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Monday, Jun 09, 2003
pinch me
michael wolff on arthur sulzberger jr.via gawker
only the leo-nely
delong on the conservative misreading of leo strauss.
human be ins
collection of new scientist articles about human nature.via matt yglesias
Thursday, Jun 05, 2003
right on times
just walked in and saw that raines and boyd resigned as top editors from the times. raines always wanted clinton to fall on the sword. guess he took his own advice instead.
Wednesday, Jun 04, 2003
tanked up
"The Democrats are ramping up efforts to launch a liberal think tank in September that they say will give their party the unified message it lacked in 2002 and counter the well-funded network of conservative policy shops.
John Podesta, who served as White House chief of staff during the Clinton administration, is spearheading the project and consulting with Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill.
The think tank, known for now as the American Majority Institute, will have an annual operating budget of at least $10 million, a sum that would immediately make it the largest Democratic think tank in town."via tapped
Tuesday, Jun 03, 2003
funny cide up
"The plot would run like this: old high school buddies buy horse on cheap (although this is a relative term in racing circles), engage trainer who hasn't won a major title in more than 30 years, and a Chilean-born jockey who has struggled to overcome his own demons: a cocaine habit in the 1980s, horrific injuries and career-destroying weight gain, in the 90s.
Against all odds - 14-1 going into the Kentucky Derby - they win, only to see triumph tinged with heartache. One of the owners, Gus Williams, is cruelly mocked for affronting the Kentucky blue bloods by wearing a yellow plaid sports jacket with matching yellow trousers. The jockey, Jose Santos, is accused of using an electric buzzer in his whip hand after a strange blur is spotted in the finish-line photo. The Funny Cide team is devastated - it's the old guard of the racing world fighting to keep control. The jockey is quickly cleared of all irregularities, and goes on to vindication by romping home in the next leg of the Triple Crown by 9 3/4 lengths, a historic margin."
addiction subtraction
"Booth’s description is wrong or grossly misleading in every particular. To understand why is to recognize the fallacies underlying a reductionist, drug-centered view of addiction in which chemicals force themselves on people -- a view that skeptics such as the maverick psychiatrist Thomas Szasz and the psychologist Stanton Peele have long questioned. The idea that a drug can compel the person who consumes it to continue consuming it is one of the most important beliefs underlying the war on drugs, because this power makes possible all the other evils to which drug use supposedly leads."
heroes of hiphoprisy
"Then last month, after years of fighting, Credico and the families he works with saw their fortunes suddenly change. Multimillionaire rap mogul Russell Simmons joined the battle, bringing with him some of his famous friends. Last week, Sean "P. Diddy" Combs spoke at an anti-Rockefeller press conference, announcing a rally on June 4 outside City Hall in Manhattan. DMX and Jay-Z recorded spots that are running on New York hip-hop stations, telling listeners about the injustice of the Rockfeller laws and urging them to attend the rally. Rap's original audience -- urban black kids -- come from the communities hardest hit by these laws, say the artists, and they should demand that politicians do something about them."
wilson racquets
"This new imperialism differs in some respects from the older U.S. imperialism of Roosevelt and Senator Henry Cabot Lodge—the new imperialists don't assume, for instance, the superiority of the Anglo-Saxon race or seek the spread of Christian civilization—but it is sufficiently similar to raise the question of whether these new imperialists are reviving a strategy that failed the United States 80 years ago. That failure was understood most clearly by Woodrow Wilson, who offered not only the most compelling critique of U.S. imperialism but also the most thoughtful alternative—a liberal internationalism that served the United States well in the second half of the twentieth century and could guide Americans again today."
leaf blower
"Canada's move to decriminalize is part of a shift in international attitudes toward pot, away from the "reefer madness" legacy. Spain and Italy decriminalized marijuana in the 1990's. Portugal decriminalized it in 2001, Luxembourg and Belgium the next year. In the Netherlands — where pot has been available since 1976 — "pharmaceutical grade" cannabis is provided, free of charge, through the national health service. Britain plans to reduce penalties for possession this summer, a policy supported by the nation's leading medical journal, The Lancet. It concluded, "moderate indulgence in cannabis has little ill effect on health."
Meanwhile, the United States has escalated its war on pot. The number of marijuana arrests now approaches three-quarters of a million annually, largely for simple possession. More people are in prison for marijuana crimes today than ever before. Dozens, if not hundreds, are serving life sentences for nonviolent pot offenses. Attorney General John Ashcroft has called for full enforcement of the pot laws and spearheaded a crackdown on medicinal marijuana providers in California, though their efforts are legal under state law."