Reason articles from May 2006

Reason archives from May 2006

America's Criminal Immigration Policy.(Letters)(Letter to the editor)
May 1, 2006... Jesse James DeConto's article "America's Criminal Immigration Policy" (February) was a cut above the usual plea for open borders and unlimited cheap labor. Legal H2A workers in agriculture and forestry do indeed work hard for their wages. ...

An Echo Chamber of His Own.(Letters)(Letter to the editor)
May 1, 2006... Instead of responding point by point to Cathy Young's piece on my book 100 People Who Are Screwing Up America ("An Echo Chamber of His Own," November), let's just say that reasonable people may disagree. But a few of her main arguments require...

Suing the spooks: NSA wiretap blowback.(TOP SECRET; National Security Agency)(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... IT'S HARD TO mount a legal challenge to a highly classified government eavesdropping program when the list of potential plaintiffs is a state secret. So in order to challenge the National Security Agency's controversial program of warrantless...

Blame the nonvictim: hooking vs. trafficking.(TOP SECRET)(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... BEFORE PRESIDENT Bush reauthorized the Trafficking Victims Protection Act in January, Concerned Women for America President Janice Crouse warned that "within just blocks of the White House, pimps and trafficking mafias are promoting an industry...

25 years ago in reason.(Citings)
May 1, 2006... "As of 1978, even if every seat on every Amtrak train were full on every run, Amtrak would still lose nearly $100 million per year." --Jeffrey Shedd, "Amtrak: Congress's Toy Trains" "[The Internal Revenue Service] just flat, plain...

Speed misreading: meth survey on crack.(Citings)
May 1, 2006... IN JANUARY USA Today announced that "methamphetamine accounts for more emergency room visits than any other drug." That story, like similar news accounts the same month, was based on a survey of hospital emergency rooms by the National...

Steep streets: congestion pricing in the U.K.(Citings)(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... ALMOST AS soon as he dreamed up a pricing scheme to manage the congestion on his city's streets, London Mayor Ken Livingstone began urging others to follow his lead. Charging for access to central London on weekdays has slashed congestion by a...

Crude economics: cutting off oil bysteria.(Citings)(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... THE AFTERMATH of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita saw sharply rising oil prices at the pump. These inevitably sparked accusations of gross profiteering on human misery. But in a recent paper by analysts Robert Bradley and Thomas Tanton, the...

Quotes.
May 1, 2006... "I support the free press, let's just get them out of the room." --President George W. Bush, heading into a closed door briefing with fellow Republicans, as quoted by AP, February 10 "Sometimes they forget." --Attorney General...

Police in Paterson, New Jersey, knocked in Michelle Clancy's door at 5:50 a.m.(Brickbats)(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... Police in Paterson, New Jersey, knocked in Michelle Clancy's door at 5:50 a.m. They shouted "rudely" at her before realizing they had burst into the wrong home, then forced her and four family members, including her 13-year-old daughter, to...

Australian work rules say an employee can't be exposed to sounds that average more than 85 decibels a day.(Brickbats)(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... Australian work rules say an employee can't be exposed to sounds that average more than 85 decibels a day. That's causing major headaches for orchestras. A performance of Sleeping Beauty by the Australian Ballet required four separate sections...

Nine months ago, the Honolulu Police Department put five officers on paid leave while the FBI investigated whether they had accepted money from illegal cockfighting operations.(Brickbats)(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... Nine months ago, the Honolulu Police Department put five officers on paid leave while the FBI investigated whether they had accepted money from illegal cockfighting operations. So far the idle cops have received about a quarter of a million...

In the last two years, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power has spent $1 million trying to convince residents their tap water is not only safe to drink but high quality as well.(Brickbats)(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... In the last two years, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power has spent $1 million trying to convince residents their tap water is not only safe to drink but high quality as well. In that same period, the department also spent $88,900 on...

Italy has imposed a 25 percent tax on hard-core porn.(Brickbats)(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... Italy has imposed a 25 percent tax on hard-core porn. The law, similar to one already passed in France, applies to all films and magazines as well as merchandise sold in sex shops.

Three French newspapers have been fined between $950 and $1,180 for publishing photographs of Formula One drivers.(Brickbats)(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... Three French newspapers have been fined between $950 and $1,180 for publishing photographs of Formula One drivers. No, the photos weren't obscene. But they did show the drivers in their overalls, adorned with logos from tobacco companies. A...

When Scottish developer Marcus Salter started to move a big rock in the middle of his development, neighbors in St. Fillans complained he would disturb the fairies that lived underneath it.(Brickbats)(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... When Scottish developer Marcus Salter started to move a big rock in the middle of his development, neighbors in St. Fillans complained he would disturb the fairies that lived underneath it. At first he thought they were joking. Then the local...

Some street alcoholics make dozens of trips a year to Seattle hospitals, and officials estimate they cost the city up to $100,000 a piece each year in jail stays, hospitalization, and emergency services.(Brickbats)
May 1, 2006... Some street alcoholics make dozens of trips a year to Seattle hospitals, and officials estimate they cost the city up to $100,000 a piece each year in jail stays, hospitalization, and emergency services. So the city has decided to house up to...

Unfair food: obesity litigation twist.(Citings)(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... OBESE PEOPLE who blame restaurant chains or other food sellers for making them fat face a daunting obstacle when they try to recover damages in court: They have to show that a particular company is responsible for their obesity. But Richard...

Accidental drug war: Medicare benefits that bankrupt.(Citings)
May 1, 2006... "DRUG COVERAGE under Medicare will save our seniors from a lot of worry," President Bush proclaimed in November 2003, just before signing the drug benefit into law. As younger generations worry about how to pay for $30 trillion in unfunded...

Domain win.(Balance Sheet; property law)(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... The Oregon Supreme Court upholds Measure 37, a requirement that property owners be compensated when land use regulations limit development opportunities.

Searching questions.(Balance Sheet; library privacy)(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... In Massachusetts officials at the Newton Free Library demand that local police and the FBI obtain a warrant before they examine library computers for traces of a terrorist threat. Several hours later, the search resumes with a warrant.

Grounded notion.(Balance Sheet; Katrina relief funds)(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... Congress considers selling some government-owned land back to the public to pay the massive tab for Katrina relief. Even excluding National Park lands from the sale, there are millions of acres that could raise up to $148 billion.

Patriot acts.(Balance Sheet; Fred Phelps protests)(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... After the Baptist minister Fred Phelps and followers protest military funerals, holding that dead soldiers are God's response to a nation that embraces homosexuality, 5,000 motorcyclists crisscross the nation in a dramatic counterprotest.

Cyber cafeteria.(Balance Sheet)(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... Houston's massive 250,000-student school system uses software from Cybersoft Technologies to allow parents to rope off some cafeteria foods from their kids' prepaid accounts. School officials say the system makes the line move faster too.

Toking ticket.(Balance Sheet' marijuana laws)(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... Sheriff Lonny Pulkrabek of Johnson County, Iowa--home of the University of Iowa--tells legislators he would like to treat possession of small amounts of pot like a traffic violation, keeping students out of his crowded jail.

Porn patrol.(Balance Sheet; library computer use)(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... Two members of Montgomery County, Maryland's $3.6 million homeland security team tell startled public library patrons that no porn is allowed on library computers and begin to confront computer users. Librarians call the real police, and the...

Watching, waiting.(Balance Sheet; police surveillance)(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... Driven by easy federal grant money, police forces and officials from Houston to Chicago embrace 24/7 surveillance. Bellows Falls, Vermont, has 16 surveillance cameras--two for each member of its police force.

Unfair use.(Balance Sheet)(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... The recording industry tries to convince the U.S. Copyright Office that making digital copies of your own CDs requires prior authorization from copyright holders. Goodbye "fair use," hello "customary historic use."

Times wasted.(Balance Sheet; New York Times regulations)(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... The New York Times directs newspapers that subscribe to its syndicate to delete columnists' e-mail addresses from their columns. E-mailing columnists is for paying Times Select customers only.

Bad company.(Balance Sheet; gay groups apply to U.N.)(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... The United States joins the likes of Iran, Zimbabwe, China, and Sudan in blocking two threatening organizations from joining the U.N. Economic and Social Council: the International Lesbian and Gay Association and the Danish Association of Gays...

Foul balling.(Balance Sheet)(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... A D.C. Court of Appeals judge dismisses the case of Robert Siegel, who was trying to keep D.C. from forcibly taking his porn shop to make room for a baseball stadium. The judge says the city's $165 million cap on acquisition costs had nothing...

Filing fee.(Data)(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... How is a mugger different from the Internal Revenue Service? Both take your money, but the mugger doesn't make you fill out forms. Every year the Tax Foundation calculates the cost of this added indignity. Since it's hard to put a dollar...

Searching the searchers: the DOJ's indecent proposal.(Citings; Department of Justice)(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... GOOGLE--THE search engine so ubiquitous it has become a verb--is a good way to hunt for porn on the Internet. It's so good, in fact, that the Department of Justice has decided to conscript the company for that purpose. Now Google is fighting a...

The voting trap: cast a vote, build a bias?(Citings)(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... IN THEORY, people vote for a candidate because they prefer that candidate. Recent research from a pair of economists indicates that in practice people may prefer a candidate because they voted for him. Harvard's Sendhil Mullainathan and...

In defense of attack ads.(Soundbite)
May 1, 2006... When he was editor in chief of Campaigns and Elections, David Mark watched vicious attack ads take down many aspiring pols. But instead of bemoaning the low blows struck in the name of electoral politics, from Swift-boat slanders to...

The shocking truth about Osama bin Laden: apparently, he reads our blogs.
May 1, 2006... WHEN AL JAZEERA broadcast Osama bin Laden's latest audiotape in January, it provoked the same sense of deja vu as Messages to the World: The Statements of Osama bin Laden, recently published by the leftist publishing house Verso. The book...

The great fellatio scare: is oral sex really the latest teen craze?
May 1, 2006... THE TEENAGE ORAL sex panic began in the late 1990S. It is in some ways a part of the Clinton legacy--more specifically, the Clinton-Lewinsky legacy. It was Clinton's most famous line ("I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss...

Cartoons makes cowards of us all: American editors pine: "if we only had the nerve.".(Rant)
May 1, 2006... Is THERE ANY more cowardly class of Americans than journalists? From the Green Zone in Iraq, where they brave lengthy press releases to conclude that the war effort is either doomed or going swimmingly, to the outskirts of New Orleans, where...

Peak oil panic: is the planet running out of gas? If it is, what should the Bush administration do about it?(Cover story)
May 1, 2006... THE PRINCETON GEOLOGIST Ken Deffeyes warns that the imminent peak of global oil production will result in "war, famine, pestilence and death" Deffeyes, author of 2001's Hubbert's Peak: The Impending World Oil Shortage and 2005's Beyond Oil: The...

The strange case of Steve Wilson: how a fraudulent crusader snookered the left--and is threatening the First Amendment.
May 1, 2006... IT WAS NOT Steve Wilson's finest moment. On May 16, 2004, the super-sized television reporter, who achieved some national fame that year for his role in the anti-business documentary The Corporation, broadcast some stunning allegations on...

Sin cities on a hill: how legalized gambling moved from the Strip to Main Street.
May 1, 2006... FRANK WOLF, A 13-term Republican congressman from Virginia, is angry at President Bush, at Republicans in general, and at his fellow mainline Presbyterians. None of them, he charges, is doing enough to combat the proliferation of...

The beast that will not die: trying to stop America's seemingly unstoppable "war on drugs".(Culture and Reviews Comic)
May 1, 2006... SEATTLE, 12/3/05: THE KING COUNTY BAR ASSOCIATION'S "EXIT STRATEGY FOR THE WAR ON DRUGS" CONFERENCE IS IN FULL SWING... PROHIBITIONISTS SAY THAT LEGALIZING DRUGS WOULD BE AN UNWORKABLE PROSPECT, BUT WE ALREADY HAVE A WORKING MODEL THAT...

Blow for injustice: the scandal of Tulia is the scandal of the war on drugs.(Tulia: Race, Cocaine, and Corruption in a Small Texas Town)(Book review)
May 1, 2006... Tulia: Race, Cocaine, and Corruption in a Small Texas Town, by Nate Blakeslee, New York: Public Affairs, 45-0 pages, $26.95 ON JULY 23,1999, Billy Don Wafer was arrested along with 45 other residents of Tulia, Texas, in a drug sting...

Separate but equal? Can science tell us anything about religion?
May 1, 2006... In February 450 churches celebrated Charles Darwin's birthday with sermons arguing that religion and evolution do not contradict one another. Called Evolution Sunday, the event grew out of a project organized by Dean Michael Zimmerman and...

When bigots become reformers: the Progressive Era's shameful record on race.(The Progressive Era and Race: Reform and Reaction, 1900-1917)(Book review)
May 1, 2006... The Progressive Era and Race: Reform and Reaction, 1900-1917, by David W. Southern, Wheeling, W.V.: Harlan Davidson, 240 pages, $15.95 THE PROGRESSIVE movement swept America from roughly the early 1890S through the early 1920s, producing a...

Suffer the little children: the grim "fun" of highly partisan kid lit.
May 1, 2006... IT IS DAMNED tough to be a kid growing up in today's America. According to the Monitoring the Future Study, an ongoing survey of eighth-, 10th-, and 12th-graders, kids do fewer recreational (read: illegal) drugs, drink less booze, and smoke...

Everything is not illuminated.(Artifact; depictions of Muhammad)(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... SAY HELLO TO the Prophet Muhammad, seen here in a variety of illuminated Persian and Central Asian manuscripts made between the 7th and 16th centuries. These and other Islamic works showing the Prophet's face appeared at zombietime.com soon...