Reason articles from November 2006

Reason archives from November 2006

The positives of negative campaigning.(Editor's Note)
November 1, 2006... OUR COVER IMAGE this month is taken from the Citizen Kane of political attack ads: the infamous "daisy" spot created for Democratic incumbent Lyndon Johnson's campaign during the 1964 presidential election. Without ever mentioning Republican...

Treason of the Clerk.(Letter to the editor)
November 1, 2006... As soon as I saw David Weigel's article "Treason of the Clerk" (July), I knew I was in for more thinly supported charges that free speech is endangered because of the "political climate" produced by hysterical right-wingers. So let me get...

Searching for Alex Kozinski.(Letter to the editor)
November 1, 2006... It's depressing enough to hear city planners routinely dismiss the concerns of property owners faced with eminent domain. But Judge Alex Kozinski's comments about the Kelo case are chilling if he's supposed to be the most libertarian judge in...

Are failed states a threat to America?(Letter to the editor)
November 1, 2006... Justin Logan and Christopher Preble make it sound as if national sovereignty is not the backbone of the anarchic international system that recognizes all nation-states as equals, regardless of wealth ("Are Failed States a Threat to America?"...

Reason news.(Letter to the editor)
November 1, 2006... reason is happy to welcome Katherine Mangu-Ward, our new associate editor, who started her journalism career as an intern in reason's Washington bureau in the summer of 2000. Since then Mangu-Ward has worked as a reporter for The Weekly...

Property fights: taking on takings.(Wade Bennet on new laws for private properties)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... WADE BENNETT, the proprietor of a 70-acre orchard and bamboo grove outside Seattle, is not a confrontational man. But when state officials decided they wanted to increase development-free river buffers for environmental and recreational...

ELF fairy tales: agents provocateurs.(Citings)(Earth Liberation Front)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... ON JANUARY 13 the Federal Bureau of Investigation nabbed three members of the Earth Liberation Front in a Wal-Mart parking lot in Auburn, California. The FBI triumphantly claimed to have foiled the would-be bombers of power stations, research...

25 years ago in reason.(James C. Bennett, M. Bruce Johnson, Robert Poole Jr., Christina Dorffi opinions)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... "As in every other new field, the history of commercial space flight will be filled with tales of success and failure; of geniuses, dreamers, and con-men; of hopes too big to accomplish and of accomplishments exceeding hopes. But somewhere...

Have ban, will travel: gambling crackdown.(Citings)
November 1, 2006... THEY SUPPOSEDLY speak English in England, but they have different names for certain things. When they say lift, they mean elevator. Larry, is their word for truck. And someone they call a businessman is what we call a racketeer. David...

Forbidden fruit: the FDA's war on cherries.(Food and Drug Administration's John King)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... LAST OCTOBER, the Food and Drug Administration sent John King a stern letter warning him that he had committed "serious violations of the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act," that to continue to market his product he would need to file a "New Drug...

Quotes.(politicians)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... "You know, I hear people say, well, civil war this, civil war that. The Iraqi people decided against civil war when they went to the ballot box." --President George W. Bush, August 7 "We could do worse. But we have a good president. I...

Shirley Hatcher of Southampton, England, parked her car, went to the hairdresser, and returned to find her car splattered with paint and bearing a ticket for 60 [pounds sterling].(Brickbats)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... Shirley Hatcher of Southampton, England, parked her car, went to the hairdresser, and returned to find her car splattered with paint and bearing a ticket for 60 [pounds sterling]. It seems that while she was having her hair done, a contractor...

Two full-time officers and five reserve officers in the Hempstead, Texas, police department have been charged with felony evidence tampering.(Brickbats)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... Two full-time officers and five reserve officers in the Hempstead, Texas, police department have been charged with felony evidence tampering. The officers allegedly set off SWAT team flash-bang grenades just for fun--among other places, at a...

Beijing has banned disco music and "other forms of vulgar entertainment" from clubs and karaoke bars.(Brickbats)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... Beijing has banned disco music and "other forms of vulgar entertainment" from clubs and karaoke bars. The move is supposed to help stamp out drug use.

A film crew was shooting a scene in a campground near Loveland, Colorado, involving a character who takes a girl hostage.(Special weapons and tactics units (Police))(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... A film crew was shooting a scene in a campground near Loveland, Colorado, involving a character who takes a girl hostage. After several hours of filming, members of the Larimer County SWAT team surrounded the cast and crew with M-16s, then...

Kelly Vinnicombe bought a candy-filled Bugs Bunny water pistol in an airport gift shop.(Brickbats)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... Kelly Vinnicombe bought a candy-filled Bugs Bunny water pistol in an airport gift shop. But when the 6-year-old and her family tried to board a flight from Cape Town to London, security stopped them and told them they'd have to register the toy...

Forecasters had predicted record-breaking temperatures in Essex County, England, on July 19, when the temperature hit almost 98 degrees.(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... Forecasters had predicted record-breaking temperatures in Essex County, England, on July 19, when the temperature hit almost 98 degrees. Perfect weather, it seems, for county council workers to conduct a traffic survey on a main street during...

According to Sasha Alhovsky, eight New York City cops knocked him from his bicycle, put guns to his head and threw him in jail for four hours.(Brickbats)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... According to Sasha Alhovsky, eight New York City cops knocked him from his bicycle, put guns to his head and threw him in jail for four hours. What did he do to deserve such treatment? He accidentally left a balloon pump at a local Starbucks...

Mystery grant: funding government secrecy?(Congress grant to the Center for Terrorism Law )(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... A DAY AFTER the Freedom of Information Act turned 40, USA Today reported that Congress had approved a $1 million grant to an obscure law school. Researchers, the paper reported, would spend the cash searching for "ways to restrict public access...

Crime fiction: homeland security quotas.(Citings)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... WHEN YOU'RE flying in and out of Las Vegas, what happens on your plane may not stay on your plane. Thanks to a quota system imposed on federal air marshals working in that city, you're taking a gamble on being added to a federal watch list. ...

Degree democracy.(college enrollment for black males increases)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... According to the Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, college enrollment for black males is at its highest point ever. In 2004, 758,400 were enrolled, up from 603,032 in 2000.

Online whine.(survey on teenagers purchasing wines by online services)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... After the Supreme Court struck down limits on interstate wine sales, wholesalers' groups predicted teens would rush to buy the stuff online. According to a survey by Teenage Research Unlimited, just 2 percent of Americans aged 14 to 20 have...

Ahoy, stranger!(Swedish Pirate Party launches users identities from trespassers)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... The Swedish Pirate Party launches its own snoop-free "darknet," a network that masks users' identities from trespassers--and governments. The party espouses an agenda of "shared culture, free knowledge, and protected privacy."

Share police.(Mark Cuban introduces Sharesleuth.com)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... Dallas Mavericks owner and billionaire ruckus-maker Mark Cuban makes a new ruck with Sharesleuth.com. The site promises to uncover shady claims by publicly traded companies, with Cuban possibly shorting some shares along the way. Expect...

Gator gold.(Georgetown University Medical Center research on alligator blood)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... Researchers at Georgetown University Medical Center find that alligator blood has potent bug-killing properties. Gator serum killed bacteria responsible for E. coli, dysentery, salmonella, strep, and more.

Blimp bits.(Stratellite testing)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... The first Stratellite, a robot airship 13 miles up, is tested in the Mojave Desert. The idea is to use the ships as cheap platforms for communications gear. The $3 million blimps could bring modern communications to the far corners of the...

Meat puppets.(U.S. Department of Agriculture on cattle testing )(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... Kansas beef producer Creekstone Farms can't test all its cattle for mad cow disease, because the U.S. Department of Agriculture won't let it. Allowing Creekstone to do its own testing would imply that other meat is unsafe, USDA says.

Recruit dispute.(rules on military recruiters )(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... A GAO report finds that military recruiters are increasingly likely to bend the rules in order to meet monthly recruiting goals. Violations include hiding disqualifying info about recruits and otherwise faking documents.

Google kleenex.(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... Google lawyers tire off letters warning publishers and Web-heads not to use "google" as a verb, as in "We googled for directions." The correct formulation, they insist, is "run a Google search."

Monkey business.(survey on human evolution )(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... According to a survey conducted in 2005, Turkey is the only country more hostile to evolution than the United States. Residents of the U.S. and 32 European countries were asked if the following statement was true or false: "Human beings, as we...

Baddies banned.(India's Ministry of Information and Broadcasting ban Arab TV stations)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... Reportedly responding to pressure from U.S., British, and Israeli authorities, India's Ministry of Information and Broadcasting bans all Arab TV stations from its airwaves. The broadcasts are said to be too inflammatory for the Indian public.

Vote cure.(Benjamin L. Cardin on eradication of cancer )(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... Political promises hit a new high--or low--as a U.S. Senate hopeful pledges to cure cancer. "We are going to lick cancer by 2015," Democratic Rep. Benjamin L. Cardin tells a small audience at the Hope Well Cancer Support Center. Looks like...

Open country?(research on immigrants from poor countries)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... Rags-to-riches tales of immigrants who make good are part of America's national mythology. But researchers from the Center for Global Development have found that for immigrants from poor countries, the American Dream may be easier to find...

Gringo capitalism: beyond border control.(Mexican economy and its increasing immigrants )(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... OVER THE LONG term, the only way to reduce illegal immigration along the southern border is prosperity--in Mexico. To that end a group of venture capitalists is attempting to jump-start the Mexican economy's job-creating engine. Investors...

Mutiny and bounty: rogue traders spark global markets.(Emily Erikson )(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... IN THE LATE 17th and early-to-mid 18th centuries, the East India Company oversaw one of the most important waves of globalization in world history, linking Northern Europe and East Asia more closely than they had ever been tied before. A paper...

Up like Flynn: video games and IQ.(Intelligence (Psychology))(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... IN THE 1980s, the New Zealand social scientist James Flynn discovered that IQs had been rising by about three points per decade. According to his findings, average IQs in 20 developed countries had increased by about 15 points during the...

A long Republican reign?(National Review's Jim Geraghty)(Interview)
November 1, 2006... After the Republican victories in 2004, pundits puzzled over the reason the Democrats failed to take either Congress or the White House. Was it gay marriage? Was it the tax cuts? Was it John Kerry's swift boat? Jim Geraghty, who covered...

Pen statists: in Pennsylvania's Senate race, both sides are running for the middle.(Columns)
November 1, 2006... UNTIL THE MIDDLE of August, when Virginia's Republican Sen. George Allen belched a North African schoolyard insult at a hapless Democratic cameraman, Pennsylvania's U.S. Senate race was the hottest game in town. The social conservative icon...

Terror then and now: three glittering European cities illustrate the thin line between normality and chaos.(Columns)
November 1, 2006... IT WASN'T UNTIL after I got to Prague on August 12, on a vacation, that I realized I had obliquely witnessed a small skirmish in the War on Terror. "Look at that," my mother said, pointing to the departures screen as we changed planes in...

The night Chicago died: suddenly, it's hard to be a sinner in the Windy City.(Rant)
November 1, 2006... ALMOST 20 YEARS ago, I visited the Sears Tower in Chicago. Before being allowed to enjoy the view from what was then the world's tallest building, visitors had to sit through a promotional film about how rough and tough and great and booming...

Attack ads are good for you! In praise of negative campaigning.(Cover story)
November 1, 2006... MICHAEL STEELE encountered tough financial times in the late 1990S. Though he earned a law degree at Georgetown in 1991, the Maryland Republican failed the bar exams in his home state and in Washington, D.C. As a result, his practice at a large...

Butch Otter rides again: Idaho's next governor demonstrates the possibilities--and limits--of libertarian politics in the Republican Party.
November 1, 2006... WHEN HE'S IN HIS Washington, D.C., office, Rep. C.L. "Butch" Otter (R-Idaho) wears a pin-striped suit, a solid tie, and a white shirt with his nickname stenciled on the cuffs. But it's the morning of July 4, and Otter is the keynote speaker at...

The Ownership Society and its discontents: you can't count on George Bush and the GOP Congress to transform the welfare state.
November 1, 2006... CHOICE IS APPEALING. That's why it's at the heart of the loose amalgam of programs, theories, and buzzwords that President George W. Bush calls the Ownership Society. It's Bush and his political advisor Karl Rove's way of trying to bring...

Can we bank on the Federal Reserve? Was Greenspan a bubble blower? Should Bernanke stay the course? Five experts judge the powers and perils of the world's mightiest central bank.(Interview)
November 1, 2006... EARLIER THIS YEAR, the Federal Reserve--that citadel of inscrutable power, able to goose conspiracy theories as quickly as interest rates--lost a chairman. Alan Greenspan, whose tenure lasted almost two decades, is the most celebrated Fed chief...

Welcome to Niche Nation: Long Tail author and Wired editor Chris Anderson on infinite markets, the death of the Top 40, and the birth of personalized politics.(Interview)
November 1, 2006... WHEN CHRIS ANDERSON became the editor-in-chief of Wired in 2001, he took over an eight-year-old San Francisco-based magazine that had not only redefined print journalism in the 1990s but proved an invaluable guide to the exotic new worlds of...

All power to the couch potatoes: the remote control turns 50.
November 1, 2006... Fifty years ago, there weren't 500 television stations in the entire United States, much less 500 channels on a single TV set. One network, CBS, aired nine of the 10 top-rated shows. Most markets had fewer than four stations. And yet some 38...

How the upper crust eats: food as a status symbol.(The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals)(Book review)
November 1, 2006... The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals, by Michael Pollan, New York: Penguin Press, 450 pages, $26.95 THEY SAY YOU'RE not supposed to talk about religion or politics at the dinner table, but these days just complimenting...

Lay off the fatties: they're not hurting anybody--maybe not even themselves.(Fat Politics: The Real Story behind America's Obesity Epidemic)(The Diet Myth: Why America's Obsession With Weight Is Hazardous to Your Health)(Book review)
November 1, 2006... Fat Politics: The Real Story Behind America's Obesity Epidemic, by F. Eric Oliver, New York: Oxford University Press, 228 pages, $20/$15.95 paper The Diet Myth: Why America's Obsession With Weight Is Hazardous to Your Health, by Paul...

Alan Moore comes like a thief in the night: a writer with a libertarian following delivers some flaccid porn.
November 1, 2006... WHATEVER HIS literary reputation ends up being, there's one thing Alan Moore, the British scriptwriter of such legendary comics as V for Vendetta, From Hell, and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, will always have going for him. When he...

Cancer, Schmancer--as long as I'm not a drug addict.(Artifact)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... A NEW AD campaign from the Partnership for a Drug-Free America announces that "drug addiction is a disease." In fact, say the ads, addiction is worse than a disease, because people are not inclined to sympathize with addicts, viewing excessive...