Reason articles from November 2005

Reason archives from November 2005

Reasons for optimism.(Editor's Note)
November 1, 2005... LET ME STATE the obvious: In today's political climate, it isn't easy being libertarian--to be dedicated to "free minds and flee markets," to minimal government and maximal liberty, to individual rights and the rule of law. Sure, in these...

Choose life: grow young with HGH.(human growth hormone )(Advertisement)
November 1, 2005... From the landmark book Grow Young with HGH comes the most powerful, over the-counter health supplement in the history of man. Human growth hormone was first discovered in 1920 and has long been thought by the medical community to be necessary...

Unleash the judges.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
November 1, 2005... Damon W. Root's "Unleash the Judges" (July) is confused and confusing. Judicial activism depends not on whose ox is being gored but on whether judges are adhering to the law. Consistently ruling for individual rights against state power is...

Not so supreme.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
November 1, 2005... I appreciated the series of articles on the Supreme Court in your July issue. But while the proposition advanced by Mark Tushnet in Nick Gillespie's interview ("Not So Supreme") that "society's going to be pretty much where it would've been if...

Legalization now!(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
November 1, 2005... Toward the end of "Legalization Now!" (June),Toby Muse discusses U.S.-funded fumigation efforts against coca farms in Colombia, including costs and some of the drawbacks. I was expecting to see reference to a story by Joshua Davis that I read...

Self-defense vs. municipal gun bans.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
November 1, 2005... I am surprised that Wilmette, Illinois, of all places, has come down so hard on self-defense in a home invasion burglary ("Self-Defense vs. Municipal Gun Bans," June). Given the wealth in that community compared to its neighbors, its residents...

Traffic unjammed: prez to cops: get lost!(Viktor Yushchenko, Ukraine)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... NEARLY A YEAR after their bloodless Orange Revolution, the people of Ukraine are still a long way from full freedom. President Viktor Yushchenko has increased public spending, hiked tariffs, and made the tax system more complex, disappointing...

Rummy's posse: Pentagon police work.(Donald H. Rumsfeld, Posse Comitatus Act)
November 1, 2005... IN 1878 Congress passed the Posse Comitatus Act, barring "participation by a member of the Army, Navy, Air Force, or Marine Corps in a search, seizure, arrest, or other similar activity" on United States soil unless specifically authorized by...

25 years ago in reason.(Citings)
November 1, 2005... "None of the arguments currently advanced in support of drug laws played more than a minor role in initiating prohibition. Prohibition was almost solely the result of antipathy towards specific groups--minorities--associated with drug use." ...

Subsidized spin: military scientists go Hollywood.(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... ROBERT BARKER, a program manager at the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, says the portrayal of scientists in popular films is "downright insulting." In light of the declining numbers of U.S. students pursuing science and engineering...

Ice, ice baby: infant speed freaks?(methamphetamine )
November 1, 2005... IN JULY THE Minneapolis Star Tribune described "meth babies" as "cranky and difficult to soothe." No wonder they're cranky: According to a March CNN report, they're "hooked on meth and suffering the pangs of withdrawal"; a June 2004 story on...

Runaway train debt: D.C. Metro in the red.(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... WHILE MANY American subway systems have a hard time attracting riders, the D.C. Metro has a different problem: excessive popularity. With 700,000 daily riders, Metrorail is both overcrowded and, thanks to years of mismanagement, short on cash....

Quotes.
November 1, 2005... "This whole idea of personal autonomy--I don't think most conservatives hold that point of view. Some do. They have this idea that people should be left alone to do whatever they want to do, that government should keep our taxes down, keep...

Fresno police sent three squad cars and a helicopter to arrest Maribel Cuevas, an 11-year-old girl who had thrown a rock at a group of boys who had pelted her with water balloons.(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... Fresno police sent three squad cars and a helicopter to arrest Maribel Cuevas, an 11-year-old girl who had thrown a rock at a group of boys who had pelted her with water balloons. When she saw she had hit one of the boys, she sought help and...

A bus company has sued a group of French cleaning ladies who carpool to their jobs in Luxembourg.(Transports Schiocchet Excursions )(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... A bus company has sued a group of French cleaning ladies who carpool to their jobs in Luxembourg. Transports Schiocchet Excursions claims the women are engaged in "unfair and parasitical competition." They want the court to fine the women and...

Carlo Lazo won a Bronze Star for providing medical aid to fellow soldiers under fire in Iraq.(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... Carlo Lazo won a Bronze Star for providing medical aid to fellow soldiers under fire in Iraq. But he can't do much to help his ailing 16-year-old son. The boy lives in Cuba, and the U.S. government has put tougher sanctions on that country by...

The public schools in Broward County, Florida, have banned running on playgrounds.(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... The public schools in Broward County, Florida, have banned running on playgrounds. They've also prohibited swings, seesaws, and merry-go-rounds. (Moving equipment causes injuries.) Sandboxes too. (Animals use them for litter boxes.) Even cement...

The village board of Greendale, Wisconsin, has ordered artist Al Emmons to remove a sculpture of Big Bird from the chimney of a duplex he owns.(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... The village board of Greendale, Wisconsin, has ordered artist Al Emmons to remove a sculpture of Big Bird from the chimney of a duplex he owns. Neighbors say Emmons didn't have a permit to place the sculpture on his house. "That's what upset me...

A new Missouri law requires parental permission before a minor can get a bikini wax.(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... A new Missouri law requires parental permission before a minor can get a bikini wax. "Twelve, and thirteen-year-old little girls think they're eighteen and nineteen in this day and age," explains the executive director of the Missouri State...

Pennsylvania state Rep. Tom Stevenson (R-Mount Lebanon) has introduced a bill that would require dogs in cars to be restrained or placed in a carrier box.(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... Pennsylvania state Rep. Tom Stevenson (R-Mount Lebanon) has introduced a bill that would require dogs in cars to be restrained or placed in a carrier box. The bill would also ban dogs from hanging their heads out of vehicles. Stevenson got the...

A Minneapolis city inspector noticed the grass around a local YWCA looked higher than the eight-inch maximum allowed by city code.(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... A Minneapolis city inspector noticed the grass around a local YWCA looked higher than the eight-inch maximum allowed by city code. He didn't notice a large sign saying the grass was a manmade prairie full of native species created as a teaching...

Illegal settlement: fighting the cigarette cartel.(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... THE 1998 agreement that settled 46 state lawsuits against the four major tobacco companies is mind-numbingly complex. But the essence of the deal, according to a federal lawsuit filed in August by the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), is...

Low endoscope.(Vietnamese doctor design low priced endoscope)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... A doctor in Vietnam balks at the $30,000 needed for an endoscope and builds his own with a Web cam, a Pentium, and a color printer. Out-of-pocket cost: about $800.

Oh, Atlanta.(traffic regulations)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... Georgia studies truck-only toll lanes as a possible solution to traffic congestion around Hotlanta. Such TOT lanes could save time and money for all travelers in and around the Southern transport hub.

Heather's mommies.(lesbian couples, parental obligations)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... The California Supreme Court recognizes the parental obligations of lesbian couples who have children together.

Copy canine.(dog cloning)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... South Korean researchers have succeeded in creating the first dog clone. Snuppy (short for Seoul National University Puppy) joins the growing menagerie of cloned critters, including cats, mules, cows, and mice.

Switched-on packets.(Internet protocol-based telephone switching equipment )(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... Market research firm In-Stat predicts that Internet protocol-based telephone switching equipment should outsell old circuit-switched equipment this year, evidence that regulatory confusion over telecom has not dented the adoption of new...

Converted rice.(genetic code of rice)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... An international team of scientists map the genetic code of rice, prompting hopes that science can find a way to improve the crop that feeds more than half the world's population.

Nanosheets.(nanotubes)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... Researchers in Texas and Australia find a way to produce nanotubes in quantities sufficient for industrial applications. Sheets of the material could be used as solar cells, light sources, you name it.

Stark raving.(drug raids)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... Some 90 masked and heavily armed officers from various jurisdictions swoop in on a peaceful rave in Spanish Fork Canyon, Utah, and arrest about 60 people, mostly on drug charges. But at least the terrorists didn't win.

Sudafed madness.(war on methamphetamine )(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... Oregon ends over-the-counter sales of effective decongestants as part of a hysterical war on meth production.

Curious George.(George Pataki)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... New York Gov. (and presidential hopeful) George Pataki flips over New York Post transcripts of old phone calls between the governor and his wife, among others. Pataki urges prosecutors to find out how the Post got the material and mulls a civil...

Comparable mirth.(comparable worth notions )(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... Supreme Court nominee John Roberts endures criticism for belittling wacky comparable worth notions back in the '80s. You recall that one--the idea that bureaucrats and judges should set wage scales for occupations because the market did such a...

Pill poppers.(Vioxx law suits)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... A Texas jury leaves planet Earth to find Merck liable, to the tune of $253 million, for the death of an artery-clogged man who once took Merck's Vioxx.

Universal disservice.(digital subscriber line rates)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... The FCC opts to keep subjecting DSL lines to universal service fees. Expect the multibillion-dollar slush fund they finance to continue long after every American has a cell phone, broadband, and a cybernetic satellite uplink.

Lack of support.(European Union, textile quotas, China)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... E.U. quotas for Chinese textiles lead to a shortage of autumn clothing in Britain. While officials scramble to renegotiate, the "bra wars" may put small retailers out of business.

Whose living wage?(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... During the last 10 years, "living wage" laws have swept through U.S. cities, jacking up minimum wages for municipal workers and for businesses that accept city contracts. Such laws are now on the books in 10 of the 20 largest cities in...

It's better FOIA: information wants to be free.(Freedom of Information Act)
November 1, 2005... THE BUSH administration has a reputation for jealously guarding its secrets. But a burgeoning backlash from journalists and legislators on both sides of the aisle may give a boost to government transparency. In late July, Attorney General...

Domestic outsourcing: work for the other Indians.(Lakota Express, Native American software company)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... MANY AMERICANS get nervous when companies ship work overseas. But what if work goes abroad and comes back again? Take South Dakota's Pine Ridge reservation, home to the Lakota Sioux. Poverty is high, life expectancy is low, and unemployment...

Breaking curfew: yobs beat labour.(child curfew rule)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... WHEN BRITAIN'S Labour Party was re-elected in May with a majority large enough to conduct the business of government without bothering to consult the opposition, Prime Minister Tony Blair had little reason to expect any obstacles to expanding...

Latin America's crony capitalism.(Alvaro Vargas Llosa)(Interview)
November 1, 2005... In the 1990s, as countries across Latin America announced their embrace of market reforms, economists expected them to boom. Most stagnated instead. Independent Institute Senior Fellow Alvaro Vargas Llosa looks for the roots of the continent's...

The long and happy death of the celebrity profile: there's more entertainment coverage than ever, and that's why it's so crappy.
November 1, 2005... As THE AUDIENCE at Hollywood's Comedy Central Stage snickers expectantly at the German prog-rock strains of Einsturzenden Neubauten, Richard Rushfield, dressed in a pompous black turtleneck, begins to solemnly recite a Details magazine cover...

An echo chamber of his own: Bernie Goldberg's new niche is a little too comfortable.(100 People Who Are Screwing Up America)(Book Review)
November 1, 2005... BERNARD GOLDBERG USED to be a gadfly. In 1996, as a CBS News correspondent, he made a splash with a Wall Street Journal op-ed piece titled "Networks Need a Reality Check: A firsthand account of liberal bias at CBS News." Goldberg's colleagues...

Run away, jury! We're being tried before dozens of imbeciles.
November 1, 2005... "THE FIRST THING we do, let's kill all the lawyers," Shakespeare's Dick the Butcher said in history's favorite lawyer joke. To which I always reply, "Show me a country without lawyers, and I'll show you a dictatorship." I have no sympathy...

Property seizures and the New London tea party: homeowners' attorney Scott Bullock talks about the Supreme Court's Kelo v. New London decision and America's brewing revolution against eminent domain abuse.(Interview)
November 1, 2005... FEW EVENTS IN the last 25 years have prompted a national uproar over a specifically libertarian issue. Fewer still have produced as much outrage as the U.S. Supreme Court's June ruling in Kelo v. City of New London. By a vote of 5 to 4, the...

"Like undermining motherhood and apple pie": why are California Dems in local government embracing eminent domain abuse?(Democrats)
November 1, 2005... When the Supreme Court ruled in Kelo v. City of New London that local governments could seize your house and sell it to Wal-Mart without running afoul of the United States Constitution, it set off a shudder of public revulsion from New England...

When patriots dissent: surprise: standing up to the PATRIOT Act can be good politics.(Russ Feingold )
November 1, 2005... IF YOU ASKED the Republicans in 2004, Sen. Russ Feingold was a slow-moving target painting himself ever-brighter shades of red. The Wisconsin Democrat, who had barely won his last election with 51 percent of the vote, was running for...

Freedom riders: how motorcyclists won the right to feel the wind in their hair--and why drivers still have to buckle up.
November 1, 2005... ON A MONDAY afternoon in June 1999, Richard Quigley was riding his Harley near Capitola, California, when a local police officer pulled him over for violating the state's helmet law. There ensued a half-hour debate with the officer and his...

Prince Rudy's Courtier: a mugged liberal's love affair with a tough mayor.(The Prince of the City: Giuliani, New York and the Genius of American Life)(Book Review)
November 1, 2005... The Prince of the City: Giuliani, New York and the Genius of American Life, by Fred Siegel, San Francisco: Encounter, 342 pages, $26.95 TO GRASP THE importance of Rudolph Giuliani's two-term administration as mayor of New York, you have to...

Remembering Roger Williams: what the father of Rhode Island can still teach us.(Roger Williams)(Book Review)
November 1, 2005... Americans don't know much about history. Polls regularly indicate that upward of 95 percent of us can't even name the century in which we were born or say whether we fought the Nazis or the Soviets during the Battle of New Orleans. None of...

Exile without an end: the first ethnic cleansing in American history.(A Great and Noble Scheme: The Tragic Story of the Expulsion of the French Acadians From Their American Homeland)(Book Review)
November 1, 2005... A Great and Noble Scheme: The Tragic Story of the Expulsion of the French Acadians From Their American Homeland, by John Mack Faragher,, New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 592 pages, $28.95 "WHERE IS THE thatch-roofed village, the home of...

Inherit the Baloney: creationists try to settle a score with Darwin.(Monkey Business: The True Story of the Scopes Trial)(Book Review)
November 1, 2005... Monkey Business: The True Story of the Scopes Trial, by Marvin Olasky and John Perry, Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 344 pages, $24.99 IN 1925, John Scopes of Dayton, Tennessee, was charged with violating the Butler Act, a new state law...

Do movies cause smoking? Snuffing out another nanny state myth.
November 1, 2005... IN THE 2005 movie The Jacket, Kelly Lynch plays a drunk who burns to death after falling asleep while smoking. According to the activists who object to cinematic smoking, Lynch's character is part of an insidious plot to lure children into the...

A Pogrom for tea.(Sky Kingdom, religious cult, Malaysia)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... To WESTERNERS, this teapot will seem more Lewis Carroll than David Koresh. But in the Malaysian state of Terengganu, where the two-story pot once sat beside a fishing boat, a massive vase, and an even larger yellow umbrella, the structure has...

Repeal the Bush tax increase.(George W. Bush, bonus depreciation provisions )
November 1, 2005... President Bush has appointed a commission to study tax reform and said that he wants to make his tax cuts permanent. However, no major tax reform will occur soon. One modest proposal for immediate reform is to make permanent a Bush tax cut that...