An article investigates the increasingly inventive tactics of Iraqi insurgents. Some improvised explosive devices are now made from "electronic deritus"—TV remotes, toy walkie-talkies, and washing-machine timers. Other tactics include concealing explosives "in loose rubble, then [stacking] human feces on top" so soldiers are less likely to investigate closely. They also use cadavers as bait, "dumping them on the street and detonating them when a military or police patrol stops for an inspection." One official says, "They know that we can't just leave a body to rot in the street." … Michael Kinsley writes that for Americans younger than 40, the ban on gays in the military must be "simply weird." Children "grow up today with gay friends, gay parents, gay parents of friends, and gay friends of parents" and see depictions of gays and lesbians in popular culture. The fact that GOP candidates voiced their support for the "don't ask, don't tell" policy in last week's debate proves that their party "has stood still as history has gone charging past."—M.S.
New York Times Magazine, June 17
The cover article looks at the use and misuse of medicinal opioids, focusing on the story of former Dr. Ronald McIver, "a crusader for high-dose opioids." McIver is currently serving 30 years in prison for the overprescription of Oxycontin, which may have killed one patient. Balancing the costs and benefits of opioid usage is difficult because among medical professionals and laymen alike, "pain is discussed amid a swirl of ignorance and myth," despite the one in five Americans who suffer from chronic pain. In the DEA's battle to insure harsh penalties for criminals, "pain patients are the collateral victims." … An article looks at "gold farming," the market selling virtual goods from online games like World of Warcraft, an industry based mostly in China that brings in $1.8 billion annually. "[O]n the surface, there is little to distinguish gold farming from … any of the other industries that have mushroomed across China to feed the desires of the Western consumer. The wages, the margins, the worker houses, the long shifts and endless workweeks—all of these are standard practices."—A.B.
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