October 2011

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Editor's Note

• What the Left Can Learn From the Tea Party

  Matt Welch

  Independence, not loyalty, is the way to push Democratic politicians on drug policy, civil liberties, and war.

Contributors

• Contributors

Letters

• Shine On, You Crazy Diamond

Citings

• Third Base Foul Line

  Jacob Sullum

  Child porn panic

• Scrapbook Abuse

  Lucy Steigerwald

  Extracurricular drug testing

• Slaughter Horse Horror

  Mike Riggs

  Animal wrongs

• Surgically Enhanced

  Ronald Bailey

  Stem cells and baseball

• Insiders, Trading

  Hannah Burak

  Congressional stock performance

• Unfree Press

  Peter Suderman

  Bureaucrat-activist collusion

• Stimulosis

  Tim Cavanaugh

  Recovery Act failure

• Match Breaker

  Damon W. Root

  ‘Clean Elections’ overturned

• Policing Profits

  Jacob Sullum

  Forfeiture reform

• Busting Bitcoin

  Peter Suderman

  Senators target virtual currency

• Lady Drivers

  Katherine Mangu-Ward

  Saudi women take the wheel

• A History of Violence

  Mike Riggs

Soundbites

• Blinding Red Lights

  Tim Cavanaugh

  An interview with Jay Beeber

Years Ago

• 25 Years Ago

Brickbats

• Brickbats

  Charles Oliver

Quotes

• Quotes

Lists

• Show Biz Politics

Columns

• War Counsel

  Jacob Sullum

  Obama shops for Libya advice that lets him ignore the law.

• Pimp Your Ride

  Greg Beato

  Why own what you can rent? And why not rent out what you own?

• Does Disease Cause Autocracy?

  Ronald Bailey

  New studies say reducing infection rates promotes liberalization.

• Taxation Without Representation

  Veronique de Rugy

  Tax-hungry states go after out-of-state retailers.

Features

• Unbanned in Phoenix

  Jacob Sullum

  States can’t call off the war on drugs, but they don’t have to fight it.

• Medicare Thieves

  Peter Suderman

  Stealing from the government-run health care system is much easier—and potentially more lucrative—than dealing drugs.

• Bummer

  Jacob Sullum

  Barack Obama turns out to be just another drug warrior.

Interviews

• ‘We Were Headed Towards This Fiscal Cliff Long Before Barack Obama Took the Wheel’

  Tim Cavanaugh

  Rep. Jeff Flake talks about Republican corruption, federal spending, the PATRIOT Act, immigration, and the virtues of divided government.

Culture & Reviews

• Diagnosing in the Dark

  Jacob Sullum

  The continuing relevance of Thomas Szasz’s assault on psychiatric pretensions

• Empire of the Son

  Thaddeus Russell

  The president’s parents were supporters, not opponents, of American hegemony.

• The Great Basketball Swindle

  Damon W. Root

  A riveting new documentary takes on New York’s shameful eminent domain abuse.

• Zoning Bigots

  Tim Cavanaugh

  A Los Angeles County land use war shows the dark history and darker future of urban planning.

• Lochner Isn’t a Dirty Word

  Damon W. Root

  Correcting the cartoonish vilification of a libertarian Supreme Court decision

Briefly Noted

• Briefly Noted: Whodunit? Who Knows?

  Peter Suderman

• Briefly Noted: Parental Profanity

  Jacob Sullum

• Briefly Noted: Alien Nation

  Mike Riggs

• Briefly Noted: Blackwater: The Novel

  Katherine Mangu-Ward

• Briefly Noted: The Creation of ‘Closure’

  Jesse Walker

Artifact

• The Butter Battle

  Katherine Mangu-Ward

  Bootlegging margarine.