Reason articles from October 2004

Reason archives from October 2004

Why September sucks.(Editor's Note)
October 1, 2004... GIVEN THAT IT'S back-to-school season, it makes sense that this issue of reason boasts two feature stories about education, a subject that not only consumes billions of dollars every year but produces untold hours of parental and student...

Database Nation.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
October 1, 2004... Declan McCullagh's "Database Nation" (June) reminded me of a slogan from Terry Gilliam's 1985 film Brazil: "Information--Key to Prosperity." Both the film and his article observe how ideals such as personal liberty, dignity, and privacy...

Objections to These Unions.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
October 1, 2004... Jonathan Ranch ("Objections to These Unions," June) eloquently addresses the conflict between the natural evolution of institutions and their fairness. Although he notes the importance of the separation of church and state as an argument for...

Reason news.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... Senior Editor Brian Doherty's book This Is Burning Man, which chronicles the rise of a new American underground, was published this summer by Little, Brown. Edited by Nick Gillespie, Choice: The Best of Reason, an anthology of the past...

Love for sale: Berkeley's prostitution initiative.(Citings)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... NEWS THAT A November ballot initiative in Berkeley, California, would move toward decriminalizing prostitution may not have diminished Berkeley's reputation as a place for wacky legislation. But the ease with which the initiative came to a vote...

Teletubbies: fat ad budgets and fat kids.(Citings)
October 1, 2004... A FEBRUARY REPORT from the Kaiser Family Foundation noted that kids who watch a lot of TV are more likely to be fat than kids who don't. It said exposure to food commercials was the most likely explanation. That theory fit well with recent...

25 years ago in reason.(Citings)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... "People who resist authority, who defend the rights of the individual, who try in a period of increasing totalitarianism and centralization to reclaim these rights--this is the true left in the United States. Whether they are...

Bhutan's boob tube: Shangri-la wrestles with TV.(Citings)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... THE HIMALAYAN kingdom of Bhutan, which calls itself "the Eldorado of the East" and "the last Shangri-la," is reconsidering its five-year experiment with TV. Broadcasting authorities in the tiny country nestled between India and Tibet are...

School net scams: no tech firm left behind.(Citings)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... PUERTO RICO HAS spent $101 million in federal grants to wire 1,500 public schools for Internet access. Yet the island-wide school district warehoused most of the equipment for more than three years, and only nine schools were actually connected...

Quotes.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... "We're going to take things away from you on behalf of the common good." --Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) on tax policy at a fundraiser for Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), quoted by the Associated Press, June 28 "I would argue that the...

Source.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... For plenty of journalists, objectivity means not an effort to get at the truth but the process of quoting a spokesman on either side of every issue. Fortunately, the folks at the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg Public Policy Center are a...

Cerebral palsy has left Courtney Glowczewski with a withered arm and leg.(Brickbats)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... Cerebral palsy has left Courtney Glowczewski with a withered arm and leg. Unfortunately, that has made her a target for harassment by some students at Denver's Martin Luther King Middle School. She's been taunted and threatened and has even had...

Slobodan Milosevic has had his bank account frozen, and his funds may be seized for war reparations.(Brickbats)(Slobodan Milosevic the Munich bus driver bank account)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... Slobodan Milosevic has had his bank account frozen, and his funds may be seized for war reparations. That's Slobodan Milosevic the Munich bus driver, not the former Yugoslavian president on trial for war crimes. The former Slobodan says he has...

Those who dine at the Russian parliament's commissary will have to use plastic utensils.(Brickbats)(Russian parliament uses plastic utensils instead of siverware because of theft)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... Those who dine at the Russian parliament's commissary will have to use plastic utensils. Officials made the switch because members of parliament had been stealing the silverware.

The state of Nebraska can't account for thousands of dollars spent by its anti-tobacco program.(Brickbats)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... The state of Nebraska can't account for thousands of dollars spent by its anti-tobacco program. And a state auditor says hundreds of thousands more may have been mismanaged. Rock Mueller, the man in charge of the program, was hired in 2001,...

The British government is considering a plan to let local governments seize houses that have been vacant for at least six months and rent them out.(Brickbats)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... The British government is considering a plan to let local governments seize houses that have been vacant for at least six months and rent them out. The governments will have to pay the rent back to the owners--after keeping enough to cover...

Singapore has mandated that all cigarette packs carry graphic images of what smoking can do.(Brickbats)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... Singapore has mandated that all cigarette packs carry graphic images of what smoking can do. Packs will now feature rotten teeth and diseased organs as well as a smoker on his deathbed.

The U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control is charged with investigating the finances of terrorist organizations and enforcing America's economic embargo of Cuba.(Brickbats)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... The U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control is charged with investigating the finances of terrorist organizations and enforcing America's economic embargo of Cuba. At the end of 2003, the office had just four full-time...

Saparmurat Niyazov doesn't like gold fillings.(Brickbats)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... Saparmurat Niyazov doesn't like gold fillings. Unfortunately for the people of Turkmenistan, Niyazov is their leader, and his whims are law. So people who work for government agencies, state-run companies, and universities--not to mention...

An Italian driver has been fined 300 euros and assessed 500 euros in court costs for calling a parking attendant a "nobody".(Brickbats)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... An Italian driver has been fined 300 euros and assessed 500 euros in court costs for calling a parking attendant a "nobody." A court ruled that this was slander.

Your records, please: the war on "indecency".(Citings)(broadcasters to retain airchecks)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... THE CRACKDOWN on "indecent" broadcasts did not end when Janet Jackson apologized for her Super Bowl wardrobe malfunction. In July the Federal Communications Commission proposed a new requirement "that broadcasters retain recordings of their...

Injecting tyranny: anti-drug "vaccines".(Citings)
October 1, 2004... DRUG WARRIORS may soon take their fight to our bloodstreams. Companies in the U.S. and the U.K. are developing "vaccines" to discourage drug use by preventing people from enjoying it. These "vaccines" stimulate the immune system to produce...

Balance sheet.
October 1, 2004... The Classifieds The 9/11 commission recommends that the federal culture of secrecy be replaced with one of information sharing between agencies and the public. Classification costs at least $6 billion a year, but the exact amount the CIA...

Second-guessing the First Amendment.(Data)(First Amendment survey)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... The First Amendment Center's State of the First Amendment survey, which polls Americans on their attitudes toward the First Amendment each year, found that in 2004 only 30 percent agreed that "the First Amendment goes too far in the freedoms it...

Hydrogen hot air: polluting with cleaner cars.(Citings)(hydrogen cars)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... PRESIDENT BUSH'S State of the Union address included a proposal to spend $1.2 billion developing hydrogen-powered cars. California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is so taken with the idea that he wants to open a statewide network of hydrogen...

Cleaning up e-mail: an end to spam?(Citings)(Anti-Spam Technical Alliance)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... THANKS TO THE ingenious CAN-SPAM Act passed by Congress last year, junk e-mail in the United States has been drastically reduced, rendering many inboxes completely spam free. Just kidding. Despite the new law, spam continues to increase,...

Libertarian dark horse.(Soundbite)(Libertarian Party, Michael Badnarik)(Interview)
October 1, 2004... Over Memorial Day weekend the Libertarian Party gathered at the Marriott Marquis in Atlanta and chose its presidential nominee: a former computer consultant from Austin named Michael Badnarik, who teaches a one-day course on the Constitution....

Unbalanced like a Fox: Rupert Murdoch's critics should follow his lead.(Fox News)(Column)
October 1, 2004... IN 1932 THOMAS Storke, editor and publisher of the Santa Barbara Daily News, faced a dilemma that seems positively alien in 2004. Storke's competition, the 58-year-old Santa Barbara Morning Press, was on the brink of bankruptcy, and it begged...

Beyond belief: when will secularism be allowed in the public square?(Column)
October 1, 2004... WHEN JOHN F. Kennedy ran for President in 1960, his Roman Catholic faith was widely viewed as a stumbling block to his campaign. Many voters feared that Catholic politicians would look to the Vatican for guidance, putting their loyalty to the...

Orange you glad he didn't say red? The president's credibility problem.(Rant)(George W. Bush)
October 1, 2004... WHEN SECRETARY of Homeland Security Tom Ridge upped the terrorist threat level in the New York and Washington, D.C., areas from yellow to orange in August, the response from prominent Democrats was more predictable than a Zarqawi video-grant....

John Kerry's dark record on civil liberties: the Democratic candidate is no friend to the Bill of Rights.
October 1, 2004... FOR JOHN KERRY, the specter of Attorney General John Ashcroft trashing Americans' civil liberties has been a useful campaign prop. In campaign stops, Kerry has promised to "end the era of John Ashcroft and renew our faith in the Constitution."...

Ten reasons to fire George W. Bush (and nine reasons why Kerry won't be much better).(John F. Kerry)
October 1, 2004... Indefinite detentions. Since 9/11, the U.S. government has imprisoned more than 1,000 people for minor violations of immigration law and held them indefinitely, sometimes without allowing them to consult a lawyer, even after concluding that...

No way out: the No Child Left Behind Act provides only the illusion of school choice.
October 1, 2004... LIKE EVERY JUNIOR high school student in Camden, New Jersey, 12-year-old Ashley Fernandez attends a school that has been designated as failing under state and federal standards for more than three years. But low expectations were the least of...

Welcome to the fun-free university: the return of in loco parentis is killing student freedom.
October 1, 2004... IN APRIL 1968, student activists at Columbia University schemed to take over the dean's office as a protest against the Vietnam War and plans to build a new gym. More than 700 students were arrested, and the uprising won national attention. But...

Age of propaganda: the government attacks teenage drinking with junk science.
October 1, 2004... In July 2001 the U.S. Department of Justice announced an alleged breakthrough in research on alcohol policy. According to the DOJ, a comparison of drinking rates among American and European teenagers proved once and for all that Europe's...

Open secrets: how the government lost the drug war in cyberspace.(Culture and Reviews)(Microgram)
October 1, 2004... FOR 36 YEARS the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) quietly published a quirky monthly newsletter called Microgram for a small audience of forensic chemists. It was "law enforcement restricted," which meant you could obtain it only if you...

Crossballs puzzle: why don't the guests on Comedy Central's fake debate show get the joke?(Television Program Review)
October 1, 2004... "Pac-Man's homophobic," says a video game critic wearing glasses, a sweater vest, and a tie. "The ghosts are homosexuals: They wear garish, bright colors and dresses, and they rub up against each other in a box. Think about it. Is the Pac-Man...

David Simon says: the creator of HBO's The Wire talks about the decline of journalism, the failure of the drug war, and a new kind of TV.(Home Box Office)(Interview)
October 1, 2004... ON SEPTEMBER 19 an often-overlooked gem will return to HBO. The Wire, entering its third season, is sometimes described as a Baltimore-based crime show, but that's a little misleading. It's a show about cops and criminals, but it doesn't follow...

Bad deal: how FDR made life worse for African Americans.(Reconsidering Roosevelt on Race: How the Presidency Paved the Road to Brown)(FDR's Folly: How Roosevelt and His New Deal Prolonged the Great Depression)(Book Review)
October 1, 2004... Reconsidering Roosevelt on Race: How the Presidency Paved the Road to Brown, by Kevin J. McMahon, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 298 pages, $20 FDR's Folly: How Roosevelt and His New Deal Prolonged the Great Depression, by Jim...

Surf's up: why Bill and Ted are the ultimate Americans.(Riding Giants)(Movie Review)
October 1, 2004... FROM GIDGET TO Jeff Spicoli, Hollywood has branded the surfer America's quintessential dumb blond. The 1989 screen classic (totally classic) Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure consolidated the pop culture archetype: Surfers are dumb but sometimes...

Food fight.(Artifact)(W Ketchup)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... HERE'S W KETCHUP, perfect for pouring over freedom fries. "You don't support Democrats," says the tag line, "why should your ketchup?" The brand was born recalls the manufacturer's chairman, when a group of friends found that reaching for...