Ryan Cooper

Yglesias has a run-in with the dregs of humanity: But then lo and behold right by Catania Bakery a couple of dudes ran up from behind, punched me in the head, then kicked me a couple of times before running off. Once, years ago, in Amsterdam a guy threatened me with a knife and took my money. These guys took nothing, and just inflicted a bit of pain. All things considered the threaten/rob model of crime seems a lot more beneficial to both parties than the punch-and-run model. But I guess it takes all kinds. This dude's wry inner economist is one tough SOB. My worst encounter with tsotsis left me pissed and jumpy for weeks afterwards. He continues: To offer a policy observation, higher density helps reduce street crime in an urban environment in two ways. One is that in a higher density city, any given street is less likely to be empty of passersby at any given time. The other is that if a given patch of land has more citizens, that means it can also support a large...

1. Florida Senate accidentally outlaws sex . 2. World's finest food critic blog . 3. South Dakota has apparently banned abortions on the sly . 4. Christopher Hitchens' ode to the voice . 5. Vince Welch on Dory cooks . 6. My dad on the Cataract high water of '83 .

Blogger just ate my last post.  I'm going to try to retrieve it somehow, but until then hang tight.

Morphine   Yglesias was talking about Michael Gerson being a obnoxious moral scold the other day and how he seems to be saying that alcohol should be (re)banned.  He's right, Gerson is a clown.  But his post contained this introduction: I suppose you could talk me out of this view, but it seems to me that the costs of full heroin legalization would far exceed the benefits. There’s a lot wrong with America’s current drug policies, but it’s also good that we don’t have heroin ads on Saturday morning cartoons, there’s no Heroin Lobby on the Hill, and you can’t buy heroin at the 7-11. That all seems pretty clear cut to me. It's worth going back to look at 19th century America, when basically all opiates were legal. This is from the Consumer's Union Report on Licit and Illicit Drugs , for my money still the best single overview of the drug issue: The United States of America during the nineteenth century could quite properly be described as a "dope...

Congressional hearings have begun on the Peace Corps' rape/sexual assault scandal touched off by ABC's report a few months ago.  This Times article hits all the right points , I think: When [Jess Smochek] returned to the United States, the reception she received from Peace Corps officials was as devastating, she said, as the rape itself. In Bangladesh, she had been given scant medical care; in Washington, a counselor implied that she was to blame for the attack. For years she kept quiet, feeling “ashamed and embarrassed and guilty.” Today, Ms. Smochek is among a growing group of former Peace Corps volunteers who are speaking out about their sexual assaults, prompting scrutiny from Congress and a pledge from the agency for reform. In going public, they are exposing an ugly sliver of life in the Peace Corps: the dangers that volunteers face in far-flung corners of the world and the inconsistent — and, some say, callous — treatment they receive when they become crime victims.....

Ok, deliberately provocative title.  Let me make the point clear: I'm saying personal moves toward lower greenhouse gas emissions are not going to avert major climate change, and probably won't even reduce emissions by that much. Dick "personal virtue" Cheney.  (Let's not forget that this guy was and is a fevered ego tainting our collective unconscious.) How can you say that?  Do you not believe in global warming?   On the contrary, that science has been settled for twenty years and is only becoming more alarming.  I am an aggressive climate hawk . Doesn't the US, as the world's most profligate polluter, have a moral responsibility to avoid environmental devastation that will largely fall on poor countries?   Absolutely.  Climate change will, if not stopped, be one of the greatest moral failings in human history. Ok then, smartass, what's wrong with trying to reduce my carbon footprint?   Nothing!  If it assuages your conscience, go ...

John Quincy Adams, via Wikimedia I just finished What Hath God Wrought , and it's worth remembering the election of 1824, the most undemocratic in American history , taken by John Quincy Adams with 30.9% of the popular vote, where the popular and electoral vote winner Andrew Jackson lost in the House of Representatives.  Henry Clay, the third place candidate and Speaker of the House, was no fan of Jackson and threw his support behind Adams, leading to the famous "corrupt bargain" charge. Andrew Jackson won the next election, of course, and is distinguished by being one of the biggest assholes ever to hold high office.