipped markers. Some stern adults in the city are certain...

Moonshine mirage: ethanol and independence.
August 1, 2006... BRAZILIANS HAVE reduced their dependence on imported oil by increasing production of sugar cane-based ethanol. American politicians and activists argue that the U.S. should emulate this "energy independence miracle." But would increasing...

The city of Amsterdam has billed the Bruintjes family 80 [euro] for having a dog, the Netherlands' annual dog tax.(Brief article)
August 1, 2006... The city of Amsterdam has billed the Bruintjes family 80 [euro] for having a dog, the Netherlands' annual dog tax. But the Bruintjeses don't have a dog, they just have a doorbell that barks. They thought they had communicated that fact to...

Sameeh Hammoudeh was acquitted of transferring money to Palestinian Islamic Jihad for violent activities, and a federal judge ordered him freed from jail.(Brief article)
August 1, 2006... Sameeh Hammoudeh was acquitted of transferring money to Palestinian Islamic Jihad for violent activities, and a federal judge ordered him freed from jail. Hammoudeh also has agreed to be deported in a separate tax fraud case. So why is he still...

Andy Tierney was fined 50 [pounds sterling] for tossing junk mail into a public trash can in Leicestershire, England.(Brief article)
August 1, 2006... Andy Tierney was fined 50 [pounds sterling] for tossing junk mail into a public trash can in Leicestershire, England. Local officials explain that mail is classified as "domestic litter" and should not be put in public cans.

Police in Horn Lake, Mississippi, say they were looking for a meth lab.(raid in two buildings)(Brief article)
August 1, 2006... Police in Horn Lake, Mississippi, say they were looking for a meth lab. But when a heavily armed strike team showed up at the address provided by an informant, it found there were two houses on the property. The cops decided to hit the larger...

The government of Saudi Arabia has banned men from selling women's lingerie.(Brief article)
August 1, 2006... The government of Saudi Arabia has banned men from selling women's lingerie. The law also requires stores that sell such lingerie to conceal the section from the rest of their customers.

The Washington state Senate has approved a bill that could send people who pad their resumes to jail.(fake degrees and felony regulation)(Brief article)
August 1, 2006... The Washington state Senate has approved a bill that could send people who pad their resumes to jail. Senators unanimously approved the bill, which would make using a fake or unaccredited degree a felony punishable by up to five years in prison...

China's Ministry of Public Safety has issued new guidelines for baby names that exclude thousands of rare Chinese language characters.(Brief article)
August 1, 2006... China's Ministry of Public Safety has issued new guidelines for baby names that exclude thousands of rare Chinese language characters. The rules are tied to the introduction of electronic identity cards: Authorities can't write rare characters...

The Dudley Wood Methodist Church has been meeting in a temporary building near Birmingham, England.(Brief article)
August 1, 2006... The Dudley Wood Methodist Church has been meeting in a temporary building near Birmingham, England. Members wanted to let people know that the structure was a church, so they decided to put a cross outside. The city council told them they had...

Pill power.(medicafe's massive drug benefit plan to be blocked by fifteen states)(Brief article)
August 1, 2006... Fifteen states move to block the federal government from billing them for Medicafe's massive drug benefit, calling it an "unprecedented intrusion into each state's sovereignty." The U.S. Supreme Court will decide whether the states have to pony...

Sky-Fi.(regulators to allow in-flight telecom service )(Brief article)
August 1, 2006... Federal regulators inch closer to allowing in-flight telecom service for passengers. Passengers want Internet access and cheaper phone calls; wireless providers and airlines want the new revenue stream.

Housing huff.(mayor Jim Naugle rejects housing mandate)(Brief article)
August 1, 2006... Fort Lauderdale Mayor Jim Naugle bucks a nationwide trend and slams a local "affordable housing" mandate. "I deny that there is a problem," Naugle says. "You can buy condos all day for $160,000."

Bakersfield, sound.(Bakersfield, California rejects new housing regulations)(Brief article)
August 1, 2006... The city of Bakersfield, California, rejects the regulatory demands of the smart growthers and embraces actual expansion, allowing its booming population to enjoy cheap and plentiful housing. Mayor Harvey Hall explains, "You just can't stop...

Mean green.(University of Warwick conducts research to increase the shelf life of broccoli)(Brief article)
August 1, 2006... Researchers at the United Kingdom's University of Warwick aim to create nutrient-packed "super broccoli" via genetic manipulation. Scientists are trying to double the vegetable's shelf life.

Franken-penis.(Wake Forest University's Institute for Regenerative Medicine's impotence research conducted in rabbits)(Brief article)
August 1, 2006... Doctors at the Institute for Regenerative Medicine at Wake Forest University report success in regrowing healthy cells for diseased rabbit penises. Researchers say the process could pave the way for treating impotence in human beings.

Playoff payoff.(Cleveland Cavaliers asks for a practice facility)(Brief article)
August 1, 2006... Fresh off their first NBA playoff series win in decades, the Cleveland Cavaliers ask taxpayers to help pay for a new $20 million practice facility.

Puerto loco.(Commonwealth of Puerto Rico closes offices and public schools after bankruptcy)(Brief article)
August 1, 2006... The Commonwealth of Puerto Rico shuts down all offices, including public schools, after the government goes bankrupt. No wonder: With 200,000 employees, the bureaucracy is the island's largest employer, accounting for an astounding 80 percent...

Outlaw competition.(online gambling regulation)(Brief article)
August 1, 2006... Washington state decrees Internet gambling a Class C felony, punishable by up to 10 years in prison. Unlike tribal casinos or the state lottery, online gambling operations do not give the state a piece of the action.

Bawdy house.(Federal Bureau of Investigation raids office of William Jefferson )(Brief article)
August 1, 2006... Bipartisan outrage greets word that the FBI raided the Capitol Hill office of Rep. William Jefferson (D-La.). Jefferson is the subject of a Justice Department bribery investigation. It is unclear how lawmakers want congressional corruption...

Too secret.(Federal Communications Commission denies investigations of phone companies' violations of telecom privacy laws)(Brief article)
August 1, 2006... The Federal Communications Commission says it cannot investigate whether phone companies violated telecom privacy laws by providing information to the National Security Agency. The NSA told the FCC the topic is classified, so that's that.

Baseball strikeout.(Major League Baseball fighs with CBC Distribution and Marketing)(Brief article)
August 1, 2006... Major League Baseball picks a fight with CBC Distribution and Marketing, a St. Louis firm that runs fantasy sports leagues. Baseball says CBC must pay licensing fees to use players' names and stats. The firm notes that baseball players are...

The fox effect: cable news and elections.(Fox News Network L.L.C. affects election results)(Brief article)
August 1, 2006... ACCORDING TO the economists Stefano DellaVigna of U.C.-Berkeley and Ethan Kaplan of Stockholm University, Fox News has a direct influence on election results. The beneficiaries, as you'd expect, are Republicans. Their research, published...

Financial friendly fire: dead and wounded debtors.(American soldiers)(Brief article)
August 1, 2006... MORE THAN 2,400 American soldiers have been killed in Iraq and more than 18,000 wounded. According to a Government Accountability Office (GAO) study of military pay, nearly 900 of the wounded and 400 of the dead still owed money to the...

Goodbye to big government?(government spending in Bill Clinton's and George W. Bush's administration)(Brief article)
August 1, 2006... We all scoffed back in 1996 when President Bill Clinton declared "the era of big government is over." After all, inflation-adjusted government spending climbed during the Clinton years, and it has exploded on George W. Bush's watch. In his...

Crystal smear: meth joke backlash.(City Pages publishes meth drug coverage and stories)(Brief article)
August 1, 2006... CITY PAGES, AN alternative weekly serving St. Paul and Minneapolis, is known for its satiric bite, and the paper's annual "Best of the Twin Cities" issue always includes a joke entry among the actual raves and reviews. That doesn't ordinarily...

Newark's new choice.(Cory Booker)(Interview)
August 1, 2006... Sometimes there's an upside to losing an election. In 2002 Cory Booker, then 33 years old, narrowly lost the race for mayor of Newark, New Jersey, to Sharpe James, an entrenched incumbent who accused him of being a Republican puppet, an...

How did you vote during the war, daddy? Public disenchantment with the war probably won't matter in November.
August 1, 2006... THE WAR IN Iraq is increasingly unpopular: A May ABC News/Washington Post poll found 62 percent of Americans saying it wasn't worth fighting. Nor is the American public thrilled about the prospect of a fresh war with Iran, however much it might...

Too diverse to be 'diversity': is it "harassment" to recommend a book?(Scott Savage)
August 1, 2006... SCOTT SAVAGE, the head reference librarian at Ohio State University at Mansfield, got in trouble because of a book. No, he didn't run afoul of the USA PATRIOT Act, which infamously allows the government to subpoena library records. He suggested...

Fear of a brown planet: immigration hawks send out an SOS: "more white babies!".
August 1, 2006... BILL O'REILLY raging against illegal immigration? Nothing special. Bill O'Reilly prophesying the decline of the white race? That's why we pay our cable bills. On May 16, mustering support for President Bush's proposed crackdown on illegal...

The Kurds go their own way: can freedom flower in Iraqi Kurdistan?
August 1, 2006... TWO HOURS INTO my first tour of Erbil, my guide for the day taught me to feel lucky. "If we were doing this in Baghdad, we would be dead by now," he said. Our driver nodded vigorously. "It's that dangerous?" I asked. "With your...

Immigration now, immigration tomorrow, immigration forever: reason's guide to reality-based reform.
August 1, 2006... AT PRESS TIME in early June, no issue is more heated than immigration reform. As Congress struggles to pass legislation, the debate so far has been characterized by an almost complete lack of reference to history, economics, and basic research...

Beware the brown peril: the truth behind the job-stealing, disease-carrying terrorist invasion from the South!(Cartoon)
August 1, 2006... APRIL '06: AS IN THE REST OF THE COUNTRY, A RALLY WAS HELD IN DOWNTOWN SEATTLE IN SUPPORT OF THE RIGHTS OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS... I FEEL TALL AT THIS PARADE... HOORAY! THE ATMOSPHERE WAS FRIENDLY AND FESTIVE, THOUGH IT WAS HARD...

Happy 40th birthday, Star Trek: why Captain Kirk's story is the story of America.(Paramount Pictures Corp.)
August 1, 2006... THE STARSHIP Enterprise began exploring space, the final frontier, 40 years ago this September. Initially (and in hindsight, mistakenly) described as a five-year mission to seek out new life and new civilizations, explore strange new worlds,...

The honorable representative from Ohio will now beam up: James Traficant's greatest Trek hits.( James A. Traficant Jr.)(Brief article)
August 1, 2006... Millions of Americans have used the Star Trek lexicon to describe our own harsh universe, but few have done so as faithfully as James Traficant, the colorful, corrupt Democratic representative from the Buckeye State, who peppered his...

Shopping for me, but not for thee: the complications of voluntary simplicity.(Not Buying It: My Year without Shopping)(Book review)
August 1, 2006... As Judith Levine tells it, it was the winter of 2003 when she figured out what Calvin Coolidge knew 80 years earlier: The business of America is business. Levine, author of the controversial Harmful to Minors: The Perils of Protecting Children...

The Vitiated Center: the successful failures of right and left intellectuals.(The Making of the American Conservative Mind: National Review and Its Times)(The Disappearing Liberal Intellectual)(Book review)
August 1, 2006... The Making of the American Conservative Mind: National Review and Its Times, by Jeffrey Hart, Wilmington, Del.: ISIS Books, 394 pages, $28 The Disappearing Liberal Intellectual, by Eric Lott, New York: Basic Books, 260 pages, $26 Two...

Endangered evolutionists: a new film ponders the popularity of "intelligent design.".(Randy Olson makes a documentary movie 'Flock of Dodos')
August 1, 2006... RANDY OLSON started his career as a marine biologist, got tenure, got bored, and became a filmmaker. Perplexed by some newspaper clips sent by his mother, he decided to explore the controversy over evolution and intelligent design (I.D.). The...

Andy Warhol's ironic achievement.(artists works analysis)(Brief article)
August 1, 2006... EVEN WHEN he was making replicas of s &H trading stamps, Andy Warhol (1928-1987) never worked small, so it's fitting that Phaidon Press has produced Andy Warhol "GIANT" Size, a stunning, massive compendium of more than 2,000 images of the...