“Someone has to do something for Guatemala. The government doesn’t do anything,” says a Guatemalan resident Reason.tv calls “Miguel.”

In the past few years, the drug war has resulted in more than 40,000 deaths in Mexico and the situation in Guatemala is just as bleak. Last year alone, 5,000 people died in drug-war-related incidents.

Corrupt police do little to protect Guatemalans, and Guatemala’s corrupt court system convicts only 5 percent of arrested criminals.

In Guatemala City, private security guards outnumber police officers five-to-one, and robberies at gunpoint are common. For the impoverished people who live in Guatemala’s biggest city, life has become extremely dangerous.

Not all crime in Guatemala is committed by drug gangs, but there is no aspect of life in the country that has not been made far worse by prohibition and the black markets and violence such a policy inevitably creates.

This past May, Reason.tv’s Paul Feine spoke with “Miguel” about what it’s like to live in a city controlled by drug gangs and corrupt cops.

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Say you don’t have the dough to add the fashions you see at Sunday’s Academy Awards ceremony to your closet. If you buy knockoffs instead, are you shopping smart or stealing?

Today it’s perfectly legal to copy whatever you see on the red carpet and sell it yourself. To some, such as  Diane Von Furstenburg, this sounds a lot like theft. The former German princess is one of the world’s most successful fashion designers and she’s teaming up with Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) to push a bill that would give designers a three-year monopoly on new creations.

The whole point of intellectual property is to spur innovation, and that, according to supporters, is exactly why the fashion industry needs such a bill. Without tougher protections, they say designers will have less incentive to create new looks.

But is the fashion industry really hurting for innovation? And are top-tier designers like Von Furstenberg really getting ripped off by bargain hunters? And even if they were, who’s to say whose look is truly original?

Johanna Blakely of USC’s Norman Lear Center worries that the relentless push for more intellectual property protection could lead to a situation where big design houses lawyer up and sue young designers. Designer Galina Sobolov, head designer and owner of Single by Galina Sobolov, agrees.

“If this bill was in effect as we grew our company, we would have faced probably millions of lawsuits,” says Sobolov, whose designs have been worn by celebs such as Katy Perry and Rachel Hunter. “And we would have never actually had a company.”

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Warning: Immature Subject Matter.

Viewer discretion is advised

Approximately 75 seconds

“44 Ways to Say TSA” is produced by Ted Balaker, edited by Austin Bragg, and written by Balaker, Bragg, Hawk Jensen, Alex Manning, Jacob Sullum, and Zach Weissmueller.

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In 2009, America’s meddlers worked overtime minding other people’s business.

Nanny of the Month winners have targeted everything from fish pedicures to feeding the homeless.  But there can be only one Nanny of the Year.

Who took home top honors as the year’s biggest buttinsky? Click the video to find out.

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