the truth about fracking
Bookmarked 755 weeks ago
hydraulic fracturing - or quotfrackingquot - is a fast-growing source of natural gas used to create electricity heat homes and more it involves forcing water sand and chemicals into super-deep wells and then recovering the gas released during the processfracking is also highly controversial with viral video hits such as quotthe fracking songquot and the 2010 documentary gasland contending that the process leads to polluted drinking water home explosions and worsefracking has been around for more than 60 years and over 100000 gas wells are dug per year most of them in sparsely populated areas in the western us with the discovery of the marcellus shale in the eastern part of the country fracking is increasingly common in populated parts of pennsylvania ohio and new york leading to heightened tensions between drillers and environmentalists indeed the attorney general of new york has called for a moratorium on the practice in the empire stateis fracking safe and what are the potential benefits that will be forfeited if the practice is ended reason039s nick gillespie sat down with science correspondent ronald bailey to learn the truth about fracking bailey reports that the cases of contaminated water supplies were the result of poorly designed wells that had nothing to do with fracking itself as important he notes that the gas generated by fracking would not only massively increase american energy supply it would do so with a relatively clean and cheap fuelshot by jim epstein and josh swain edited by swainapproximately 5:34 minutesgo to reasontv for downloadable versions of the video and subscribe to reasontv039s youtube channel to receive automatic notification when new material goes live

cops with machine guns: the killing of michael nida
Bookmarked 698 weeks ago
in october 2011 the police-related shooting death of unarmed man michael nida 31 raised serious questions about the state of policing in the city of downey california a suburb of los angeleswhy did it raise questions the father of four who worked in construction wasn039t shot with a handgun by one of the downey police department039s officers he was shot with an mp5 submachine gun the same gun used by the navy sealsquotwhy would he have a machine gunquot asks jean thaxton one of nida039s guardians since birth quotwe039re not in a war zone i didn039t think i didn039t think this was a war zonequotquotan ordinary patrolman isn039t going to be carrying something like a submachine gunquot says timothy lynch the director of the project on criminal justice at the cato institute lynch says that even if they have those types of weapons they should only be using them in rare circumstances such as when they are confronting a heavily armed suspectbut for decades police have been arming themselves with military equipment like m16s grenade launchers and armored personnel carriersquotat first when they got it the idea was yeah this is extraordinary weaponry we039ll have it just in case we039ll ever need itquot but as decades went by police started to use them to enforce drug warrants and then started carrying them on routine callsapproximately 7:30written and produced by paul detrick camera by jim epstein joshua swain and tracy oppenheimer

brian doherty talks ron paul iowa caucus and cnn walkout on cnn039s outfront with erin burnett
Bookmarked 730 weeks ago
reason senior editor brian doherty appeared on cnn039s out front with erin burnett to discuss ron paul039s rise in the polls in iowa what it is about paul039s limited government message that is resonating with voters and why paul walked away from a cnn interview when questioned again about his 20-year-old newsletters approximately 6 minutesvisit http:wwwreasontv for downloadable versions subscribe to reasontv039s youtube channel to receive automatic notification when new material goes live

demint: libertarians don039t exist
Bookmarked 787 weeks ago
senator jim demint argued you can039t have a message about small government and fiscal responsibility without it being inextricably linked to religion that if you want government to be small god needs to be big reason039s michael moynihan explains that demint is fearful of libertarians and is pushing his religious values on everyone else

top political blogs
Bookmarked 423 weeks ago
politics economics health prosperity and other topics affecting those who value freedom and individual liberty visit us: http:freedomfriesorg

andrew napolitano - recording the cops
Bookmarked 780 weeks ago
radley balko of reason magazine joins judge napolitano to discuss the wisdom and utility of recording interactions with police http:wwwlibertypencom

the real breaking bad: how the drug war creates collateral damage
Bookmarked 711 weeks ago
88-year-old bob wallace and his 85-year-old girlfriend marjorie ottenberg fell in love 35 years ago backpacking to the tops of the highest peaks in the worldwallace is a stanford educated engineer and ottenberg is a former chemist and decades ago they came up with a water purification product for backpackers like themselves called polar pure out of their garage in saratoga califquotfor an old guy with nothing else to do this is something that keeps us occupiedquot says wallacetoday wallace and ottenberg are fighting the drug enforcement administration and state officials to continue to operate their business why the dea says that drug dealers are using their product to make methamphetaminethe dea says meth heads are interested in polar pure039s key ingredient iodine crystalsin 2007 the dea reclassified iodine as a controlled substance and named polar pure in particular as a product that was of concern to the dea the dea told wallace and ottenberg they could continue to operate their business but they would have to pay a 1200 regulatory fee register with the state and feds report any suspicious activity and keep track of each and ever person who bought a bottle of their productbob says that the overhead alone would be too much to pass onto customersquotso that039s why i didn039t bother with their rules because i would be out of business if i followed their regulationsquot says wallacethe same went for camping stores and online outlets that stocked polar pure instead of dealing with the new regulations they just dropped the product effectively killing wallace and ottenberg039s businessquotany time you deal with a government it039s a hasslequot says ottenberga spokeswoman for the dea told the san jose mercury news that wallace was quotcollateral damagequotquotthey are being put out of business they are totally being put out of businessquot says stephen downing a former los angeles police department deputy chief and a member of law enforcement against prohibitiondowning says that that the dea is the most out of control arm of the federal government today because they are given so much authority with very little oversightquotwithin the controlled substances act the dea is given authority chemicals as they come upquot says downing quotto make it easy for federal enforcement people to so called do their job and make their quotas and have their show-and-tells they pass these regulations that impact innocent peoplequotdowning also says that the metrics for stopping use and production of methamphetamine don039t make sensethe justice department039s own national drug threat assessment for 2011 said that the availability of methamphetamine was increasing in every region of the country and the rates of abuse were increasing as wellabout 6:47 minuteswritten and produced by paul detrick field produced by zach weismuller and sharif matargo to http:wwwreasontv for downloadable versions and subscribe to reasontv039s youtube channel to receive automatic notifications when new material goes live

god bless the occupy movement
Bookmarked 695 weeks ago
danielle saul nick tomboulides and andrew mccaughey record radical remarks made at dc occupy meeting

dc taxi heist: how a new law would screw drivers and riders
Bookmarked 754 weeks ago
washington dc is considering a bill that would require every cab driver in the city to own a special permit called a medallion the total number of medallions would be capped at 4000 which would reduce the current number of cabs by more than one-third and put thousands of drivers out of business the city government has no idea how many licensed cabs are in the district though estimates range from 6500 to 10000if that weren039t bad enough most drivers wouldn039t have the option of buying a medallion the first set of medallions would be offered for sale to the minority of cabbies who have been driving for at least five years and who live in washington dc again the city government has no idea how many current drivers meet this criteria but rising real estate prices and weak city services have led many drivers to leave the districtwho will be offered the next set of medallions according to the bill that would be cab companies who could then rent medallions to drivers this system would destroy the relatively open-access taxi industry in dc in which the majority of drivers are owner-operators free to make their own schedules and keep whatever money they earn on the job in cities such as new york and boston drivers pay upwards of 800 a week to rent their medallionscab riders would also suffer under the new regime reducing the number of taxis on the street will make it harder to catch a cab especially in non-tourist neighborhoods and areas far from business districts and the medallion system will almost certainly drive up prices a 2010 study by dc039s own department of finance found that fares in cities with medallion systems are 25 percent higher on average than in cities in which the supply of cabs isn039t restrictedgiven all that why would the nation039s capital consider implementing such a system dc039s medallion bill was written by lobbyist and former city councilman john ray who was hired by taxi magnate jerry schaeffer ray has worked as a lawyer for councilman harry thomas and it was thomas who introduced ray039s bill in the city council the other major sponsor of the bill: council member marion barry the former mayor best known for his 1990 arrest for smoking crack in a hotel room with a girlfriendin a recent letter in the washington post ray argued that because the cab industry is open entry and unregulated it039s been susceptible to corruption but in practice the dc taxi commission which currently regulates the industry has its own history of corruption and the commission is so wary of scrutiny that when reporter pete tucker snapped a photo on his cellphone at a recent public meeting he was dragged out and arrested reasontv producer jim epstein captured tucker039s arrest on his mobile phone later epstein was also arrested after resisting attempts by the taxi commission and us park police to confiscate his camera phone when tucker was arrested cab drivers stormed out of the meeting in protestfor more on the medallion bill read reason039s sam staley in the washington post on medallions and on how regulation has spawned corruption in dc039s taxi industryproduced by jim epstein with help from kyle blaine lucas newman and jack gillespie narrated by nick gillespieapproximately 6 minutesgo to http:reasontv for downloadable versions and subscribe to our youtube channel to receive notifications when new material goes live

3 reasons why the debt-ceiling debate is full of malarkey
Bookmarked 753 weeks ago
all anybody in washington can talk about these days is the debt limit or debt ceiling -- the total amount of money the federal government is authorized to borrow at any given time after a decade in which spending increased by more than 60 percent in inflation-adjusted dollars and the debt limit was raised no fewer than 10 times the government is about to max out its 143 trillion credit line leading to fears that washington is going to default on its bonds stop cutting social security checks and destroy the economy more than it already has but the current debate over the debt ceiling is full of malarkey for at least three reasons 1 august 2 is a phony deadline treasury secretary timothy geithner has pushed back the drop-dead date when the us finally reaches its limit a bunch of times already: march 31 april 15 may 31 were all cited as deadlines before august 2 was inked in as armageddon but this time he means it man really 2 reaching the debt limit is not the same as defaulting on our debt -- which would indeed be catastrophic think about it: you can max out your credit cards but as long as you keep paying the minimum amount due each month your creditors don039t go crazy interest on the debt is a small fraction of total outlays and the government has a series of tools -- from using cash on hand to selling assets to scrimping on nonessential payments -- to make sure interest payments are made and seniors aren039t put on an all cat-food diet 3 legislating-by-panic is no way to run a country the reason we039re in this mess is because government can039t stop spending and the government can039t even pass a budget on a year039s notice but we039re expecting them to come up with a good plan for the country039s borrowing in a couple of weeks trying to force through an expansion of the country039s credit line by promising cuts in spending down the road is exactly why we039re in this situation to begin with it makes far more sense to do something like sell some tarp assets -- the government is sitting on 320 billion in outstanding direct loans and equities investments -- to cover interest payments through the end of the fiscal year then force congress and the president to come up with a budget that cuts spending -- and borrowing -- for real next year not is some distant futurefor more information check out nick gillespie039s 5 uncomfortable facts about the wonderful horrible debt-limit debate: http:reasoncomarchives20110708five-uncomfortable-facts-aboutand mercatus center039s jason j fichtner ampamp veronique de rugy039s the debt ceiling: what is at stake: http:mercatusorgsitesdefaultfilespublicationdebt20ceillingderugyfichtner42811pdfabout 235 minutesproduced by nick gillespie and meredith bragg edited by joshua swaingo to reasontv for downloadable versions and subscribe to reasontv039s youtube channel to receive automatic notifications when new material goes live

the refounding father - ron paul
Bookmarked 697 weeks ago
ron paul he was the only presidential canidate that follows the principles laid out by this nation039s founding fathersthe revolution continueshttp:wwwcampaignforlibertycomend the fedhttp:wwwendthefedus

the real threat to the sanctity of marriage not gays
Bookmarked 710 weeks ago
you know what ruins the sanctity of marriage government issued marriage licenseslike me on facebook: http:wwwfacebookcomjulieborowskifollow me on twitter: http:twittercomjulieborowski

lindy: quotno knock raidquot - a song about the drug war039s deadliest tactic
Bookmarked 756 weeks ago
note: this video contains graphic images of violence and mature language viewer discretion is advised quotno knock raidquot written and performed by toronto-based musician lindy is a searing indictment of one of the most aggressive ubiquitous and mistaken tactics in the war on drugsconsider only the most recent raid to cause a national outrage: on may 5 2011 26-year-old jose guerena who survived two tours in the iraq war was shot and killed during a raid on his house by a pima county arizona swat team that fired dozens of bullets through his front door guerena married and a father of two had just finished a 12-hour shift at a local mine law enforcement sources claim he was involved in narco-trafficking but have yet to produce any evidence supporting that claim officers involved in the death have been cleared of wrongdoingguerena039s death is not an isolated incident as usa today reports an astonishing 70000 to 80000 militarized police raids take place on a annual basis in america many of them on mistaken suspects and many of them ending with injury or death for police and citizens alikeas reason contributing editor radley balko and others have documented the militarization of standard police practice is a direct consequence of the modern-day war on drugs started 40 years ago by president richard nixon - and perpetuated by every administration since for a comprehensive report on the failure of the drug war to achieve any of its stated goals read quotending the drug war: a dream deferredquot by law enforcement against prohibitionfor supporting links to all stats cited above longer clips of raid footage and more go to http:reasontvvideoshowswat-no-knock-raid-lindyquotno knock raidquot written and performed by lindy produced and directed by hawk jensenperformance footage directed by victor tavares and zachary koskiabout 450 minutes go to http:reasontv for downloadable versions of the video and mp3 and subscribe to reasontv039s youtube channel to receive automatic notification when new material goes live

la food police ban burger joints: is your city next
Bookmarked 769 weeks ago
first lady michelle obama hopes to curb childhood obesity by teaching children about nutrition and exercise quotthere039s no expert on this planet who says that the government telling people what to do actually does any good with this issuequot she saysbut local government officials around the country have already adopted a more forceful tack whether it039s new york039s salt assault san francisco039s frown at happy meals or most recently south la039s all-out ban on new fast-food restaurantsreasontv spoke with los angeles city councilman bernard parks one of the architects behind the ban who argues that quotin order to force choice into the market we have to limit one that is overconcentrated and attract others that provide other optionsquotreason magazine editor in chief matt welch is skeptical of quotthe idea that you can create more choices by reducing choicesquot and fitness consultant and documentary filmmaker chazz weaverwho ate mcdonald039s for 30 days and lost body fatpoints out that consumers can eat fast food in moderation and still stay healthy reasontv also spoke with the co-owner of the burger stand in south los angeles about why he thinks that banning new fast-food restaurants is bad for business and bad for his community writer-producer: zach weissmueller senior producer: ted balaker camera: hawk jensen paul detrick alex manningapproximately 8 minutesvisit reasontv for hd ipod and audio versions and subscribe to reasontv039s you tube channel to receive automatic notifications when new material goes live

dedicated to all neocons that booed ron paul
Bookmarked 733 weeks ago
a group of neocons booed ron paul while he was explaining the consequences of american foreign policyexcerpt taken from quotbowling for columbinequot