Today’s Links: June 18, 2012

OPINION

MEGAN GARBER: “Canada Will Spy on People, Politely”
“Here is a Canadian initiative: Airports and border crossings are being fitted with cameras and microphones that can eavesdrop on travelers’ conversations. The Canadian Border Services Agency announced the installations this weekend, noting that audio-video monitoring and recording are already in place at “unidentified CBSA sites” at airports and border points of entry across the country.”

DAVID NUTT (interviewed by JON WHITE): “The Agony of Banning Ecstasy”
“One of the things I find very disturbing about the current approach to drugs, which is simply prohibition without necessarily any full understanding of harms, is that we lose sight of the fact that these drugs may well give us insights into areas of science that need to be explored and may give us new opportunities for treatment.”

DAVID CRANE: “California’s Bad Bet Makes JPMorgan’s Look Minor”
“Worrisome as [JPMorgan’s] gamble was — after all, the banking crisis was largely due to bad bets by banks — it is unfortunate that Congress has never called hearings on a far bigger bet, one that has had more catastrophic consequences for millions of taxpayers. The one I’m referring to was made by California legislators on Sept. 10, 1999. They decided that investment gains would cover 100 percent of the cost of retroactive pension increases they granted that day to hundreds of thousands of state workers.”

NEWS

FDA – FDA focuses on toxic side effects with Onyx drug
“Federal health regulators say the toxic side effects of an experimental cancer drug from Onyx Pharmaceuticals may outweigh the drug’s benefits for patients with a type of blood cancer.”

CENSORSHIP – Google reports ‘alarming’ rise in censorship by governments
“There has been an alarming rise in the number of times governments attempted to censor the internet in last six months, according to a report from Google.”

EDUCATION – Mayors Back Parents Seizing Control of Schools
“Hundreds of mayors from across the United States this weekend called for new laws letting parents seize control of low-performing public schools and fire the teachers, oust the administrators or turn the schools over to private management.”