Reason Morning Links: Blasts in Baghdad, in Defense of Astroturf, Crawdad Smuggling

Radley Balko | August 19, 2009

• Bomb, mortar blasts in Baghdad kill at least 75.

• AARP loses 60,000 members for its position on health care.

• Reason contributor and former intern Ryan Sager defends astroturf in the New York Times.

• Tests begin on fascinating new anti-aging drugs.

• On the rise: crayfish poaching.

Comments

Xeones|8.19.09 @ 9:09AM|#

• AARP loses 60,000 members for its position on health care

and

• Tests begin on fascinating new anti-aging drugs

could conceivably be related.

Xeones|8.19.09 @ 9:10AM|#

Or not. The coffee hasn't hit bottom yet.

Kyle Jordan|8.19.09 @ 9:12AM|#

"In Louisiana's St. Landry Parish, where crayfish are caught from local wetlands, Sheriff Bobby Guidroz says he has several reports of thefts each year. "A lot more goes on, but a lot of the fishermen don't report it," Mr. Guidroz says. "They want to dispense justice on their own." Several years ago, he says, a group of suspected crayfish thieves disappeared in a nearby parish, and people there believed angry crayfishermen "used them for bait."

Ya gotta love the bayou...

"In caloric restriction, mice are kept on a diet that is healthy but has 30 percent fewer calories than a normal diet. The mice live 30 or 40 percent longer than usual with the only evident penalty being that they are less fertile."

So basically, there's a built in way to deal with overpopulation. Awesome!

|8.19.09 @ 9:13AM|#

In June, a San Diego Superior Court judge handed down a 90-day jail sentence to a man who was found smuggling contraband lobsters in his pants.

That just sounds like a bad idea.

Rich|8.19.09 @ 9:17AM|#

Drink up, X. Coffee prevents cancer. Now you can get on with that life extension!

Kyle Jordan|8.19.09 @ 9:18AM|#

"That just sounds like a bad idea."

Well, at least they let him slide on the crabs...

|8.19.09 @ 9:19AM|#

Maybe the lobsters were down there to eat the crabs.

Rich|8.19.09 @ 9:21AM|#

That just sounds like a bad idea.

As does this.

|8.19.09 @ 9:24AM|#

Kyle,

If you have ever been out in the swamps of Louisianna and bought crayfish, you would know never to steal from those guys. They are some rough people. And the swamp is awfully big. You would think thieves would be smart enough not to screw with people who spend their days paddling around a swamp in a small boat dealing allagators, venonmous snakes and snapping turtles the size of tractor tires.

|8.19.09 @ 9:25AM|#

I've never been around a ferret I would want as a pet. My friend Alex had one. It lived under the couch and would randomly bite people in the Achilles's tendon.

"They were petting rats!"

|8.19.09 @ 9:28AM|#

Crawdad smuggling? Are you kidding me?? ROTFL

Riff
www.web-anonymity.us.tc

|8.19.09 @ 9:29AM|#

I know thieves aren't the brightest people, but I don't see how $4 a pound crayfish is worth the risk. The article even says they only steal small amounts to minimize getting caught. Tramp around in the bayou in the middle of the night steal $80 dollars worth of perishable crustaceans? No way.

I'd much rather break into foreclosed houses dressed as a repairman and steal the wiring and copper pipes.

<strike>strike through</strike|8.19.09 @ 9:47AM|#

AARP loses 60,000 members for its position on health care

Out of a membership of 40 million. A drop in the bucket. That many probably die every month. They'll get 'em all back on the next round of direct-mail propaganda.

|8.19.09 @ 9:53AM|#

Right. They actually lost 300,000 but gained 400,000 in that time period. The 60,000 were the people who stated their reason for leaving was the health-care stance of the AARP.

|8.19.09 @ 9:54AM|#

IOW, makes a great headline if yr a jurnalista, but statistically insignificant.

|8.19.09 @ 10:32AM|#

My Detroit governance morning link.*

Detroit pension funds want to build $7.4M riverfront HQ

Already criticized for excessive spending on travel and poor investment deals, Detroit's two public pension funds are planning to build a $7.4-million headquarters along the Detroit River.

The plans are under way even though nearly a third of the office space in the city's central business district is vacant. [emphasis added]

* This ain't even hard.