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Remy: Cough Drops-The Mandate (featuring Sandra Fluke)

Fri, 09 Mar 2012 00:00:00 EST

Remy crashes Sandra Fluke's Congressional testimony to demand a mandate for his cough drop addiction.

"Remy: Cough Drops-The Mandate" is one of a series of collaborations between Remy and Reason.tv. To watch Remy's other videos, go to youtube.com/goremy.

Approximately 1:50 minutes. Lyrics by Remy. Video shot and produced by Meredith Bragg.

More from Reason on Sandra Fluke and the cost of contraception:

Make the Pill Cheaper by Making it Over the Counter

Sandra Fluke's Protection Racket

It's Like Totally Different When a Liberal Blowhard Guy Calls a Conservative Woman a Twat!

Download the mp3 and HD versions at below, and subscribe to Reason.tv's YouTube channel.

Lyrics:
Yeah and listen up peeps, you better check the deal
We got another mandate we gone straight reveal
And if you don't listen up, we be walking out
Yeah you know cough drops what we talking about

Take a look at this graph, you gonna holler with fear
Cough drops costing me a hundred dollars a year
I'm talking Halls, Ludens, to keep me alive
It's like a dog-fighting ring, I need Vicks to survive

It's preventative medicine, suppressing my cough? Word.
I need a vote from each of you--oh, that's kind of awkward
Cough drops are so tasty--how is it allowed?
Yeah, this guy knows what I'm talking about.

Cherry, honey lemon, or the mentho-lytus
Directly to my house's where I suggest you ship this
They come in all kinds of colors and flavors galore
Even sheep sk--wait, I think this one's yours

I appreciate the testimony, very profound
We need to verify this policy is morally sound
And there's one reasonable way to see if it should be allowed
And it's to probe you internally, can somebody get me a towel?

My apologies for the gentleman across the aisle
He doesn't understand mandates, he hasn't been here a while
I see no reason we shouldn't pass your request
Just let me double check, yep, it passes our test

This is not about "men's health," this is not a prescription
Mandate Men's Health, 12 month subscription
Your party has no respect for individual rights
Now come on up here, I'd like to check your insides

Well I guess it's safe to say this has kind of devolved
Maybe it's not the best idea to have these people involved
So I think I'm gonna bounce, put this one on the shelf
Hit up the drug store--get some cough drops myself.

Abandoned in Guatemala: The Failure of International Adoption Policies

Thu, 06 Oct 2011 08:00:00 EDT

"If we shut down international adoptions, that's 5,000 kids a year whose lives we are ruining, whose lives could have been wonderful, and we're dooming them by shutting them into these institutions. So, to me, that's fundamental evil."

--Harvard law professor Elizabeth Bartholet

In 2007, Guatemala's privately run system of adoption attorneys, orphanages and foster care providers helped nearly 5,000 abandoned children find homes with loving families around the world. But then the Guatemalan government shut down international adoptions, created a centrally controlled adoption agency and nationalized the orphanage system. The plan was to promote in-country adoptions, but that plan hasn't worked. Last year, only 35 children were adopted by Guatemalan families.

Why did the Guatemalan government put an end to a system that was giving thousands of abandoned children a chance at a better life? And what did UNICEF have to do with it? Reason.tv producers Paul Feine and Alex Manning went to Guatemala to find out.

"Abandoned in Guatemala: The Failure of International Adoption Policies" is a film about the promise of international adoption and the sad reality that international adoptions around the world are decreasing, largely due to the influence of UNICEF. It's also a film about a privately run system that worked and a state-run system that is failing. Most of all, "Abandoned in Guatemala" is a film intended to raise awareness about international adoption in the hope that in the near future more abandoned children will be placed with loving families, wherever they happen to live.

Approximately 20 minutes.

Produced by Paul Feine and Alex Manning. Additional camera: Anthony Fisher. Graphics: Sharif Matar. Voice-over translations: Rin Palmer. Special thanks to Lissa Hanckel, Ana Isabel Maria-Gadala Centeno and Madre Ines. Music by Jason Shaw (audionautix.com) and Vate (www.vate.com.mx).

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Do Parents Matter? Q&A with Bryan Caplan, Author of Selfish Reasons to Have More Kids

Thu, 21 Jul 2011 13:00:00 EDT

In his best-selling book The Myth of the Rational Voter (2007) George Mason University economist Bryan Caplan demythologized the notion that American voters know what they are doing when they step into the ballot booth.

In his new book, Selfish Reasons to Have More Kids: Why Being a Great Parent Is Less Work and More Fun Than You Think, Caplan does the same for the conventional wisdom about parenting. In a world of Tiger Moms and helicopter parents who monitor and agonize over every minor activity in which their children engage, the father of three says that parents actually have minimal influence over long-term outcomes for their children. Rather than fretting over whether junior is admitted into Baby Einstein violin programs, Caplan argues that parents should relax and learn to enjoy their kids' childhood.

Reason's Nick Gillespie sat down with Caplan to discuss the research behind and the reception of his unconventional theory.

Shot by Jim Epstein and Meredith Bragg. Edited by Meredith Bragg. About 7 minutes.

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