Balance Sheet

Jeff Taylor from the August/September 2005 issue

Assets

Base Desires

It's a long way from over, but the Pentagon's base-closing list includes such Cold War relics as a B-1 bomber base and an attack sub pen. Now for the lobbying, followed by more lobbying.

Shacking Gets Stirred

The American Civil Liberties Union challenges North Carolina's law against unmarried couples living together. The anti-cohabitation law has been on the books since 1805.

Second, First

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice tells Larry King the right to keep and bear firearms is as vital as First Amendment protections for speech and religion. Rice recalls from experience that in the South of the early 1960s, armed blacks had to defend themselves against a hostile local regime.

Justice Nerds

So-called vigilante hackers such as the Lad Wrecking Crew take down and otherwise hobble various Net scams and phishing operations. Law enforcement must wait until sometimes reluctant victims come forward, which is often too late to catch peripatetic scammers; hence the freelance justice squads.

Mod Squat

Officials in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, move to formalize a chunk of the informal economy by granting official land titles to some 400,000 squatter shanties. Lack of modern property rights remains a stumbling block to growth in many parts of the world.

Supreme Vintage

The Supreme Court rules that state governments may not discriminate against out-of-state wine makers.

Liabilities

Ritual Abuse