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Jacob Sullum (Dec 27, 2002)
A few years ago, a survey asked parents to imagine a New Year's
Eve party "where you suspected alcohol was going to be served" but where
"everyone would be required to give... more
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Jacob Sullum (Dec 20, 2002)
When I flip open my mobile phone, a pleasant female voice asks,
"Who would you like to call?" I say, "My office." A few seconds later, she
says, "Please repeat the name."... more
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Jacob Sullum (Dec 13, 2002)
When Mayor Michael Bloomberg first proposed that New York City
ban smoking in all bars and restaurants, one of his aides made a revealing
comment to The New York Times. He... more
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Jacob Sullum (Dec 06, 2002)
Two years after a French judge ordered Yahoo to prevent his
countrymen from seeing the Nazi memorabilia available through its online
auction site, the company still has... more
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Jacob Sullum (Nov 29, 2002)
The trouble with Americans, according to Pat Robertson, is they don't read the Koran enough.
No, the Baptist minister, religious broadcaster and Christian Coalition... more
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Jacob Sullum (Nov 22, 2002)
"What would Jesus drive?" asks the new religious campaign
against SUVs. Naturally, everyone has been eager to supply a punch line.
My initial thought was a... more
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Jacob Sullum (Nov 15, 2002)
"We're just as concerned as the next person with protecting
privacy," John Poindexter recently told The Washington Post. Maybe, if the
next person happens to be J. Edgar... more
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Jacob Sullum (Nov 08, 2002)
If a convicted child molester moved into the house across the
street, I'd want to know. But I'd also want to know if my new neighbor had
been convicted of homicide, assault,... more
By
Jacob Sullum (Nov 01, 2002)
John Walters, the federal drug czar, has been striving for a
delicate balance during his recent visits to Nevada. On the one hand, he has
made it clear that he wants... more
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Jacob Sullum (Oct 25, 2002)
Michel Houellebecq may have been guilty, but I'm still glad he
was acquitted. The award-winning novelist, who has been dubbed "a literary
Eminem" and "the Ozzy Osbourne of... more
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Jacob Sullum (Oct 18, 2002)
In 1991, after George Hennard shot 22 people to death at a
Luby's cafeteria in Killeen, Texas, Sarah Brady said the mass murder showed
the need for a federal ban on "assault... more
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Jacob Sullum (Oct 11, 2002)
"The dictator of Iraq is a student of Stalin," President Bush
said in his prime-time speech the other day. He described how Saddam Hussein
uses "murder as a tool of terror... more
By
Jacob Sullum (Oct 04, 2002)
The anti-globalization activists who recently railed against the
World Bank and the International Monetary Fund in Washington see themselves
as champions of the poor and... more
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Jacob Sullum (Sep 27, 2002)
For a guy who hates pornography, Phil Burress seems to know an
awful lot about it. In a recent story about his campaign to eliminate
"adult" movies from hotels across... more
By
Jacob Sullum (Sep 20, 2002)
The federal government recently charged six men from Lackawanna,
N.Y., with providing material support to Al Qaeda by undergoing training at
one of the network's camps in... more
By
Jacob Sullum (Sep 13, 2002)
When Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., decided to join Sen. Bob
Smith, R-N.H., in sponsoring legislation that allows airline pilots to carry
guns as a defense against hijackers,... more
By
Jacob Sullum (Sep 06, 2002)
The local Home Depot is well-stocked with American flags of
various sizes, along with flagpoles and flag holders. That was not the case
last fall.
Like many... more
By
Jacob Sullum (Aug 30, 2002)
The Bush administration is no longer debating whether to launch
a war against Iraq. The only question now is which empty gestures to make
before attacking.
... more
By
Jacob Sullum (Aug 23, 2002)
The Libertarian Party is celebrating the defeat of U.S. Rep. Bob
Barr, whom it calls the "worst Drug Warrior in Congress." Although I spend
much of my time criticizing the... more
By
Jacob Sullum (Aug 16, 2002)
Ryan Scott probably should consider himself lucky that he wasn't
arrested for trying to carry firearms onto an airplane. True, there were a
few extenuating circumstances:... more
By
Jacob Sullum (Aug 09, 2002)
In a recent ABC News special, John Stossel interviews New York
City police officers who are watching a protest by opponents of the war on
drugs, waiting to catch anyone who... more
By
Jacob Sullum (Aug 02, 2002)
Jim Traficant may have forced his congressional staff to work at his family's horse farm, but he has done more than his share of manure-shoveling over the years. Most... more
By
Jacob Sullum (Jul 26, 2002)
The renowned economist Milton Friedman, who turns 90 on July 31, once gave a talk at a Washington, D.C., conference sponsored by the Drug Policy Foundation. His title: "The... more
By
Jacob Sullum (Jul 19, 2002)
Is it possible that everyone who's been listening to Prozac has
been hearing things?
During the last decade or so, millions of Americans have taken
Prozac... more
By
Jacob Sullum (Jul 12, 2002)
It's clear to me that Zacarias Moussaoui is a raving lunatic. But then, so are Michael Jackson, Lyndon LaRouche, and a certain percentage of the people who e-mail me each... more
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Jacob Sullum (Jul 09, 2002)
In Elizabethan England, the historian Egon Corti reports, tobacco sold for its weight in silver. That would suit New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg just fine.
Bloomberg... more
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Jacob Sullum (Jun 28, 2002)
Anyone who has ever been dissatisfied with his driver's license
photo will have to admit there is something to be said for Sultaana
Freeman's approach. In her picture,... more
By
Jacob Sullum (Jun 21, 2002)
At first I liked Jesse Ventura mainly because I hated Hubert H. Humphrey III. Fresh from his battle with the big, bad tobacco companies as Minnesota's attorney general,... more
By
Jacob Sullum (Jun 07, 2002)
The other day I got a call from a producer who wanted me to
appear on an NPR talk show as a critic of the burgeoning war on obesity. To
illustrate the importance of the... more
By
Jacob Sullum (May 31, 2002)
In the South Park episode "Here Comes the
Neighborhood," white residents alarmed by an influx of wealthy black
celebrities decide to burn "a lower case T" in the front... more
By
Jacob Sullum (May 24, 2002)
Want to play that new CD on your computer? You may need a black felt-tip pen.
Sony says it will soon begin U.S. tests of its Key2Audio technology, which is already... more
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Jacob Sullum (May 17, 2002)
Did Attorney General John Ashcroft provide ammunition to a Taliban fighter? That is the thrust of a story that appeared in The New York Times on May 16 under the headline,... more
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Jacob Sullum (May 10, 2002)
Jennifer Portnick and Kelly Brownell do not seem to have much in common. One pushes "fat acceptance," the other fat rejection. But they are alike in their determination to... more
By
Jacob Sullum (May 03, 2002)
Asked to comment on a New York City co-op board's recent decision to bar new residents from smoking at home, Dean Rouse used the strongest epithet he could think of. "It's... more
By
Jacob Sullum (Apr 26, 2002)
The Web site of the Israeli Defense Forces shows aerial photographs of Jenin before and after the IDF's recent operation there. The second picture zooms in on the refugee... more
By
Jacob Sullum (Apr 19, 2002)
A federal judge recently told the U.S. Department of Justice that it was not authorized to define the legitimate practice of medicine. Assistant Attorney General Robert... more
By
Jacob Sullum (Apr 12, 2002)
Take a human ovum, add some sperm, and put the fertilized egg cell in a petri dish. Alternatively, remove the nucleus from the ovum and replace it with the nucleus from a... more
By
Jacob Sullum (Apr 05, 2002)
Perhaps I should have known better, but it didn't occur to me until afterward that I was breaking the law. I just wanted to find some decent kosher wine.
That was not hard... more
By
Jacob Sullum (Mar 29, 2002)
John McCain is an enemy of the First Amendment. The senator has graciously allowed me to say that in print, even in Arizona, even when he's up for re-election.
But under... more
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Jacob Sullum (Mar 22, 2002)
In 1989 the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a drug-test requirement for anyone seeking a Customs Service position in which he would have to carry a gun, handle classified material... more
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Jacob Sullum (Mar 15, 2002)
The other day I received a photograph of my 20-year-old niece in her Israeli army uniform, smiling sweetly for the camera while clutching her assault rifle. Her khaki shirt,... more
By
Jacob Sullum (Mar 08, 2002)
Despite its contributions to George W. Bush's campaigns, Enron went bankrupt, its desperate pleas for government intervention unheeded. The Democrats nevertheless have... more
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Jacob Sullum (Mar 04, 2002)
"Children Drink 25 Percent of Alcohol Consumed in the U.S.," announced the headline of a recent press release from the Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse. The startling... more
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Jacob Sullum (Feb 23, 2002)
Irving Berlin wrote the original version of "God Bless America" in 1918, when Woodrow Wilson was president and transatlantic airlines were still a dream. The song was... more
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Jacob Sullum (Feb 15, 2002)
Soon tourists who visit Washington, D.C., won't have to worry about bringing cameras. The police will be taking their pictures.
The Wall Street Journal recently reported... more
By
Jacob Sullum (Feb 11, 2002)
The federal government has told many outrageous lies about drugs over the years: Marijuana turns you into a killer. LSD causes birth defects. Crack is instantly... more
By
Jacob Sullum (Feb 01, 2002)
The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority does not agree with the messages that Change the Climate, a drug policy reform group, wants to put on trains and buses in... more
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Jacob Sullum (Jan 25, 2002)
On January 6, 1993, a half-hour after exposing his genitals at a tanning salon in Johnson County, Kan., Michael Crane repeated the show at a video store. This time, after... more
By
Jacob Sullum (Jan 18, 2002)
It seems likely that President Bush's Council on Bioethics, which held its first meeting on Thursday, will support a ban on all forms of human cloning. The council's... more
By
Jacob Sullum (Jan 11, 2002)
Years ago, I wrote a story about a crackdown on marijuana growers in which state and federal agents knocked on the doors of people who had purchased indoor gardening... more
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Jacob Sullum (Jan 04, 2002)
In August 1998, Chicago police officer Michael Ceriale, a 26-year-old rookie, was shot with a Smith & Wesson revolver during a stakeout at a public housing project. He died... more