New at Reason: Read the Complete Citings from our January Issue

The complete Citings from our January issue are now available online. Don't miss Jacob Sullum on the fatwa against Mickey Mouse, Radley Balko on the corrupt Chicago politicians who put themselves above the law, Brian Doherty on the problems with gun databases that store "ballistic fingerprints," Katherine Mangu-Ward on Washington state's ban on driveway car washing, and more.

Read all about it here.

Comments

SIV | January 1, 2009, 12:18pm | #

No jailbait bikini fund raising car washes in Washington State? That is downright un-American.

The last day of Kwanzaa:

Imani (Faith)
To believe with all our heart in our people, our parents, our teachers, our leaders and the righteousness and victory of our struggle.


Happy Kwanzaa!

I am so ready for Groundhog Day, a holiday free of Government and religion.

SIV | January 1, 2009, 12:30pm | #

I await Sullum's column arguing that Groundhog Day can't be a secular holiday and protesting the observance of Lupercalia in Dallas public schools.

Brandybuck | January 1, 2009, 1:36pm | #

Believing that groundhogs can predict the weather by observing shadows sounds an awful lot like religion to me. Though to be fair it's not quite as religious as thinking government can solve social and economic problems.

SIV | January 1, 2009, 2:04pm | #

Believing that groundhogs climate scientists can predict the weather by observing shadows computer models sounds an awful lot like religion to me.

The groundhog observer doesn't seek to influence public policy based on his rodent/shadow models.

cuernimus | January 1, 2009, 4:29pm | #

I wonder if it was a woman playing Farfour and whether she really was beaten to death at the end of her supposed usefulness?

And boo on the no cheerleader car washes. In the before time, old men used those as an early form of Viagra. Just another example of big government being in the pocket of big healthcare.

Elf Ninos Mom | January 1, 2009, 5:36pm | #

Elf Ninos Mom ("Least Free Voice") Is Tamara Johnson from Huntington WV

badda bing badda bang badda boom

allahu akhbar

Fluffy | January 2, 2009, 8:53am | #

To believe with all our heart in our people, our parents, our teachers, our leaders and the righteousness and victory of our struggle.

So one of the mottos of Kwanzaa is, "Yes, it's OK if Jim Jones fucks you"? I hadn't realized.

BTW, I think Washington State's ban on driveway car washing would be OK if:

1. The ban applied only if you used a detergent that you can't legally discharge directly in other ways anyway

2. The ban applied only if there was demonstrable runoff containing such a detergent.

Even in libertopia, you're responsible for anything that goes over the property line.

Episiarch | January 2, 2009, 9:08am | #

“We’re not going to be car-washing bureaucrats run amok. We have higher priorities than that.”

Hilarious. Yes, those higher priorities probably involve schemes to fleece the taxpayers.

ed | January 2, 2009, 9:36am | #

Imani (Faith)
To believe with all our heart in our people, our parents, our teachers, our leaders and the righteousness and victory of our struggle.

So "Imani" is a synonym of "gullible," then?

robc | January 2, 2009, 10:03am | #

Based on the "faith" bit having no reference to any kind of higher power (leaders dont count), Im guessing kwanzaa is an atheist holiday.

If I didnt already know that kwanzaa was stalinist the last day would have wrapped it up for me.

robc | January 2, 2009, 10:55am | #

Okay, I guess I need to add Elf to my incif file. I dont care your real name and arent going to click the link to find out what you are pushing, you loser.

Edgar | January 2, 2009, 11:10am | #

Based on the "faith" bit having no reference to any kind of higher power (leaders dont count), Im guessing kwanzaa is an atheist holiday.

Why would a convicted kidnapper and torturer come up with anything else?

Other Matt | January 2, 2009, 11:17am | #

IRT the gun database story, which says:

The only other state with such a database, Maryland, can attribute at least one conviction to the system since it was created in 2000

If not false, this statement is, at best, not quite the whole story, and actually the supporters of this waste of time and money grasping at something to claim "success" with. You might want to consider some kind of amended version.

Other Matt | January 2, 2009, 11:18am | #

Make that "and IS actually"