Random: March 2006 Archives

Conservative, n. A statesman who is enamored of existing evils, as distinguished from the Liberal, who wishes to replace them with others." [Ambrose Bierce, "Devil's Dictionary," 1911]

My governmental philosophy is basically this: stay out of my life. I believe the government should basically make laws that protect people from one another. Government should not protect people from themselves. This basically means if I want to endanger my own life, so be it. Quite honestly, if lots of people want to endanger their own lives, that's really not the government's problem.

To this end the government should not regulate abortion, prostitution, homosexuals, polygamists, seat-belts, helmets, drugs or child-rearing.

I'm going to take these bullets as representative of the larger theme. First lets talk about sex. Abortion, prostitution, sexual preference and well, let's throw polygamy and polyamory in there while we're at it. Sex basically happens behind closed doors, we'll ignore the exhibitionists for the moment. I really don't care who or how many people sleep with as long as I don't have to watch and I also don't care if there is money involved. Now some people will bring up fringe groups like people who have sex with children, dead people or animals, but they miss the point. Children need the protection of the law from pedophiles and the like because sex is harmful to them which goes to my earlier point, I want the government to protect me from other people. I want the government to protect children from other people. Dead people and animals can't give consent therefore we should protect them as well.

Now, abortion and polygamy basically fall in the same basket. A woman's choice to have or not have a baby is hers. If she wants to include other people in that discussion she is completely free to do so. Many women choose to involve their friends, their spouse, the father, their church, their deity or their parents in that decision, but ultimately it is their decision. Until the child is actually born, it is basically just a biological function of the mother. Polygamy is also basically personal choice. As long as everyone involved is old enough to make the choice freely, who are we to judge. If people want to marry more than one person, why should I care? It has no bearing on my life whatsoever. Same goes for homosexual marriage while we're at it.

Basically, as it says on the bumper sticker: "Against abortion? Don't have one."

Helmets and seat belt laws are another stupid example of mommy-ing by the government. Look, if people don't want to wear seat belts then fine, as long as their not wearing a seat-belt doesn't affect my safety (and there might be an argument there, but I've never seen statistics to back that up) then they should be free not to wear them. We might "protect the children" by mandating that parents put seat-belts on them, but quite honestly if you and your children aren't wearing a seat-belt and you get into a horrible crash and your hole family dies, I call that natural selection.

Finally, lets talk about drugs. See, the "war on drugs" is a miserable failure. No sane person could argue otherwise. I think that unless the widespread use of a drug threatens the health of the general population, then they should be legal. This basically means that any drug manufacturer would have to put a drug that they wanted to bring to market through clinical trials and then clearly disclose the risks and let the people decide. The only real exception to this is antibiotics and similar drugs. Over prescription of antibiotics leads to diseases that are resistant to the antibiotics. This affects my personal health, so, the government should protect me from that. On the other hand, if you want to shoot heroin into your veins 3 times a day, go for it, just don't go driving afterwards, because then you've put my life at risk, and I don't appreciate that. This would lead to good things. One, is tax revenue. Americans spent hundreds of billions of dollars on illegal drugs last year, just think about what a tax similar to what we charge on cigarettes could do there? Ka-ching!

A few links:

• Excellent Economist Article on Prostitution
• DPA (very biased) "basics" on the Drug War
• US Government (biased in the other direction) website about the Drug War

I've been watching the HBO Mini Series From Earth to the Moon. It's really amazing. I can see how going to the moon inspired a whole generation of scientists and engineers. I am truly in awe of the accomplishments of NASA and it's engineers.

Happy pi day.

This translated text came from http://www.watchingamerica.com The original is from a chinese newspaper.

If you or your friends or relatives go to America, and the following events happen, don't think too much of it, because these things happen only in America:

In America, if you order a pizza and an ambulance at the same time, the pizza will get there faster than the ambulance.

In America, people will park their expensive cars outside their homes, while the garage is filled with worthless old clothes.

In America, people will use phones with caller ID and voicemail, but will never return calls.

In America, pharmacies will allow patients to hand in their forms at the back of the store, but allow healthy people to but their cigarettes near the entrance.

In America, when people order a double cheeseburger and a large fries, they may order a diet coke to go with it.

In America, banks will leave their doors wide open, but because of "safety" concerns, secure the fountain pens on the counter with string.

In America, there are many restrictions on under-eighteens being able to drive, but at the same time, the army allows teenagers of the same age to drive tanks and airplanes.

In America, people under 21 may not smoke due to health reasons, but people who are 21 in the army can use all kinds of weapons.

In America, politicians will use tens of millions of dollars to investigate an official whose mistress accepted a bribe of tens of thousands of dollars.

In America, you may go to court over a cup of coffee that is too hot; thieves that climb up onto the roof of your house and fall down may sue you, and robbers can also sue you because of your company's lack of oversight of their firearms.

In America, you can use ATMs while still in the car, and you may find that the keys were designed for the blind.

I find it amazing the number of people we come across in out lives. As I was putting this website together I came to think of several people that I've lost contact with. The resons are many and complicated, but this I ask of you, if you are one of these people, send me an email to let me know what is going on with you, or if you know one of these people, ask them to send me an email.

People I Wonder About:(in no particular order)

From Aspen:

* Prema Trettin
* Shanti Trettin
* Alix Anderson
* Michelle Britt
* Greg Weible
* Nadia Teague
* Emerson Kurkoski
* Gina Liberman

From Elsewhere

* Gwenelle Louis (from Canada, last contact 1992)
* Amy Lowenstien (from Clearwater, FL, last contact ~1992)
* Marci Adilman (from Atlanta [CMU], last contact 1997)
* Rodrigo Canelas (from Bolivia [CMU], last contact 1994)
* Shiela Garg (from Valley Forge, PA [CMU/Ithaca], last contact 1998)
* Amy Brust (from St. Louis, last contact ~1990)
* Jo Mangru (from Bronx, NY, last contact 1998)
* Michelle Meyer (last I heard she was in MA, but I have no idea... last contact 1998)
* Dan Alroy (from Boston, MA, last contact 1994)
* Ethan Gutierrez (from NM, last contact 1993)
* Anni Liljegren (from Sweden, last contact 1994)
* Erica Tepfer (from NH, last contact ~1997)
* Kim Hottenstien (from WY, last contact ~1997)
* Quintin Garcia (from Long Beach, CA, last contact 12/27/1994)

There are more, but I can only remember the above list. To be honest, I do know how to get in touch with a few of the people in the above list, but if you know both of us, you probably also know why I can't (for reasons other than the practical) get in touch with these people, you can still say "hi" to them for me.