Now, they’re after Internet pills. Yes, there are some addiction issues (but, then, there always are). But why cannot the state treat citizens and doctors as grown-ups? What business is it of the government to decide whether someone cannot use a prescription medication for pleasure or relief if she decides it’s something she wants to do and a doctor is prepared to prescribe it? Ditto steroids. Frankly, the way in which the internet has broken down some of our puritanical attitudes toward the pharmaceutical revolution has been a great step forward for human freedom and medical or recreational choice. I guess the possibility that someone out there may be experiencing actual pleasure is enough to send the government into a full-scale panic. We’re used to the insane war on illegal drugs. Now they want a war on the legal ones as well. Can’t Rush Limbaugh protest this incursion of over-weening government? Oh, wait …
THE NYT AND HALLIBURTON: Oxblog is on the case of a weirdly missing quote from the NYT online. Can’t give too much credit to Halliburton for turning around Iraq’s oil production, can we? They also do a useful round-up of the surprisingly good news from Iraq.
THE THREAT OF SAMISH-SEX MARRIAGE: A new amendment proposal from the New Yorker.
PRAGER ON THE PASSION: A sage and balanced analysis.
MOORE ON MARRIAGE: The fundamentalist judge takes a stand against the religious right amendment. Yes, I just wrote that sentence.
RIGGING THE BIOETHICS COUNCIL: More evidence of the Bush administration’s catering to the anti-technological views of some on the far right. More reason for Independent voters to reconsider their support.
GENERATIONAL CLASH: Baylor University’s president lashes out at a student newspaper editorial supporting – shock – equal protection under the law. The editorial board will get a talking to. When the kids at a place like Baylor don’t get the older generation’s hostility to equal marriage rights, the culture really is changing. Nationally, the generation gap is really striking. The under-40s see the issue completely differently than the over 60s. Does it make sense to pass a constitutional amendment when the younger generation opposes it by a large margin?
The Dish 