Is Crack Worse than Cocaine?

Many are working to bring the disparity in sentencing between cocaine and crack to an end. Pharmacologically they are almost the exact same substance. Personally, I think the disparity should be reduced a bit, but I also think that community-based treatment for non-violent offenders should be used on a much larger scale.

Not with a Bang but a Game Show

When Stanley Milgram did this at Yale in 1961, he became a kind of pariah. Today, they become stars.

Daily roundup

• "Leprechauns"
• "'Come and walk among us'"
• "Your Backyard Mission"
• "Courts Struggle with Same-Sex Divorce"
• "Uncool People Need Jesus Too" (via The Line)
• "National 40 Days for Life Pro-Life Effort Up to 298 Babies Saved from Abortion"
• "How to save a friend from the brink"
• "Great Sex! Flat Abs! And Jesus!"

War of the worlds

William Saletan of Slate observes that we're in a "war between the worlds": the world of reality and the world of virtual reality. The frightening thing is that some of the casualties in this war are not virtual casualties. They're real ones.

Forgive and forget . . . or just forget?

From Andrew Rice’s book The Teeth May Smile But the Heart Does Not Forget:

The compromise [Uganda] had accepted, which the president [Yoweri Museveni] presented as reconciliation, was actually something more complex and less sturdy. It was as if, having found themselves unable to forgive, his people had concentrated on forgetting, and when they’d failed at forgetting, they’d chosen to believe what they wanted to believe. So long as nothing disturbed their conception of the past or exposed them to scrutiny, the nation could continue its halting procession along Museveni’s chosen path. To the president’s way of thinking, therefore, justice was a threat to progress, not because it promised verdicts and punishments, but because it forced people to remember.

Unbelievable

The other day I was watching Fox, where Brooklyn lawmaker Felix Ortiz was explaining his effort to pass a law banning New York restaurants from adding salt to the food they prepare. Ortiz said his law would save lives.

Why St. Patrick's Day Is Important to All Christianity

Today is the Feast of Saint Patrick, the saint for whom my parents named me. To many, this day calls to mind raucous celebrations and drinking. And certainly a good amount of such revelry takes place. However, in our home, as in most Irish homes, it is a holy day celebrated by attending Mass and saying prayers of thanksgiving for the life of a man whose faithful dedication to Christ led him to return to the pagan land in which he had been enslaved to proclaim the Gospel.

Daily roundup

• "Most Americans Consider Easter a Religious Holiday, but Fewer Correctly Identify Its Meaning"
• "Studying voodoo isn't a judgment"
• "A Biblical View of Social Justice"
• "Rotten Apple Awards" (sexual themes and descriptions)
• "The Bigger the Government, the Less You Are Needed"
• "There is always hope"