Horse Doping Reigns in the Sport of Kings

A look at the drugs and breeding practices that make the Preakness.

This Saturday, Kentucky Derby winner I'll Have Another will join a field of a dozen young colts at Pimlico Race Course, in Baltimore, for a chance to win $1 million and a shot at the coveted Triple Crown. As they take their places at the gate, these majestic creatures, and the jockeys riding them, can count themselves part of a noble and enduring tradition—one that remains practically unchanged from ancient times but for one major exception: Most, if not all, of the thoroughbreds running in the 137th Preakness Stakes will be under the influence of at least one performance-enhancing drug.

Overzealous Child Porn Laws Could Ruin Main Line Teen’s Life

Does Neil Geckle really deserve a life on the sex offender registry?

I imagine Neil Geckle fancied himself a connoisseur of sorts. He wasn't into cars, or cigars or fine food. Instead—like most guys his age—Geckle's passion was girls. And Geckle liked variety. To find it, he turned to a place where millions of people go every day to do much the same thing: He turned to Facebook. But unlike those other people, Geckle wasn't looking for friends.

In an Overpopulated World, We Should Stop Having So Many Kids

Earth is getting crowded.

Scattered throughout southern Mexico and the central American nations of Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador and Honduras are the remnants of one of the most powerful and enduring civilizations the Western hemisphere ever produced. For more than 2,000 years, Mayan culture thrived here, giving rise to vast city-states and temples that rivaled Ancient Greece, and inspiring the development of some of the most advanced farming, irrigation, engineering and architecture techniques of the day. During its golden age, or “classical period”—which ran from the third to the ninth century—the Mayan civilization consisted of more than 40 different major settlements and harbored millions of inhabitants, making it—by the reckoning of some experts—one of the densest populations in human history.

Will the Internet Make Democrats and Republicans Obsolete?

Groups like Americans Elect could kill our two-party system.

Whichever party you plan to support in the fall general election, you can rest assured it's going to be an uninspiring campaign. Of course, the election of our country's first black commander-in-chief in 2008 would be a hard act to follow even under the best of circumstances. But four years later, Americans are tasked with choosing between an unpopular incumbent who promised his supporters “Change” but offered another, less galvanizing C-word (Compromise); and a Republican challenger who has received more accolades for his hair than his political acumen, and who recently became the first presumptive presidential nominee ever to garner less than 60 percent of the vote in a state primary as the sole viable candidate.

Mitt Romney Doesn’t Need to Pander to the Tea Party or Evangelicals to Win

The GOP candidate needs to be more like Barack, less like Rick.

One of the worst-kept secrets in American politics is that candidates in presidential elections play to their party's fringe in the primaries only to move toward the center in the general election. It's one of those unavoidable quirks of an unrepresentative two-party system where independents outnumber partisan voters; you're just not supposed to talk about it.

Thank Goodness Media’s Reminding Everyone That Mitt Romney’s a Mormon

We almost forgot.

Well, it's official. Rick Santorum—the Tim Tebow of American politics, the would-be Pope of Pennsylvania Avenue—has bowed out of the race for the White House, paving the way for Mitt Romney to become the uncontested GOP nominee for president. Much was made during the long primary season about Santorum's extreme brand of conservative Catholicism, which seemed to be couched more in moral rigidity than in the Christ-like humility Peter tells us we must “clothe” ourselves in if we are to receive God's grace. In fact, through months of contentious campaigning, the candidate seemed to distinguish himself more for his regular lapses into sarcasm, vitriol and downright meanness than for a vision of a nation grounded in good Christian “love-thy-enemy” values. Yet looking back years from now, the most enduring legacy of Santorum's participation in the 2012 primaries will most certainly be his role in elevating the issue of religious faith to a level not witnessed in a U.S. presidential campaign since 1960, when Catholics turned out en masse to send John F. Kennedy to the Oval Office. So where does Mitt Romney fit into all this?

Should Pennsylvania Be in the Lottery Business?

When gambling’s for grandma, privatization could be a good thing.

Last week, like millions of other people across the country, I plunked down my dollar for a six-digit shot at the American dream. Did I really think my single Mega-Millions ticket—its numbers spat out at random by the computer at my corner bodega—really had a chance of hitting? I'd like to tell you that I'm smarter than that—that my critical insight and innate cynicism won out over the hype. But I'd be lying. If I didn't think there was some chance of winning, even an inordinately remote one, I wouldn't have bought the ticket in the first place, nor endured the gentle razzing I received for doing so from my wife, who is, apparently, more of a skeptic than me.

Some Philly Cops Need a Crash Course in the First Amendment

Citizens have the right to snap smartphone pics of police in public.

Over the past 18 months citizen-photojournalists have managed to document—with little controversy—the killing of a dictator, the downfall of a fashion icon and an unprovoked pepper spray attack on a group of peaceful University of California protestors. But for one overly sensitive Philly cop, all it took was a few moments in front of the lens during a routine traffic stop to push him over the edge and into dangerously undemocratic territory. According to press reports, on the night of March 14th, Ian Van Kuyk was sitting on his porch in Point Breeze with his girlfriend when police stopped a car in the street in front of his house. Sensing an opportunity to complete a required night photography assignment for his photojournalism class, the 24-year-old Temple junior grabbed his school-issued Nikon and started documenting the unfolding scene with a quick succession of non-flash exposures.

This Conservative Says Santorum, Romney Are Not True Conservatives

John Dean talks about the GOP’s dilemma.

The contest to determine who will represent the Grand Old Party in November's presidential election has devolved into a quasi-farcical tit-for-tat over who is the rightful bearer of the mantle of “true conservatism.” Rick Santorum is pretty sure he holds that distinction (notwithstanding the fact that four years ago he placed the coveted crown on the head of current rival Mitt Romney). For his part, Mitt Romney claims to imbue his conservatism with an element of severity—a far cry from the Senate hopeful who, in 1994, flexed his moderate muscles during a debate with Ted Kennedy.