Partisans among the press, meanwhile, continue their rear-guard actions, making themselves ridiculous with semantic gymnastics. It is not abortion, it’s “reproductive choice” or “abortion rights.” The New York Times consistently skirts the term “partial birth abortion,” as in this story about Sen. Blanche Lincoln: “Even Emily’s List . . . joined the pile-on last week, reminding followers that it stopped supporting Mrs. Lincoln . . . after she voted to ban a form of late-term abortion in 1999.” A form. –“As Morally Serious as a Root Canal,” Mona Charen, National Review

Taxpayer funding for music isn’t right for everybody. In some countries, public funding is a way to promote national culture in the face of American music’s commercial dominance; in places like Sweden and the UK, it’s also a means of protecting a prized national export. Nearly everywhere, more funding goes to classical forms like opera or ballet than to what is loosely called “rhythmic music.” When bands do get money, there are always debates over which ones really deserve the support….And, just as U.S. health-care legislation has constantly hovered over the brink, public arts spending programs in these nations are always at risk of being slashed. –“What’s the Matter With Sweden?” Mark Hogan, Pitchfork

Wilkins was 14 in January 1980, when she successfully bought a Playboy for the first time, and since then she’s bought every issue, new and old. She hid her magazines from her mother in boxes in the closet—and she hid her obsession from just about everyone else she knew too. “The first person I told was my high school boyfriend,” she says. “Of course I told him.” In 1983 she left Kalamazoo for the University of Chicago, where she took out a subscription. She’s been a subscriber ever since. –“What Sort of Woman Reads Playboy?” Katie Buitrago, Chicago Reader

Why would anyone freebase coffee? (because someone will do anything for everything)
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