Jimmy Carter On The Evils Of War

He caught a lot of flack during his presidency, but he’s spot on here.

Why’s Pot Still Illegal? Ask These Guys

The Article: 5 Special Interest Groups That Help Keep Marijuana Illegal by Lee Fang in AlterNet.

The Text: Last year, over 850,000 people in America were arrested for marijuana-related crimes. Despite public opinion, the medical community, and human rights experts all moving in favor of relaxing marijuana prohibition laws, little has changed in terms of policy.

There have been many great books and articles detailing the history of the drug war. Part of America’s fixation with keeping the leafy green plant illegal is rooted in cultural and political clashes from the past.

However, we at Republic Report think it’s worth showing that there are entrenched interest groups that are spending large sums of money to keep our broken drug laws on the books:

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Gandhi On The World’s Capacity For Greed

I wonder how well this would go over on Wall Street.

Bullying: An In-Context Look

The Article: The Bully Project by Addison Engelking in Grantland.

The Text: Part One: Bully As Phenomenon and Film

The audiences around the country who saw Lee Hirsch’s documentary Bully on Friday night probably looked pretty similar. At the 7:30 screening I caught at the Lagoon Cinema in Minneapolis, Minnesota, members of the sizeable-but-not-sold-out crowd included three or four parents who’d brought their kids, a few gay and lesbian couples, some elementary and middle school teachers, some concerned gray-haired men and women, and a balding dude sporting a Goonies T-shirt.

Bully hype has died down a bit now that it’s been recut, granted a PG-13 rating, and given a wider theatrical release. (That ratings controversy between distributor Harvey Weinstein and the MPAA ratings board already feels like a publicity stunt, although given the idiocy of the MPAA, you never know.) After a successful limited release in New York and Los Angeles, Hirsch’s film is now playing at 158 theaters nationwide, including three locations in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro area; a wider release is forthcoming. The reams of advance press and positive reviews have certainly helped Bully’s box office take, but The Hunger Games, Cabin in the Woods, The Three Stooges, Titanic 3D, and American Reunion all had better per-screen averages on Friday. On the other hand, Bully is not a movie most people would choose to see as a way to kick off their weekend. The crowd at the Lagoon felt somehow determined; they knew what was in store for them, they were ready to have their hearts stomped on, and they were ready to get mad.

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Books: The Way To True Independence

Somehow, I doubt he’d include Twilight on his book list.