Best Thinking for May 20, 2012

Trending Topics

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  Netherlands Cracks Down on Cannabis Coffeeshops
  By Ed Murrieta

  Foreigners visiting three southern provinces of the Netherlands are now prohibited from partaking in one of the nation's most famous tourist attractions: purchasing and smoking marijuana and hashish in coffeeshops. Since the early 1970s, soft drugs such as marijuana and hashish have been...

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  NASA's Future
  By BestThinking

  After more than 30 years of exploring space, NASA launched its final flight on July 8, 2011after the United States government announced the end of space shuttle launches. As this final mission nears completion, many question what the future will hold for the U.S. and space travel. The...

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  Indoor Tanning: an Issue of Addiction?
  By Erin Luhmann

  With salon names like Half-Baked Tanning, Electric Tan, Sun UR BUNZ, T-N-T Tanning and Sizzle, the tanning industry has been ripe for parody long before Kristen Wiig played the New Jersey tanning mom, Patricia Krentci, on SNL. While Krentci’s sun-logged complexion and alleged tanning abuses...

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  Where DC Meets Hollywood: The Impact Popular Culture and Politics Have On Each Other
  By Kathleen Schafer

  In a country where actors become President and Presidents court actors for policy support, never before has the intersection of our political leadership and our popular culture been so entwined.  Political tales regularly provide Hollywood fodder and successful performers increasingly are...

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  Indie Amusement Parks: Are the Gates Closing?
  By Derrick Bang

  My childhood was spent within a 10-minute drive of Marineland of the Pacific, a Southern California oceanarium — at the time, the largest in the world — whose August 1954 debut preceded the far splashier arrival of Disneyland not quite a year later, on July 17, 1955. I wasn’t old enough...

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  Illegal Immigration
  By BestThinking

  The United States, known as the 'Land of Opportunity', attracts a diverse number of individuals into its open doors every year. For years, the problems surrounding illegal immigration have been plaguing the United States, undeniably affecting the lives of many. The speculation in regards to...

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  Predictions for the 2012 Wildfire Season
  By Kate Prengaman

  Last year wildfires engulfed almost 4 million acres across Texas alone, destroying thousands of homes and killing 10 people. Climatologists predict that the extreme drought that created highly flammable conditions will continue in 2012. Texas is not alone. Across the United States, more...

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  The Ongoing Debate of American Education
  By BestThinking

  With the upcoming 2012 Presidential Election drawing closer, candidates are sure to address the U.S. education system. As students in the United States continue to lag behind countries such as India and China in math and science, the issue of American education remains an unsolved problem....

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  The Third Party Problem
  By Carrie Kirby

  Come election time, my husband and I often find ourselves on opposite sides of the voting booth. It's not that our political beliefs differ much -- we're both liberals. The difference is that he believes in voting for the candidate who most closely matches his personal beliefs, which often...

• Is Sunscreen Safe?
• Acid in the Ocean
• Ban Violent Video Games to Protect Children
• Al Jazeera Earning Credibility?
• Zero-Packaging Stores and the Environment
• Obama Addresses a Nation Divided on Issue of Same-Sex Marriage
• Ai Weiwei, China and Human Rights
• Bonnaroo Music Festival 2012
• Air Traffic Safety
• Green Weddings: Making Ecologically and Economically Friendly Choices
• Comparing Generic and Brand Name Prescription Drugs
• Do Hunger Games and Brave Signal a New Age for Heroines?