Reason

reason.com — David Maraniss' forthcoming biography of Barack Obama tells tales of a young dope-smoking president-to-be who was always quick to bogart that joint: Barry also had a knack for interceptions. When a joint was making the rounds, he often elbowed his way in, out of turn, shouted "Intercepted!," and took an extra hit.

reason.com — Writing in The Washington Times, Senior Editor Peter Suderman reviews the sci-fi action comedy Men in Black III: Men in Black 3" marks the third weekend this month that Earth has been invaded by aliens - following "The Avengers" and "Battleship" - thus making failed extraterrestrial takeovers an official journalistic trend.

reason.com — Despite controversy over Wisconsin Governor Scott Walkers' efforts to reform public employee unions, the latest Reason-Rupe poll of 708 Wisconsin adults, on both landline and cell phones, finds considerable support for many of the law's key provisions. Walkers' proposal, which was later passed into law last summer, significantly changed the laws regarding public employee unions in Wisconsin.

reason.com — Over the years, various Reason writers have had their differences with Patrick Frey, the fellow behind the widely read and interesting Patterico's Pontifications blog. The story he's telling today is a call to arms to defend free speech from the worst sort of politically and personally motivated infringements.

reason.com — Everyone knows the Olympics are an advertising bonanza for the event's corporate sponsors, a practice that goes back to the 1984 games in Los Angeles. What isn't as well known is that the urban authorities today do not merely promote the Olympics' officially approved commercial speech; they suppress commercial speech that does not have the games' approval.

reason.com — Men in Black III reenlists the talents of Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones, of course-Smith with his urban sizzle, Jones with his craggy codger sorrow-and it's good to have them back, togged out in their black suits and shades and riding herd over America's vast alien-creature community.

reason.com — We examined the 28 OECD countries defined as "advanced" by the IMF between 1965 and 2010. Using regression analysis to control for the growth rates of the factors of production (physical capital, labor and human capital) and initial GDP, our results suggest that reducing the ratio of taxes or spending to GDP by five percentage points increases the growth rate of GDP per capita by 0.5 to 0.6 percentage points per year.

reason.com — In November 2009, then-ReasonTV staffer Dan Hayes produced the immensely moving documentary "Every Day is a Bonus: Veteran's Day November 2009 in D.C." The five-minute film followed the adventures of World War II vets being flown by the charity Honor Flight to the World War II Memorial in the nation's capitol (click here to watch that or scroll down).

reason.com — Reason contributor Baylen Linnekin writes about a totally insane (and armed!) raid on an Amish farmer in Pennsylvania who dared provide raw milk and other dairy products to willing and knowing DC-area customers.

reason.com — Earlier today an amendment proposed by Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) that would have prevented Food and Drug Administration agents from carrying guns and from raiding farms without warrants, was voted down on the Senate floor by 78 senators. These 15 senators, meanwhile, supported the amendment.

reason.com — Newsweek afterbirther Andrew Sullivan briefly leaves off rescuing abandoned Palin family infants from rocky mountaintops in order to chart my claptrap. According to Sully, my belief that under President Barack Obama America has experienced "vast unemployment, soaring inflation, a moribund economy, record deficits, and a manically ill-conceived energy policy" is not merely wrong.

reason.com — It's conventional wisdom that the individual mandate to purchase health insurance is ObamaCare's biggest public liability: Polls consistently show that large majorities of the public are opposed to it and have been since before the law passed. But might opposition to the mandate soften in the future?

reason.com — Meet Ryan Kintner, 25, American hero: According to his suit, Kintner was home Aug. 10 when he saw a deputy park along a street and pull out his radar gun. Kintner then got in his car, drove a couple of blocks away, parked and pointed his vehicle at oncoming traffic and began flashing his lights.

reason.com — A recent Gallup Poll on attitudes toward abortion is making headlines for documenting, as Politico headlines it, "Record low are 'pro-choice'." A record-low 41 percent now identify themselves as "pro-choice," down from 47 percent last July and 1 percentage point down from the previous record low of 42 percent, set in May 2009.

reason.com — Gov. Scott Walker leads Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett 50-42 among those likely to vote in Wisconsin's June 5 recall election, according to a new Reason-Rupe poll of 708 Wisconsin adults on cell phones and landlines. In the presidential race, 49 percent of all adults surveyed approve of the job President Obama is doing and 45 percent disapprove.

reason.com — George H. Smith describes the jazz scare of the '20s, which may remind you of the rock and rap scares of later days: Anne Faulkner -- music chairperson of the National Federation of Women's Clubs, and author of What We Hear in Music and The Opera and Oratorio -- was alarmed by a new type of music that was sweeping across America.

reason.com — In 2003, Reason celebrated its 35th anniversary by compiling a list of "Heroes of Freedom" who we thought had helped to "make the world groovier and groovier since 1968," when the magazine started publishing. "Honorees needed to have been alive at some point during reason's run," ran the intro.

reason.com — Dr. David Heimbach knows how to tell a story. Before California lawmakers last year, the noted burn surgeon drew gasps from the crowd as he described a 7-week-old baby girl who was burned in a fire started by a candle while she lay on a pillow that lacked flame retardant chemicals.

reason.com — Last Saturday, May 19, I was on the MSNBC show Melissa Harris-Perry, talking a blue streak with the eponymous host, Katrina vanden Heuvel of The Nation, Ezra Klein of The Washington Post, Elon James White, Victoria DeFrancesco Soto of University of Texas, and Rep. Gwen Moore (D-Wis.).

reason.com — There's a crisis in Los Angeles. Is it the city's projected $250 million budget deficit? The city's $10 billion shortfall in pension obligations? Its crumbling infrastructure? A public school dropout rate approaching 50 percent? No, the City of Angels is facing catastrophe in the form of grocery bags.

reason.com — Former Obama budget director Peter Orszag is now a columnist for Bloomberg, where his latest offering amounts to what might be called The Secret Service Plan for Fiscal Policy: "Stimulate Now" and Pay Later. Those who are most worried about our long-term fiscal health shouldn't fret too much about additional stimulus today, if it is combined with future budget cuts.

reason.com — Want to know what a drag the California Public Employee Retirement System (CalPERS) is putting on the Golden State's perenially beleaguered budget? An Orange County Register editorial does the math: In fiscal 2002-03, $545 million went to CalPERS pension payments, just after the Legislature started allowing pension spiking.

reason.com — Yesterday, Matt Welch noted the publication of a satire about Mitt Romney's treatment of dogs by two NPR journos, headlining the piece, "Seriously, This is What Our Elite Journalistic Institutions Are Writing About." He pointed readers to the Washington Post, which covered the important story.

reason.com — Oh hey look, a couple of NPR satirists have written a new book (pictured) of illustrations and poetry called Dog on the Roof!: On the Road with Mitt and the Mutt. From the WashPost write-up: The book follows the Romney family, packed in a Chevy station wagon, on an imaginary cross-country trip.