Reason articles from May 2005

Reason archives from May 2005

Good sports--and bad.(Editor's Note)
May 1, 2005... AS A LONGTIME, slightly obsessive, and wide-ranging sports fan--as a kid, I maintained basement shrines to an international all-star team that included the likes of baseball Hall of Famer Eddie Murray, NFL placekicker Garo Yepremian, French...

Live Free and Die of Boredom.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
May 1, 2005... In "Live Free and Die of Boredom" (February), Nick Gillespie suggests that most people will "pay a steep premium to live in more densely populated places where things inevitably cost more money and take more time, where there are more...

Crime-Friendly Neighborhoods.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
May 1, 2005... Thanks for publishing the eye-opening "Crime-Friendly Neighborhoods" (February). History points to the securest forms of neighborhoods. In ancient and medieval times, urban residents made up for the lack of a reliable police force by building...

Aborting plan B: caving on contraception.(contraceptives)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... AMONG ITS OTHER duties, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) now seems intent on regulating the sexual morality of American women. Barr Pharmaceuticals wants to offer its emergency contraceptive levonorgestrel, marketed as Plan B,...

Injustice is blind: federal sentencing in flux.(Citings)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... LAST NOVEMBER Weldon Angelos, a 24-year-old record company executive with no prior convictions, was sentenced to 55 years in federal prison for selling a pound and a half of marijuana to an informant. The federal judge who imposed the sentence,...

25 years ago in reason.(Citings)
May 1, 2005... "If elected, Republican presidential frontrunner Ronald Reagan declares that he will seek repeal of the federal minimum wage law, the federal inheritance tax (without regard to economic circumstances), and federal income tax on the interest...

Inciting censorship: Brits vs. blasphemy.(Serious Organised Crime and Police Bill, incitement of religious hatred)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... BRITISH PRIME Minister Tony Blair's government has added a measure to the proposed Serious Organised Crime and Police Bill that would create a new offense: "incitement of religious hatred." This follows two notable events last year: a play...

Bad host: cutting off Iranian dissidents.(Citings)
May 1, 2005... DURING THE Super Bowl, Fox aired a commercial for the Arizona-based Web hosting company GoDaddy.com that showed a large-breasted young woman experiencing a wardrobe malfunction before a titillated Congress. The ad outraged the National Football...

Rickshaw rights: the World Bank vs. entrepreneurs.(Citings)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... WHEN FLOODS submerged parts of Bangladesh last monsoon season, thousands of villagers fled to the capital, Dhaka, where many found work driving the city's 89,000 rickshaws. Now those drivers are being driven off their territory again this time...

Quote.(Citings)
May 1, 2005... "This is not a national ID card." --text to be included on an "updated" Social Security card proposed by Rep. David Dreier (R-Calif.). The card would bear a digital photo and an electronic strip containing personal information, and...

Source.(Citings)
May 1, 2005... If you want to see what's at stake in the battle over overbroad intellectual property law, visit the Electronic Frontier Foundation's list of Endangered Gizmos at eff.org/endangered. There you'll read about gadgets that managed to escape death...

In Melbourne, Florida, anyone over the age of 10 caught wearing a thong bathing suit in public.(Brickbats)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... In Melbourne, Florida, anyone over the age of 10 caught wearing a thong bathing suit in public now faces a $5,000 fine.

Mac Holcomb thinks America was better back in the 1940s, when homosexuality was "a despicable act" and "an abomination.".(Brickbats)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... Mac Holcomb thinks America was better back in the 1940s, when homosexuality was "a despicable act" and "an abomination." At least, that's what the Marshall County, Alabama, sheriff said in a letter to citizens on his official Web site. Alabama...

Two nurses at Montreal's Jewish General Hospital have lost their licenses because they failed a written French grammar test.(Brickbats)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... Two nurses at Montreal's Jewish General Hospital have lost their licenses because they failed a written French grammar test. The French test is required even though the hospital is an English-language institution. The hospital said the two were...

There are about 156,000 U.S. flags in Florida's classrooms.(Brickbats)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... There are about 156,000 U.S. flags in Florida's classrooms. But education officials estimate that some 15,000 will have to be replaced, thanks to a new state law requiring classroom flags to be three feet by two feet.

When police in San Jacinto County, Texas, pulled over driver John Pickens, they didn't give him a citation for the expired plates on his car.(Brickbats)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... When police in San Jacinto County, Texas, pulled over driver John Pickens, they didn't give him a citation for the expired plates on his car. They didn't even give him a warning. They just seized his cash--some $4,000-and jewelry. They said the...

The Georgia Department of Revenue seized 280 bottles of high-priced wines from one of Atlanta's most exclusive restaurants.(Brickbats)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... The Georgia Department of Revenue seized 280 bottles of high-priced wines from one of Atlanta's most exclusive restaurants. Tax officials say the restaurant didn't purchase the wine from a wholesale dealer. Owner Richard Lewis says there's a...

During an emergency evacuation of Westminster High School, two students in wheelchairs were left in a second-floor stairwell as it filled with smoke.(Brickbats)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... During an emergency evacuation of Westminster High School, two students in wheelchairs were left in a second-floor stairwell as it filled with smoke. It turns out that wasn't a mistake. Official emergency policy at the Carroll County, Maryland,...

"You don't cite people to punish them.(Brickbats)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... "You don't cite people to punish them. You cite them to teach them something. In this case, the deputy knew what she did was wrong." That's what a Hillsborough County, Florida, sheriff's spokesman said when the St. Petersburg Times asked why a...

Hospital hazing: death by licensing.(Citings)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... A REPORT IN the January 13 New England Journal of Medicine argues, with mathematical exactitude, that you're more likely to get into an accident driving home from the hospital if you've just spent 32 hours working there. That shouldn't be a...

Broadband battle: what's in a name?(Citings)
May 1, 2005... IF A CABLE company provides high-speed Internet access, is it offering a "telecommunications service" or an "information service"? The future of broadband could turn on how the Supreme Court answers that question. "Telecommunications...

Drug reaction.(Balance Sheet)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... A South Carolina jury rejects a tenuous "Zoloft defense" offered by 15-year-old Christopher Pittman's attorneys and convicts the youth of murdering his grandparents.

New money.(Balance Sheet)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... Airline frequent-flyer miles have become an alternative currency for everything from hotel rooms to coffee pots. The Economist estimates their current global value tops $700 billion.

Privately decent.(Balance Sheet)(Saving Private Ryan)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... Four months after the fact, the Federal Communications Commission confirms there is nothing indecent or profane about Saving Private Ryan. In November, 66 ABC stations opted not to broadcast the World War II flick for fear of offending...

Phones home.(Balance Sheet)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... Mergers between AT&T and SBC and between MCI and Verizon indicate that artificial divisions between long distance and local may be at an end. Phone service is phone service, and regulators should let subsidy schemes die a natural death.

Tuition fruition.(Balance Sheet)(college education increased 11 percent for public schools and 6 percent for private schools)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... Scary stats on the cost of a college education--an 11 percent increase for public schools and 6 percent for private ones in April 2005--ignore the big picture: According to College Board data, once tax breaks and direct grants are factored in,...

Apple corps.(Balance Sheet)(McDonald's distributes fresh sliced apples)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... McDonald's distributes fresh sliced apples as an alternative to fries in Happy Meals. The Apple Dippers are one of many fresh fruit offerings now found on fast food menus.

Download duality.(Balance Sheet)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... A spate of lawsuits from the Motion Picture Association of America seeks $150,000 for each film or show downloaded by file swappers. If you take your cues from the possible civil and criminal penalties, it is better to shoplift a DVD than...

Bureau backlog.(Balance Sheet)(Data handling system)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... The FBI'S $170 million Virtual Case File is trashed in the bureau's latest technological misstep. A modern data handling system should have been the first priority post 9/11, but instead the PATRIOT Act helps shovel yet more information into a...

Secrecy first.(Balance Sheet)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... The Department of Homeland Security offers local authorities a secret guide to spotting terrorist threats. The guide features cryptic references to "unusual burns or illness in animals" and encourages officials to report vaguely defined...

Fee money.(Balance Sheet)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... Kansas lawmakers want to slap state fees on Internet-based phone services. Voice Over Internet Protocol users would pay 50 cents a month into the universal service fund for phone service, even though they do not use that network for their...

Gang green.(Balance Sheet)
May 1, 2005... Police and military recruiters claim that street gangs are sending members to sign up for a tour in the military in order to gain valuable mayhem-causing skills.

Polio club.(Balance Sheet)(Fourteen countries report new cases of polio)
May 1, 2005... Fourteen countries report new cases of polio--stark proof that scientific advances can be rolled back, given enough bad policy.

Life after Roe.(reproductive rights)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... If Roe v. Wade were reversed tomorrow, what would America look like? As the Center for Reproductive Rights noted in a September 2004 report, many states still have laws on the books that could reinstate abortion restrictions immediately upon a...

Advertising dissent: drug warriors back down.(Citings)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... IN THE FALL of 2003, Rep. Ernest Istook (R-Okla.) was outraged by ads in Washington, D.C.'s Metro system urging the government to "Legalize and Tax Marijuana." So he did what any intolerant, power-mad politician would do: He wrote legislation...

Pyro power: no more rockets' red glare?(amateur pyrotechnics )(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... THE ART OF amateur pyrotechnics may be in danger, thanks to some recent meddling by the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Back in November the CPSC hit Firefox, an Idaho-based pyro supply company, with a civil complaint. If upheld by the...

Private meets public.(Soundbite)(interview with Stephen Goldsmith and William Eggers)(Interview)
May 1, 2005... As mayor of Indianapolis in the 1990s, Stephen Goldsmith pioneered the privatization and decentralization of city services. Now a Harvard professor of government, he and William Eggers, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, have written...

Free at last: new newspapers are springing up everywhere, despite the government's help.(Industry Overview)(Column)
May 1, 2005... NANCY BARRICK SOUNDED concerned. Her city's two daily newspapers--the family-owned, market-leading Seattle Times and the Hearst Corporation's lagging Seattle Post-Intelligencer--had announced in early February that they were both doubling...

The president's philosopher: the holes in Natan Sharansky's democratic manifesto.
May 1, 2005... DURING THE 2000 presidential debates, then-candidate George W. Bush famously declared that his favorite political philosopher was Jesus Christ. Now there's a runner-up: Natan Sharansky, the former Soviet dissident and political prisoner, now an...

Straight-talkin' prudes: the silver linings in the Senate Republicans' censorious agenda.(Column)
May 1, 2005... IF REPUBLICANS EVER wonder why libertarians are suspicious of them, they need look no further than the U.S. Senate. For all their yammering about being the party of limited government, individual responsibility, and traditional American...

Straight shooting on gun control: a reason debate.(Cover Story)
May 1, 2005... WHEN IT COMES to rancorous debates in which the two sides routinely talk past each other, gun control ranks up there with abortion and the death penalty. Last year Abigail A. Kohn, an anthropologist trained at the University of California at...

Demolishing sports welfare: two court cases could mean the end of publicly funded stadiums.
May 1, 2005... WHEN DALLAS COWBOYS owner Jerry Jones asked Arlington, Texas, voters to pay for a fancy new stadium last November, he did not call the classic plays from the sports welfare handbook. He could not say that America's Team needed a...

Subsidies and lies: how baseball came back to D.C.(Major League Baseball)
May 1, 2005... FEW CORPORATE WELFARE tales are filled with as many tawdry lies as the return of professional baseball to the nation's capital. On April 14, the Washington Nationals, who have spent the previous 36 seasons as the Montreal Expos, will play...

Barbie's Taiwanese homecoming: a plastic, fantastic tale of globalization.
May 1, 2005... Ku TSUEI-EH, who doesn't speak a lick of English, calls the plastic pop princess by her given Chinese name: Bahbi wa wa. The prim 49-year-old founder of Taiwan's recently opened Taishan Doll Museum gushes girlishly about the "product of her...

Locker-room liberty: athletes who helped shape our times and the economic freedom that enabled them.(Namath: A Biography)(September Swoon: Richie Allen, the '64 Phillies, and Racial Integration)(The Big O: My Life, My Times, My Game)(Book Review)
May 1, 2005... Namath: A Biography, by Mark Kriegel, New York: Viking, 512 pages, $27.95 September Swoon: Richie Allen, the '64 Phillies, and Racial Integration, by William C. Kashatus, University Park, Pa.: Penn State University Press, 258 pages, $29.95...

The global warming code: Michael Crichton tells the truth.(State of Fear)(Book Review)
May 1, 2005... Michael Crichton's techno-political thriller State of Fear (HarperCollins) turns on a controversial notion: that all the talk we've been hearing about global warming--polar ice caps melting, weather systems sent into calamitous confusion, beach...

Thomas Szasz takes on his critics: is mental illness an insane idea?(Book Review)
May 1, 2005... Szasz Under Fire: The Psychiatric Abolitionist Faces His Critics, edited by Jeffrey A. Schaler, Chicago: Open Court, 450 pages, $36.95 paper IN 1980 THOMAS Szasz testified for the prosecution in the trial of Darlin June Cromer, a...

The magical father of American rockerty: Jack Parsons, burning out his fuel up there alone.(Strange Angel: The Otherworldly Life of Rocket Scientist John Whiteside Parsons )(Book Review)
May 1, 2005... HE WAS AN acolyte of Aleister Crowley, an employee of Howard Hughes, a victim of L. Ron Hubbard, and an enthusiastic phone buddy to Wernher Von Braun. He was an only child, his adulterous dad booted by his angry morn. In seeking father figures...

Rotten tomato rules.(Artifact)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... THE GOVERNMENT HAS finally done something about the shortage of decent, affordable tomatoes in the wintertime: made it worse. The produce gatekeepers on the Florida Tomato Committee, a New Deal relic charged with judging tomato quality...

The burden of law.(school principals)
May 1, 2005... Not long ago, I visited an inner-city Catholic high school. I was impressed with what I saw. The halls were quiet, the students respected their teachers, and the principal was the ultimate authority on issues regarding students and teachers....