Articles from Reason.com and Reason Magazine http://www.outloudopinion.com News, Politics, Culture, Editorial, Opinion 2009 OutloudOpinion LLC and Reason.com http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss en-us Thu, 2 Sep 2010 09:50:41 -0400 webmaster@outloudopinion.com Thu, 2 Sep 2010 09:49:02 -0400 webmaster@outloudopinion.com FeedForAll v2.0 (2.0.2.9) http://www.feedforall.com Reason.com and OutloudOpinion Articles from Reason.com and Reason Magazine OutloudOpinion and Reason.com OutloudOpinion webmaster@outloudopinion.com News, Politics, Culuture, libertarian, Opinion, Issues no no http://outloudopinion.com/images/ReasonOLO141.jpg http://www.outloudopinion.com 141 141 They say that knowing is half the battle. But it’s the easy half. On Sunday, the Los Angeles Times caused quite a stir by releasing individual performance data about 6,000 of the system’s primary teachers after weeks of hyping the story. The paper took the simple but ingenious step of filing a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for the district’s raw math and reading standardized test scores over several years. For each teacher, the paper calculated a score based on the gains shown by his or her individual students from the time they arrived in the classroom in the fall to the time they left—a value-added score—and then rated the teachers’ effectiveness. Information is power, and the school system and teachers union had access to this data long before the Times. But instead of releasing scores—and thus seizing the opportunity to frame the information and the debate—they sat on the data for years, stalling, hoping no one would notice that it existed at all. Their mindset dates from a time when processing a large amount of data and offering a granular analysis was a difficult and expensive business. But number crunching on this scale is no longer the province of big bureaucracies with major computing power. Anyone can do it, and it was only a matter of time before someone did. This podcast sponsored by GoToMeeting - Host more meetings for less. www.gotomeeting.com/podcast From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/knowing-is-half-the-battle-but.mp3 6577B6AB-5192-4DA2-998E-BC396303EF58 Thu, 2 Sep 2010 09:49:02 -0400 They say that knowing is half the battle. But it’s the easy half. They say that knowing is half the battle. But it’s the easy half. On Sunday, the Los Angeles Times caused quite a stir by releasing individual performance data about 6,000 of the system’s primary teachers after weeks of hyping the story. The paper took the simple but ingenious step of filing a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for the district’s raw math and reading standardized test scores over several years. For each teacher, the paper calculated a score based on the gains shown by his or her individual students from the time they arrived in the classroom in the fall to the time they left—a value-added score—and then rated the teachers’ effectiveness. Information is power, and the school system and teachers union had access to this data long before the Times. But instead of releasing scores—and thus seizing the opportunity to frame the information and the debate—they sat on the data for years, stalling, hoping no one would notice that it existed at all. Their mindset dates from a time when processing a large amount of data and offering a granular analysis was a difficult and expensive business. But number crunching on this scale is no longer the province of big bureaucracies with major computing power. Anyone can do it, and it was only a matter of time before someone did. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Katherine Mangu-Ward editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Katherine Mangu-Ward Good news for American drivers! Just in time for the Labor Day weekend, gasoline prices are falling. According to the Energy Information Administration (EIA) gas prices peaked in the spring. Gas prices usually rise in the spring because of the supply constraints created by the switchover to specially formulated summer gasoline mandated by the Environmental Protection Agency. The EIA reports that in May the average price for a gallon of regular got up to $2.87. Since then prices have been wiggling downward to around $2.65 per gallon today. So what determines the price of gasoline? Speculators? Evil conspiring oil companies? Well, actually no. It's demand and supply, of course. On the demand side the American automobile fleet gets better gas mileage than it did a few years ago and Americans, whacked by the recession and high unemployment rates, are driving a bit less than they used to. In addition, thanks to government subsidies, about 9 percent of what goes into our gas tanks is ethanol produced from corn, which also reduces the demand for refined crude. On the supply side, global oil supplies are ample and refiners in the U.S. evidently believed the Obama administration’s rosy “recovery summer” scenarios and stockpiled a lot of gasoline. This podcast sponsored by GoToMeeting - Host more meetings for less. www.gotomeeting.com/podcast From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/gas-prices-explained.mp3 0BF5C9AF-3D01-4F39-A740-9F4CDA7A2D4B Wed, 1 Sep 2010 08:23:45 -0400 Good news for American drivers! Just in time for the Labor Day weekend, gasoline prices are falling. Good news for American drivers! Just in time for the Labor Day weekend, gasoline prices are falling. According to the Energy Information Administration (EIA) gas prices peaked in the spring. Gas prices usually rise in the spring because of the supply constraints created by the switchover to specially formulated summer gasoline mandated by the Environmental Protection Agency. The EIA reports that in May the average price for a gallon of regular got up to $2.87. Since then prices have been wiggling downward to around $2.65 per gallon today. So what determines the price of gasoline? Speculators? Evil conspiring oil companies? Well, actually no. It's demand and supply, of course. On the demand side the American automobile fleet gets better gas mileage than it did a few years ago and Americans, whacked by the recession and high unemployment rates, are driving a bit less than they used to. In addition, thanks to government subsidies, about 9 percent of what goes into our gas tanks is ethanol produced from corn, which also reduces the demand for refined crude. On the supply side, global oil supplies are ample and refiners in the U.S. evidently believed the Obama administration’s rosy “recovery summer” scenarios and stockpiled a lot of gasoline. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Ronald Bailey editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Ronald Bailey In April I wrote a column about the secretive habits of three large police departments in Virginia's Washington, D.C., suburbs: Fairfax County, Alexandria, and Arlington. As Connection Newspapers reporter Michael Pope showed in a series of reports that began in March, they are among the least transparent departments in the country, having interpreted Virginia's Freedom of Information Act in a way that allows them to turn down nearly all requests for information. Recently there have been a couple of attempts to make Virginia's law enforcement agencies more transparent. As I reported in June, Nicholas Beltrante, an 82-year-old former cop and Navy medic, started the Virginia Citizens Coalition for Police Accountability. And in January, state Sen. John Edwards (D-Roanoke) introduced a bill that would force police to turn over public records in cases where the investigation has been completed. This podcast sponsored by GoToMeeting - Host more meetings for less. www.gotomeeting.com/podcast From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/trust-me-you-can-trust-us.mp3 A96B4635-6A0D-43A5-987A-3D3621AD7FA8 Tue, 31 Aug 2010 11:56:35 -0400 In April I wrote a column about the secretive habits of three large police departments in Virginia's Washington, D.C., suburbs: Fairfax County, Alexandria, and Arlington. In April I wrote a column about the secretive habits of three large police departments in Virginia's Washington, D.C., suburbs: Fairfax County, Alexandria, and Arlington. As Connection Newspapers reporter Michael Pope showed in a series of reports that began in March, they are among the least transparent departments in the country, having interpreted Virginia's Freedom of Information Act in a way that allows them to turn down nearly all requests for information. Recently there have been a couple of attempts to make Virginia's law enforcement agencies more transparent. As I reported in June, Nicholas Beltrante, an 82-year-old former cop and Navy medic, started the Virginia Citizens Coalition for Police Accountability. And in January, state Sen. John Edwards (D-Roanoke) introduced a bill that would force police to turn over public records in cases where the investigation has been completed. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Radley Balko editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Radley Balko On March 5, 1934, the U.S. Supreme Court declared New York shopkeeper Leo Nebbia to be a criminal because he sold two quarts of milk and a 5 cent loaf of bread for the combined low price of 18 cents. As Justice Owen Roberts explained in his 5-4 majority opinion in Nebbia v. New York, the state’s Milk Control Board had fixed the minimum price of milk at 9 cents a quart to eliminate the “evils” of price-cutting. As for the constitutionality of this action, which raised the price of milk during the lean years of the Great Depression in an effort to boost the profits of New York dairy farmers, while doing absolutely nothing to improve the health or safety of the milk-drinking public, Roberts simply shrugged. “A state is free to adopt whatever economic policy may reasonably be deemed to promote public welfare, and to enforce that policy by legislation adapted to its purpose." Furthermore, “If the laws passed are seen to have a reasonable relation to a proper legislative purpose, and are neither arbitrary nor discriminatory, the requirements of due process are satisfied.” In other words, when it came to economic regulations, the courts needed only to rubber stamp whatever the lawmakers deemed “reasonable.” This podcast sponsored by GoToMeeting - Host more meetings for less. www.gotomeeting.com/podcast From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/taking-economic-liberty-seriou.mp3 44AEA382-5B7D-40F2-B5AB-206EF8F36597 Fri, 27 Aug 2010 12:08:35 -0400 On March 5, 1934, the U.S. Supreme Court declared New York shopkeeper Leo Nebbia to be a criminal because he sold two quarts of milk and a 5 cent loaf of bread for the combined low price of 18 cents. On March 5, 1934, the U.S. Supreme Court declared New York shopkeeper Leo Nebbia to be a criminal because he sold two quarts of milk and a 5 cent loaf of bread for the combined low price of 18 cents. As Justice Owen Roberts explained in his 5-4 majority opinion in Nebbia v. New York, the state’s Milk Control Board had fixed the minimum price of milk at 9 cents a quart to eliminate the “evils” of price-cutting. As for the constitutionality of this action, which raised the price of milk during the lean years of the Great Depression in an effort to boost the profits of New York dairy farmers, while doing absolutely nothing to improve the health or safety of the milk-drinking public, Roberts simply shrugged. “A state is free to adopt whatever economic policy may reasonably be deemed to promote public welfare, and to enforce that policy by legislation adapted to its purpose." Furthermore, “If the laws passed are seen to have a reasonable relation to a proper legislative purpose, and are neither arbitrary nor discriminatory, the requirements of due process are satisfied.” In other words, when it came to economic regulations, the courts needed only to rubber stamp whatever the lawmakers deemed “reasonable.” From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Damon W. Root editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Damon W. Root Look! Up in the sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s...the mayor of New York City? What if the mayor of the Big Apple was also the world’s only honest-to-goodness superhero? For the last six years, that’s been the question driving Brian K. Vaughan’s politically charged serial, Ex Machina. As comic book adventures go, Vaughan’s deftly scripted 50-issue comic book series, which published its final issue last week, offered an unexpectedly clever mix of high-flying action and city-management melodrama. But as political fiction, Ex Machina offered something far more subtle—a slow-burning portrait of the corrupting fallibility of political systems, and a warning about how, eventually, those systems demean and diminish even those who believe in their powers the most. This podcast sponsored by GoToMeeting - Host more meetings for less. www.gotomeeting.com/podcast From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/a-superhero-for-mayor.mp3 E6B1181C-7451-4FAB-AE96-7C4DA485DA79 Thu, 26 Aug 2010 12:03:31 -0400 Look! Up in the sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s...the mayor of New York City? Look! Up in the sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s...the mayor of New York City? What if the mayor of the Big Apple was also the world’s only honest-to-goodness superhero? For the last six years, that’s been the question driving Brian K. Vaughan’s politically charged serial, Ex Machina. As comic book adventures go, Vaughan’s deftly scripted 50-issue comic book series, which published its final issue last week, offered an unexpectedly clever mix of high-flying action and city-management melodrama. But as political fiction, Ex Machina offered something far more subtle—a slow-burning portrait of the corrupting fallibility of political systems, and a warning about how, eventually, those systems demean and diminish even those who believe in their powers the most. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Peter Suderman editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Peter Suderman “Never let a serious crisis go to waste,” White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel famously declared back in the salad days of the Obama administration. The head of the Food Drug Administration (FDA), Margaret Hamburg, is paying heed to Emanuel’s maxim, using the recall of a half billion eggs to argue for giving her agency more power over food. The agency has traced the recent uptick in salmonella infections to eggs. Citing this recall, Hamburg is urging the U.S. Senate to pass the Food Safety Enhancement Act, which the House of Representatives passed last summer. So is the egg recall a “serious crisis”? Well, the unfortunate citizens immiserated by diarrhea and nausea from eating contaminated eggs will have obvious reasons to think so. Yet the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s foodborne illness surveillance system finds since 1998 that rates of infection in 2009 were lower for Shigella (55 percent decrease), Yersinia (53 percent decrease), STEC O157 (41 percent decrease), Campylobacter (30 percent decrease), Listeria (26 percent decrease), and Salmonella (10 percent decrease); rates were higher for Vibrio (85 percent increase). This podcast sponsored by GoToMeeting - Host more meetings for less. www.gotomeeting.com/podcast From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/egg-recall-hatches-more-regula.mp3 861EA87E-4B68-43B8-B3D6-362E0AF4BFE8 Wed, 25 Aug 2010 11:51:57 -0400 “Never let a serious crisis go to waste,” White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel famously declared back in the salad days of the Obama administration. “Never let a serious crisis go to waste,” White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel famously declared back in the salad days of the Obama administration. The head of the Food Drug Administration (FDA), Margaret Hamburg, is paying heed to Emanuel’s maxim, using the recall of a half billion eggs to argue for giving her agency more power over food. The agency has traced the recent uptick in salmonella infections to eggs. Citing this recall, Hamburg is urging the U.S. Senate to pass the Food Safety Enhancement Act, which the House of Representatives passed last summer. So is the egg recall a “serious crisis”? Well, the unfortunate citizens immiserated by diarrhea and nausea from eating contaminated eggs will have obvious reasons to think so. Yet the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s foodborne illness surveillance system finds since 1998 that rates of infection in 2009 were lower for Shigella (55 percent decrease), Yersinia (53 percent decrease), STEC O157 (41 percent decrease), Campylobacter (30 percent decrease), Listeria (26 percent decrease), and Salmonella (10 percent decrease); rates were higher for Vibrio (85 percent increase). From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Ronald Bailey editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Ronald Bailey Greg Taylor served 16 years in prison after he was falsely convicted of murdering a prostitute in Raleigh, North Carolina. He was released in February by a special three-judge panel after it was discovered the blood police claimed to have found in his SUV wasn't blood at all. In the wake of that debacle, North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper ordered two retired FBI agents to conduct an investigation on the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) crime lab. The report came out last week, and it is damning. The report found that SBI agents withheld exculpatory evidence or distorted evidence in more than 230 cases over a 16-year period. Three of those cases resulted in execution. There was widespread lying, corruption, and pressure from prosecutors and other law enforcement officials on crime lab analysts to produce results that would help secure convictions. And the pressure worked. This podcast sponsored by GoToMeeting - Host more meetings for less. www.gotomeeting.com/podcast From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/north-carolinas-corrupted-crim.mp3 B30E1EB4-5079-44E5-A29D-115B119F1CD3 Tue, 24 Aug 2010 14:42:11 -0400 Greg Taylor served 16 years in prison after he was falsely convicted of murdering a prostitute in Raleigh, North Carolina. Greg Taylor served 16 years in prison after he was falsely convicted of murdering a prostitute in Raleigh, North Carolina. He was released in February by a special three-judge panel after it was discovered the blood police claimed to have found in his SUV wasn't blood at all. In the wake of that debacle, North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper ordered two retired FBI agents to conduct an investigation on the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) crime lab. The report came out last week, and it is damning. The report found that SBI agents withheld exculpatory evidence or distorted evidence in more than 230 cases over a 16-year period. Three of those cases resulted in execution. There was widespread lying, corruption, and pressure from prosecutors and other law enforcement officials on crime lab analysts to produce results that would help secure convictions. And the pressure worked. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Radley Balko editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Radley Balko The City of Bell has become the poster child for bad government. Exorbitant salaries, lavish pension benefits, a looming default on $35 million in city bonds, and illegal property taxes have all come to light recently. And as a result, taxpayers across California are focusing new scrutiny on their own local officials. The biggest long-term threat to taxpayers and budgets is the pension crisis. Bell City Manager Robert Rizzo was raking in a salary of nearly $800,000, and a total compensation package of more than $1.5 million that included benefits such as 28 weeks worth of vacation and sick time. That puts taxpayers on the hook for over $600,000 a year for Rizzo’s pension—for the rest of his life—when he retires. This podcast sponsored by GoToMeeting - Host more meetings for less. www.gotomeeting.com/podcast From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/lessons-from-the-bell-californ.mp3 F8D46538-22C2-4BF1-9CF6-002BF6992710 Tue, 24 Aug 2010 14:40:53 -0400 The City of Bell has become the poster child for bad government. Exorbitant salaries, lavish pension benefits, a looming default on $35 million in city bonds, The City of Bell has become the poster child for bad government. Exorbitant salaries, lavish pension benefits, a looming default on $35 million in city bonds, and illegal property taxes have all come to light recently. And as a result, taxpayers across California are focusing new scrutiny on their own local officials. The biggest long-term threat to taxpayers and budgets is the pension crisis. Bell City Manager Robert Rizzo was raking in a salary of nearly $800,000, and a total compensation package of more than $1.5 million that included benefits such as 28 weeks worth of vacation and sick time. That puts taxpayers on the hook for over $600,000 a year for Rizzo’s pension—for the rest of his life—when he retires. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Adam Summers editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Adam Summers Last week, a federal district court judge in northern California issued an injunction against planting biotech sugar beets next year. Why? He accepted the activist argument that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) must issue a full environmental impact statement (EIS) under the National Environmental Policy Act before permitting the improved sugar beets to be grown. An EIS is required when a federal government agency engages in actions that might be "significantly affecting the quality of the human environment." So how are biotech sugar beets (already approved by the USDA, mind you) significantly affecting the human environment? Activists at the Center for Food Safety and the Sierra Club argued in federal court that sugar beets improved to resist the herbicide glyphosate might result in the development of superweeds or might interbreed with organic chard and regular beets. This podcast sponsored by GoToMeeting - Host more meetings for less. www.gotomeeting.com/podcast From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/biotech-beets-take-a-beating.mp3 CEB6E3C5-960E-48C3-A304-AB0956AB49FB Wed, 18 Aug 2010 23:43:07 -0400 Beet ban will hurt farmers while strengthening massive seed monopolies Last week, a federal district court judge in northern California issued an injunction against planting biotech sugar beets next year. Why? He accepted the activist argument that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) must issue a full environmental impact statement (EIS) under the National Environmental Policy Act before permitting the improved sugar beets to be grown. An EIS is required when a federal government agency engages in actions that might be "significantly affecting the quality of the human environment." So how are biotech sugar beets (already approved by the USDA, mind you) significantly affecting the human environment? Activists at the Center for Food Safety and the Sierra Club argued in federal court that sugar beets improved to resist the herbicide glyphosate might result in the development of superweeds or might interbreed with organic chard and regular beets. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Ronald Bailey editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Ronald Bailey In the February issue of Reason, I wrote a feature story on civil asset forfeiture, the process by which law enforcement groups can seize property, usually in drug cases, sometimes without ever charging anyone with a crime. In particular, the article looked at the case of Anthony Smelley, who had $17,500 in cash taken from him during a traffic stop in Putnam County, Indiana. Smelley was never charged with a crime, but it took well over a year and several court proceedings for him to get his money back. Indiana is one of several states that require civil asset forfeiture proceeds to go to a fund for public schools. Many states passed such laws in the late 1990s after media and public backlashes against civil forfeiture abuse. The states saw the funds as a way to remedy the incentive problems that arise when police and prosecutorial offices benefit directly from the money they seize. In Indiana, the requirement is actually written into the state's constitution. This podcast sponsored by GoToMeeting - Host more meetings for less. www.gotomeeting.com/podcast From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/the-governments-license-to-ste.mp3 522C847C-3F4C-4F4C-B8DD-8E38DC5A2F2C Tue, 17 Aug 2010 12:59:38 -0400 Indiana's laws prohibiting police departments from enriching themselves via asset forfeiture would be much more effective if they weren't ignored. In the February issue of Reason, I wrote a feature story on civil asset forfeiture, the process by which law enforcement groups can seize property, usually in drug cases, sometimes without ever charging anyone with a crime. In particular, the article looked at the case of Anthony Smelley, who had $17,500 in cash taken from him during a traffic stop in Putnam County, Indiana. Smelley was never charged with a crime, but it took well over a year and several court proceedings for him to get his money back. Indiana is one of several states that require civil asset forfeiture proceeds to go to a fund for public schools. Many states passed such laws in the late 1990s after media and public backlashes against civil forfeiture abuse. The states saw the funds as a way to remedy the incentive problems that arise when police and prosecutorial offices benefit directly from the money they seize. In Indiana, the requirement is actually written into the state's constitution. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Radley Balko editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Radley Balko “I still can’t believe they took our yogurt. There’s a medical marijuana shop a couple miles away, and they’re raiding us because we’re selling raw dairy products?” When the Rawesome organic food coop in Venice, California, was raided by the Los Angeles County District Attorney's office, the Los Angeles County Sheriff, the Ventura County Sheriff, and the California Department of Food and Agriculture, plus the federal Food and Drug Administration and the Department of Agriculture in late June, one of the store’s volunteers was widely quoted expressing incredulity that dairy products would attract more attention from law enforcement than weed. And it’s a funny line; we’re used to thinking of pot as something that must be purchased in secret and under elaborate ruses, while milk can be bought in the open. (Substitute fried chicken for marijuana, and you can find the same joke driving a recent episode of South Park inspired by a Reason cover.) But for the people who produce, sell, or drink unpasteurized milk, the comparison between medical marijuana and raw dairy is all too apt. Both are governed by a patchwork of state laws, some of which can be surprisingly liberal, but nearly all of which are vague enough to leave entrepreneurs with a massive amount of uncertainty about the viability of their business. Sale or distribution of both substances across state lines is essentially forbidden and operations attempting to go legit are restricted by the boundaries of the state where their cows or cannabis grow. Federal agents have a habit of involving themselves in actions within states as well, often in an unpredictable way. This podcast sponsored by GoToMeeting - Host more meetings for less. www.gotomeeting.com/podcast From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/why-buy-the-cow.mp3 351DA10D-911E-4404-B730-903F57F2D752 Mon, 16 Aug 2010 12:51:15 -0400 Legal weed, jokes about communists, and the perils of purchasing your own milk maker. "I still can’t believe they took our yogurt. There’s a medical marijuana shop a couple miles away, and they’re raiding us because we’re selling raw dairy products?" When the Rawesome organic food coop in Venice, California, was raided by the Los Angeles County District Attorney's office, the Los Angeles County Sheriff, the Ventura County Sheriff, and the California Department of Food and Agriculture, plus the federal Food and Drug Administration and the Department of Agriculture in late June, one of the store’s volunteers was widely quoted expressing incredulity that dairy products would attract more attention from law enforcement than weed. And it’s a funny line; we’re used to thinking of pot as something that must be purchased in secret and under elaborate ruses, while milk can be bought in the open. (Substitute fried chicken for marijuana, and you can find the same joke driving a recent episode of South Park inspired by a Reason cover.) But for the people who produce, sell, or drink unpasteurized milk, the comparison between medical marijuana and raw dairy is all too apt. Both are governed by a patchwork of state laws, some of which can be surprisingly liberal, but nearly all of which are vague enough to leave entrepreneurs with a massive amount of uncertainty about the viability of their business. Sale or distribution of both substances across state lines is essentially forbidden and operations attempting to go legit are restricted by the boundaries of the state where their cows or cannabis grow. Federal agents have a habit of involving themselves in actions within states as well, often in an unpredictable way. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Katherine Mangu-Ward editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Katherine Mangu-Ward "Misleading and of little or no practical use to consumers" is the way that the Government Accountability Office (GAO) described the results of direct-to-consumer genetic screening tests in a report unveiled last week. To reach this damning conclusion, the GAO sent in genetic samples from five people for testing by four leading direct-to-consumer testing companies. For each donor the GAO sent two DNA samples, one sample using the person’s actual profile and one using a fictitious profile. Although the testing companies were not identified in the report, it’s pretty clear that they are 23andMe, deCodeMe, Navigenics, and Pathway Genomics. However, being a customer of two of the four companies, I was puzzled by the GAO’s claim that I had been duped. I found the information obtained from my two genetic profiles neither misleading nor useless. (There is one criticism from the GAO that is right on, however. Most genetic studies so far have been done on ethnically European populations, and the testing companies have been remiss in failing to warn customers who are not ethnically European that many results may not apply to them.) This podcast sponsored by GoToMeeting - Host more meetings for less. www.gotomeeting.com/podcast From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/a-genetic-testing-dupe.mp3 B773F79F-BFED-422E-B93D-BC2EDC16DCED Wed, 28 Jul 2010 11:33:55 -0400 "Misleading and of little or no practical use to consumers" is the way that the Government Accountability Office (GAO) described the results of direct-to-consumer genetic screening tests in a report unveiled last week. "Misleading and of little or no practical use to consumers" is the way that the Government Accountability Office (GAO) described the results of direct-to-consumer genetic screening tests in a report unveiled last week. To reach this damning conclusion, the GAO sent in genetic samples from five people for testing by four leading direct-to-consumer testing companies. For each donor the GAO sent two DNA samples, one sample using the person’s actual profile and one using a fictitious profile. Although the testing companies were not identified in the report, it’s pretty clear that they are 23andMe, deCodeMe, Navigenics, and Pathway Genomics. However, being a customer of two of the four companies, I was puzzled by the GAO’s claim that I had been duped. I found the information obtained from my two genetic profiles neither misleading nor useless. (There is one criticism from the GAO that is right on, however. Most genetic studies so far have been done on ethnically European populations, and the testing companies have been remiss in failing to warn customers who are not ethnically European that many results may not apply to them.) From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Ronald Bailey editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Ronald Bailey President John F. Kennedy called Washington, D.C., a city "of Northern charm and Southern efficiency." This city—the one I reluctantly call home—is indeed inefficient and charmless: The reason for the former should be obvious, though the latter can be blamed on those oleaginous hordes of pompous and self-important politicians, bloggers, and journalists that make D.C. “Hollywood for ugly people.” (Yes, I am one of these types, but, in my defense, I have a perfectly reasonable understanding of my low-level of influence and importance, and I don't harbor an earnest desire to change the world or score victories for “my side.” I’ll let the reader decide how physically repulsive I am.) If you haven’t noticed the recent “news,” you blissfully missed another week of Beltway navel-gazing, of self-referential media stories, holier-than-thou sermonizing about journalistic ethics, and the usual bipartisan accusations of race-baiting. We have all heard the deeply serious denounce our loathsome celebrity-obsessed media culture, with all of its reporting on Britney, Mel, and Lindsey. Scoff, eye-roll, harrumph—queue the dissident MSNBC anchoring tearing up a Paris Hilton news story on camera, the Solzhenitsyn of the cable news age. This podcast sponsored by GoToMeeting - Host more meetings for less. www.gotomeeting.com/podcast From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/hollywood-babylon-for-ugly-peo.mp3 314B14CD-25E3-48D2-97A7-0325526606CE Mon, 26 Jul 2010 13:51:26 -0400 President John F. Kennedy called Washington, D.C., a city "of Northern charm and Southern efficiency." President John F. Kennedy called Washington, D.C., a city "of Northern charm and Southern efficiency." This city—the one I reluctantly call home—is indeed inefficient and charmless: The reason for the former should be obvious, though the latter can be blamed on those oleaginous hordes of pompous and self-important politicians, bloggers, and journalists that make D.C. “Hollywood for ugly people.” (Yes, I am one of these types, but, in my defense, I have a perfectly reasonable understanding of my low-level of influence and importance, and I don't harbor an earnest desire to change the world or score victories for “my side.” I’ll let the reader decide how physically repulsive I am.) If you haven’t noticed the recent “news,” you blissfully missed another week of Beltway navel-gazing, of self-referential media stories, holier-than-thou sermonizing about journalistic ethics, and the usual bipartisan accusations of race-baiting. We have all heard the deeply serious denounce our loathsome celebrity-obsessed media culture, with all of its reporting on Britney, Mel, and Lindsey. Scoff, eye-roll, harrumph—queue the dissident MSNBC anchoring tearing up a Paris Hilton news story on camera, the Solzhenitsyn of the cable news age. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Michael Moynihan editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Michael Moynihan In 1995, in an effort to parody the way the American Psychiatric Association’s hugely influential Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders medicalizes every excessive behavior, psychiatrist Ivan Goldberg introduced on his website the concept of “Internet Addiction Disorder.” Last summer Ben Alexander, a 19-year-old college student obsessed with the online multiplayer game World of Warcraft, was profiled by CBS News, NPR, the Associated Press, and countless other media outlets because of his status as client No. 1 at reSTART, the first residential treatment center in America for individuals trying to get themselves clean from Azeroth, iPhones, and all the other digital narcotics of our age. At reSTART’s five-acre haven in the woods near Seattle, clients pay big bucks to detox from pathological computer use by building chicken coops, cooking hamburgers, and engaging in daily therapy sessions with the program’s two founders, psychologist Hilarie Cash and clinical social worker and life coach Cosette Rae. With room for just six addicts at a time and a $14,500 program fee, reSTART isn’t designed for the masses, and so far it seems to have attracted more reporters than paying clients. When I spoke with Rae in May, she said “10 to 15” people had participated in the 45-day program to date. This podcast sponsored by GoToMeeting - Host more meetings for less. www.gotomeeting.com/podcast From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/internet-addiction.mp3 419CA0F7-10CF-4920-BC89-60176C35468B Mon, 26 Jul 2010 13:50:18 -0400 In 1995, in an effort to parody the way the American Psychiatric Association’s hugely influential Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders In 1995, in an effort to parody the way the American Psychiatric Association’s hugely influential Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders medicalizes every excessive behavior, psychiatrist Ivan Goldberg introduced on his website the concept of “Internet Addiction Disorder.” Last summer Ben Alexander, a 19-year-old college student obsessed with the online multiplayer game World of Warcraft, was profiled by CBS News, NPR, the Associated Press, and countless other media outlets because of his status as client No. 1 at reSTART, the first residential treatment center in America for individuals trying to get themselves clean from Azeroth, iPhones, and all the other digital narcotics of our age. At reSTART’s five-acre haven in the woods near Seattle, clients pay big bucks to detox from pathological computer use by building chicken coops, cooking hamburgers, and engaging in daily therapy sessions with the program’s two founders, psychologist Hilarie Cash and clinical social worker and life coach Cosette Rae. With room for just six addicts at a time and a $14,500 program fee, reSTART isn’t designed for the masses, and so far it seems to have attracted more reporters than paying clients. When I spoke with Rae in May, she said “10 to 15” people had participated in the 45-day program to date. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Greg Beato editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Greg Beato Reason’s August-September cover story explored different answers to the question “Where Do Libertarians Belong?” The answers, and a rich and interesting online debate they sparked, are, at the very least, interesting to those of us for whom skylarking about libertarian movement orientation and strategy is an entertaining consumption good. The Cato Institute’s Brink Lindsey argued that a decisive and public split from the right is necessary for libertarians (without any longer calling for a full-blooded alliance with contemporary liberalism either); National Review’s Jonah Goldberg countered that the right is the only significant political movement that agrees with libertarians full-heartedly about important economic liberty issues; and FreedomWorks’ Matt Kibbe cheered the same Tea Party movement Lindsey decried, arguing that it encourages Hayekian and small-government constitutionalists whom libertarians ignore or mock to their detriment. This podcast sponsored by GoToMeeting - Host more meetings for less. www.gotomeeting.com/podcast From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/where-do-libertarians-belong-p.mp3 DA35BB73-A4D5-4D87-B15F-5469BFB3B8B6 Thu, 22 Jul 2010 12:50:17 -0400 Reason’s August-September cover story explored different answers to the question “Where Do Libertarians Belong?” The answers, Reason’s August-September cover story explored different answers to the question “Where Do Libertarians Belong?” The answers, and a rich and interesting online debate they sparked, are, at the very least, interesting to those of us for whom skylarking about libertarian movement orientation and strategy is an entertaining consumption good. The Cato Institute’s Brink Lindsey argued that a decisive and public split from the right is necessary for libertarians (without any longer calling for a full-blooded alliance with contemporary liberalism either); National Review’s Jonah Goldberg countered that the right is the only significant political movement that agrees with libertarians full-heartedly about important economic liberty issues; and FreedomWorks’ Matt Kibbe cheered the same Tea Party movement Lindsey decried, arguing that it encourages Hayekian and small-government constitutionalists whom libertarians ignore or mock to their detriment. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Brian Doherty editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Brian Doherty The Gulf oil gusher may be capped (for now), but “many of the world's greatest environmental catastrophes continue, with no end in sight,” according to Foreign Policy magazine. Foreign Policy lists five such catastrophes: Nigerian oil spills, Chinese coal seam fires, Haitian deforestation, desiccation of the Aral Sea, and the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. While Foreign Policy identifies five true catastrophes, it fails to grapple with the main problem behind what is causing them. So what does the Gulf oil catastrophe have in common with the five ongoing disasters? The first question you should ask whenever you see someone behaving badly with respect to the stewardship of the natural environment is: What is the government doing that encourages people to act that way? It may turn out that government policies are not at fault, but history shows that it is usually a good place to start. This podcast sponsored by GoToMeeting - Host more meetings for less. www.gotomeeting.com/podcast From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/got-environmental-problems-thi.mp3 F30F2319-B565-4C03-87E2-F1AFB100A9B8 Wed, 21 Jul 2010 12:31:04 -0400 The Gulf oil gusher may be capped (for now), but “many of the world's greatest environmental catastrophes continue, The Gulf oil gusher may be capped (for now), but “many of the world's greatest environmental catastrophes continue, with no end in sight,” according to Foreign Policy magazine. Foreign Policy lists five such catastrophes: Nigerian oil spills, Chinese coal seam fires, Haitian deforestation, desiccation of the Aral Sea, and the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. While Foreign Policy identifies five true catastrophes, it fails to grapple with the main problem behind what is causing them. So what does the Gulf oil catastrophe have in common with the five ongoing disasters? The first question you should ask whenever you see someone behaving badly with respect to the stewardship of the natural environment is: What is the government doing that encourages people to act that way? It may turn out that government policies are not at fault, but history shows that it is usually a good place to start. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Ronald Bailey editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Ronald Bailey If government-run health care is such a bad thing—at once too expensive, too impersonal, and too ineffective—shouldn’t those who oppose it want to see the government’s major health care payment systems run by someone who has single-mindedly devoted himself to cutting costs, focusing on patients, and increasing health outcomes? Dr. Donald Berwick, President Obama’s appointee to run the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), is, judging by his record, just such an individual. And yet his appointment generated enough early opposition, mainly from those who favor a limited role for the government in health care, that the White House took the controversial step of nominating him during a congressional recess. That means Berwick gets to serve for a year without the Senate’s vote of approval—and, perhaps more importantly, without a public hearing. Yes, there are legitimate reasons to be concerned about Berwick’s appointment and the signals sent by the White House’s decision to avoid public debate. But within the bounds of political possibility, there are also reasons to think that he might be just the man for the job. This podcast sponsored by GoToMeeting - Host more meetings for less. www.gotomeeting.com/podcast From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/rationing-debate.mp3 9A3EDC65-7036-43B1-8A82-3ADC2DD62B29 Fri, 16 Jul 2010 10:53:54 -0400 If government-run health care is such a bad thing—at once too expensive, too impersonal, If government-run health care is such a bad thing—at once too expensive, too impersonal, and too ineffective—shouldn’t those who oppose it want to see the government’s major health care payment systems run by someone who has single-mindedly devoted himself to cutting costs, focusing on patients, and increasing health outcomes? Dr. Donald Berwick, President Obama’s appointee to run the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), is, judging by his record, just such an individual. And yet his appointment generated enough early opposition, mainly from those who favor a limited role for the government in health care, that the White House took the controversial step of nominating him during a congressional recess. That means Berwick gets to serve for a year without the Senate’s vote of approval—and, perhaps more importantly, without a public hearing. Yes, there are legitimate reasons to be concerned about Berwick’s appointment and the signals sent by the White House’s decision to avoid public debate. But within the bounds of political possibility, there are also reasons to think that he might be just the man for the job. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Peter Suderman editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Peter Suderman When times are hard financially, families frequently let their credit card balance expand. But they also slash expenses to meet their new financial situation. They stop going out for dinner, for instance, or take their vacation locally instead of abroad. They might even downsize their house. When economies fall into recession, governments too tend to let their “credit card balances” expand: Their budget deficits explode. Slashing spending, though, is regarded as a step too far. The U.S. government is not the exception that proves the rule. During the economic crisis of the past 18 months, Washington has increased its deficit fast and hard. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the deficit grew from 1.2 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2007 to 10 percent in 2010—roughly $1.4 trillion. Meanwhile, the consensus on both the right and the left seems to be that cutting spending is simply impossible. This podcast sponsored by GoToMeeting - Host more meetings for less. www.gotomeeting.com/podcast From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/spending-can-be-cut.mp3 7366F72F-2EA9-4574-A20C-F187F3C9ED25 Thu, 15 Jul 2010 12:25:37 -0400 When times are hard financially, families frequently let their credit card balance expand. When times are hard financially, families frequently let their credit card balance expand. But they also slash expenses to meet their new financial situation. They stop going out for dinner, for instance, or take their vacation locally instead of abroad. They might even downsize their house. When economies fall into recession, governments too tend to let their “credit card balances” expand: Their budget deficits explode. Slashing spending, though, is regarded as a step too far. The U.S. government is not the exception that proves the rule. During the economic crisis of the past 18 months, Washington has increased its deficit fast and hard. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the deficit grew from 1.2 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2007 to 10 percent in 2010—roughly $1.4 trillion. Meanwhile, the consensus on both the right and the left seems to be that cutting spending is simply impossible. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Veronique de Rugy editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Veronique de Rugy Carbon rationing is dead on Capitol Hill. The Democratic leadership in the Senate has concluded that they cannot round up enough votes to pass a cap-and-trade carbon rationing bill that aims to cut the emissions of greenhouse gases. But in the face of the catastrophic Gulf oil spill, congressional leaders feel that they must be seen as doing something about energy. And if that something provides members of Congress an opportunity to hand out federal pork to their friends, that’s a bonus. So Democrats and some Republicans are pushing legislation that will reward favored industries, chiefly wind and solar power, by forcing consumers to buy the electricity that they produce. How? By requiring that retail electricity distributors purchase 15 to 20 percent of their electricity from wind and solar power producers by 2020. This so-called national renewable energy standard, or clean energy standard, is being carved out of energy legislation such as the American Clean Energy Leadership Act This podcast sponsored by Resume Rabbit - save hours in your job search by going to http://podcast.resumerabbit.com/reason From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/forcing-consumers-to-buy-renew.mp3 6BBCB879-E10B-45B6-87EC-470220175F23 Wed, 14 Jul 2010 11:13:05 -0400 Carbon rationing is dead on Capitol Hill. Carbon rationing is dead on Capitol Hill. The Democratic leadership in the Senate has concluded that they cannot round up enough votes to pass a cap-and-trade carbon rationing bill that aims to cut the emissions of greenhouse gases. But in the face of the catastrophic Gulf oil spill, congressional leaders feel that they must be seen as doing something about energy. And if that something provides members of Congress an opportunity to hand out federal pork to their friends, that’s a bonus. So Democrats and some Republicans are pushing legislation that will reward favored industries, chiefly wind and solar power, by forcing consumers to buy the electricity that they produce. How? By requiring that retail electricity distributors purchase 15 to 20 percent of their electricity from wind and solar power producers by 2020. This so-called national renewable energy standard, or clean energy standard, is being carved out of energy legislation such as the American Clean Energy Leadership Act From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Ronald Bailey editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Ronald Bailey If you were looking to take some easy shots at government waste and abuse, you’d have a hard time topping California State Auditor Elaine M. Howle’s recent assessment of the Golden State’s 14-year-old high-speed rail project. The California High Speed Rail Authority, she writes in a 47-page report issued at the end of April, “paid at least $4 million of invoices for which it had no evidence…that the contractors had performed the work invoiced” and “does not generally ensure that invoices reflect work performed by contractors.” The Authority’s free-spending ways become even more clear in a spot-check by the auditor: “Of 22 regional contractor invoices we reviewed, the Authority paid 20, totaling $6.9 million, without documenting that the Program Manager had performed a required review.…It spent $46,000 on furniture for its Program Manager’s use based on an oral agreement.” The Authority’s plans also “lacked detail” about ridership projections for the train, about where its funds will come from, about whether state, local, or federal agencies or private partners will be paying for the project, and about how the Authority would manage risk. This podcast sponsored by Resume Rabbit - save hours in your job search by going to http://podcast.resumerabbit.com/reason From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/mystery-train.mp3 C14430B4-57EF-4C6D-A8A2-541887E9DE7D Tue, 13 Jul 2010 10:11:36 -0400 If you were looking to take some easy shots at government waste and abuse, you’d have a hard time topping California State Auditor Elaine M. Howle’s recent assessment of the Golden State’s 14-year-old high-speed rail project. If you were looking to take some easy shots at government waste and abuse, you’d have a hard time topping California State Auditor Elaine M. Howle’s recent assessment of the Golden State’s 14-year-old high-speed rail project. The California High Speed Rail Authority, she writes in a 47-page report issued at the end of April, “paid at least $4 million of invoices for which it had no evidence…that the contractors had performed the work invoiced” and “does not generally ensure that invoices reflect work performed by contractors.” The Authority’s free-spending ways become even more clear in a spot-check by the auditor: “Of 22 regional contractor invoices we reviewed, the Authority paid 20, totaling $6.9 million, without documenting that the Program Manager had performed a required review.…It spent $46,000 on furniture for its Program Manager’s use based on an oral agreement.” The Authority’s plans also “lacked detail” about ridership projections for the train, about where its funds will come from, about whether state, local, or federal agencies or private partners will be paying for the project, and about how the Authority would manage risk. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Tim Cavanaugh editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Tim Cavanaugh Early in the morning of January 1, 2009, in a now infamous incident captured on video by dozens of cell phones and replayed across the globe, Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) Officer Johannes Mehserle shot and killed 23-year-old Oscar Grant as Grant lay on his stomach on an Oakland BART platform. Last week, a Los Angeles jury found Mehserle guilty of involuntary manslaughter. Because the jury had the option to convict Mehserle of second-degree murder, and perhaps because the jury contained no blacks (Mehserle is white, Grant was black), the verdict has enraged civil rights groups and sparked protests and rioting in Oakland. The Department of Justice is now looking into the possibility of trying Mehserle a second time under federal civil rights law. This podcast sponsored by Resume Rabbit - save hours in your job search by going to http://podcast.resumerabbit.com/reason From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/justice-for-johannes-mehserle.mp3 7E4DA420-A5C4-427B-9345-AAC8227FA82C Tue, 13 Jul 2010 10:10:23 -0400 Early in the morning of January 1, 2009, in a now infamous incident captured on video by dozens of cell phones and replayed across the globe, Early in the morning of January 1, 2009, in a now infamous incident captured on video by dozens of cell phones and replayed across the globe, Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) Officer Johannes Mehserle shot and killed 23-year-old Oscar Grant as Grant lay on his stomach on an Oakland BART platform. Last week, a Los Angeles jury found Mehserle guilty of involuntary manslaughter. Because the jury had the option to convict Mehserle of second-degree murder, and perhaps because the jury contained no blacks (Mehserle is white, Grant was black), the verdict has enraged civil rights groups and sparked protests and rioting in Oakland. The Department of Justice is now looking into the possibility of trying Mehserle a second time under federal civil rights law. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Radley Balko editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Radley Balko Incompetence has turned the Gulf oil tragedy into “Obama’s Katrina.” As more and more startling facts emerge we are finding almost criminal ineptness by Washington compounded by BP’s almost criminal negligence. As with many crises, Washington’s reactions cause greater damage than the event itself. Yet lurking in the mess are the extreme environmentalists staffing the Obama Administration with their declared agenda of shutting down all offshore oil drilling. The Sierra Club has bragged about how it helped shut down all new coal generating electricity plants. Other environmentalists are still happy that the Three Mile Island crisis succeeded in ending all new nuclear-generating power plants. Preventing new offshore oil drilling in Alaska is another of their primary objectives. This podcast sponsored by Resume Rabbit - save hours in your job search by going to http://podcast.resumerabbit.com/reason From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/the-governments-catastrophic-r.mp3 C336F3B3-2AAA-41FA-85B2-2B69D55F84BD Fri, 9 Jul 2010 11:00:26 -0400 Incompetence has turned the Gulf oil tragedy into “Obama’s Katrina.” Incompetence has turned the Gulf oil tragedy into “Obama’s Katrina.” As more and more startling facts emerge we are finding almost criminal ineptness by Washington compounded by BP’s almost criminal negligence. As with many crises, Washington’s reactions cause greater damage than the event itself. Yet lurking in the mess are the extreme environmentalists staffing the Obama Administration with their declared agenda of shutting down all offshore oil drilling. The Sierra Club has bragged about how it helped shut down all new coal generating electricity plants. Other environmentalists are still happy that the Three Mile Island crisis succeeded in ending all new nuclear-generating power plants. Preventing new offshore oil drilling in Alaska is another of their primary objectives. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Jon Basil Utley editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Jon Basil Utley Our grandchildren won’t believe our stories about the 1990s. Yes, there really was a time before the World Wide Web and ubiquitous portable communication devices in sub-Saharan Africa. Yes, you really could travel to some foreign countries without a passport, without a return ticket, without a credit card, and without entering multiple government databases. Yes, the Pittsburgh Pirates really did once play winning baseball. But as the Bush-Obama era of bailout economics and Keynesian rehabilitation settles into something like cruising speed, perhaps the most fantastic fact to swallow will be that once upon a time the United States had a president who restrained government spending, balanced the budget, argued forcefully for the benefits of free trade, and declared that “the era of big government is over.” And he was a Democrat. This podcast sponsored by Resume Rabbit - save hours in your job search by going to http://podcast.resumerabbit.com/reason From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/the-death-of-neoliberalism.mp3 3551A35F-4F0D-411B-AB99-ED006DA8469A Wed, 7 Jul 2010 09:55:13 -0400 Our grandchildren won’t believe our stories about the 1990s. Our grandchildren won’t believe our stories about the 1990s. Yes, there really was a time before the World Wide Web and ubiquitous portable communication devices in sub-Saharan Africa. Yes, you really could travel to some foreign countries without a passport, without a return ticket, without a credit card, and without entering multiple government databases. Yes, the Pittsburgh Pirates really did once play winning baseball. But as the Bush-Obama era of bailout economics and Keynesian rehabilitation settles into something like cruising speed, perhaps the most fantastic fact to swallow will be that once upon a time the United States had a president who restrained government spending, balanced the budget, argued forcefully for the benefits of free trade, and declared that “the era of big government is over.” And he was a Democrat. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Matt Welch editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Matt Welch The word "sustainability" has appeared more than 3,000 times in major world publications over the last three months, according to the news search engine Nexis. But does anyone know what it really means? Two Michigan Technological University researchers, ecologist John Vucetich and ethicist Michael Nelson try to answer that question in their new paper, “Sustainability: Vulgar or Virtuous?,” in the current issue of the journal BioScience. “Too many environmental scientists think sustainability is primarily about documenting and protecting ecosystem health," they argue, "whereas too many engineers think sustainability is primarily about more efficiently meeting human needs." This podcast sponsored by Resume Rabbit - save hours in your job search by going to http://podcast.resumerabbit.com/reason From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/sustainability-semantics.mp3 E72D6577-ABA2-45FB-A041-962747A463A4 Wed, 7 Jul 2010 09:54:04 -0400 The word "sustainability" has appeared more than 3,000 times in major world publications over the last three months, The word "sustainability" has appeared more than 3,000 times in major world publications over the last three months, according to the news search engine Nexis. But does anyone know what it really means? Two Michigan Technological University researchers, ecologist John Vucetich and ethicist Michael Nelson try to answer that question in their new paper, “Sustainability: Vulgar or Virtuous?,” in the current issue of the journal BioScience. “Too many environmental scientists think sustainability is primarily about documenting and protecting ecosystem health," they argue, "whereas too many engineers think sustainability is primarily about more efficiently meeting human needs." From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Ronald Bailey editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Ronald Bailey The Supreme Court’s decision in McDonald v. Chicago came in this week, with Justice Samuel Alito writing for a plurality that the Second Amendment right to own guns applies to all levels of government—in the legal lingo, that the right is “incorporated” against the states via the 14th Amendment. Justice Clarence Thomas also elected to reverse the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals' decision that the Chicago and Oak Park, Illinois, laws that essentially banned handgun use in the home couldn’t be challenged on Second Amendment grounds. But he did so in a more radical way. Indeed, Thomas's concurrence was radical in both senses of the word. It struck to the root of the original meaning of the 14th Amendment, by declaring that its Privileges or Immunities Clause was the proper means to apply weapon possession rights to the states, rather than the less textually or originalist-appropriate Due Process Clause that the Alito opinion relied on. This podcast sponsored by Resume Rabbit - save hours in your job search by going to http://podcast.resumerabbit.com/reason From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/aftermath-mcdonald-v-chicago.mp3 BD576749-3813-40FD-81A9-280F19A87B54 Fri, 2 Jul 2010 10:34:10 -0400 What's next for gun rights? The Supreme Court’s decision in McDonald v. Chicago came in this week, with Justice Samuel Alito writing for a plurality that the Second Amendment right to own guns applies to all levels of government—in the legal lingo, that the right is “incorporated” against the states via the 14th Amendment. Justice Clarence Thomas also elected to reverse the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals' decision that the Chicago and Oak Park, Illinois, laws that essentially banned handgun use in the home couldn’t be challenged on Second Amendment grounds. But he did so in a more radical way. Indeed, Thomas's concurrence was radical in both senses of the word. It struck to the root of the original meaning of the 14th Amendment, by declaring that its Privileges or Immunities Clause was the proper means to apply weapon possession rights to the states, rather than the less textually or originalist-appropriate Due Process Clause that the Alito opinion relied on. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Brian Doherty editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Ronald Bailey The shameless mendacity and cynicism of a “documentary” that unequivocally praises Hugo Chávez’ revolution while refusing to show even the slightest compassion for, or even awareness of, his victims—some of whom are former Chavistas—represents a new low in "left-wing" polemic. Oliver Stone’s new film South of the Border isn't a documentary in any honest sense of the word; it documents little save the uncurious director’s bloated sense of self-satisfaction. Even those who, like Stone, believe Chávez’s revolución Bolivariana represents the best chance Venezuela’s poor have to satiate their material needs, will, if they are honest with themselves, recognize the film as the puerile exercise in authoritarian hagiography that it is. Stone, who narrates the story, mentions the concept of human rights only once and only to disparage it as imperialist boilerplate, similar to Bush’s talk of “freedom” (i.e., a concern for human rights is neocon propaganda, so don’t even think about bringing it up in a discussion about Chávez). Not a single Venezuelan opposition figure or political prisoner is depicted or even named.. This podcast sponsored by Resume Rabbit - save hours in your job search by going to http://podcast.resumerabbit.com/reason From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/a-propagandist-for-oppression.mp3 674005EA-7261-4D6D-BC2A-4A30151F6855 Fri, 2 Jul 2010 10:32:45 -0400 The shameless mendacity and cynicism of a “documentary” that unequivocally praises Hugo Chávez’ revolution while refusing to show even the slightest compassion for, or even awareness of, his victims... The shameless mendacity and cynicism of a “documentary” that unequivocally praises Hugo Chávez’ revolution while refusing to show even the slightest compassion for, or even awareness of, his victims—some of whom are former Chavistas—represents a new low in "left-wing" polemic. Oliver Stone’s new film South of the Border isn't a documentary in any honest sense of the word; it documents little save the uncurious director’s bloated sense of self-satisfaction. Even those who, like Stone, believe Chávez’s revolución Bolivariana represents the best chance Venezuela’s poor have to satiate their material needs, will, if they are honest with themselves, recognize the film as the puerile exercise in authoritarian hagiography that it is. Stone, who narrates the story, mentions the concept of human rights only once and only to disparage it as imperialist boilerplate, similar to Bush’s talk of “freedom” (i.e., a concern for human rights is neocon propaganda, so don’t even think about bringing it up in a discussion about Chávez). Not a single Venezuelan opposition figure or political prisoner is depicted or even named. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Antonio Rumbos editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Ronald Bailey When Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a law mandating a dramatic reduction in greenhouse gases, California’s economy was in a very different place. It was 2006. Unemployment was 4.5 percent. Thanks to inflated home values, residents felt rich. Today 12.5 percent of Californians are out of work, the government is in a budgetary meltdown, and a movement is brewing to stop those carbon cuts from kicking in. The Global Warming Solutions Act, a.k.a. AB 32, seeks to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through a mix of policies, including a cap-and-trade carbon market, fuel efficiency standards for appliances and buildings, a requirement that 33 percent of the state’s energy be produced from renewable sources, a low-carbon fuel standard for vehicles, and zoning changes to discourage automobile travel. This podcast sponsored by Resume Rabbit - save hours in your job search by going to http://podcast.resumerabbit.com/reason From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/red-ink-and-green-jobs.mp3 E978410E-5566-48F0-AEF6-422346E5817A Thu, 1 Jul 2010 09:55:52 -0400 When Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a law mandating a dramatic reduction in greenhouse gases, California’s economy was in a very different place. When Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a law mandating a dramatic reduction in greenhouse gases, California’s economy was in a very different place. It was 2006. Unemployment was 4.5 percent. Thanks to inflated home values, residents felt rich. Today 12.5 percent of Californians are out of work, the government is in a budgetary meltdown, and a movement is brewing to stop those carbon cuts from kicking in. The Global Warming Solutions Act, a.k.a. AB 32, seeks to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through a mix of policies, including a cap-and-trade carbon market, fuel efficiency standards for appliances and buildings, a requirement that 33 percent of the state’s energy be produced from renewable sources, a low-carbon fuel standard for vehicles, and zoning changes to discourage automobile travel. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Ronald Bailey editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Ronald Bailey In Washington, temporary funding is rarely temporary, and planned spending cuts, especially to health care, frequently fail to materialize. That means that on the rare occasions in which federal funding actually runs out—or looks ready to run out—calamity is sure to ensue. The 2009 stimulus package, for example, included an additional $87 billion for Medicaid, intended to fund the short-term expansion of the program above and beyond its usual enrollment. The funding was set to run out at the end of 2010. But along the way, states got used to the boost. By May of this year, the National Conference of State Legislatures was pleading with the federal government not to shut off the funding faucet. This podcast sponsored by Resume Rabbit - save hours in your job search by going to http://podcast.resumerabbit.com/reason From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/temporary-funding-forever.mp3 FDE7B452-62A9-46C9-8099-E9EA757DEB10 Thu, 1 Jul 2010 09:53:28 -0400 In Washington, temporary funding is rarely temporary, and planned spending cuts, especially to health care, frequently fail to materialize. In Washington, temporary funding is rarely temporary, and planned spending cuts, especially to health care, frequently fail to materialize. That means that on the rare occasions in which federal funding actually runs out—or looks ready to run out—calamity is sure to ensue. The 2009 stimulus package, for example, included an additional $87 billion for Medicaid, intended to fund the short-term expansion of the program above and beyond its usual enrollment. The funding was set to run out at the end of 2010. But along the way, states got used to the boost. By May of this year, the National Conference of State Legislatures was pleading with the federal government not to shut off the funding faucet. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Peter Suderman editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Ronald Bailey Last week, the prestigious journal, the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, published an article that tried to assess the relative credibility of climate scientists who “support the tenets of anthropogenic climate change” versus those who do not. One goal of the study is to “provide an independent assessment of level of scientific consensus concerning anthropogenic climate change.” The researchers found that 97–98 percent of the climate researchers most actively publishing in the field are convinced of man-made climate change. In addition, using publication and citation data, the study found that the few climate change dissenters are far less scientifically prominent than convinced researchers. The article concludes, “This extensive analysis of the mainstream versus skeptical/contrarian researchers suggests a strong role for considering expert credibility in the relative weight of and attention to these groups of researchers in future discussions in media, policy, and public forums regarding anthropogenic climate change.” Translation: reporters, politicians, and citizens should stop listening to climate change skeptics. This podcast sponsored by Resume Rabbit - save hours in your job search by going to http://podcast.resumerabbit.com/reason From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/agreeing-to-agree.mp3 A196F947-2C7F-4E12-8A90-7516FE59D90B Wed, 30 Jun 2010 10:08:43 -0400 Last week, the prestigious journal, the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Last week, the prestigious journal, the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, published an article that tried to assess the relative credibility of climate scientists who “support the tenets of anthropogenic climate change” versus those who do not. One goal of the study is to “provide an independent assessment of level of scientific consensus concerning anthropogenic climate change.” The researchers found that 97–98 percent of the climate researchers most actively publishing in the field are convinced of man-made climate change. In addition, using publication and citation data, the study found that the few climate change dissenters are far less scientifically prominent than convinced researchers. The article concludes, “This extensive analysis of the mainstream versus skeptical/contrarian researchers suggests a strong role for considering expert credibility in the relative weight of and attention to these groups of researchers in future discussions in media, policy, and public forums regarding anthropogenic climate change.” Translation: reporters, politicians, and citizens should stop listening to climate change skeptics. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Ronald Bailey editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Ronald Bailey As solicitor general of the United States, Elena Kagan argued in front of the Supreme Court that the federal government had the constitutional authority to ban certain political pamphlets. She also strongly implied that some political books, if they were partisan enough, could also be censored. Kagan’s extraordinary claims emerged during the second oral argument of Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, the campaign finance case made famous by President Barack Obama when he publicly excoriated the justices for their ruling during his State of the Union address. The president alleged that Citizens United would allow corporations to subvert the political process with their economic power. In fact, the case concerns the fundamental political liberties of all citizens. The true stakes were dramatically revealed in the two rounds of oral argument heard by the Court. This podcast sponsored by Resume Rabbit - save hours in your job search by going to http://podcast.resumerabbit.com/reason From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/will-elena-kagan-allow-books.mp3 32A21349-160A-47B7-A245-686F255B71B0 Wed, 30 Jun 2010 09:50:15 -0400 As solicitor general of the United States, Elena Kagan argued in front of the Supreme Court that the federal government had the constitutional authority to ban certain political pamphlets. As solicitor general of the United States, Elena Kagan argued in front of the Supreme Court that the federal government had the constitutional authority to ban certain political pamphlets. She also strongly implied that some political books, if they were partisan enough, could also be censored. Kagan’s extraordinary claims emerged during the second oral argument of Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, the campaign finance case made famous by President Barack Obama when he publicly excoriated the justices for their ruling during his State of the Union address. The president alleged that Citizens United would allow corporations to subvert the political process with their economic power. In fact, the case concerns the fundamental political liberties of all citizens. The true stakes were dramatically revealed in the two rounds of oral argument heard by the Court. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Daniel Shuchman editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Daniel Shuchman My task this week is to write a column on how criminal justice issues are likely to play out at the Elena Kagan confirmation hearings, and how her expected confirmation will tilt the balance between the rights of the accused and the government's power to police. The answer to the first question is easy: As with the Sonia Sotomayor hearings, it's unlikely that criminal justice issues will get much attention at all. There's little difference between the Democrats and Republicans on these issues, which means there aren't any political points to be won by grandstanding. That's bad enough. But the answer to the second question is more disturbing still. The confirmation process has morphed into political theater designed to keep us as much in the dark about prospective Supreme Court nominees as possible. And according to Beltway conventional wisdom, that's exactly the way it ought to be. This podcast sponsored by Resume Rabbit - save hours in your job search by going to http://podcast.resumerabbit.com/reason From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/confirmation-theater.mp3 CA94FE10-F5C7-4B0C-BC88-C19F9735AC47 Tue, 29 Jun 2010 10:06:09 -0400 My task this week is to write a column on how criminal justice issues are likely to play out at the Elena Kagan confirmation hearings, My task this week is to write a column on how criminal justice issues are likely to play out at the Elena Kagan confirmation hearings, and how her expected confirmation will tilt the balance between the rights of the accused and the government's power to police. The answer to the first question is easy: As with the Sonia Sotomayor hearings, it's unlikely that criminal justice issues will get much attention at all. There's little difference between the Democrats and Republicans on these issues, which means there aren't any political points to be won by grandstanding. That's bad enough. But the answer to the second question is more disturbing still. The confirmation process has morphed into political theater designed to keep us as much in the dark about prospective Supreme Court nominees as possible. And according to Beltway conventional wisdom, that's exactly the way it ought to be. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Radley Balko editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Radley Balko Newspaper. Personally, I never touch the stuff. But rumor has it there is a certain amount of distress about the impending doom of the news-on-dead-tree industry. Here at Reason, our “News You Can Use” stories tend toward subjects like what to use as a bong when the Feds close down your neighborhood head shop, but yesterday I put our crack team of summer interns, Jesse Kline and Robby Soave, on the case of what to do after the last print run of the last newspaper ends. Our goal was twofold: 1) selfless public service journalism, and 2) selfish desire to ease the glide into a marvelous digital future. This podcast sponsored by Resume Rabbit - save hours in your job search by going to http://podcast.resumerabbit.com/reason From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/if-you-love-newspapers-let-the.mp3 576B3252-53C9-43A1-AC1F-B080CB410BCF Fri, 25 Jun 2010 10:35:35 -0400 Newspaper. Personally, I never touch the stuff. Newspaper. Personally, I never touch the stuff. But rumor has it there is a certain amount of distress about the impending doom of the news-on-dead-tree industry. Here at Reason, our “News You Can Use” stories tend toward subjects like what to use as a bong when the Feds close down your neighborhood head shop, but yesterday I put our crack team of summer interns, Jesse Kline and Robby Soave, on the case of what to do after the last print run of the last newspaper ends. Our goal was twofold: 1) selfless public service journalism, and 2) selfish desire to ease the glide into a marvelous digital future. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Katherine Mangu-Ward editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Katherine Mangu-Ward By the time British Petroleum completed its 1998 acronymization to BP, the company had probably spent millions in "brand consultant" fees. It’s an important point, this, because the rebranding was meant to signal that BP is no longer a mere British entity and no longer a mere oil company. And if one believes the heavy-breathing British press (and one should always be circumspect when reading both the red tops and the "quality" dailies), Obama administration officials, cable news talking heads, and members of the Republican opposition are ignoring the acronym in favor of its geographically specific root, in a blatant effort to stoke Anglophobia. This podcast sponsored by Resume Rabbit - save hours in your job search by going to http://podcast.resumerabbit.com/reason From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/is-obama-an-anglophobe.mp3 F5364559-5891-4FE1-9A57-8DFEFC5C26AE Thu, 24 Jun 2010 11:47:11 -0400 By the time British Petroleum completed its 1998 acronymization to BP, By the time British Petroleum completed its 1998 acronymization to BP, the company had probably spent millions in "brand consultant" fees. It’s an important point, this, because the rebranding was meant to signal that BP is no longer a mere British entity and no longer a mere oil company. And if one believes the heavy-breathing British press (and one should always be circumspect when reading both the red tops and the "quality" dailies), Obama administration officials, cable news talking heads, and members of the Republican opposition are ignoring the acronym in favor of its geographically specific root, in a blatant effort to stoke Anglophobia. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Michael C. Moynihan editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Michael C. Moynihan The city of Annapolis, Maryland recently received a Homeland Security grant for 20 new surveillance cameras in the downtown area. The city of Baltimore already has nearly 500. According to the watchdog site PhotoEnforced, the state of Maryland has at least 375 red light cameras and 80 speed cameras. Your government is watching you, Marylanders. But don't think for a second that it's going to tolerate you watching back. On Saturday, Yvonne Nicole Shaw, 27, was arrested by sheriff's deputies in Lexington Park, Maryland. According to the Southern Maryland News, Shaw was cuffed and booked for recording deputies who had come to an apartment complex in response to a noise complaint. Sheriff's Cpl. Patrick Handy's report explained that Shaw was standing about 12 feet from him, and that Shaw "did admit to recording our encounter on her cell phone for the purpose of trying to show the police are harassing people." This podcast sponsored by Resume Rabbit - save hours in your job search by going to http://podcast.resumerabbit.com/reason From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/another-marlyander-arrested-fo.mp3 39051D68-38BF-4B0C-B9C4-234BF38B68B9 Tue, 22 Jun 2010 10:36:47 -0400 The city of Annapolis, Maryland recently received a Homeland Security grant for 20 new surveillance cameras in the downtown area. The city of Annapolis, Maryland recently received a Homeland Security grant for 20 new surveillance cameras in the downtown area. The city of Baltimore already has nearly 500. According to the watchdog site PhotoEnforced, the state of Maryland has at least 375 red light cameras and 80 speed cameras. Your government is watching you, Marylanders. But don't think for a second that it's going to tolerate you watching back. On Saturday, Yvonne Nicole Shaw, 27, was arrested by sheriff's deputies in Lexington Park, Maryland. According to the Southern Maryland News, Shaw was cuffed and booked for recording deputies who had come to an apartment complex in response to a noise complaint. Sheriff's Cpl. Patrick Handy's report explained that Shaw was standing about 12 feet from him, and that Shaw "did admit to recording our encounter on her cell phone for the purpose of trying to show the police are harassing people." From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Radley Balko editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Radley Balko When the New York Police Department revealed last year that it had spent nearly $1 million on typewriters over the course of a year, commentators mocked the two-fingered flatfoots for wasting scarce resources on obsolete machines. “The city is plunking down nearly $1 million on typewriters for its keystroke cops,” the New York Post wrote in a story headlined “Typewrite & Wrong: NYPD ‘wastes’ $1M on relics.” Gothamist said, “It’s looking like robots could rule the subways before the NYPD ditches its last Selectric.” Even Mayor Michael Bloomberg expressed astonishment, telling reporters, “Why are they using any is the question you should ask, and where do you find them?…I didn’t think anybody made them anymore.” But maybe New York’s Finest were ahead of the curve. While business experts, futurists and most of the media are out to convince you of the game-changing power of new communication technology, one important technical feature of the 21st century has been the persistence of really old-fashioned ways. This podcast sponsored by Resume Rabbit - save hours in your job search by going to http://podcast.resumerabbit.com/reason From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/the-slow-fade-of-meatspace.mp3 00A2FCAD-D76C-4AA4-8326-B24F0B418935 Tue, 22 Jun 2010 10:35:25 -0400 When the New York Police Department revealed last year that it had spent nearly $1 million on typewriters over the course of a year, When the New York Police Department revealed last year that it had spent nearly $1 million on typewriters over the course of a year, commentators mocked the two-fingered flatfoots for wasting scarce resources on obsolete machines. “The city is plunking down nearly $1 million on typewriters for its keystroke cops,” the New York Post wrote in a story headlined “Typewrite & Wrong: NYPD ‘wastes’ $1M on relics.” Gothamist said, “It’s looking like robots could rule the subways before the NYPD ditches its last Selectric.” Even Mayor Michael Bloomberg expressed astonishment, telling reporters, “Why are they using any is the question you should ask, and where do you find them?…I didn’t think anybody made them anymore.” But maybe New York’s Finest were ahead of the curve. While business experts, futurists and most of the media are out to convince you of the game-changing power of new communication technology, one important technical feature of the 21st century has been the persistence of really old-fashioned ways. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Tim Cavanaugh editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Tim Cavanaugh The concept of subliminal advertising has long terrified America. When the 1950s adman James Vicary claimed to have boosted concession sales at a New Jersey theater by briefly flashing phrases like “drink Coca-Cola” on the screen as the main feature played, pundits and politicians worried that we were now just one double feature away from turning into brainwashed, popcorn-gobbling Stalinists. In the 1970s, the Canadian academic Wilson Bryan Key convinced millions that magazine ads for booze, cigarettes, and even Ritz Crackers featured more sexual debauchery than a busy night at Plato’s Retreat, inducing feelings of panic and shame in those who viewed them. Today, even the trashiest Ritz Cracker can’t compete with the explicit sexual imagery that pervades pop culture, so we channel our angst about advertising into new realms. Does that mommyblogger truly believe that the ivory-whitening power in some tainted Chinese toothpaste outweighs its toxicity, or is she being paid to endorse it? Did the Ford Transit Connect that Ashton Kutcher drives in Valentine’s Day get cast because it was the best compact minivan for the job, with enhanced cargo space that just lights up the screen, or because Ford struck a deal with the movie’s producers? And can watching too much NBC subtly pressure me into kicking my bottled water habit once and for all? This podcast sponsored by Resume Rabbit - save hours in your job search by going to http://podcast.resumerabbit.com/reason From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/whos-afraid-of-subliminal-adve.mp3 0FFA6A63-1BC9-460E-B84D-A116A0A71744 Tue, 22 Jun 2010 10:34:20 -0400 The concept of subliminal advertising has long terrified America. The concept of subliminal advertising has long terrified America. When the 1950s adman James Vicary claimed to have boosted concession sales at a New Jersey theater by briefly flashing phrases like “drink Coca-Cola” on the screen as the main feature played, pundits and politicians worried that we were now just one double feature away from turning into brainwashed, popcorn-gobbling Stalinists. In the 1970s, the Canadian academic Wilson Bryan Key convinced millions that magazine ads for booze, cigarettes, and even Ritz Crackers featured more sexual debauchery than a busy night at Plato’s Retreat, inducing feelings of panic and shame in those who viewed them. Today, even the trashiest Ritz Cracker can’t compete with the explicit sexual imagery that pervades pop culture, so we channel our angst about advertising into new realms. Does that mommyblogger truly believe that the ivory-whitening power in some tainted Chinese toothpaste outweighs its toxicity, or is she being paid to endorse it? Did the Ford Transit Connect that Ashton Kutcher drives in Valentine’s Day get cast because it was the best compact minivan for the job, with enhanced cargo space that just lights up the screen, or because Ford struck a deal with the movie’s producers? And can watching too much NBC subtly pressure me into kicking my bottled water habit once and for all? From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Greg Beato editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Greg Beato You won't find WikiLeaks' biggest impact in any specific story the site has exposed. You'll find it in the bracing fear of what the place might publish next. That anxiety, more than anything else, explains the arrest of Bradley Manning, the soldier who allegedly leaked that infamous video of the airstrikes that killed two Reuters employees in Baghdad. The government doesn't want to deal with a world where a disillusioned functionary can spill secrets so easily, and it's doing everything it can to bring back the days when leaking a story was far harder. For those who tuned in late: WikiLeaks is an online operation that lets whistleblowers publish damaging documents without anyone—not even the people who run the website—learning who the leaker is. Besides the Baghdad footage, its revelations have ranged from the emails that set off the climategate scandal to the Standard Operating Procedures manual from the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay. The authorities arrested Manning after he told an informant that he had sent the site the video and a trove of other damaging information, including thousands of U.S. diplomatic cables. The cables have not yet materialized, and WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange says he doesn't have them. This podcast sponsored by Resume Rabbit - save hours in your job search by going to http://podcast.resumerabbit.com/reason From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/secret-watchdogs.mp3 24A4273D-70CC-4F9D-9C47-96AA0C02DB8D Fri, 18 Jun 2010 07:36:34 -0400 You won't find WikiLeaks' biggest impact in any specific story the site has exposed. You'll find it in the bracing fear of what the place might publish next. You won't find WikiLeaks' biggest impact in any specific story the site has exposed. You'll find it in the bracing fear of what the place might publish next. That anxiety, more than anything else, explains the arrest of Bradley Manning, the soldier who allegedly leaked that infamous video of the airstrikes that killed two Reuters employees in Baghdad. The government doesn't want to deal with a world where a disillusioned functionary can spill secrets so easily, and it's doing everything it can to bring back the days when leaking a story was far harder. For those who tuned in late: WikiLeaks is an online operation that lets whistleblowers publish damaging documents without anyone—not even the people who run the website—learning who the leaker is. Besides the Baghdad footage, its revelations have ranged from the emails that set off the climategate scandal to the Standard Operating Procedures manual from the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay. The authorities arrested Manning after he told an informant that he had sent the site the video and a trove of other damaging information, including thousands of U.S. diplomatic cables. The cables have not yet materialized, and WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange says he doesn't have them. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Jesse Walker editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Jesse Walker Last December, on Christmas Eve, any Republicans in the Senate who had actually read the latest version of the healthcare reform bill they were voting on must have thanked the Democrats for one last-minute gift: A 10 percent tax on indoor tanning services. Any GOP elf charged with manufacturing ill will toward liberal overreach, President Obama, and the specter of government tanning panels would have been hard-pressed to come up with a better ploy than this half-baked sin tax. Impotent and paternalistic at the same time, it shines approximately 48 super-efficient reflector tubes of 100-watt artificial sunlight on the way the government’s increasing control over healthcare inevitably erodes individual freedom. On July 1st it goes into effect. This podcast sponsored by Resume Rabbit - save hours in your job search by going to http://podcast.resumerabbit.com/reason From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/the-vanity-tax.mp3 2798FBF8-D551-44BA-A94D-25971911DBB4 Fri, 18 Jun 2010 07:33:51 -0400 Last December, on Christmas Eve, any Republicans in the Senate who had actually read the latest version of the healthcare reform Last December, on Christmas Eve, any Republicans in the Senate who had actually read the latest version of the healthcare reform bill they were voting on must have thanked the Democrats for one last-minute gift: A 10 percent tax on indoor tanning services. Any GOP elf charged with manufacturing ill will toward liberal overreach, President Obama, and the specter of government tanning panels would have been hard-pressed to come up with a better ploy than this half-baked sin tax. Impotent and paternalistic at the same time, it shines approximately 48 super-efficient reflector tubes of 100-watt artificial sunlight on the way the government’s increasing control over healthcare inevitably erodes individual freedom. On July 1st it goes into effect. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Greg Beato editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Greg Beato Thanks to Rand Paul, the Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate from Kentucky and son of maverick libertarian Republican Ron Paul, we find ourselves in an unlikely debate about the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the legal permissibility of race discrimination in the private sector. Late last month on the Rachel Maddow MSNBC show, Paul opined that privately owned establishments should be able to decide whom to serve without government interference. A firestorm ensued. While Paul quickly clarified that he would neither advocate nor support a repeal of the Civil Rights Act clause banning discrimination by private businesses, libertarian TV journalist John Stossel fanned the flames on Fox News by not only defending Paul's initial remarks but explicitly suggesting that that portion of the law should be repealed. This podcast sponsored by Resume Rabbit - save hours in your job search by going to http://podcast.resumerabbit.com/reason From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/racism-civil-rights-and-libert.mp3 3C83B098-D3CE-4F8C-8056-6F170707585E Thu, 17 Jun 2010 22:47:04 -0400 Thanks to Rand Paul, the Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate from Kentucky and son of maverick libertarian Republican Ron Paul, Thanks to Rand Paul, the Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate from Kentucky and son of maverick libertarian Republican Ron Paul, we find ourselves in an unlikely debate about the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the legal permissibility of race discrimination in the private sector. Late last month on the Rachel Maddow MSNBC show, Paul opined that privately owned establishments should be able to decide whom to serve without government interference. A firestorm ensued. While Paul quickly clarified that he would neither advocate nor support a repeal of the Civil Rights Act clause banning discrimination by private businesses, libertarian TV journalist John Stossel fanned the flames on Fox News by not only defending Paul's initial remarks but explicitly suggesting that that portion of the law should be repealed. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Cathy Young editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Cathy Young BP has repeatedly promised to pay all “legitimate claims” for loss and damage as a result of the Gulf oil spill, now vying for the title fourth biggest oil spill in history at 2.3 million barrels of crude over the past two months. And that’s exactly as it should be. But how can the company pay off all the claims it faces? Crunching the numbers through a worst-case scenario using the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Basic Oil Spill Cost Estimation Model results in an estimate that the cleanup and payment for damages will cost about $8.7 billion; double that if the well continues to gush until August. Some other estimates suggest that the cleanup and costs for damages will ultimately add up to $40 billion. BP, the oil company that holds the drilling permit, is responsible for the disaster and has spent $1.5 billion on the cleanup. This podcast sponsored by Resume Rabbit - save hours in your job search by going to http://podcast.resumerabbit.com/reason From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/whos-liable-for-the-gulf-oil-s.mp3 F97D9CA1-31BE-4B97-903B-DD11C0210ED1 Wed, 16 Jun 2010 15:58:27 -0400 BP has repeatedly promised to pay all “legitimate claims” for loss and damage as a result of the Gulf oil spill, BP has repeatedly promised to pay all “legitimate claims” for loss and damage as a result of the Gulf oil spill, now vying for the title fourth biggest oil spill in history at 2.3 million barrels of crude over the past two months. And that’s exactly as it should be. But how can the company pay off all the claims it faces? Crunching the numbers through a worst-case scenario using the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Basic Oil Spill Cost Estimation Model results in an estimate that the cleanup and payment for damages will cost about $8.7 billion; double that if the well continues to gush until August. Some other estimates suggest that the cleanup and costs for damages will ultimately add up to $40 billion. BP, the oil company that holds the drilling permit, is responsible for the disaster and has spent $1.5 billion on the cleanup. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Ronald Bailey editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Ronald Bailey According to the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment, “private property [shall not] be taken for public use without just compensation.” The classic example of this is eminent domain, where the government seizes property, compensates the owner with taxpayer dollars, and puts the property to an alleged public use. But what happens when government regulations violate property rights? Do regulatory takings require just compensation as well? It depends. In Pennsylvania Coal Company v. Mahon (1922), the Supreme Court held that “while property may be regulated to a certain extent, if regulation goes too far it will be recognized as a taking.” But how far is too far? This podcast sponsored by Resume Rabbit - save hours in your job search by going to http://podcast.resumerabbit.com/reason From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/taken-by-regulation.mp3 10A162F5-0D82-41ED-A5A1-ED6097C357D8 Sat, 12 Jun 2010 09:00:39 -0400 According to the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment, “private property [shall not] be taken for public use without just compensation.” According to the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment, “private property [shall not] be taken for public use without just compensation.” The classic example of this is eminent domain, where the government seizes property, compensates the owner with taxpayer dollars, and puts the property to an alleged public use. But what happens when government regulations violate property rights? Do regulatory takings require just compensation as well? It depends. In Pennsylvania Coal Company v. Mahon (1922), the Supreme Court held that “while property may be regulated to a certain extent, if regulation goes too far it will be recognized as a taking.” But how far is too far? From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Damon W. Root editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Damon W. Root What do a Kenyan woman who wants to become a dairy farmer and a journalist interested in reporting on unprocessed rape kits in Los Angeles have in common? Until recently, both would have had trouble getting their hands on some startup cash. Microlenders like Kiva.org have dramatically changed the way small scale enterprises get off the ground in poor countries like Kenya. A similar model holds promise for funding the kind of local coverage and investigative reporting previously provided by the decaying newspaper industry—but new proposals for massive federal interference in the journalism industry threaten to undermine bottom-up solutions. This podcast sponsored by Resume Rabbit - save hours in your job search by going to http://podcast.resumerabbit.com/reason From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/cows-copy-and-cash.mp3 1F92DE02-119A-4F0E-93C0-734568EC1503 Fri, 11 Jun 2010 07:57:56 -0400 What do a Kenyan woman who wants to become a dairy farmer and a journalist interested in reporting on unprocessed rape kits in Los Angeles have in common? What do a Kenyan woman who wants to become a dairy farmer and a journalist interested in reporting on unprocessed rape kits in Los Angeles have in common? Until recently, both would have had trouble getting their hands on some startup cash. Microlenders like Kiva.org have dramatically changed the way small scale enterprises get off the ground in poor countries like Kenya. A similar model holds promise for funding the kind of local coverage and investigative reporting previously provided by the decaying newspaper industry—but new proposals for massive federal interference in the journalism industry threaten to undermine bottom-up solutions.. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Katherine Mangu-Ward editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Katherine Mangu-Ward When award-winning 89-year-old Hearst columnist Helen Thomas, who occupied the front-row center seat in the White House press room since sometime during the Stone Age, declared last week that Jews should get out of Palestine and go back to Poland and Germany, the immediate reaction amongst the commentariat was to ask whether or not it was finally time for her to go. By Monday of this week, she had retired. But the question that should have been asked was: Why did it take so long? The Society of Professional Journalists may have named its lifetime achievement award after her, but Helen Thomas's actual journalistic output was as widely ignored as she was known. And for good reason, too. Her columns were dashed-off exercises in sub-Broder conventional wisdom—the only boundaries they pushed were the limits of banality. Here's a random selection of recent Thomas column headlines: "Save Social Security," "Obama Learning To Be A Strong President," "Time To Stand Up To Wall Street," "Ms. Obama Focuses On Healthy Food," and "Obama’s News Conference Shows Accountability In Action." Did Hearst really need to pay someone to share the fascinating observation that "if a first lady takes an interest in a cause, it will take off in the country. But it won’t wipe out fascination with what she is wearing. That's life." As insights go, this about as original as you win some, you lose some. This podcast sponsored by Resume Rabbit - save hours in your job search by going to http://podcast.resumerabbit.com/reason From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/media-matters-to-itself.mp3 4D226C20-FC4C-4EC1-A8D8-380E6F39C871 Thu, 10 Jun 2010 15:36:17 -0400 When award-winning 89-year-old Hearst columnist Helen Thomas, who occupied the front-row center seat in the White When award-winning 89-year-old Hearst columnist Helen Thomas, who occupied the front-row center seat in the White House press room since sometime during the Stone Age, declared last week that Jews should get out of Palestine and go back to Poland and Germany, the immediate reaction amongst the commentariat was to ask whether or not it was finally time for her to go. By Monday of this week, she had retired. But the question that should have been asked was: Why did it take so long? The Society of Professional Journalists may have named its lifetime achievement award after her, but Helen Thomas's actual journalistic output was as widely ignored as she was known. And for good reason, too. Her columns were dashed-off exercises in sub-Broder conventional wisdom—the only boundaries they pushed were the limits of banality. Here's a random selection of recent Thomas column headlines: "Save Social Security," "Obama Learning To Be A Strong President," "Time To Stand Up To Wall Street," "Ms. Obama Focuses On Healthy Food," and "Obama’s News Conference Shows Accountability In Action." Did Hearst really need to pay someone to share the fascinating observation that "if a first lady takes an interest in a cause, it will take off in the country. But it won’t wipe out fascination with what she is wearing. That's life." As insights go, this about as original as you win some, you lose some. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Peter Suderman editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Peter Suderman Bad things happen when governments keep people from cutting their own deals on resource management In his famous 1968 article in the journal Science, Garrett Hardin illustrated his notion of the “tragedy of the commons” by suggesting, “Picture a pasture open to all. It is to be expected that each herdsman will try to keep as many cattle as possible on the commons. But of course, argues Hardin, all other herdsmen will have the same goal. The result is overgrazing which destroys the nurturing pasture and starves all the cows. “Therein is the tragedy,” asserts Hardin. “Freedom in a commons brings ruin to all.” Only centuries of “tribal wars, poaching, and disease” kept the tragedy at bay. Hardin’s tragedy is based on the logic of ruin embodied in the game theory concept of a prisoner’s dilemma. In prisoner’s dilemma two prisoners are questioned separately and if neither confesses then both will go free. However, if one confesses, he will receive a lesser sentence than the other who remains silent. If both confess, then both are severely punished. The prisoners’ optimal strategy is to remain silent and both go free. However, not knowing what the other will do, the best individual strategy is to confess, which results in the worst outcome, punishment for both prisoners. This podcast sponsored by Resume Rabbit - save hours in your job search by going to http://podcast.resumerabbit.com/reason From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/the-talking-cure-for-the-trage.mp3 A027DF78-DADF-4DC8-B865-E2E0857CACD3 Wed, 9 Jun 2010 12:45:20 -0400 Bad things happen when governments keep people from cutting their own deals on resource management Bad things happen when governments keep people from cutting their own deals on resource management In his famous 1968 article in the journal Science, Garrett Hardin illustrated his notion of the “tragedy of the commons” by suggesting, “Picture a pasture open to all. It is to be expected that each herdsman will try to keep as many cattle as possible on the commons. But of course, argues Hardin, all other herdsmen will have the same goal. The result is overgrazing which destroys the nurturing pasture and starves all the cows. “Therein is the tragedy,” asserts Hardin. “Freedom in a commons brings ruin to all.” Only centuries of “tribal wars, poaching, and disease” kept the tragedy at bay. Hardin’s tragedy is based on the logic of ruin embodied in the game theory concept of a prisoner’s dilemma. In prisoner’s dilemma two prisoners are questioned separately and if neither confesses then both will go free. However, if one confesses, he will receive a lesser sentence than the other who remains silent. If both confess, then both are severely punished. The prisoners’ optimal strategy is to remain silent and both go free. However, not knowing what the other will do, the best individual strategy is to confess, which results in the worst outcome, punishment for both prisoners. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Ronald Bailey editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Ronald Bailey Last year the Obama administration updated Washington’s official position on what forms of expression are legal. “Whether a given category of speech enjoys First Amendment protection,” Solicitor General Elena Kagan argued in U.S. v. Stevens, “depends upon a categorical balancing of the value of the speech against its societal costs.” In April the Supreme Court treated this cost-benefit approach to the Bill of Rights’ very first proscription on federal power with the derision it deserved. Writing for an 8-to-1 majority that overturned a 1999 law restricting depictions of animal cruelty, Chief Justice John Roberts called Kagan’s argument “startling and dangerous.” The First Amendment, he explained, “does not extend only to categories of speech that survive an ad hoc balancing of relative social costs and benefits. The First Amendment itself reflects a judgment by the American people that the benefits of its restrictions on the Government outweigh the costs.” This podcast sponsored by Resume Rabbit - save hours in your job search by going to http://podcast.resumerabbit.com/reason From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/the-costs-of-free-speech.mp3 98BEF6C6-1A61-40C6-B7E9-1BB4D8107FF0 Tue, 8 Jun 2010 09:37:56 -0400 Last year the Obama administration updated Washington’s official position on what forms of expression are legal. Last year the Obama administration updated Washington’s official position on what forms of expression are legal. “Whether a given category of speech enjoys First Amendment protection,” Solicitor General Elena Kagan argued in U.S. v. Stevens, “depends upon a categorical balancing of the value of the speech against its societal costs.” In April the Supreme Court treated this cost-benefit approach to the Bill of Rights’ very first proscription on federal power with the derision it deserved. Writing for an 8-to-1 majority that overturned a 1999 law restricting depictions of animal cruelty, Chief Justice John Roberts called Kagan’s argument “startling and dangerous.” The First Amendment, he explained, “does not extend only to categories of speech that survive an ad hoc balancing of relative social costs and benefits. The First Amendment itself reflects a judgment by the American people that the benefits of its restrictions on the Government outweigh the costs.” From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Matt Welch editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Matt Welch Do kids outgrow socialism? A fascinating new study, “Fairness and the Development of Inequality Acceptance,” [subscription required] published last week in the journal Science by researchers at the Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration sheds some light on individual moral development. It turns out that as people move from childhood through adolescence to young adulthood they become increasingly meritocratic, that is, they come to believe that people deserve unequal rewards based on their individual achievements. The Norwegian researchers studied about 500 children beginning in the fifth grade through the 13th grade (ages 11 through 19) as they played modified versions of the dictator game. In the standard dictator game, a sum of money, say $100, is divided up between two players. The dictator decides how much to keep and how much to give the second player, the responder. Interestingly, research shows consistently that most dictators do not keep all the money. This podcast sponsored by Resume Rabbit - save hours in your job search by going to http://podcast.resumerabbit.com/reason From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/do-liberals-suffer-from-arrest.mp3 5216153A-34C8-43FE-850F-9541C9167706 Wed, 2 Jun 2010 10:50:56 -0400 Do kids outgrow socialism? Do kids outgrow socialism? A fascinating new study, “Fairness and the Development of Inequality Acceptance,” [subscription required] published last week in the journal Science by researchers at the Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration sheds some light on individual moral development. It turns out that as people move from childhood through adolescence to young adulthood they become increasingly meritocratic, that is, they come to believe that people deserve unequal rewards based on their individual achievements. The Norwegian researchers studied about 500 children beginning in the fifth grade through the 13th grade (ages 11 through 19) as they played modified versions of the dictator game. In the standard dictator game, a sum of money, say $100, is divided up between two players. The dictator decides how much to keep and how much to give the second player, the responder. Interestingly, research shows consistently that most dictators do not keep all the money. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Ronald Bailey editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Ronald Bailey To my left-liberal Democrat friends: As you engage in intellectual dishonesty using Rand Paul’s silly comments on the 1964 Civil Rights Act to misrepresent libertarianism, perhaps you might want to consider a little history of the political philosophy of the founder of our party, Thomas Jefferson, the original libertarian. Let me help you escape your ignorance about libertarianism without a capital L, a political philosophy far from conservatism. As a child of the 1960s, I was one of you. I wore a “Madly for Adlai” button, delivered Kennedy brochures on my newspaper route, and defended Medicare in speech class. Growing up in the Bible Belt, I was the only kid in town to subscribe to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, a near-communist rag according to neighbors who read the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, for which a young Pat Buchanan was writing editorials. This podcast sponsored by Resume Rabbit - save hours in your job search by going to http://podcast.resumerabbit.com/reason From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/in-defense-of-libertarianism.mp3 EC07D291-0BEA-40D9-AA57-876F2DF32A07 Fri, 28 May 2010 15:03:36 -0400 To my left-liberal Democrat friends: To my left-liberal Democrat friends: As you engage in intellectual dishonesty using Rand Paul’s silly comments on the 1964 Civil Rights Act to misrepresent libertarianism, perhaps you might want to consider a little history of the political philosophy of the founder of our party, Thomas Jefferson, the original libertarian. Let me help you escape your ignorance about libertarianism without a capital L, a political philosophy far from conservatism. As a child of the 1960s, I was one of you. I wore a “Madly for Adlai” button, delivered Kennedy brochures on my newspaper route, and defended Medicare in speech class. Growing up in the Bible Belt, I was the only kid in town to subscribe to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, a near-communist rag according to neighbors who read the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, for which a young Pat Buchanan was writing editorials. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Terry Michael editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Terry Michael In its notorious 2009 decision upholding the use of eminent domain on behalf of a professional basketball stadium in Brooklyn, New York’s highest court acknowledged that “there remains a hypothetical case in which we might intervene to prevent an urban redevelopment condemnation on public use grounds—where ‘the physical conditions of an area might be such that it would be irrational and baseless to call it substandard and insanitary.’” That case is no longer hypothetical. On June 2, New York’s Court of Appeals will hear oral arguments in Kaur v. Urban Development Corporation. At issue is the state’s controversial use of eminent domain on behalf of Columbia University, which wants free rein to build a sweeping new 17-acre research campus in the West Harlem neighborhood of Manhattanville. To that end, Columbia joined forces with the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC), the powerful yet little-known state agency authorized to bypass zoning laws and seize private property via eminent domain. In July 2008 the ESDC declared Manhattanville to be “blighted,” the state of severe economic dis This podcast sponsored by Resume Rabbit - save hours in your job search by going to http://podcast.resumerabbit.com/reason From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/the-blight-stops-here.mp3 4B3793DA-1FF7-4CD3-A831-C7B8D351EFF9 Thu, 27 May 2010 22:48:14 -0400 In its notorious 2009 decision upholding the use of eminent domain on behalf of a professional basketball stadium in Brooklyn, In its notorious 2009 decision upholding the use of eminent domain on behalf of a professional basketball stadium in Brooklyn, New York’s highest court acknowledged that “there remains a hypothetical case in which we might intervene to prevent an urban redevelopment condemnation on public use grounds—where ‘the physical conditions of an area might be such that it would be irrational and baseless to call it substandard and insanitary.’” That case is no longer hypothetical. On June 2, New York’s Court of Appeals will hear oral arguments in Kaur v. Urban Development Corporation. At issue is the state’s controversial use of eminent domain on behalf of Columbia University, which wants free rein to build a sweeping new 17-acre research campus in the West Harlem neighborhood of Manhattanville. To that end, Columbia joined forces with the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC), the powerful yet little-known state agency authorized to bypass zoning laws and seize private property via eminent domain. In July 2008 the ESDC declared Manhattanville to be “blighted,” the state of severe economic dis From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Damon W. Root editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Damon W. Root Among fast food outlets, giving away a free meal is an increasingly popular marketing gambit. But not even Col. Sanders can keep pace with the offerings of Mother Nature. Every day, in city parks and urban median strips, in backyards, on public beaches, and in your nearest stretch of federal wilderness, the earth serves up her bounty: snails, wild radish, miner’s lettuce, stinging nettles, nasturtium, acorns, blackberries, loquats, lemons, sea asparagus, Dover sole, New Zealand spinach, chanterelles, morels, matsutake. In an age when we’ve come to expect music, movies, news, used sofas, and so much other stuff to be free, this abundance has not passed unnoticed. Foraging isn’t always legal. But just think of those huckleberries in your favorite state park as nature’s MP3s: They are there for the taking if you are willing to risk the occasional stiff penalty. This podcast sponsored by Resume Rabbit - save hours in your job search by going to http://podcast.resumerabbit.com/reason From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/selling-free-food.mp3 AFFD593E-1C90-40A2-9F0E-0DAE4209052D Thu, 27 May 2010 22:47:07 -0400 Among fast food outlets, giving away a free meal is an increasingly popular marketing gambit. Among fast food outlets, giving away a free meal is an increasingly popular marketing gambit. But not even Col. Sanders can keep pace with the offerings of Mother Nature. Every day, in city parks and urban median strips, in backyards, on public beaches, and in your nearest stretch of federal wilderness, the earth serves up her bounty: snails, wild radish, miner’s lettuce, stinging nettles, nasturtium, acorns, blackberries, loquats, lemons, sea asparagus, Dover sole, New Zealand spinach, chanterelles, morels, matsutake. In an age when we’ve come to expect music, movies, news, used sofas, and so much other stuff to be free, this abundance has not passed unnoticed. Foraging isn’t always legal. But just think of those huckleberries in your favorite state park as nature’s MP3s: They are there for the taking if you are willing to risk the occasional stiff penalty. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Greg Beato editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Greg Beato This headline is not from The Onion: US appoints first cyber warfare general: Pentagon creates specialist online unit to counter cyber attack amid growing fears of militarisation of the internet. On Friday, newly-created U.S. Cyber Command—that's USCYBERCOM to those in the know—got itself a general. One small problem: It's not clear that anyone, even four-star general and National Security Agency head Keith Alexander, knows what U.S. Cyber Command is supposed to do now that it exists. The commerical Internet has been around since about 1995, but in recent years folks at the Pentagon and White House seem to have been struck with a similar thought: "Hey, we should do something about those Internets, huh?" The longing for a cyber command of some kind dates back at least to President George W. Bush, and the project continued merrily along under President Barack Obama with the inexorable force of a government program that nobody really wants, but no one wants to be the one to kill. This podcast sponsored by Resume Rabbit - save hours in your job search by going to http://podcast.resumerabbit.com/reason From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/meet-your-new-commander-in-gee.mp3 340E9E17-938F-4DEF-B55F-FB0D482D3963 Wed, 26 May 2010 20:59:54 -0400 This headline is not from The Onion: This headline is not from The Onion: US appoints first cyber warfare general: Pentagon creates specialist online unit to counter cyber attack amid growing fears of militarisation of the internet. On Friday, newly-created U.S. Cyber Command—that's USCYBERCOM to those in the know—got itself a general. One small problem: It's not clear that anyone, even four-star general and National Security Agency head Keith Alexander, knows what U.S. Cyber Command is supposed to do now that it exists. The commerical Internet has been around since about 1995, but in recent years folks at the Pentagon and White House seem to have been struck with a similar thought: "Hey, we should do something about those Internets, huh?" The longing for a cyber command of some kind dates back at least to President George W. Bush, and the project continued merrily along under President Barack Obama with the inexorable force of a government program that nobody really wants, but no one wants to be the one to kill. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Katherine Mangu-Ward editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Katherine Mangu-Ward Better medicines, carbon neutral fuels, cheaper food, and a cleaner environment—who could be against that? Well, quite a few people, as it turns out. Last week, a research team led by private human genome sequencer J. Craig Venter announced that they had created the world’s first synthetic self-replicating bacteria. Among other things, synthetic biologists are aiming to create a set of standardized biological parts that can be mixed and matched the way off-the-shelf microchips, hard drives, and screens can be combined to create a computer. The goal is to produce novel organisms that excrete biofuels, clean up toxic spills, strip clogged arteries of cholesterol, rapidly produce vaccines, grow more photosynthetically efficient crops, and manufacture eco-friendly plastics. In an early success, UC Berkeley biologist Jay Keasling used synthetic biology techniques to engineer micro-organisms to produce at much lower cost the anti-malaria drug artemisinin in 2004. This podcast sponsored by Resume Rabbit - save hours in your job search by going to http://podcast.resumerabbit.com/reason From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/whos-afraid-of-synthetic-biolo.mp3 C86DF65E-CF6C-4ED1-B23C-7BC90A07CC5B Tue, 25 May 2010 21:57:31 -0400 Better medicines, carbon neutral fuels, cheaper food, and a cleaner environment—who could be against that? Well, quite a few people, as it turns out. Better medicines, carbon neutral fuels, cheaper food, and a cleaner environment—who could be against that? Well, quite a few people, as it turns out. Last week, a research team led by private human genome sequencer J. Craig Venter announced that they had created the world’s first synthetic self-replicating bacteria. Among other things, synthetic biologists are aiming to create a set of standardized biological parts that can be mixed and matched the way off-the-shelf microchips, hard drives, and screens can be combined to create a computer. The goal is to produce novel organisms that excrete biofuels, clean up toxic spills, strip clogged arteries of cholesterol, rapidly produce vaccines, grow more photosynthetically efficient crops, and manufacture eco-friendly plastics. In an early success, UC Berkeley biologist Jay Keasling used synthetic biology techniques to engineer micro-organisms to produce at much lower cost the anti-malaria drug artemisinin in 2004. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Ronald Bailey editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Ronald Bailey You want a quick indicator of urban decline in any city you visit? Ask a local what’s great about the place. If the top three answers include “a world-class symphony orchestra,” you’re smack dab in the middle of a current or future ghost town. This orchestra axiom is something I divined while working on Reason Saves Cleveland With Drew Carey, an hour-long documentary you can see at reason.tv/cleveland. Time and again, I’d ask Clevelanders—a proud breed beaten down by decades of lake-effect snow, economic degradation, population decline, and gridiron disasters worthy of T.S. Eliot’s The Wasteland (“I had not thought death had undone so many”)—to tell me what was still top-notch about their hometown. It didn’t matter if I was talking to a CEO or a homeless man, a bar owner or a barfly. The inevitable reply: “We’ve got a world-class symphony orchestra,” typically embellished with some transparently phony claim about how it compares to those in other cities (“It’s in the top 15 or 20 in the world!”), as if orchestras are regularly ranked like NCAA basketball teams. This podcast sponsored by Resume Rabbit - save hours in your job search by going to http://podcast.resumerabbit.com/reason From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/how-to-save-cleveland.mp3 7920CBF9-5D44-436F-B683-F14F69BFEEA0 Tue, 25 May 2010 17:45:20 -0400 You want a quick indicator of urban decline in any city you visit? You want a quick indicator of urban decline in any city you visit? Ask a local what’s great about the place. If the top three answers include “a world-class symphony orchestra,” you’re smack dab in the middle of a current or future ghost town. This orchestra axiom is something I divined while working on Reason Saves Cleveland With Drew Carey, an hour-long documentary you can see at reason.tv/cleveland. Time and again, I’d ask Clevelanders—a proud breed beaten down by decades of lake-effect snow, economic degradation, population decline, and gridiron disasters worthy of T.S. Eliot’s The Wasteland (“I had not thought death had undone so many”)—to tell me what was still top-notch about their hometown. It didn’t matter if I was talking to a CEO or a homeless man, a bar owner or a barfly. The inevitable reply: “We’ve got a world-class symphony orchestra,” typically embellished with some transparently phony claim about how it compares to those in other cities (“It’s in the top 15 or 20 in the world!”), as if orchestras are regularly ranked like NCAA basketball teams. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Nick Gillespie editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Nick Gillespie On the morning of May 16, a Detroit police officer fatally shot 7-year-old Aiyana Stanley-Jones in the throat during a police raid on her home. The police were looking for a homicide suspect. They found him in the apartment above the one where Stanley-Jones was shot, where he surrendered without violence. In response, Detroit Mayor Dave Bing cautioned last week not to put the blame squarely on police. Bing is right. We should also put a good deal of the blame on him. Or, to be fair, on his predecessor, since Bing only recently took office. We should also blame the Detroit city council and the city's police chief. It is the politicians who set the policies that guide the actions of police officers, and it is they who are responsible for overseeing those officers. Even allowing for the fact that the police and the Stanley-Jones family disagree about what happened that morning, there were a number of bad policies that may have directly contributed to the little girl's death. Among them: This podcast sponsored by Resume Rabbit - save hours in your job search by going to http://podcast.resumerabbit.com/reason From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/lessons-from-the-death-of-aiya.mp3 47774D47-5D5E-4AE0-8D96-DA91E58412E4 Tue, 25 May 2010 09:47:15 -0400 On the morning of May 16, a Detroit police officer fatally shot 7-year-old Aiyana Stanley-Jones in the throat during a police raid on her home. On the morning of May 16, a Detroit police officer fatally shot 7-year-old Aiyana Stanley-Jones in the throat during a police raid on her home. The police were looking for a homicide suspect. They found him in the apartment above the one where Stanley-Jones was shot, where he surrendered without violence. In response, Detroit Mayor Dave Bing cautioned last week not to put the blame squarely on police. Bing is right. We should also put a good deal of the blame on him. Or, to be fair, on his predecessor, since Bing only recently took office. We should also blame the Detroit city council and the city's police chief. It is the politicians who set the policies that guide the actions of police officers, and it is they who are responsible for overseeing those officers. Even allowing for the fact that the police and the Stanley-Jones family disagree about what happened that morning, there were a number of bad policies that may have directly contributed to the little girl's death. Among them: From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Radley Balko editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Radley Balko In what Politico called “the first clear statewide victory by the disparate national tea party movement," Rand Paul, a Bowling Green ophthalmologist and the son of libertarian-leaning Rep. Ron Paul (R-Tex.), smashed his opponent Trey Grayson in the Kentucky Republican primary for November’s Senate race. Grayson was the chosen favorite of the party establishment, with supporters ranging from Kentucky's own Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to neocon foreign policy mavens Rudolph Giuliani and former Vice President Dick Cheney. None of that meant much to Kentucky Republicans, however, who, in a low-turnout election, gave Paul 59 percent of their vote. This podcast sponsored by Resume Rabbit - save hours in your job search by going to http://podcast.resumerabbit.com/reason From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/everybody-loves-rand.mp3 BF327839-690E-4D4A-8701-F4F3E8B081C3 Fri, 21 May 2010 10:27:29 -0400 In what Politico called “the first clear statewide victory by the disparate national tea party movement," In what Politico called “the first clear statewide victory by the disparate national tea party movement," Rand Paul, a Bowling Green ophthalmologist and the son of libertarian-leaning Rep. Ron Paul (R-Tex.), smashed his opponent Trey Grayson in the Kentucky Republican primary for November’s Senate race. Grayson was the chosen favorite of the party establishment, with supporters ranging from Kentucky's own Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to neocon foreign policy mavens Rudolph Giuliani and former Vice President Dick Cheney. None of that meant much to Kentucky Republicans, however, who, in a low-turnout election, gave Paul 59 percent of their vote. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Brian Doherty editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Brian Doherty Every schoolboy knows that education leads to worldly success and material reward. “If a man empties his purse into his head, no man can take it away from him,” Benjamin Franklin’s Poor Richard advised. “An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.” To the Irish poet William Butler Yeats, learning was “not the filling of a bucket, but the lighting of a fire.” As Emil Faber, founder of the college in Animal House, put it, “Knowledge is good.” Yet there’s growing evidence that faith in the value of book-learning may be as ill-conceived as faith in the value of another asset inflated by public funding: real estate. This podcast sponsored by Resume Rabbit - save hours in your job search by going to http://podcast.resumerabbit.com/reason From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/whats-a-diploma-worth.mp3 18CA5D9A-946A-4348-8E0A-EE8B66B392EA Fri, 21 May 2010 10:25:48 -0400 Every schoolboy knows that education leads to worldly success and material reward. Every schoolboy knows that education leads to worldly success and material reward. “If a man empties his purse into his head, no man can take it away from him,” Benjamin Franklin’s Poor Richard advised. “An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.” To the Irish poet William Butler Yeats, learning was “not the filling of a bucket, but the lighting of a fire.” As Emil Faber, founder of the college in Animal House, put it, “Knowledge is good.” Yet there’s growing evidence that faith in the value of book-learning may be as ill-conceived as faith in the value of another asset inflated by public funding: real estate. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Tim Cavanaugh editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Tim Cavanaugh Facebook thinks I'm into graffiti. A few weeks ago, when the social media network overhauled itself for the umpty-hundredth time, it transformed the information page in my profile into a list of links to "community pages"; now, rather than merely mentioning that I like Louis Armstrong and Repo Man, it directs readers to pages devoted to those subjects. When Facebook was unfamiliar with something listed on my page, its electronic engines made their best guess as to what I might mean. And so it was that the first item on my short list of interests—"writing"—was transformed into "graffiti." I noticed this change and removed the item from the list, along with many other odd transmogrifications. Not every writer on Facebook did the same. One friend of mine, a Hopkins professor who contributes commentaries to NPR, was still listed as a graffiti artist when I submitted this article, a fact that might surprise any colleague who happens to read his profile. This podcast sponsored by Resume Rabbit - save hours in your job search by going to http://podcast.resumerabbit.com/reason From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/watch-out-facebook.mp3 FE9D6F68-AEA0-430D-A1CD-C34A7DFF9C7C Thu, 20 May 2010 09:14:07 -0400 Facebook thinks I'm into graffiti. A few weeks ago, when the social media network overhauled itself for the umpty-hundredth time, Facebook thinks I'm into graffiti. A few weeks ago, when the social media network overhauled itself for the umpty-hundredth time, it transformed the information page in my profile into a list of links to "community pages"; now, rather than merely mentioning that I like Louis Armstrong and Repo Man, it directs readers to pages devoted to those subjects. When Facebook was unfamiliar with something listed on my page, its electronic engines made their best guess as to what I might mean. And so it was that the first item on my short list of interests—"writing"—was transformed into "graffiti." I noticed this change and removed the item from the list, along with many other odd transmogrifications. Not every writer on Facebook did the same. One friend of mine, a Hopkins professor who contributes commentaries to NPR, was still listed as a graffiti artist when I submitted this article, a fact that might surprise any colleague who happens to read his profile. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Jesse Walker editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Jesse Walker The Obama administration has announced plans to regulate the Internet through the Federal Communications Commission, extending its authority over broadband providers to police web traffic, enforcing “net neutrality.” Last week, a congressional hearing exposed an effort to give another agency—the Federal Election Commission—unprecedented power to regulate political speech online. At a House Administration Committee hearing last Tuesday, Patton Boggs attorney William McGinley explained that the sloppy statutory language in the “DISCLOSE Act” would extend the FEC’s control over broadcast communications to all “covered communications,” including the blogosphere. This podcast sponsored by Resume Rabbit - save hours in your job search by going to http://podcast.resumerabbit.com/reason From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/from-banning-books-to-banning.mp3 9E7B58FB-AE94-4DF0-B2EB-832E521D1EEC Wed, 19 May 2010 09:26:43 -0400 The Obama administration has announced plans to regulate the Internet through the Federal Communications Commission, The Obama administration has announced plans to regulate the Internet through the Federal Communications Commission, extending its authority over broadband providers to police web traffic, enforcing “net neutrality.” Last week, a congressional hearing exposed an effort to give another agency—the Federal Election Commission—unprecedented power to regulate political speech online. At a House Administration Committee hearing last Tuesday, Patton Boggs attorney William McGinley explained that the sloppy statutory language in the “DISCLOSE Act” would extend the FEC’s control over broadcast communications to all “covered communications,” including the blogosphere. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Bradley Smith editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Bradley Smith Last week, Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) introduced a discussion draft of their American Power Act, which aims to address the problem of man-made global warming by radically transforming how Americans produce and use energy. This transformation would be accomplished by chiefly rationing carbon dioxide emissions produced from burning fossil fuels like coal, natural gas, and oil. Under the cap-and-trade scheme set up by the bill, the federal government would issue ration coupons equal to the annual total amount of carbon dioxide that American manufacturers, utilities, and the transport sector are allowed to emit. Reduction targets are based on the amount emitted in 2005. Under the bill, Americans would be required to emit 4.5 percent less greenhouse gases by 2013; 17 percent by 2020; 42 percent by 2030; and 83 percent by 2050. This podcast sponsored by Resume Rabbit - save hours in your job search by going to http://podcast.resumerabbit.com/reason From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/the-kerry-lieberman-scheme-for.mp3 A3833ADB-C0E3-4B27-BEF2-CFF666E281FB Wed, 19 May 2010 08:21:27 -0400 Last week, Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) introduced a discussion draft of their American Power Act, which aims to address the problem of man-made global warming by radically transforming how Americans produce and use energy. Last week, Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) introduced a discussion draft of their American Power Act, which aims to address the problem of man-made global warming by radically transforming how Americans produce and use energy. This transformation would be accomplished by chiefly rationing carbon dioxide emissions produced from burning fossil fuels like coal, natural gas, and oil. Under the cap-and-trade scheme set up by the bill, the federal government would issue ration coupons equal to the annual total amount of carbon dioxide that American manufacturers, utilities, and the transport sector are allowed to emit. Reduction targets are based on the amount emitted in 2005. Under the bill, Americans would be required to emit 4.5 percent less greenhouse gases by 2013; 17 percent by 2020; 42 percent by 2030; and 83 percent by 2050. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Ronald Bailey editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Ronald Bailey In March, I wrote a column detailing a number of credible accusations made against the New York City Police Department (NYPD) for instituting a quota system for arrests and for stop-and-frisk searches. At the same time, additional allegations charged higher-ups in the department with actively discouraging crime victims from reporting crimes—as well as downgrading felonies to misdemeanors—in order to make the city's crime statistics look better. Taken together, these allegations painted an ugly picture of New Yorkers being stopped, hassled, and frisked for either petty offenses or for no offense at all, while the victims of acutal crimes faced unsympathetic law enforcement officials. This podcast sponsored by Resume Rabbit - save hours in your job search by going to http://podcast.resumerabbit.com/reason From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/oh-you-mean-those-quotas.mp3 5B7385B9-9873-49E9-A583-84DD579582FE Wed, 19 May 2010 08:19:13 -0400 In March, I wrote a column detailing a number of credible accusations made against the New York City Police Department (NYPD) In March, I wrote a column detailing a number of credible accusations made against the New York City Police Department (NYPD) for instituting a quota system for arrests and for stop-and-frisk searches. At the same time, additional allegations charged higher-ups in the department with actively discouraging crime victims from reporting crimes—as well as downgrading felonies to misdemeanors—in order to make the city's crime statistics look better. Taken together, these allegations painted an ugly picture of New Yorkers being stopped, hassled, and frisked for either petty offenses or for no offense at all, while the victims of acutal crimes faced unsympathetic law enforcement officials. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Radley Balko editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Radley Balko I got to know the poet Allen Ginsberg towards the end of his life. Not very well, just a nodding acquaintance, but after he died I attended a memorial in his honor at the City University Graduate School. At that service, his personal assistant related a story about Ginsberg’s reaction to the death sentence pronounced on the novelist Salman Rushdie by Ayatollah Khomeini in 1989. Rushdie’s “crime,” you’ll recall, was writing a provocative, perhaps even blasphemous novel inspired by the life of Muhammad called The Satanic Verses. This podcast sponsored by Resume Rabbit - save hours in your job search by going to http://podcast.resumerabbit.com/reason From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/the-poet-versus-the-prophet.mp3 CBEA9E39-7E7A-4F85-B437-A7E19CDA9D9B Mon, 17 May 2010 13:20:32 -0400 I got to know the poet Allen Ginsberg towards the end of his life. Not very well, just a nodding acquaintance, but after he died I attended a memorial in his honor at the City University Graduate School. I got to know the poet Allen Ginsberg towards the end of his life. Not very well, just a nodding acquaintance, but after he died I attended a memorial in his honor at the City University Graduate School. At that service, his personal assistant related a story about Ginsberg’s reaction to the death sentence pronounced on the novelist Salman Rushdie by Ayatollah Khomeini in 1989. Rushdie’s “crime,” you’ll recall, was writing a provocative, perhaps even blasphemous novel inspired by the life of Muhammad called The Satanic Verses. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Mark Goldblatt editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Mark Goldblatt A little more than a month after the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, President Obama's trillion-dollar overhaul of the nation's health care system, the administration has already begun to tout its successes. On his weekly radio address, the president argued that it was already providing Americans with "real benefits," while Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius released a four-page memo laying out the "significant progress" she claims her department has already made in implementing the law. "Over the coming weeks, our team across government will continue to work diligently to produce the regulations and guidance necessary to implement this landmark new law," she concludes. This podcast sponsored by Resume Rabbit - save hours in your job search by going to http://podcast.resumerabbit.com/reason From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/the-cure-is-worse-than-the-dis.mp3 63EB0391-1E78-40AF-B3B5-F3E8BBB4CC72 Mon, 17 May 2010 09:35:57 -0400 A little more than a month after the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, A little more than a month after the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, President Obama's trillion-dollar overhaul of the nation's health care system, the administration has already begun to tout its successes. On his weekly radio address, the president argued that it was already providing Americans with "real benefits," while Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius released a four-page memo laying out the "significant progress" she claims her department has already made in implementing the law. "Over the coming weeks, our team across government will continue to work diligently to produce the regulations and guidance necessary to implement this landmark new law," she concludes. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Peter Suderman editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Peter Suderman Speaking to reporters last month aboard Air Force One, President Barack Obama dropped a strong hint about his plans to nominate Solicitor General Elena Kagan to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens. "It used to be that the notion of an activist judge was somebody who ignored the will of Congress, ignored democratic processes, and tried to impose judicial solutions on problems instead of letting the process work itself through politically," Obama said. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/txting-2-cut-govt.mp3 5E3F855D-AAED-4E50-941D-1EF23A4457BC Fri, 14 May 2010 14:17:25 -0400 Will Obama’s Supreme Court pick show too much deference to the government? Speaking to reporters last month aboard Air Force One, President Barack Obama dropped a strong hint about his plans to nominate Solicitor General Elena Kagan to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens. "It used to be that the notion of an activist judge was somebody who ignored the will of Congress, ignored democratic processes, and tried to impose judicial solutions on problems instead of letting the process work itself through politically," Obama said. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Damon W. Root editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Damon W. Root Keen-eyed, youthful Republicans have noticed that kids these days love sending $10 to Haiti and voting on American Idol and sexting and stuff. So Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.) and a few of the other less aged fiscally conservative members of Congress recently hatched a scheme to get Americans to use their powerful texting thumbs to cut government. Launched today, YouCut lets all comers vote each week on which program Republicans will bring to the floor for a vote on whether or not it gets the axe. On Monday, they'll announce the winner/loser of the first vote and bring it to the floor sometime in the next couple of days. Cantor says they're going to repeat the experiment every week, too. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/elena-kagan-on-free-speech-exe.mp3 E816E734-895E-45F5-9308-C321DD2B5375 Thu, 13 May 2010 12:52:52 -0400 Keen-eyed, youthful Republicans have noticed that kids these days love sending $10 to Haiti and voting on American Idol and sexting and stuff. Keen-eyed, youthful Republicans have noticed that kids these days love sending $10 to Haiti and voting on American Idol and sexting and stuff. So Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.) and a few of the other less aged fiscally conservative members of Congress recently hatched a scheme to get Americans to use their powerful texting thumbs to cut government. Launched today, YouCut lets all comers vote each week on which program Republicans will bring to the floor for a vote on whether or not it gets the axe. On Monday, they'll announce the winner/loser of the first vote and bring it to the floor sometime in the next couple of days. Cantor says they're going to repeat the experiment every week, too. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Katherine Mangu-Ward editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Katherine Mangu-Ward When the news broke about alleged safety defects in Toyota vehicles, official Washington was appalled. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood accused the company of being "safety deaf" and said "they have a very bad business model." Then there was the reaction from customers, the very people whose lives and safety are at stake every time they get in a car. In the first four months of this year, Toyota's U.S. sales did not fall, as you might expect. They rose by 12 percent. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/congress-accelerates-out-of-co.mp3 76B0A1CB-831E-4427-9CE1-7F5D06C98A0A Thu, 13 May 2010 12:49:53 -0400 When the news broke about alleged safety defects in Toyota vehicles, official Washington was appalled. When the news broke about alleged safety defects in Toyota vehicles, official Washington was appalled. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood accused the company of being "safety deaf" and said "they have a very bad business model." Then there was the reaction from customers, the very people whose lives and safety are at stake every time they get in a car. In the first four months of this year, Toyota's U.S. sales did not fall, as you might expect. They rose by 12 percent. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Steve Chapman editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Steve Chapman Last month New York Times legal writer Adam Liptak said two recent Supreme Court cases "suggest that the Roberts Court is prepared to adopt a robustly libertarian view of the constitutional protection of free speech." Elena Kagan, President Obama’s nominee to replace retiring Justice John Paul Stevens, was on the losing side in both. As solicitor general, of course, Kagan has an obligation to defend federal laws against constitutional challenges. But her pro-censorship positions went beyond the call of duty. Together with some of her academic writings, her arguments in these cases provide grounds to worry that she will be even less inclined than Stevens, who has a mixed First Amendment record, to support freedom of speech. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/the-bounds-of-silence.mp3 BB60764A-6AAD-4A29-83A6-A6EF5719924B Wed, 12 May 2010 22:25:17 -0400 Last month New York Times legal writer Adam Liptak said two recent Supreme Court cases "suggest that the Roberts Court is prepared to adopt a robustly libertarian view of the constitutional protection of free speech. Last month New York Times legal writer Adam Liptak said two recent Supreme Court cases "suggest that the Roberts Court is prepared to adopt a robustly libertarian view of the constitutional protection of free speech." Elena Kagan, President Obama’s nominee to replace retiring Justice John Paul Stevens, was on the losing side in both. As solicitor general, of course, Kagan has an obligation to defend federal laws against constitutional challenges. But her pro-censorship positions went beyond the call of duty. Together with some of her academic writings, her arguments in these cases provide grounds to worry that she will be even less inclined than Stevens, who has a mixed First Amendment record, to support freedom of speech. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Jacob Sullum editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Jacob Sullum America’s financial situation is unsustainable. In 2009 the federal government spent $3.5 trillion but collected only $2.1 trillion in revenue. The result was a $1.4 trillion deficit, up from $458 billion in 2008. That’s 10 percent of gross domestic product, a level unseen since World War II. Worse, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects that we’ll be drowning in red ink for the foreseeable future, with annual deficits averaging $1 trillion during the next decade. While these figures are dramatic, they pale in comparison to what the federal government owes foreign and domestic investors. According to the CBO, in 2009 America’s public debt reached $7.5 trillion, or 53 percent of GDP, the highest it has been in 50 years. In 2010 the debt will cross the 60 percent threshold, a level at which many economists believe a country is putting itself in financial peril. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/our-unsustainable-debt.mp3 46307D49-82B7-4571-9387-7E9D5B0318EA Wed, 12 May 2010 19:45:36 -0400 America’s financial situation is unsustainable. In 2009 the federal government spent $3.5 trillion but collected only $2.1 trillion in revenue. America’s financial situation is unsustainable. In 2009 the federal government spent $3.5 trillion but collected only $2.1 trillion in revenue. The result was a $1.4 trillion deficit, up from $458 billion in 2008. That’s 10 percent of gross domestic product, a level unseen since World War II. Worse, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects that we’ll be drowning in red ink for the foreseeable future, with annual deficits averaging $1 trillion during the next decade. While these figures are dramatic, they pale in comparison to what the federal government owes foreign and domestic investors. According to the CBO, in 2009 America’s public debt reached $7.5 trillion, or 53 percent of GDP, the highest it has been in 50 years. In 2010 the debt will cross the 60 percent threshold, a level at which many economists believe a country is putting itself in financial peril. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Veronique de Rugy editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Veronique de Rugy Defenders of Arizona's harsh new anti-immigration law are going on the offensive: They are fanning out on TV, radio talk shows, and newspaper columns arguing that there is nothing nefarious about this law because all it does is help Uncle Sam enforce its existing laws. Even if this claim were true, it would be as constitutionally presumptuous as Arizona dispatching state troops to help the federal government fight the Iraq war. Brit Hume, a Fox News commentator, who had previously called the law somewhat draconian, came out swinging in its favor declaring that his initial characterization was completely wrong and the law is actually totally sensible. Meanwhile, the National Review crowd, which has yet to encounter an anti-immigration law that it doesn't like, put its full weight behind Arizona right from the get-go. In this it seems to be marching in lock step with the ultra-restrictionist Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) whose founder, Mark Krikorian, is a regular contributor to the magazine. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/the-bogus-constitutional-argum.mp3 01B59D4C-3EFC-4931-8CA8-82521A2729DE Tue, 11 May 2010 19:27:39 -0400 Defenders of Arizona's harsh new anti-immigration law are going on the offensive: Defenders of Arizona's harsh new anti-immigration law are going on the offensive: They are fanning out on TV, radio talk shows, and newspaper columns arguing that there is nothing nefarious about this law because all it does is help Uncle Sam enforce its existing laws. Even if this claim were true, it would be as constitutionally presumptuous as Arizona dispatching state troops to help the federal government fight the Iraq war. Brit Hume, a Fox News commentator, who had previously called the law somewhat draconian, came out swinging in its favor declaring that his initial characterization was completely wrong and the law is actually totally sensible. Meanwhile, the National Review crowd, which has yet to encounter an anti-immigration law that it doesn't like, put its full weight behind Arizona right from the get-go. In this it seems to be marching in lock step with the ultra-restrictionist Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) whose founder, Mark Krikorian, is a regular contributor to the magazine From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Shikha Dalmia editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Shikha Dalmia American conservatives, particularly the fiscal variety, tend to hold up the European Union as a model of irresponsible, big-spending economic policy. But consider this: According to E.U. rules, member countries cannot maintain budget deficits above 3 percent of gross domestic product; nor can their total debt rise above 60 percent of GDP. As Veronique de Rugy points out in this issue, the U.S. budget deficit in 2009 was three times the E.U.’s limit, and total debt will zoom past the 60 percent threshold sometime this year. Washington makes Paris look frugal. In March the federal government created the most expensive new entitlement in four decades, even as the bond rating company Moody’s Investors Service warned that debt levels could soon precipitate a downgrade in U.S. Treasury bonds. The main opposition party fought the bill by decrying “cuts” to Medicare, and it has kept itself at arm’s length from one of the few politicians talking seriously about long-term reform. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/we-are-out-of-money.mp3 E31C2492-0C45-4333-8931-C2546DFC9977 Mon, 10 May 2010 12:57:00 -0400 American conservatives, particularly the fiscal variety, tend to hold up the European Union as a model of irresponsible, big-spending economic policy.. American conservatives, particularly the fiscal variety, tend to hold up the European Union as a model of irresponsible, big-spending economic policy. But consider this: According to E.U. rules, member countries cannot maintain budget deficits above 3 percent of gross domestic product; nor can their total debt rise above 60 percent of GDP. As Veronique de Rugy points out in this issue, the U.S. budget deficit in 2009 was three times the E.U.’s limit, and total debt will zoom past the 60 percent threshold sometime this year. Washington makes Paris look frugal. In March the federal government created the most expensive new entitlement in four decades, even as the bond rating company Moody’s Investors Service warned that debt levels could soon precipitate a downgrade in U.S. Treasury bonds. The main opposition party fought the bill by decrying “cuts” to Medicare, and it has kept itself at arm’s length from one of the few politicians talking seriously about long-term reform. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Matt Welch editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Matt Welch Flash back to the end of March, when the authorities hauled in nine members of the Hutaree, a Christian paramilitary group, and charged them with plotting a mass assassination of police officers. The media quickly added the arrests to the ongoing narrative of "rising right-wing violence," with the Michigan-based militants cast as the leading edge of a smoldering paramilitary threat. Newscasters and columnists touted a report by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) claiming that the number of anti-government "Patriot" organizations is skyrocketing. An "astonishing 363 new Patriot groups appeared in 2009," the center declared, "with the totals going from 149 groups (including 42 militias) to 512 (127 of them militias)—a 244% jump." If you worry about political violence, the SPLC warned, such growth "is cause for grave concern." From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/the-myth-of-the-menacing.mp3 F372D3AB-79A6-46D9-B166-1AE47311EBB2 Thu, 6 May 2010 13:08:14 -0400 Flash back to the end of March, when the authorities hauled in nine members of the Hutaree, a Christian paramilitary group, and charged them with plotting a mass assassination of police officers. Flash back to the end of March, when the authorities hauled in nine members of the Hutaree, a Christian paramilitary group, and charged them with plotting a mass assassination of police officers. The media quickly added the arrests to the ongoing narrative of "rising right-wing violence," with the Michigan-based militants cast as the leading edge of a smoldering paramilitary threat. Newscasters and columnists touted a report by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) claiming that the number of anti-government "Patriot" organizations is skyrocketing. An "astonishing 363 new Patriot groups appeared in 2009," the center declared, "with the totals going from 149 groups (including 42 militias) to 512 (127 of them militias)—a 244% jump." If you worry about political violence, the SPLC warned, such growth "is cause for grave concern." From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Jesse Walker editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Jesse Walker Lawrence Lindsey, President George W. Bush’s first National Economic Council director, was fired in 2002 after estimating publicly that the war in Iraq could cost upward of $200 billion, about four times as much as the administration was predicting. Lindsey’s numbers were off, it turns out, but not in the direction the White House claimed: The Iraq war has ended up costing at least $700 billion to date. You wouldn’t be able to deduce that last number by looking through Bush’s budgets. That’s because his administration funded the Iraq and Afghanistan wars almost entirely through emergency supplemental bills. Emergency spending is effectively off budget, immune to caps and other constraints, and shielded from public criticism through obfuscation. Supplementals are an effective way for lawmakers to avoid making difficult tradeoffs in policy areas ranging from war to public education. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/budgetary-three-card-monte.mp3 AB4001E0-2754-478D-BD5C-5706119F21E8 Wed, 5 May 2010 11:39:55 -0400 Lawrence Lindsey, President George W. Bush’s first National Economic Council director, was fired in 2002 after estimating publicly that the war in Iraq could cost upward of $200 billion, Lawrence Lindsey, President George W. Bush’s first National Economic Council director, was fired in 2002 after estimating publicly that the war in Iraq could cost upward of $200 billion, about four times as much as the administration was predicting. Lindsey’s numbers were off, it turns out, but not in the direction the White House claimed: The Iraq war has ended up costing at least $700 billion to date. You wouldn’t be able to deduce that last number by looking through Bush’s budgets. That’s because his administration funded the Iraq and Afghanistan wars almost entirely through emergency supplemental bills. Emergency spending is effectively off budget, immune to caps and other constraints, and shielded from public criticism through obfuscation. Supplementals are an effective way for lawmakers to avoid making difficult tradeoffs in policy areas ranging from war to public education. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Veronique de Rugy editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Veronique de Rugy Two weeks ago BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico exploded, killing 11 workers. The exploratory well began gushing oil at an estimated rate of 5,000 barrels per day when the blowout prevention system failed. The growing oil slick menaces the marshes and beaches of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida. Should the slick come ashore, previous research suggests the deleterious effects on fisheries and wildlife would be substantial and long-lasting. As someone who has enjoyed the sugar white sands of Alabama’s beaches, it is a terrible shame that they are at risk of being despoiled by oily muck. But as someone who also enjoys the conveniences of modern civilization including the on-demand mobility offered by airplanes and automobiles that enable me to visit those beaches, I understand trade-offs. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/weighing-the-benefits-costs-of.mp3 628F326B-87E1-4D97-835F-7EC34A0B5ECB Wed, 5 May 2010 11:38:30 -0400 Two weeks ago BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico exploded, killing 11 workers. Two weeks ago BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico exploded, killing 11 workers. The exploratory well began gushing oil at an estimated rate of 5,000 barrels per day when the blowout prevention system failed. The growing oil slick menaces the marshes and beaches of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida. Should the slick come ashore, previous research suggests the deleterious effects on fisheries and wildlife would be substantial and long-lasting. As someone who has enjoyed the sugar white sands of Alabama’s beaches, it is a terrible shame that they are at risk of being despoiled by oily muck. But as someone who also enjoys the conveniences of modern civilization including the on-demand mobility offered by airplanes and automobiles that enable me to visit those beaches, I understand trade-offs. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Ronald Bailey editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Ronald Bailey The Internet is in trouble. And it's all George W. Bush's fault. That's what Net neutrality proponents would have the public believe, anyway. On April 6, a federal appeals court nullified the FCC's censure of Internet service provider Comcast for degrading the bandwidth of some users of the BitTorrent file-sharing protocol. Since then, neutrality nuts have worked themselves into a minor panic. Free Press, for example, is reportedly responding with a "full-court press" on the issue, which includes, among other things, an online clock counting off the days the Internet has been left "unprotected," cries from staff bloggers that we're in the midst of "a battle over the future of the Internet," and chirpy open letters pleading with FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski for increased federal regulation. The New York Times' editorial board, meanwhile, calls the current situation "untenable" and pins the blame on dear old Dubya, saying that it's all a result of "the Bush administration’s predictably antiregulatory decision to define broadband Internet access as an information service...over which it has little regulatory power." From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/saving-the-internet-from-the-f.mp3 CD4E6649-A21D-4C24-9BE4-49E4CF47090B Tue, 4 May 2010 07:51:40 -0400 The Internet is in trouble. And it's all George W. Bush's fault. That's what Net neutrality proponents would have the public believe, anyway. The Internet is in trouble. And it's all George W. Bush's fault. That's what Net neutrality proponents would have the public believe, anyway. On April 6, a federal appeals court nullified the FCC's censure of Internet service provider Comcast for degrading the bandwidth of some users of the BitTorrent file-sharing protocol. Since then, neutrality nuts have worked themselves into a minor panic. Free Press, for example, is reportedly responding with a "full-court press" on the issue, which includes, among other things, an online clock counting off the days the Internet has been left "unprotected," cries from staff bloggers that we're in the midst of "a battle over the future of the Internet," and chirpy open letters pleading with FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski for increased federal regulation. The New York Times' editorial board, meanwhile, calls the current situation "untenable" and pins the blame on dear old Dubya, saying that it's all a result of "the Bush administration’s predictably antiregulatory decision to define broadband Internet access as an information service...over which it has little regulatory power." From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Peter Suderman editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Peter Suderman If former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani has anything to say about it, the political sins of the father will be visited on the son. On Patriots Day, Giuliani endorsed Trey Grayson in the Republican primary race for U.S. Senate in Kentucky. But the endorsement had as much to do with GOP frontrunner Rand Paul—and his father, Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas)—as it did Grayson. "Trey Grayson is the candidate in this race who will make the right decisions necessary to keep America safe and prevent more attacks on our homeland," Giuliani said in a statement. "He is not part of the 'blame America first' crowd that wants to bestow the rights of U.S. citizens on terrorists and point fingers at America for somehow causing 9/11." Other prominent hawks have since joined Giuliani in this line of attack. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/like-father-like-son.mp3 70480448-6A6D-4F40-9A40-2FCF7402FF02 Fri, 30 Apr 2010 09:00:22 -0400 If former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani has anything to say about it, the political sins of the father will be visited on the son. If former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani has anything to say about it, the political sins of the father will be visited on the son. On Patriots Day, Giuliani endorsed Trey Grayson in the Republican primary race for U.S. Senate in Kentucky. But the endorsement had as much to do with GOP frontrunner Rand Paul—and his father, Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas)—as it did Grayson. "Trey Grayson is the candidate in this race who will make the right decisions necessary to keep America safe and prevent more attacks on our homeland," Giuliani said in a statement. "He is not part of the 'blame America first' crowd that wants to bestow the rights of U.S. citizens on terrorists and point fingers at America for somehow causing 9/11." Other prominent hawks have since joined Giuliani in this line of attack. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 James Antle editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no James Antle Freddie Peacock of Rochester, New York, was convicted of rape in 1976. This year he became the 250th person to be exonerated by DNA testing since the technique was first used in 1989. According to a new report by the Innocence Project, those 250 prisoners served a total of 3,160 years; 17 spent time on death row. Remarkably, 67 percent of them were convicted after 2000, a decade after the onset of modern DNA testing. The glaring question: How many more are there? From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/how-many-more-are-innocent.mp3 48D2AD20-AC60-4A37-9FC6-D4AD31957ABC Fri, 30 Apr 2010 08:59:27 -0400 Freddie Peacock of Rochester, New York, was convicted of rape in 1976. Freddie Peacock of Rochester, New York, was convicted of rape in 1976. This year he became the 250th person to be exonerated by DNA testing since the technique was first used in 1989. According to a new report by the Innocence Project, those 250 prisoners served a total of 3,160 years; 17 spent time on death row. Remarkably, 67 percent of them were convicted after 2000, a decade after the onset of modern DNA testing. The glaring question: How many more are there? From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Radley Balko editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Radley Balko When you really need something, it's natural to worry about running out of it. Peak oil has been a global preoccupation since the 1970s, and the warnings get louder with each passing year. Environmentalists emphasize the importance of placing limits on consumption of fossil fuels, but haven't been successful in encouraging people to consume less energy—even with the force of law at their backs. But maybe they're going about it all wrong, looking for solutions in the wrong places. Economists Lucas Bretschger and Sjak Smulders argue that the decisive question isn't to focus directly on preserving the resources we already have. Instead, they ask: “Is it realistic to predict that knowledge accumulation is so powerful as to outweigh the physical limits of physical capital services and the limited substitution possibilities for natural resources?” In other words, can increasing scientific knowledge and technological innovation overcome any limitations to economic growth posed by the depletion of non-renewable resources? From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/peak-everything.mp3 43439863-45E6-4032-9CCC-CA5A57DDF1D8 Wed, 28 Apr 2010 14:46:54 -0400 When you really need something, it's natural to worry about running out of it. When you really need something, it's natural to worry about running out of it. Peak oil has been a global preoccupation since the 1970s, and the warnings get louder with each passing year. Environmentalists emphasize the importance of placing limits on consumption of fossil fuels, but haven't been successful in encouraging people to consume less energy—even with the force of law at their backs. But maybe they're going about it all wrong, looking for solutions in the wrong places. Economists Lucas Bretschger and Sjak Smulders argue that the decisive question isn't to focus directly on preserving the resources we already have. Instead, they ask: “Is it realistic to predict that knowledge accumulation is so powerful as to outweigh the physical limits of physical capital services and the limited substitution possibilities for natural resources?” In other words, can increasing scientific knowledge and technological innovation overcome any limitations to economic growth posed by the depletion of non-renewable resources? From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Ronald Bailey editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Ronald Bailey From reading New York Times editorials, I gather that the First Amendment protects celebrities who curse on TV and pit bull enthusiasts who sell dogfighting videos. Yet somehow it does not protect conservative activists who hate Hillary Clinton, Christian student groups that exclude people who engage in extramarital sex, or petition signers who fear harassment if they are publicly identified as opponents of gay marriage. Like the Times, I cheered last week when the Supreme Court overturned the federal ban on depictions of animal cruelty, which was worded broadly enough to cover hunting magazines, bullfight footage, and maybe even Conan the Barbarian. And I agree that the Federal Communications Commission's vague and arbitrary "indecency" regulations, which impose multimillion-dollar fines on broadcasters who accidentally offend bureaucratic sensibilities, should meet the same fate. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/free-speech-for-us.mp3 D47A7EF2-1D60-4DA1-A375-B053B718C392 Wed, 28 Apr 2010 14:45:53 -0400 From reading New York Times editorials, I gather that the First Amendment protects celebrities who curse on TV and pit bull enthusiasts who sell dogfighting videos. From reading New York Times editorials, I gather that the First Amendment protects celebrities who curse on TV and pit bull enthusiasts who sell dogfighting videos. Yet somehow it does not protect conservative activists who hate Hillary Clinton, Christian student groups that exclude people who engage in extramarital sex, or petition signers who fear harassment if they are publicly identified as opponents of gay marriage. Like the Times, I cheered last week when the Supreme Court overturned the federal ban on depictions of animal cruelty, which was worded broadly enough to cover hunting magazines, bullfight footage, and maybe even Conan the Barbarian. And I agree that the Federal Communications Commission's vague and arbitrary "indecency" regulations, which impose multimillion-dollar fines on broadcasters who accidentally offend bureaucratic sensibilities, should meet the same fate. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Jacob Sullum editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Jacob Sullum George Orwell famously said, "If you want a vision of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face—forever." He may still be right. But in today’s age of smart phones, Flip cams, and iPod cameras, there's a pretty good chance someone's going to capture that boot and the face it's smashing and post both to YouTube for all the world to see. Two recent incidents in Maryland illustrate the power of this new and increasingly democratized technology—and highlight just how important it is that the law protect the people who use technology to hold government agents accountable. The first incident made national news. Last March, after the University of Maryland men's basketball team beat Duke, students spilled out into College Park to celebrate. That brought out the riot police. In footage captured by several students with their iPhones, Maryland student Jack McKenna dances down the street with dozens of other students, then stops when he sees two cops on horseback. Unprovoked by McKenna, three riot cops then enter the picture, throw McKenna up against a wall, and begin beating him with their batons. According to attorney Christopher Griffiths—who is representing McKenna and another student, Benjamin Donat—both suffered concussions, contusions, and cuts from the beatings. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/watching-the-detectives.mp3 10EB69EE-BC45-4477-8508-AE542821E905 Tue, 27 Apr 2010 09:26:46 -0400 George Orwell famously said, "If you want a vision of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face—forever." He may still be right. George Orwell famously said, "If you want a vision of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face—forever." He may still be right. But in today’s age of smart phones, Flip cams, and iPod cameras, there's a pretty good chance someone's going to capture that boot and the face it's smashing and post both to YouTube for all the world to see. Two recent incidents in Maryland illustrate the power of this new and increasingly democratized technology—and highlight just how important it is that the law protect the people who use technology to hold government agents accountable. The first incident made national news. Last March, after the University of Maryland men's basketball team beat Duke, students spilled out into College Park to celebrate. That brought out the riot police. In footage captured by several students with their iPhones, Maryland student Jack McKenna dances down the street with dozens of other students, then stops when he sees two cops on horseback. Unprovoked by McKenna, three riot cops then enter the picture, throw McKenna up against a wall, and begin beating him with their batons. According to attorney Christopher Griffiths—who is representing McKenna and another student, Benjamin Donat—both suffered concussions, contusions, and cuts from the beatings. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Radley Balko editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Radley Balko Released two years after the historic failure of investment bank Bear Stearns, The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine, the new book by financial journalist extraordinaire Michael Lewis, doesn’t have a lot of new information to offer us. We already know well-educated idiots had too much control on Wall Street. We already know the ratings agencies offered less accurate analyses of the market than the best guesses of a fifth grade math class. And we already know the banks gamed the system by taking advantage of poorly conceived accounting rules. Still, Lewis’ masterful tale of the known is a must read for all trying to understand why the economy fell apart. Anyone frightened away by the mere mention of a credit default swap will certainly appreciate Lewis’ ability to translate the confusing jumble of pundit-developed theories on the crisis into a readable story for the economically illiterate. And when the reader is done, there will be no doubt as to the folly that captivated Wall Street firms, the ratings agencies, and investors. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/coming-up-short.mp3 74CB9CB9-0E59-49D6-803B-BAC9C34DE2E6 Tue, 27 Apr 2010 09:25:37 -0400 Released two years after the historic failure of investment bank Bear Stearns, The Big Short: Released two years after the historic failure of investment bank Bear Stearns, The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine, the new book by financial journalist extraordinaire Michael Lewis, doesn’t have a lot of new information to offer us. We already know well-educated idiots had too much control on Wall Street. We already know the ratings agencies offered less accurate analyses of the market than the best guesses of a fifth grade math class. And we already know the banks gamed the system by taking advantage of poorly conceived accounting rules. Still, Lewis’ masterful tale of the known is a must read for all trying to understand why the economy fell apart. Anyone frightened away by the mere mention of a credit default swap will certainly appreciate Lewis’ ability to translate the confusing jumble of pundit-developed theories on the crisis into a readable story for the economically illiterate. And when the reader is done, there will be no doubt as to the folly that captivated Wall Street firms, the ratings agencies, and investors. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Anthoney Randazzo editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Anthoney Randazzo The Palestine Liberation Organization and the Irish Republican Army, two of history’s most notorious terrorist groups, have never appeared on the State Department’s List of Designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations. By the time the list was first compiled in 1997, both groups were deemed to be moving away from violence and toward a peaceful resolution of their grievances. Ralph Fertig, president of the Humanitarian Law Project, wants to encourage a similar change within the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a violent separatist group in Turkey. But he worries that doing so will expose him to prosecution for providing “material support” to a terrorist organization, a crime Congress has defined so broadly that it includes a great deal of speech protected by the First Amendment. The Supreme Court, which heard Fertig’s case in February, now has a chance to correct that error. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/the-wide-net-of-material-suppo.mp3 55898520-5B26-4C2B-B512-90E781CE6488 Tue, 27 Apr 2010 06:20:50 -0400 The Palestine Liberation Organization and the Irish Republican Army, two of history’s most notorious terrorist groups, have never appeared on the State Department’s List The Palestine Liberation Organization and the Irish Republican Army, two of history’s most notorious terrorist groups, have never appeared on the State Department’s List of Designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations. By the time the list was first compiled in 1997, both groups were deemed to be moving away from violence and toward a peaceful resolution of their grievances. Ralph Fertig, president of the Humanitarian Law Project, wants to encourage a similar change within the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a violent separatist group in Turkey. But he worries that doing so will expose him to prosecution for providing “material support” to a terrorist organization, a crime Congress has defined so broadly that it includes a great deal of speech protected by the First Amendment. The Supreme Court, which heard Fertig’s case in February, now has a chance to correct that error. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Jacob Sullum editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Jacob Sullum Hundreds of years ago, before the birth of the science of volcanology in the 19th century, mankind looked upon volcanic eruptions as warnings or punishments from the gods. The gods were literally blowing their tops, spewing forth fire and rocks and ash to express their disgust or disappointment with we mere mortals and our habit of messing things up. Now, remarkably, this backward outlook, this idea that volcanoes are somehow semi-sentient forces giving fiery lectures to mankind, is making a comeback thanks to the eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland. The fact that ash from the volcano is spreading across Europe, leading to the grounding of flights and the closure of airports, is being interpreted—even celebrated—as evidence of Nature’s awesome power and “fury” in contrast to weak, pathetic mankind. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/psychedelic-men.mp3 C697C70C-7E45-4B15-8252-1F0D53A98369 Fri, 23 Apr 2010 08:41:21 -0400 Hundreds of years ago, before the birth of the science of volcanology in the 19th century, Hundreds of years ago, before the birth of the science of volcanology in the 19th century, mankind looked upon volcanic eruptions as warnings or punishments from the gods. The gods were literally blowing their tops, spewing forth fire and rocks and ash to express their disgust or disappointment with we mere mortals and our habit of messing things up. Now, remarkably, this backward outlook, this idea that volcanoes are somehow semi-sentient forces giving fiery lectures to mankind, is making a comeback thanks to the eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland. The fact that ash from the volcano is spreading across Europe, leading to the grounding of flights and the closure of airports, is being interpreted—even celebrated—as evidence of Nature’s awesome power and “fury” in contrast to weak, pathetic mankind. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Brenden O'Neill editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Brenden O'Neill Arguably the second most memorable Good Friday in history took place in the basement of Boston University’s Marsh Chapel on April 20, 1962, when a graduate student under the academic direction of Timothy Leary dosed 10 subjects with the hallucinogen psilocybin and another 10 with a placebo containing niacin. Among those receiving psychoactive drugs was the generally sober and eminently respectable MIT religion professor Huston Smith, whose understanding of divinity was forever changed. Smith, author of The Religions of Man, was no slouch when it came to grokking theology in all its manifestations. Yet his “encounter that Good Friday,” writes religion journalist Don Lattin in his thoroughly engaging (if sometimes overblown) book The Harvard Psychedelic Club (HarperOne), “was the most powerful experience he would ever have of God’s personal nature.…From that moment on, he knew that life is a miracle, every moment of it, and that the only appropriate way to respond and be mindful of that gift was to share it with the rest of the world.” From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/psychedelic-men.mp3 9FC9256D-D4D9-4996-BC58-7A4078B3C414 Thu, 22 Apr 2010 16:18:21 -0400 Arguably the second most memorable Good Friday in history took place in the basement of Boston University’s Marsh Chapel on April 20, 1962, Arguably the second most memorable Good Friday in history took place in the basement of Boston University’s Marsh Chapel on April 20, 1962, when a graduate student under the academic direction of Timothy Leary dosed 10 subjects with the hallucinogen psilocybin and another 10 with a placebo containing niacin. Among those receiving psychoactive drugs was the generally sober and eminently respectable MIT religion professor Huston Smith, whose understanding of divinity was forever changed. Smith, author of The Religions of Man, was no slouch when it came to grokking theology in all its manifestations. Yet his “encounter that Good Friday,” writes religion journalist Don Lattin in his thoroughly engaging (if sometimes overblown) book The Harvard Psychedelic Club (HarperOne), “was the most powerful experience he would ever have of God’s personal nature.…From that moment on, he knew that life is a miracle, every moment of it, and that the only appropriate way to respond and be mindful of that gift was to share it with the rest of the world.” From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Nick Gillespie editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Nick Gillespie If we can put a man on the moon, we can re-write the basic laws of supply and demand and get more quality health care, dispensed by fewer providers per patient, at lower prices for all Americans. Sure we can. Just like we ended poverty with the Great Society, and like we’ll impose liberal democracy on the corrupt oligarchy ruling a collection of tribes known as Afghanistan. Landing humans on the lunar surface looks like an easily do-able dream when set beside many of the ideologically and anecdotally driven social, economic, and foreign policy nightmares cooked up by public officials in the last half-century of big government. That truth is explored in the appropriately titled book, If We Can Put a Man on the Moon...: Getting Big Things Done in Government (though, it should be noted, the book doesn’t advocate getting big things done by big government). From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/down-the-health-care-wormhole.mp3 4B60AC6D-84A9-4110-8C6C-799AEF0C876F Tue, 20 Apr 2010 14:43:23 -0400 If we can put a man on the moon, we can re-write the basic laws of supply and demand and get more quality health care, dispensed by fewer providers per patient, If we can put a man on the moon, we can re-write the basic laws of supply and demand and get more quality health care, dispensed by fewer providers per patient, at lower prices for all Americans. Sure we can. Just like we ended poverty with the Great Society, and like we’ll impose liberal democracy on the corrupt oligarchy ruling a collection of tribes known as Afghanistan. Landing humans on the lunar surface looks like an easily do-able dream when set beside many of the ideologically and anecdotally driven social, economic, and foreign policy nightmares cooked up by public officials in the last half-century of big government. That truth is explored in the appropriately titled book, If We Can Put a Man on the Moon...: Getting Big Things Done in Government (though, it should be noted, the book doesn’t advocate getting big things done by big government). From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Terrry Michael editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Terrry Michael When Andrew Joseph Stack, a software consultant with a history of tax troubles and marital problems, crashed his Piper Cherokee into the Austin, Texas, office of the Internal Revenue Service in February, the crime was widely seen as a referendum on the national psyche. Stack, who killed himself and one other person while injuring 13, was said to represent a strain of legitimate grievances in America. In his syndicated column, Richard Parker credited Stack with summing up the American “continuum of disappointment, anxiety, fear and yes, anger” related to economic pressure and income inequality. “On the day of Stack’s violence,” Parker wrote, “everyone I interview who has read his suicide note has the same reaction: No, he should not have tried to kill anyone to make his point and so he deserved to die. And yes, the guy did have a point.” Writing on AlterNet, Rich Benjamin called Stack “an acute symptom of this nation’s neglected wounds,” concluding, “We dismiss his screed, suicide and crime as ‘lunatic’ at our own risk.” From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/the-rise-of-decline.mp3 96DB4313-9E81-4D1C-BB1F-C4ADC3B41D7D Tue, 20 Apr 2010 14:41:54 -0400 When Andrew Joseph Stack, a software consultant with a history of tax troubles and marital problems, When Andrew Joseph Stack, a software consultant with a history of tax troubles and marital problems, crashed his Piper Cherokee into the Austin, Texas, office of the Internal Revenue Service in February, the crime was widely seen as a referendum on the national psyche. Stack, who killed himself and one other person while injuring 13, was said to represent a strain of legitimate grievances in America. In his syndicated column, Richard Parker credited Stack with summing up the American “continuum of disappointment, anxiety, fear and yes, anger” related to economic pressure and income inequality. “On the day of Stack’s violence,” Parker wrote, “everyone I interview who has read his suicide note has the same reaction: No, he should not have tried to kill anyone to make his point and so he deserved to die. And yes, the guy did have a point.” Writing on AlterNet, Rich Benjamin called Stack “an acute symptom of this nation’s neglected wounds,” concluding, “We dismiss his screed, suicide and crime as ‘lunatic’ at our own risk.” From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Tim Cavanaugh editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Tim Cavanaugh “Here’s all I’m trying to say: The planet on which our civilization evolved no longer exists,” asserts environmentalist Bill McKibben in his new book, Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet. “The earth that we knew—the only earth we ever knew—is gone.” According to McKibben, we are about to find ourselves living on a much less friendly planet he calls “Eaarth.” Why? Because the climate is about to get really freaky due to man-made global warming and we’re also about to run out of oil—the apocalypse, courtesy of Peak Temperature and Peak Oil combined. McKibben is no stranger to environmentalist jeremiads, having declared The End of Nature back in 1989 due to global warming and the rise of biotechnology. Twenty years later he’s declaring the end of civilization, at least, as we know it. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/on-being-a-21st-century-peasan.mp3 855D552E-DDE9-475A-AA7E-47B6FB8B0D5D Wed, 14 Apr 2010 17:11:22 -0400 “Here’s all I’m trying to say: The planet on which our civilization evolved no longer exists,” asserts environmentalist Bill McKibben “Here’s all I’m trying to say: The planet on which our civilization evolved no longer exists,” asserts environmentalist Bill McKibben in his new book, Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet. “The earth that we knew—the only earth we ever knew—is gone.” According to McKibben, we are about to find ourselves living on a much less friendly planet he calls “Eaarth.” Why? Because the climate is about to get really freaky due to man-made global warming and we’re also about to run out of oil—the apocalypse, courtesy of Peak Temperature and Peak Oil combined. McKibben is no stranger to environmentalist jeremiads, having declared The End of Nature back in 1989 due to global warming and the rise of biotechnology. Twenty years later he’s declaring the end of civilization, at least, as we know it. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Ronald Bailey editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Ronald Bailey Following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, governments across the world increased airport security, and rightly so. But in a hasty overreaction to that tragic day, Congress gave the job of screening passengers and baggage to a new federal agency: the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). As a result, taxpayers pay for more than 48,000 airport security screeners and TSA has requested nearly $8.2 billion in funding for 2011. Creating the massive bureaucracy was a mistake. Even though the quality of airport screening was low before Sept. 11, it was not a failure of the "rent-a-guard" screeners that let those 19 terrorists board planes "armed" with box cutters. Those "weapons" were perfectly legal at the time. The real failure was one of policy, which didn't make use of passenger history and law enforcement information that should have flagged most of the terrorists as suspicious characters who warranted enhanced scrutiny. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/get-the-government-out-of-airp.mp3 F8F5A19A-6276-4FCF-A438-0778A839A515 Wed, 14 Apr 2010 17:10:16 -0400 Following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, governments across the world increased airport security, and rightly so. Following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, governments across the world increased airport security, and rightly so. But in a hasty overreaction to that tragic day, Congress gave the job of screening passengers and baggage to a new federal agency: the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). As a result, taxpayers pay for more than 48,000 airport security screeners and TSA has requested nearly $8.2 billion in funding for 2011. Creating the massive bureaucracy was a mistake. Even though the quality of airport screening was low before Sept. 11, it was not a failure of the "rent-a-guard" screeners that let those 19 terrorists board planes "armed" with box cutters. Those "weapons" were perfectly legal at the time. The real failure was one of policy, which didn't make use of passenger history and law enforcement information that should have flagged most of the terrorists as suspicious characters who warranted enhanced scrutiny. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Robert Poole editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Robert Poole Retiring Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens is being hailed as a champion of the accused. Stevens, The New York Times editorial board opined, has a "record of being on the side of fairness and justice." The Washington Post lauded that the jurist’s "voice was consistently raised on behalf of those vulnerable to government excesses, especially those accused of or convicted of crimes." Writing at the Legal Times blog, Pamela Harris plausibly argued that as the Court has moved rightward over the last quarter century, Stevens has emerged as the justice "most often sympathetic to defendants' arguments, especially in criminal procedure cases." From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/justice-stevens-champion-of-ci.mp3 C5EAE6E5-9960-4C7D-83B9-9F8FACC671C5 Tue, 13 Apr 2010 09:45:23 -0400 Retiring Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens is being hailed as a champion of the accused. Retiring Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens is being hailed as a champion of the accused. Stevens, The New York Times editorial board opined, has a "record of being on the side of fairness and justice." The Washington Post lauded that the jurist’s "voice was consistently raised on behalf of those vulnerable to government excesses, especially those accused of or convicted of crimes." Writing at the Legal Times blog, Pamela Harris plausibly argued that as the Court has moved rightward over the last quarter century, Stevens has emerged as the justice "most often sympathetic to defendants' arguments, especially in criminal procedure cases." From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Radley Balko editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Radley Balko The Affordable Care Act—otherwise known as ObamaCare—isn't the first attempt to expand health insurance coverage in America. Before Washington passed its law, a number of states took smaller-scale cracks at the job—each of which proved far more expensive than planned. As the nation dives further into debt, the destabilizing fiscal effects of those programs don't bode well for how ObamaCare will shape the U.S. budget. As spectacular failures go, it's hard to do worse than Tennessee. This early state attempt to dramatically increase health coverage, dubbed TennCare, started off promisingly. In 1994, the first year of its operation, the system added half a million new individuals to its rolls. Premiums were cheap—just $2.74 per month for people right above the poverty line—and liberal policy wonks loved it. The Urban Institute, for example, gave it good marks for "improving coverage of the uninsurable or high-risk individuals with very limited access to private coverage." At its peak, the program covered 1.4 million individuals—nearly a quarter of the state's population and more than any other state's Medicaid program—leaving just 6 percent of the state's population uninsured. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/health-cares-history-of-fiscal.mp3 B1534001-C189-4D01-9F51-8EE5E14272E3 Thu, 8 Apr 2010 21:50:30 -0400 The Affordable Care Act—otherwise known as ObamaCare—isn't the first attempt to expand health insurance coverage in America. The Affordable Care Act—otherwise known as ObamaCare—isn't the first attempt to expand health insurance coverage in America. Before Washington passed its law, a number of states took smaller-scale cracks at the job—each of which proved far more expensive than planned. As the nation dives further into debt, the destabilizing fiscal effects of those programs don't bode well for how ObamaCare will shape the U.S. budget. As spectacular failures go, it's hard to do worse than Tennessee. This early state attempt to dramatically increase health coverage, dubbed TennCare, started off promisingly. In 1994, the first year of its operation, the system added half a million new individuals to its rolls. Premiums were cheap—just $2.74 per month for people right above the poverty line—and liberal policy wonks loved it. The Urban Institute, for example, gave it good marks for "improving coverage of the uninsurable or high-risk individuals with very limited access to private coverage." At its peak, the program covered 1.4 million individuals—nearly a quarter of the state's population and more than any other state's Medicaid program—leaving just 6 percent of the state's population uninsured. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Peter Suderman editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Peter Suderman In 2006, when California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a mandate for dramatic reduction of greenhouse gasses into law, the state's economy was in a very different place. Unemployment was 4.5 percent and residents felt rich thanks to inflated home values. Today, 12.5 percent of Californians are out of work, the state is in budgetary meltdown, and Californians are re-evaluating their priorities. Economic distress and skepticism about the power of the state to create "green jobs" are fueling a growing movement to stop deep cuts in emissions standards—which would require Californians to consume 25 to 30 percent less energy than they otherwise would have by 2020—from kicking in. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/red-ink-and-green-jobs.mp3 1BD21552-B02D-40C3-9425-C84886E5C4BA Wed, 7 Apr 2010 05:48:28 -0400 In 2006, when California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a mandate for dramatic reduction of greenhouse gasses into law, the state's economy was in a very different place. In 2006, when California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a mandate for dramatic reduction of greenhouse gasses into law, the state's economy was in a very different place. Unemployment was 4.5 percent and residents felt rich thanks to inflated home values. Today, 12.5 percent of Californians are out of work, the state is in budgetary meltdown, and Californians are re-evaluating their priorities. Economic distress and skepticism about the power of the state to create "green jobs" are fueling a growing movement to stop deep cuts in emissions standards—which would require Californians to consume 25 to 30 percent less energy than they otherwise would have by 2020—from kicking in. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Ronald Bailey editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Ronald Bailey As exercises in bureaucratic hairsplitting go, it is tough to beat the sheer audacity of Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski's recent declaration, "I've been clear repeatedly that we're not going to regulate the Internet." In reality, between its recently released National Broadband Plan and proposed Net neutrality guidelines, that's exactly what the agency is planning to do. The FCC doesn't have clear legal authority to regulate the Internet—in court filings, it has relied on the dubious concept of "ancillary jurisdiction," so it's not surprising that Mr. Genachowski doesn't want to be seen as the No. 1 Net Nanny. And it is telling that not even the head of the FCC wants to court the public perception that Washington is sending bureaucrats to meddle in the nation's communication networks. Indeed, Mr. Genachowski has inadvertently raised the issue of his agency's fundamental value, or lack thereof. Step back, and the real question isn't whether the agency has the authority to regulate the Internet—it's why the FCC has authority to regulate anything. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/the-fcc-doesnt-need-to-be.mp3 1C3B145C-F929-4E58-95D3-75694CC8FCA6 Tue, 6 Apr 2010 06:52:41 -0400 As exercises in bureaucratic hairsplitting go, it is tough to beat the sheer audacity of Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski's recent declaration, As exercises in bureaucratic hairsplitting go, it is tough to beat the sheer audacity of Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski's recent declaration, "I've been clear repeatedly that we're not going to regulate the Internet." In reality, between its recently released National Broadband Plan and proposed Net neutrality guidelines, that's exactly what the agency is planning to do. The FCC doesn't have clear legal authority to regulate the Internet—in court filings, it has relied on the dubious concept of "ancillary jurisdiction," so it's not surprising that Mr. Genachowski doesn't want to be seen as the No. 1 Net Nanny. And it is telling that not even the head of the FCC wants to court the public perception that Washington is sending bureaucrats to meddle in the nation's communication networks. Indeed, Mr. Genachowski has inadvertently raised the issue of his agency's fundamental value, or lack thereof. Step back, and the real question isn't whether the agency has the authority to regulate the Internet—it's why the FCC has authority to regulate anything. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Peter Suderman editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Peter Suderman Last November along the roadside of Richmond Highway, a major thoroughfare in Fairfax County, Virginia, a police officer shot and killed David Masters, an unarmed motorist, as he sat in the driver's seat of his car. Masters, who was bipolar, was wanted for allegedly stealing some flowers from a planter. He had been given a ticket the day before for running a red light and then evading the police officer, though in a slow and not particularly dangerous manner. In January of this year, Fairfax County Commonwealth's Attorney Raymond Morrogh announced through a press release that he would not be filing any charges against the officer who shot Masters. The shooting, Morrogh found, was justified due to a "furtive gesture" by Masters that suggested he had a weapon. The only eyewitness to the furtive gesture was the police officer who pulled the trigger. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/the-nova-police-blackout.mp3 6CBB0332-6386-473B-9DDB-655F18C8A946 Tue, 6 Apr 2010 06:50:22 -0400 Last November along the roadside of Richmond Highway, a major thoroughfare in Fairfax County, Virginia, a police officer shot and killed David Masters, Last November along the roadside of Richmond Highway, a major thoroughfare in Fairfax County, Virginia, a police officer shot and killed David Masters, an unarmed motorist, as he sat in the driver's seat of his car. Masters, who was bipolar, was wanted for allegedly stealing some flowers from a planter. He had been given a ticket the day before for running a red light and then evading the police officer, though in a slow and not particularly dangerous manner. In January of this year, Fairfax County Commonwealth's Attorney Raymond Morrogh announced through a press release that he would not be filing any charges against the officer who shot Masters. The shooting, Morrogh found, was justified due to a "furtive gesture" by Masters that suggested he had a weapon. The only eyewitness to the furtive gesture was the police officer who pulled the trigger. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Radley Balko editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Radley Balko In the essay bookending his translation of Plato’s Republic, Allan Bloom argues that Socrates' intention in philosophizing about the best regime was not to inspire his interlocutors to commit acts of revolution for achievements' sake, but rather to moderate their passions, and hence expectations, by showing that the best city is not, as Bloom’s well-known teacher would say, actualizable. Bloom describes this ardent passion to actualize the perfect city as "the infinite longing for justice on earth" and insists that Socrates "constructs his utopia to point up the dangers of what we would call utopianism." From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/sean-penn-chavista.mp3 723920DF-1260-4281-90D7-BFB42E946BD4 Thu, 1 Apr 2010 16:05:40 -0400 In the essay bookending his translation of Plato’s Republic, Allan Bloom argues that Socrates' intention in philosophizing about the best regime In the essay bookending his translation of Plato’s Republic, Allan Bloom argues that Socrates' intention in philosophizing about the best regime was not to inspire his interlocutors to commit acts of revolution for achievements' sake, but rather to moderate their passions, and hence expectations, by showing that the best city is not, as Bloom’s well-known teacher would say, actualizable. Bloom describes this ardent passion to actualize the perfect city as "the infinite longing for justice on earth" and insists that Socrates "constructs his utopia to point up the dangers of what we would call utopianism." From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Antonio Rumbos editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Antonio Rumbos During the 2008 presidential campaign, candidate Barack Obama pledged to seek “the peace of a world without nuclear weapons.” President Obama has now made a small but significant step toward keeping this promise. Last week, Russian President Dimitry Medvedev and President Obama announced that they will sign a new nuclear arms control agreement in April. And even though Obama is pursuing a disastrous domestic policy agenda—health care reform comes to mind—in this case, he is doing exactly the right thing. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/ridding-the-earth-of-nukes-on.mp3 3A113325-72EA-465A-8922-E3AA9AA52B8F Wed, 31 Mar 2010 09:56:55 -0400 During the 2008 presidential campaign, candidate Barack Obama pledged to seek “the peace of a world without nuclear weapons.” During the 2008 presidential campaign, candidate Barack Obama pledged to seek “the peace of a world without nuclear weapons.” President Obama has now made a small but significant step toward keeping this promise. Last week, Russian President Dimitry Medvedev and President Obama announced that they will sign a new nuclear arms control agreement in April. And even though Obama is pursuing a disastrous domestic policy agenda—health care reform comes to mind—in this case, he is doing exactly the right thing. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Ronald Bailey editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Ronald Bailey There’s something about the metallic pink shimmer of Watermelon Four Loko that immediately sends a scissoring pain to your temple. As for its bouquet, imagine a Jolly Rancher hard candy drowned in a vat of Olde English 800, with perhaps a note or two of off-brand ant poison thrown in for good measure. This may be the first alcoholic beverage that can give you a hangover before you’ve even taken a sip. Get past these shortcomings, though, and Watermelon Four Loko is a party in a can. At 12 percent alcohol by volume, one 23.5-ounce tall boy can legally intoxicate 223 pounds of humanity if consumed in an hour or less. For just $2.99, it also delivers unspecified amounts of caffeine, taurine, guarana, and FD&C Red #40. “I consistently blackout when we pregame with Four,” enthuses one happy customer on the Facebook page of Phusion Projects, the company that produces Four Loko. “Thanks for reminding me what my vomit looks like,” exclaims another. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/too-much-fun.mp3 3DFA093A-5A6D-47DF-8D2F-47CF5E7271C9 Tue, 30 Mar 2010 11:31:05 -0400 There’s something about the metallic pink shimmer of Watermelon Four Loko that immediately sends a scissoring pain to your temple. There’s something about the metallic pink shimmer of Watermelon Four Loko that immediately sends a scissoring pain to your temple. As for its bouquet, imagine a Jolly Rancher hard candy drowned in a vat of Olde English 800, with perhaps a note or two of off-brand ant poison thrown in for good measure. This may be the first alcoholic beverage that can give you a hangover before you’ve even taken a sip. Get past these shortcomings, though, and Watermelon Four Loko is a party in a can. At 12 percent alcohol by volume, one 23.5-ounce tall boy can legally intoxicate 223 pounds of humanity if consumed in an hour or less. For just $2.99, it also delivers unspecified amounts of caffeine, taurine, guarana, and FD&C Red #40. “I consistently blackout when we pregame with Four,” enthuses one happy customer on the Facebook page of Phusion Projects, the company that produces Four Loko. “Thanks for reminding me what my vomit looks like,” exclaims another. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Greg Beato editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Greg Beato Last week Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour signed House Bill 1456, which would require anyone conducting autopsies in the state to be certified in forensic pathology by the American Board of Pathology. The bill was a response to an effort last year by the state's coroners to incorporate themselves into independent districts for the purpose of circumventing existing state law when it comes to death investigations. Specifically, several coroners and district attorneys wanted to bring back disgraced medical examiner Steven Hayne to begin performing autopsies for them again. Hayne was effectively fired in 2008. Department of Public Safety Commissioner Steve Simpson removed Hayne from the list of medical examiners permitted to do autopsies in the state after a series of troubling questions were raised about his work. Two men convicted of murder in part through Hayne’s testimony were released after DNA testing in 2008. The Mississippi Supreme Court threw out Hayne's testimony in another murder case because it lacked any scientific merit. Both Reason and the Innocence Project have repeatedly documented Hayne’s incredible workload, history of questionable testimony, and dubious reputation among colleagues. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/progress-and-challenges-in-mis.mp3 973B65FE-618D-4E3F-B494-FA8B77A3DE3A Tue, 30 Mar 2010 10:29:56 -0400 Last week Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour signed House Bill 1456, which would require anyone conducting autopsies in the state to be certified in forensic pathology by the American Board of Pathology. Last week Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour signed House Bill 1456, which would require anyone conducting autopsies in the state to be certified in forensic pathology by the American Board of Pathology. The bill was a response to an effort last year by the state's coroners to incorporate themselves into independent districts for the purpose of circumventing existing state law when it comes to death investigations. Specifically, several coroners and district attorneys wanted to bring back disgraced medical examiner Steven Hayne to begin performing autopsies for them again. Hayne was effectively fired in 2008. Department of Public Safety Commissioner Steve Simpson removed Hayne from the list of medical examiners permitted to do autopsies in the state after a series of troubling questions were raised about his work. Two men convicted of murder in part through Hayne’s testimony were released after DNA testing in 2008. The Mississippi Supreme Court threw out Hayne's testimony in another murder case because it lacked any scientific merit. Both Reason and the Innocence Project have repeatedly documented Hayne’s incredible workload, history of questionable testimony, and dubious reputation among colleagues. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Radley Balko editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Radley Balko The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, better known as ACORN, will shut its doors as a national operation next week. A wellspring of activism for four decades, the left-wing group has gotten more attention lately for a series of scandals, from an embarrassing embezzlement case at the top of the organization to the hidden-camera videos that captured low-level employees doling out advice on how to operate a brothel without raising red flags at the IRS. Republicans hated the group, which they loved to link to the ideas of the veteran activist Saul Alinsky, a demon figure on the right. But the primary problem with the organization—a trouble running deeper than either corruption or ideology, one with lessons for grassroots activists across the political spectrum—is that ACORN wasn't Alinskyan enough. It may have emerged from the community organizing tradition that Alinsky helped to found, but it also rejected some of his most important advice. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/acorns-original-sin.mp3 4D11F3E6-FCC3-48CC-A9CD-BBFF5F470039 Fri, 26 Mar 2010 21:56:05 -0400 The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, better known as ACORN, will shut its doors as a national operation next week. The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, better known as ACORN, will shut its doors as a national operation next week. A wellspring of activism for four decades, the left-wing group has gotten more attention lately for a series of scandals, from an embarrassing embezzlement case at the top of the organization to the hidden-camera videos that captured low-level employees doling out advice on how to operate a brothel without raising red flags at the IRS. Republicans hated the group, which they loved to link to the ideas of the veteran activist Saul Alinsky, a demon figure on the right. But the primary problem with the organization—a trouble running deeper than either corruption or ideology, one with lessons for grassroots activists across the political spectrum—is that ACORN wasn't Alinskyan enough. It may have emerged from the community organizing tradition that Alinsky helped to found, but it also rejected some of his most important advice. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Jesse Walker editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Jesse Walker For nearly 80 years, contractors working on federally funded construction projects have been forced to pay their workers artificially inflated wages that rip off American taxpayers while lining the pockets of organized labor. The culprit is the Davis-Bacon Act of 1931, which requires all workers on federal projects worth more than $2,000 to be paid the "prevailing wage," which typically means the local union wage. Here's what happens. Unskilled construction workers possess one clear advantage over their skilled, unionized competitors: They're willing to work for less money. But Davis-Bacon destroys that advantage. After all, why would contractors working on a federal project hire any unskilled workers when the government forces them to pay all of their workers what amounts to a union wage? Contractors make the rational choice and get their money's worth by hiring skilled unionized labor even when the project calls for much less. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/repeal-the-davis-bacon-act.mp3 A4E1E302-7CCC-4645-B08E-B6A051356D18 Thu, 25 Mar 2010 13:50:29 -0400 For nearly 80 years, contractors working on federally funded construction projects have been forced to pay their workers artificially inflated wages that rip off American taxpayers while lining the pockets of organized labor. For nearly 80 years, contractors working on federally funded construction projects have been forced to pay their workers artificially inflated wages that rip off American taxpayers while lining the pockets of organized labor. The culprit is the Davis-Bacon Act of 1931, which requires all workers on federal projects worth more than $2,000 to be paid the "prevailing wage," which typically means the local union wage. Here's what happens. Unskilled construction workers possess one clear advantage over their skilled, unionized competitors: They're willing to work for less money. But Davis-Bacon destroys that advantage. After all, why would contractors working on a federal project hire any unskilled workers when the government forces them to pay all of their workers what amounts to a union wage? Contractors make the rational choice and get their money's worth by hiring skilled unionized labor even when the project calls for much less. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Damon W. Root editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Damon W. Root Nancy Pelosi has a one-track mind. Even as her moment of triumph neared this weekend, one could sense that she was a woman who remained unsatisfied. Sure, Rep. Pelosi (D-Calif.)—The Most Powerful Woman in the World™—had just rammed a historic health care reform bill through a fractious House. But Pelosi watchers know that health care reform was really just another way to get her fix. The true object of her desire can be captured in four little words: "jobs, jobs, jobs, and jobs." From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/nancy-pelosi-jobs-junkie.mp3 DA42A631-894F-4611-818E-C71DC8548634 Thu, 25 Mar 2010 13:30:31 -0400 Nancy Pelosi has a one-track mind. Even as her moment of triumph neared this weekend, one could sense that she was a woman who remained unsatisfied. Nancy Pelosi has a one-track mind. Even as her moment of triumph neared this weekend, one could sense that she was a woman who remained unsatisfied. Sure, Rep. Pelosi (D-Calif.)—The Most Powerful Woman in the World™—had just rammed a historic health care reform bill through a fractious House. But Pelosi watchers know that health care reform was really just another way to get her fix. The true object of her desire can be captured in four little words: "jobs, jobs, jobs, and jobs." From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Katherine Mangu-Ward editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Katherine Mangu-Ward March 23, 2020—At the beginning of the last decade, there was great excitement about the future of medicine. Advances in biotechnology, nanotechnology, diagnostics, information technology, stem cell treatments, vaccines, and organ transplants were poised to radically improve the health prospects of Americans. Looking back from 2020, we can see that most of these major biomedical advances failed to materialize. What happened? Three words: health care reform. Thanks to the health care reform legislation, a higher percentage of Americans are now covered by health insurance than ever before—up from 83 percent in 2010 to nearly 95 percent of the legal population now. About half of the newly insured are covered by Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program. Most of the remainder purchased subsidized coverage through the new state insurance exchanges. There have been some improvements in the overall health of Americans. Cardiovascular disease continued its decline because cholesterol lowering statins, which are no longer under patent protection, are more widely prescribed under new federally set treatment guidelines. Over the past 10 years, cancer mortality rates have also continued to decline, at least in part because people now covered by government programs or subsidized insurance now receive earlier cancer screening. Nevertheless, in 2020, cardiovascular disease and cancer remain the leading causes of death among Americans. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/health-care-2020.mp3 3B0E3A6F-B899-4579-AD54-6562BF9F60D3 Wed, 24 Mar 2010 16:15:04 -0400 March 23, 2020—At the beginning of the last decade, there was great excitement about the future of medicine. March 23, 2020—At the beginning of the last decade, there was great excitement about the future of medicine. Advances in biotechnology, nanotechnology, diagnostics, information technology, stem cell treatments, vaccines, and organ transplants were poised to radically improve the health prospects of Americans. Looking back from 2020, we can see that most of these major biomedical advances failed to materialize. What happened? Three words: health care reform. Thanks to the health care reform legislation, a higher percentage of Americans are now covered by health insurance than ever before—up from 83 percent in 2010 to nearly 95 percent of the legal population now. About half of the newly insured are covered by Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program. Most of the remainder purchased subsidized coverage through the new state insurance exchanges. There have been some improvements in the overall health of Americans. Cardiovascular disease continued its decline because cholesterol lowering statins, which are no longer under patent protection, are more widely prescribed under new federally set treatment guidelines. Over the past 10 years, cancer mortality rates have also continued to decline, at least in part because people now covered by government programs or subsidized insurance now receive earlier cancer screening. Nevertheless, in 2020, cardiovascular disease and cancer remain the leading causes of death among Americans. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Ronald Bailey editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Ronald Bailey At the dawn of the new millennium, when the then-successful Internet access company AOL bought out the old-media conglomerate Time Warner, the media historian Robert W. McChesney called it “a violation of any known theory of a free press in a democratic society,” predicting in The American Prospect that the deal would lead to “another round of mergers that should leave the entire realm of communication under the thumbs of a small handful of companies.” The one certainty, McChesney said, “is that the eventual course of the Internet—the central nervous system of our era—will be determined by where the most money can be made, regardless of the social and political implications.” From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/bailing-out-big-brother.mp3 17E02F7E-1956-4386-A19F-0A03B64DB22B Tue, 23 Mar 2010 15:32:36 -0400 At the dawn of the new millennium, when the then-successful Internet access company AOL bought out the old-media conglomerate Time Warner, At the dawn of the new millennium, when the then-successful Internet access company AOL bought out the old-media conglomerate Time Warner, the media historian Robert W. McChesney called it “a violation of any known theory of a free press in a democratic society,” predicting in The American Prospect that the deal would lead to “another round of mergers that should leave the entire realm of communication under the thumbs of a small handful of companies.” The one certainty, McChesney said, “is that the eventual course of the Internet—the central nervous system of our era—will be determined by where the most money can be made, regardless of the social and political implications.” From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Matt Welch editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Matt Welch As Democrats made cable-news victory laps in the wake of securing the necessary votes to pass a massive legislative overhaul of the American health care system, there was much talk of history—making it, watching it, being part of it, answering its call. But Washington's true attitude towards history is that of an abusive conqueror; it's not something to learn from, it's something to triumph over. And in that respect, Democratic health reformers deserve nothing but congratulations. Thanks to their dogged efforts, history—along with the popular will of the American public—has been thoroughly trounced. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/the-lie-of-fiscal-responsibili.mp3 7B488778-16BC-4C97-BBEE-19EAE5F52F5E Tue, 23 Mar 2010 07:05:52 -0400 As Democrats made cable-news victory laps in the wake of securing the necessary votes to pass a massive legislative overhaul of the American health care system, As Democrats made cable-news victory laps in the wake of securing the necessary votes to pass a massive legislative overhaul of the American health care system, there was much talk of history—making it, watching it, being part of it, answering its call. But Washington's true attitude towards history is that of an abusive conqueror; it's not something to learn from, it's something to triumph over. And in that respect, Democratic health reformers deserve nothing but congratulations. Thanks to their dogged efforts, history—along with the popular will of the American public—has been thoroughly trounced. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Peter Suderman editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Peter Suderman "Every successful [political] campaign," Jon Taplin noted last month over at TPMCafe, "has a narrative." And "if there's one note that runs through many of the theories as to why Obama has disappointed in Year One," The New York Times' Frank Rich added two weeks ago, "it cuts to the heart of what had been his major strength: his ability to communicate a compelling narrative." What does "narrative" mean in this context? "An overarching goal that explains, unifies, and gives motive to his multiple initiatives," said Dan Payne in the Boston Globe. Or if you prefer neuro-management-speak, try Forbes columnist Nick Morgan: "Because our brains retain stories better than any other form of information, we develop shortcuts to handle all the information we need to in the modern world. The most important shortcut is the narrative. The narrative is the quick story that has developed over a long period of time for any organization, company or important public figure. It's the way we store and organize the information." From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/the-obama-narrative-narrative.mp3 13C11D36-46A8-4286-B6DE-F4B3877BB55F Fri, 19 Mar 2010 10:49:18 -0400 "Every successful [political] campaign," Jon Taplin noted last month over at TPMCafe, "has a narrative." "Every successful [political] campaign," Jon Taplin noted last month over at TPMCafe, "has a narrative." And "if there's one note that runs through many of the theories as to why Obama has disappointed in Year One," The New York Times' Frank Rich added two weeks ago, "it cuts to the heart of what had been his major strength: his ability to communicate a compelling narrative." What does "narrative" mean in this context? "An overarching goal that explains, unifies, and gives motive to his multiple initiatives," said Dan Payne in the Boston Globe. Or if you prefer neuro-management-speak, try Forbes columnist Nick Morgan: "Because our brains retain stories better than any other form of information, we develop shortcuts to handle all the information we need to in the modern world. The most important shortcut is the narrative. The narrative is the quick story that has developed over a long period of time for any organization, company or important public figure. It's the way we store and organize the information." From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Matt Welch editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Matt Welch Cleveland made an important commitment to banishing the moniker “the Mistake on the Lake” in the 1980s and 1990s. Sound fiscal management under then Mayors George Voinovich and Michael White kept Cleveland from falling too far off the cliff. The city invested hundreds of millions of dollars into its downtown Gateway Entertainment District, building a professional basketball arena, a new stadium for the Indians baseball team, and a new stadium on the shores of Lake Erie for the Cleveland Browns. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/how-to-create-real-urban-redev.mp3 C14FAAC3-02BA-4045-A9C7-794F8475741C Fri, 19 Mar 2010 10:48:23 -0400 Cleveland made an important commitment to banishing the moniker “the Mistake on the Lake” in the 1980s and 1990s. Cleveland made an important commitment to banishing the moniker “the Mistake on the Lake” in the 1980s and 1990s. Sound fiscal management under then Mayors George Voinovich and Michael White kept Cleveland from falling too far off the cliff. The city invested hundreds of millions of dollars into its downtown Gateway Entertainment District, building a professional basketball arena, a new stadium for the Indians baseball team, and a new stadium on the shores of Lake Erie for the Cleveland Browns. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Sam Staley editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Sam Staley The Internet and globalization have both made it possible to operate a business from virtually anywhere and still serve a wide range of customers. Most firms no longer need to be located in downtowns or large financial districts. This flexibility has made it easier than ever for businesses to leave cities that have an unfavorable tax and regulatory climate. American cities in decline are largely victims of their own failure to take a fresh look at how the economy continuously repositions itself in an information-driven, globally competitive world market, and respond with policies that encourage entrepreneurial investment, private sector growth, and local consumption of goods, services, and housing. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/how-cities-can-take-care-of-bu.mp3 950BAB35-A206-47A9-9D15-DA3AF0CE5629 Thu, 18 Mar 2010 11:29:16 -0400 The Internet and globalization have both made it possible to operate a business from virtually anywhere and still serve a wide range of customers. The Internet and globalization have both made it possible to operate a business from virtually anywhere and still serve a wide range of customers. Most firms no longer need to be located in downtowns or large financial districts. This flexibility has made it easier than ever for businesses to leave cities that have an unfavorable tax and regulatory climate. American cities in decline are largely victims of their own failure to take a fresh look at how the economy continuously repositions itself in an information-driven, globally competitive world market, and respond with policies that encourage entrepreneurial investment, private sector growth, and local consumption of goods, services, and housing. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Anthony Randazzo editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Anthony Randazzo Last May the Obama administration forced South Carolina not just to take its share of federal stimulus funds, but to spend the money on new programs rather than paying down the state’s debt. I was horrified. Obama, I felt, had killed fiscal federalism. Then I realized that fiscal federalism has been dead for a long time. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/the-death-of-fiscal-federalism.mp3 8B52032B-9875-4867-8FF5-48DE37EFA602 Thu, 18 Mar 2010 11:27:34 -0400 Last May the Obama administration forced South Carolina not just to take its share of federal stimulus funds, Last May the Obama administration forced South Carolina not just to take its share of federal stimulus funds, but to spend the money on new programs rather than paying down the state’s debt. I was horrified. Obama, I felt, had killed fiscal federalism. Then I realized that fiscal federalism has been dead for a long time. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Veronique de Rugy editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Veronique de Rugy To hear them tell it, the five police agencies who apprehended 39-year-old Oregonian David Pyles early on the morning of March 8 thwarted another lone wolf mass murderer. The police "were able to successfully take a potentially volatile male subject into protective custody for a mental evaluation," announced a press release put out by the Medford, Oregon, police department. The subject had recently been placed on administrative leave from his job, was "very disgruntled," and had recently purchased several firearms. "Local Law Enforcement agencies were extremely concerned that the subject was planning retaliation against his employers," the release said. Fortunately, Pyles "voluntarily" turned himself over to police custody, and the legally purchased firearms "were seized for safekeeping." From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/pre-crime-policing.mp3 381A1257-5A24-401D-90AA-A6E17A10BEF1 Wed, 17 Mar 2010 09:41:52 -0400 To hear them tell it, the five police agencies who apprehended 39-year-old Oregonian David Pyles early on the morning of March 8 thwarted another lone wolf mass murderer. To hear them tell it, the five police agencies who apprehended 39-year-old Oregonian David Pyles early on the morning of March 8 thwarted another lone wolf mass murderer. The police "were able to successfully take a potentially volatile male subject into protective custody for a mental evaluation," announced a press release put out by the Medford, Oregon, police department. The subject had recently been placed on administrative leave from his job, was "very disgruntled," and had recently purchased several firearms. "Local Law Enforcement agencies were extremely concerned that the subject was planning retaliation against his employers," the release said. Fortunately, Pyles "voluntarily" turned himself over to police custody, and the legally purchased firearms "were seized for safekeeping." From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Radley Balko editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Radley Balko Tales of runaway cars have a long history. The first sudden acceleration study by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) was done in 1978 and the agency had conducted more than 100 investigations involving 20 manufacturers by 1990. By the mid-1980s, the NHTSA, prodded by the Naderite Center for Auto Safety, was looking into a couple of thousand sudden acceleration incidents. A Nexis search finds that by 1987, NHSTA was reportedly investigating sudden acceleration in over 10 million vehicles involving models from Ford, GM, Chrysler, Nissan, Toyota, Honda, Volvo, and Audi. The Center for Auto Safety—which is closely associated with plaintiffs’ attorneys—claimed that sudden acceleration had resulted in more than 2,000 accidents, at least 650 injuries, and 23 fatalities among the car models under investigation. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/the-wrong-kind-of-toyotathon.mp3 3A4CC86E-EC50-4FC4-9563-92B8FC99DD38 Wed, 17 Mar 2010 09:40:56 -0400 Tales of runaway cars have a long history. Tales of runaway cars have a long history. The first sudden acceleration study by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) was done in 1978 and the agency had conducted more than 100 investigations involving 20 manufacturers by 1990. By the mid-1980s, the NHTSA, prodded by the Naderite Center for Auto Safety, was looking into a couple of thousand sudden acceleration incidents. A Nexis search finds that by 1987, NHSTA was reportedly investigating sudden acceleration in over 10 million vehicles involving models from Ford, GM, Chrysler, Nissan, Toyota, Honda, Volvo, and Audi. The Center for Auto Safety—which is closely associated with plaintiffs’ attorneys—claimed that sudden acceleration had resulted in more than 2,000 accidents, at least 650 injuries, and 23 fatalities among the car models under investigation. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Ronald Bailey editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Ronald Bailey Out-of-control costs, struggling students, failing schools. Welcome to urban America's public school system, which drives away parents who want their children to be prepared for the future. Recently, these failures have been increasingly highlighted by the flight from traditional K-12 schools to charter school programs. Charters are publicly funded schools that get less in tax dollars than conventional schools but have far more autonomy in creating and implementing curricula. A July 2009 article in The Wall Street Journal, "Detroit Schools on the Brink," details how Detroit Public Schools (DPS) have lost tens of thousands of students to charter schools and suburban districts in recent years. This is due to DPS's graduation rate of less than 58 percent and overall track record of dismal student performance. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/proven-policies-to-fix-failing.mp3 D4A7583A-6379-4205-85C0-2B42032A6613 Tue, 16 Mar 2010 10:24:50 -0400 Out-of-control costs, struggling students, failing schools. Out-of-control costs, struggling students, failing schools. Welcome to urban America's public school system, which drives away parents who want their children to be prepared for the future. Recently, these failures have been increasingly highlighted by the flight from traditional K-12 schools to charter school programs. Charters are publicly funded schools that get less in tax dollars than conventional schools but have far more autonomy in creating and implementing curricula. A July 2009 article in The Wall Street Journal, "Detroit Schools on the Brink," details how Detroit Public Schools (DPS) have lost tens of thousands of students to charter schools and suburban districts in recent years. This is due to DPS's graduation rate of less than 58 percent and overall track record of dismal student performance. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Lisa Snell editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Lisa Snell The ongoing recession has raised a troubling question for otherwise resurgent Keynesian economists: How can the American economy keep getting worse under the intensive care of an interventionist economic team almost universally praised for its brilliance? The answer may be that the Obama administration is dealing with a fictional economy, one that bears little resemblance to the economy the rest of us inhabit. And when the difference between fact and fiction becomes too apparent, they just make stuff up. Herewith, five big lies the administration loves to tell and the mainstream media (with some notable exceptions) love to repeat: From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/five-lies-about-the-american-e.mp3 C7D143F4-B6F6-4161-993D-FDCC796BED5A Fri, 12 Mar 2010 12:01:33 -0500 The ongoing recession has raised a troubling question for otherwise resurgent Keynesian economists: The ongoing recession has raised a troubling question for otherwise resurgent Keynesian economists: How can the American economy keep getting worse under the intensive care of an interventionist economic team almost universally praised for its brilliance? The answer may be that the Obama administration is dealing with a fictional economy, one that bears little resemblance to the economy the rest of us inhabit. And when the difference between fact and fiction becomes too apparent, they just make stuff up. Herewith, five big lies the administration loves to tell and the mainstream media (with some notable exceptions) love to repeat: From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Tim Cavanaugh editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Tim Cavanaugh Grand Cayman Island—If sea turtle tasted like chicken, I’d fess up, but it really does taste like veal. I grew up occasionally eating mud turtles pulled out of the ponds on my family’s farm. And mud turtle does taste like chicken. (Legs from freshly butchered mud turtles also writhe when you toss a bit of salt on them, as my startled mother once found out.) So I was pleasantly surprised to discover just how delicious well-prepared green sea turtle steak tasted with a port wine reduction sauce at the Over the Edge restaurant during a recent visit to Grand Cayman Island. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/sea-turtle-tastes-like-veal.mp3 56EA56C6-5E45-42E8-81C0-0BD28A338CDA Wed, 10 Mar 2010 09:56:38 -0500 Grand Cayman Island—If sea turtle tasted like chicken, I’d fess up, but it really does taste like veal. Grand Cayman Island—If sea turtle tasted like chicken, I’d fess up, but it really does taste like veal. I grew up occasionally eating mud turtles pulled out of the ponds on my family’s farm. And mud turtle does taste like chicken. (Legs from freshly butchered mud turtles also writhe when you toss a bit of salt on them, as my startled mother once found out.) So I was pleasantly surprised to discover just how delicious well-prepared green sea turtle steak tasted with a port wine reduction sauce at the Over the Edge restaurant during a recent visit to Grand Cayman Island. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Ronald Bailey editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Ronald Bailey Here’s how predictable the president’s slippery relationship with the truth has become: Hours before the State of the Union address, Washington Examiner reporter Timothy P. Carney posted a “pre-emptive fact check” that, among other things, prebutted any presidential claim to have “stopped the revolving door between government and corporate lobbying.” As it happened, that night Barack Obama made an even bolder (read: less truthful) claim: that “we’ve excluded lobbyists from policymaking jobs.” From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/obama-and-the-l-word.mp3 8134B2CF-88DC-422A-8750-CEE41A0E92CF Tue, 9 Mar 2010 11:39:25 -0500 Here’s how predictable the president’s slippery relationship with the truth has become: Here’s how predictable the president’s slippery relationship with the truth has become: Hours before the State of the Union address, Washington Examiner reporter Timothy P. Carney posted a “pre-emptive fact check” that, among other things, prebutted any presidential claim to have “stopped the revolving door between government and corporate lobbying.” As it happened, that night Barack Obama made an even bolder (read: less truthful) claim: that “we’ve excluded lobbyists from policymaking jobs.” From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Matt Welch editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Matt Welch One of the central themes of the critically acclaimed HBO series The Wire was the pressure politicians put on police brass, who then apply it to the department’s middle management, to generate PR-friendly statistics about lowering crime and increasing arrests. The show, based in part on co-creator Ed Burns' experience as a narcotics cop at the Baltimore Police Department, was a running narration of the chasm between what politicians and the public consider to be effective crime fighting techniques and what measures actually make cities safer. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/the-other-broken-window-fallac.mp3 FD31B302-E02F-45B4-B2A5-BFC0CAE5CE17 Tue, 9 Mar 2010 11:39:23 -0500 One of the central themes of the critically acclaimed HBO series The Wire was the pressure politicians put on police brass, One of the central themes of the critically acclaimed HBO series The Wire was the pressure politicians put on police brass, who then apply it to the department’s middle management, to generate PR-friendly statistics about lowering crime and increasing arrests. The show, based in part on co-creator Ed Burns' experience as a narcotics cop at the Baltimore Police Department, was a running narration of the chasm between what politicians and the public consider to be effective crime fighting techniques and what measures actually make cities safer. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Radley Balko editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Radley Balko Taxpayers have already spent more than $111 billion bailing out mortgage giants Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, and that's going to be just the tip of the iceberg. Instead of limiting Fannie's and Freddie's bailouts to $400 billion as first planned, the Treasury quietly announced (on Christmas Eve, no less) that it would offer the two firms unlimited bailouts. This puts taxpayers on the hook for any losses the two firms suffer. And there will be lots of losses. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/bulldozing-the-american-dream.mp3 526E8B36-CEB9-4A80-873D-9EE81EFD2F5C Tue, 9 Mar 2010 11:38:12 -0500 Taxpayers have already spent more than $111 billion bailing out mortgage giants Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, and that's going to be just the tip of the iceberg. Taxpayers have already spent more than $111 billion bailing out mortgage giants Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, and that's going to be just the tip of the iceberg. Instead of limiting Fannie's and Freddie's bailouts to $400 billion as first planned, the Treasury quietly announced (on Christmas Eve, no less) that it would offer the two firms unlimited bailouts. This puts taxpayers on the hook for any losses the two firms suffer. And there will be lots of losses. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Anthony Randazzo editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Anthony Randazzo The word "raw" sounds like something exciting and maybe a little dangerous. It makes you think of bloody steaks and wrestlers and untanned hides. "Milk," on the other hand, evokes just the opposite: motherhood, kids with sippy cups, and Oscar-winning movies. Maybe it’s the uncomfortable juxtaposition of the two ideas that makes certain people so nervous about raw milk. As demand increases, state legislators, regulators and courts are all reexamining the issue of raw milk. But as some jurisdictions legalize while others crack down, farmers and milk drinkers are stuck in limbo. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/a-raw-deal.mp3 2D28E469-1278-4315-88AF-F6198B87D5DD Wed, 3 Mar 2010 20:45:09 -0500 The word "raw" sounds like something exciting and maybe a little dangerous. The word "raw" sounds like something exciting and maybe a little dangerous. It makes you think of bloody steaks and wrestlers and untanned hides. "Milk," on the other hand, evokes just the opposite: motherhood, kids with sippy cups, and Oscar-winning movies. Maybe it’s the uncomfortable juxtaposition of the two ideas that makes certain people so nervous about raw milk. As demand increases, state legislators, regulators and courts are all reexamining the issue of raw milk. But as some jurisdictions legalize while others crack down, farmers and milk drinkers are stuck in limbo. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Katherine Mangu-Ward editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Katherine Mangu-Ward In recent years Britain has become the Willy Wonka of social control, churning out increasingly creepy, bizarre, and fantastic methods for policing the populace. But our weaponization of classical music—where Mozart, Beethoven, and other greats have been turned into tools of state repression—marks a new low. We’re already the kings of CCTV. An estimated 20 per cent of the world’s CCTV cameras are in the UK, a remarkable achievement for an island that occupies only 0.2 per cent of the world’s inhabitable landmass. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/weoponizing-mozart.mp3 44DCD3C5-60D1-42D3-BA58-C3C34267C3C6 Thu, 25 Feb 2010 10:41:32 -0500 In recent years Britain has become the Willy Wonka of social control, churning out increasingly creepy, bizarre, and fantastic methods for policing the populace. In recent years Britain has become the Willy Wonka of social control, churning out increasingly creepy, bizarre, and fantastic methods for policing the populace. But our weaponization of classical music—where Mozart, Beethoven, and other greats have been turned into tools of state repression—marks a new low. We’re already the kings of CCTV. An estimated 20 per cent of the world’s CCTV cameras are in the UK, a remarkable achievement for an island that occupies only 0.2 per cent of the world’s inhabitable landmass. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Brendan O'Neill editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Brendan O'Neill Is man-made global warming happening? Can nuclear waste be stored safely? Do concealed handguns reduce violence? Think about those questions for a minute. Then think about your thinking: Why do you hold those particular views on these controversial issues? And do scientific experts agree with you? The Yale Cultural Cognition Project has been probing the question of cultural polarization over scientific risk issues for a number of years. The project’s latest working paper, “Cultural Cognition of Scientific Consensus,” analyzes the question: “Why do members of the public disagree—sharply and persistently—about facts on which expert scientists largely agree?” As examples of strong expert scientific consensus, researchers led by Yale University law professor Daniel Kahan selected three recent National Academy of Sciences (NAS) reports dealing with climate change, nuclear waste, and gun possession. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/everyone-who-knows-what-they-a.mp3 F2390ED4-3593-45CC-8437-DAB73020790D Wed, 24 Feb 2010 14:12:06 -0500 Is man-made global warming happening? Can nuclear waste be stored safely? Is man-made global warming happening? Can nuclear waste be stored safely? Do concealed handguns reduce violence? Think about those questions for a minute. Then think about your thinking: Why do you hold those particular views on these controversial issues? And do scientific experts agree with you? The Yale Cultural Cognition Project has been probing the question of cultural polarization over scientific risk issues for a number of years. The project’s latest working paper, “Cultural Cognition of Scientific Consensus,” analyzes the question: “Why do members of the public disagree—sharply and persistently—about facts on which expert scientists largely agree?” As examples of strong expert scientific consensus, researchers led by Yale University law professor Daniel Kahan selected three recent National Academy of Sciences (NAS) reports dealing with climate change, nuclear waste, and gun possession. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Ronald Bailey editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Ronald Bailey Covering up the inconvenient facts of his résumé, donning new identities the way other men change suits, the hidden persuader at the center of AMC’s Mad Men has a talent for duplicity that would seem to place him squarely in pop culture’s rich canon of ad industry villains. But even with his fake name, appropriated past, perfect show family, and less than ethical approach to client management, Don Draper stands apart from the cynics, hoodwinks, hacks, and evil mesmerists who populate the pages of such anti-advertising tomes as The Hucksters, The Hidden Persuaders, and No Logo. At home in his dining room or at a fancy restaurant wooing clients, Draper may be a lying, boozing con man. But when he’s in his office, dreaming up catch phrases to sell products, the specters of candor and authenticity possess him. “You are the product,” Draper tells a neophyte copywriter. “You, feeling something. That’s what sells.” He doesn’t just want to sell us the sizzle of girdles and popsicles; he wants to sell us their souls. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/the-visible-persuaders.mp3 1D436A7F-E63F-4E3F-9444-4EBFF0B86E07 Mon, 22 Feb 2010 10:13:17 -0500 Covering up the inconvenient facts of his résumé, donning new identities the way other men change suits, the hidden persuader at the center of AMC’s Mad Men Covering up the inconvenient facts of his résumé, donning new identities the way other men change suits, the hidden persuader at the center of AMC’s Mad Men has a talent for duplicity that would seem to place him squarely in pop culture’s rich canon of ad industry villains. But even with his fake name, appropriated past, perfect show family, and less than ethical approach to client management, Don Draper stands apart from the cynics, hoodwinks, hacks, and evil mesmerists who populate the pages of such anti-advertising tomes as The Hucksters, The Hidden Persuaders, and No Logo. At home in his dining room or at a fancy restaurant wooing clients, Draper may be a lying, boozing con man. But when he’s in his office, dreaming up catch phrases to sell products, the specters of candor and authenticity possess him. “You are the product,” Draper tells a neophyte copywriter. “You, feeling something. That’s what sells.” He doesn’t just want to sell us the sizzle of girdles and popsicles; he wants to sell us their souls. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Greg Beato editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Greg Beato “Gene therapy has had a tough decade, because of poor safety outcomes,” says Ramez Naam, a nanotechnology researcher, winner of the H.G. Wells Award for Contributions to Transhumanism, and author of the 2005 book More Than Human: Embracing the Promise of Biological Enhancement. Naam is referring to the case of Jesse Gelsinger, an 18-year-old suffering from an inherited liver disorder who died in 1999 when an experimental genetic treatment by University of Pennsylvania researchers caused a traumatic immune reaction. But he could just as well be describing the entire field of organic human enhancement. These days transhumanists talk a lot about subcutaneous data ports, permanent immersion in virtual reality, even extending male life spans by removing the gonads. But they spend noticeably little time considering enhancement through inheritable, rather than mechanical, means. “I don’t know why biological stuff is off the plate,” says Greg Fahy, chief scientific officer at Twenty-First Century Medicine Inc. “It’s just not the flavor of the day.” From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/wake-me-up-when-men-get-pregna.mp3 7438DFDB-D9F6-487B-9BC4-F5DDF24E0B4C Mon, 22 Feb 2010 10:12:10 -0500 “Gene therapy has had a tough decade, because of poor safety outcomes,” says Ramez Naam, “Gene therapy has had a tough decade, because of poor safety outcomes,” says Ramez Naam, a nanotechnology researcher, winner of the H.G. Wells Award for Contributions to Transhumanism, and author of the 2005 book More Than Human: Embracing the Promise of Biological Enhancement. Naam is referring to the case of Jesse Gelsinger, an 18-year-old suffering from an inherited liver disorder who died in 1999 when an experimental genetic treatment by University of Pennsylvania researchers caused a traumatic immune reaction. But he could just as well be describing the entire field of organic human enhancement. These days transhumanists talk a lot about subcutaneous data ports, permanent immersion in virtual reality, even extending male life spans by removing the gonads. But they spend noticeably little time considering enhancement through inheritable, rather than mechanical, means. “I don’t know why biological stuff is off the plate,” says Greg Fahy, chief scientific officer at Twenty-First Century Medicine Inc. “It’s just not the flavor of the day.” From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Tim Cavanaugh editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Tim Cavanaugh When a president suffers a sharp decline in popularity early in his term, it seems safe to conclude he has badly misjudged the mood of the electorate, pushed the wrong policies, and set himself on the path to becoming a one-term president. That, it's widely agreed, is the sad tale of Barack Obama, who has managed to demoralize liberals while inspiring a wave of gloating among conservatives. A new CNN/Opinion Research poll finds that already, most Americans want to vote him out in 2012. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/the-real-reason-for-obamas-unp.mp3 5FC454E0-ADB7-4A8B-8D0D-47722F6B64B1 Sun, 21 Feb 2010 02:24:37 -0500 When a president suffers a sharp decline in popularity early in his term, it seems safe to conclude he has badly misjudged the mood of the electorate, pushed the wrong policies, and set himself on the path to becoming a one-term president. When a president suffers a sharp decline in popularity early in his term, it seems safe to conclude he has badly misjudged the mood of the electorate, pushed the wrong policies, and set himself on the path to becoming a one-term president. That, it's widely agreed, is the sad tale of Barack Obama, who has managed to demoralize liberals while inspiring a wave of gloating among conservatives. A new CNN/Opinion Research poll finds that already, most Americans want to vote him out in 2012. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Steve Chapman editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Steve Chapman All of you deniers and flat-earthers who are exploiting the glacial temperatures and bizarre snowfall to mock global warming fears are missing the point: Weather isn't the same as climate. Shoddy evidence, bogus fears, and a lack of transparency, on the other hand, are worth talking about. Yet the lack of skepticism by those who claim a sacred deference to scientific integrity proves that flat-earthers aren't the only ones susceptible to some faith-based ideology. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/who-doesnt-trust-science-now.mp3 C9A2A9FE-E28F-444B-8BE9-141087EB5C41 Sun, 21 Feb 2010 02:20:51 -0500 All of you deniers and flat-earthers who are exploiting the glacial temperatures and bizarre snowfall to mock global warming fears are missing the point: Weather isn't the same as climate. All of you deniers and flat-earthers who are exploiting the glacial temperatures and bizarre snowfall to mock global warming fears are missing the point: Weather isn't the same as climate. Shoddy evidence, bogus fears, and a lack of transparency, on the other hand, are worth talking about. Yet the lack of skepticism by those who claim a sacred deference to scientific integrity proves that flat-earthers aren't the only ones susceptible to some faith-based ideology. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 David Harsanyi editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no David Harsanyi The Palestine Liberation Organization and the Irish Republican Army, two of history’s most notorious terrorist groups, have never appeared on the State Department’s List of Designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations. By the time the list was first compiled in 1997, both groups were deemed to be moving away from violence and toward a peaceful resolution of their grievances. Ralph Fertig, president of the Humanitarian Law Project, wants to encourage a similar change within the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, a violent separatist group in Turkey also known as the PKK (its Kurdish initials). But he worries that doing so will expose him to prosecution for providing "material support" to a terrorist organization, a crime Congress has defined so broadly that it includes a great deal of speech protected by the First Amendment. When it hears Fertig’s case next week, the Supreme Court will have a chance to correct that error. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/list-price.mp3 53DB0797-0744-422E-BA4D-795BC80F442E Sun, 21 Feb 2010 02:17:45 -0500 The Palestine Liberation Organization and the Irish Republican Army, two of history’s most notorious terrorist groups, have never appeared on the State Department’s List of Designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations. The Palestine Liberation Organization and the Irish Republican Army, two of history’s most notorious terrorist groups, have never appeared on the State Department’s List of Designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations. By the time the list was first compiled in 1997, both groups were deemed to be moving away from violence and toward a peaceful resolution of their grievances. Ralph Fertig, president of the Humanitarian Law Project, wants to encourage a similar change within the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, a violent separatist group in Turkey also known as the PKK (its Kurdish initials). But he worries that doing so will expose him to prosecution for providing "material support" to a terrorist organization, a crime Congress has defined so broadly that it includes a great deal of speech protected by the First Amendment. When it hears Fertig’s case next week, the Supreme Court will have a chance to correct that error. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Jacob Sullum editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Jacob Sullum In November, President Barack Obama issued an executive order establishing a new Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues. He appointed political scientist and University of Pennsylvania president Amy Gutmann as the chair of the new Bioethics Commission. Such commissions are charged with working through tough questions about intellectual property rights, the protection of human research subjects, scientific integrity and conflicts of interest in research, and the intersection of science and human rights. In his order, the president empowers the commission to “identify and examine specific bioethical, legal, and social issues related to the potential impacts of advances in biomedical and behavioral research, healthcare delivery, or other areas of science and technology.” From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/the-presidential-commission-on.mp3 6290FF69-9299-455B-94CC-F5A4194538E4 Wed, 17 Feb 2010 12:15:47 -0500 In November, President Barack Obama issued an executive order establishing a new Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues. In November, President Barack Obama issued an executive order establishing a new Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues. He appointed political scientist and University of Pennsylvania president Amy Gutmann as the chair of the new Bioethics Commission. Such commissions are charged with working through tough questions about intellectual property rights, the protection of human research subjects, scientific integrity and conflicts of interest in research, and the intersection of science and human rights. In his order, the president empowers the commission to “identify and examine specific bioethical, legal, and social issues related to the potential impacts of advances in biomedical and behavioral research, healthcare delivery, or other areas of science and technology.” From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Ronald Bailey editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Ronald Bailey On December 7, as delegates from around the world gathered in Copenhagen for the United Nations climate conference, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson announced that her bureaucracy would begin to regulate the emission of carbon dioxide and other gases deemed to be warming the planet. “Today, I’m proud to announce that EPA has finalized its endangerment finding on greenhouse gas pollution,” Jackson proclaimed. As a consequence, the agency “is now authorized and obligated to take reasonable efforts to reduce greenhouse pollutants under the Clean Air Act.” From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/the-epas-carbon-footprint.mp3 85AE74A6-F483-4A63-B8D3-600AE5DB7D2A Tue, 16 Feb 2010 12:09:08 -0500 On December 7, as delegates from around the world gathered in Copenhagen for the United Nations climate conference, On December 7, as delegates from around the world gathered in Copenhagen for the United Nations climate conference, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson announced that her bureaucracy would begin to regulate the emission of carbon dioxide and other gases deemed to be warming the planet. “Today, I’m proud to announce that EPA has finalized its endangerment finding on greenhouse gas pollution,” Jackson proclaimed. As a consequence, the agency “is now authorized and obligated to take reasonable efforts to reduce greenhouse pollutants under the Clean Air Act.” From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Jonathan Adler editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Jonathan Adler Congress says that the health care package it passed at the end of 2009 will cost roughly $900 billion over 10 years—and will somehow end up saving taxpayers money in the long run. If you think that sounds unlikely, you’re right. With the federal government, massive cost overruns are the rule, not the exception. The $700 billion cost of the war in Iraq dwarfs the $50 billion to $60 billion that Mitch Daniels, then director of the Office of Management and Budget, predicted at the outset. In 1967 long-run forecasts estimated that Medicare would cost about $12 billion by 1990. In reality, it cost more than $98 billion that year. Today it costs $500 billion. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com http://media.blubrry.com/reason/traffic.libsyn.com/reason/congress-phony-price-tags.mp3 14C460BC-15F5-49C9-B6A7-044B255F1971 Tue, 16 Feb 2010 12:07:44 -0500 Congress says that the health care package it passed at the end of 2009 will cost roughly $900 billion over 10 years—and will somehow end up saving taxpayers money in the long run. Congress says that the health care package it passed at the end of 2009 will cost roughly $900 billion over 10 years—and will somehow end up saving taxpayers money in the long run. If you think that sounds unlikely, you’re right. With the federal government, massive cost overruns are the rule, not the exception. The $700 billion cost of the war in Iraq dwarfs the $50 billion to $60 billion that Mitch Daniels, then director of the Office of Management and Budget, predicted at the outset. In 1967 long-run forecasts estimated that Medicare would cost about $12 billion by 1990. In reality, it cost more than $98 billion that year. Today it costs $500 billion. From OutloudOpinion - For Podcasts of IBDeditorials, The New Republic, and Over 30 Syndicated Columnists, go to www.outloudopinion.com 5:00 Veronique de Rugy editorial, opinion, politics, society, culture, OutloudOpinion, OutloudOpinion.com no no Veronique de Rugy