Checksum Arcanius

Unable to get their agenda pushed through the legislature (who finally got something right in this state), the anti-smoking lobby has decided to take a shot at the trusty ol’ Washington State Initiative process.

I am a non-smoker, and I pretty much detest the smell. However, I do not agree with the idea of banning smoking from all indoor public places. There are plenty of smoke-free venues available today, and I can choose to go to them if I want that environment. And I strongly believe we should allow the same choice to smokers. I have never been forced, save when I was little and forced by my parents, to eat in a smoky resturant, or attend a smoky event. Why do we need to legislate to take away choice when we already have the choices we want to make? Why can’t we allow that same choice to others, even if they choose differently than us?

Given my track-record at what I want versus what I get, this one seems destined to pass. Why is it that people find it so neccesary to take away other people’s liberty? Be it thourgh despotism, republicanism, or the tyranny of the majority as in this case, it seems that people just won’t live and let live.

You can now say that you read the blog of the secretary of the Libertarian Party of King County.

Yeah.

Now, the story…

About a week ago, I got an email from the Libertarian Party of King County (LPKC) inviting me to a “Liberty Forum” at the Azteca resturant in Bellevue. Well, I like Mexican food, and I like liberty, so I thought, sounds like a good deal to me!.

I made it to the resturant (after driving maddeningly around in circles due to the circuitous nature of Bellevue’s roads in the vicinity of Azteca), and on the way to the back room, I ran into the Jimmas, but that is another story. After chatting with them, I went back into the room, where the experience truly began. In attendance was Ruth Bennett, recent gubernatorial candidate who won something on the order of 50 times the votes that divided the other two candidates, J Mills, a senatorial candidate, who later spoke at length about the contested governor’s election, King 5’s mistreatment of the Libertarian Party, and several other topics. But back to the story.

The first order of business was election of new officers. Two students from the University of Washington became chair and vice-chair of the LPKC, but then when the call went out for nominations for the Secretary, the room was silent. Well, I had actually played with the idea of running for an office before arriving, but there was a small problem – I was not a member of the Libertarian Party, officially. I informed the group of my willingness to fill the position, and of the caveat.

“Well, we can fix that,” burst out Ruth. So, with a move to nominate me, a second, and no objections, a vote was taken, and I was unanimously elected to the post of Secretary of the Libertarian Party of King County.

My duties consist of taking minutes at about four executive meetings over the next year and a few other miscellaneous tasks that I’ll have to get rebriefed on, because frankly, I forgot what they were. So as you can tell, I’m already doing a great job…

More seriously, however, could this be the start of my political career?

A large part of gratitude seems to come from the fact that we have it better than others. While this might be a topic worth exploring on its own, I say it now because, well, even with a President that is sending the budget skyward, some think is responsible for war crimes, and is either dumb or faking it, we still have it a lot better (warning: graphic) than a lot of people (no warning needed for this one).

Wayne LaPierre, NRA Executive Vice President debated Rebecca Peters, head of the International Action Network on Small Arms recently on a pay-per-view event (with the First Ammendment so trampled on in this country, that was the only way to air the debate). Certainly the American Rifleman I have on my lap gives a one-sided account of the event, but it does have some pretty amazing quotes. I think I would like to see this debate sometime. Preferably not on Pay-Per-View.

An excerpt:

Though [LaPierre] made this point often, perhaps he said it best in this itteration:
“So what you have are good and bad confronting each other all over the world … the good people want to be protected and they have a right to own a firearm. And I believe every citizen of the world had that basic human right.”
…
Only once did Peters acknowlege LaPierre’s theme about human qualities of good and evil, making an incredible remark, “There is not a clear distinction between the good guys and the bad guys in the world. And – that only happens in the movies.”

Wow. Yeah, Hilter wasn’t distinguishable from Churchill. Bush wasn’t distinguishable from Sadaam. A rapist isn’t distinguishable from his victim. It’s all so unclear. Please.

Related to a previous bit I posted, this is from the Wall Street Journal Online:

Twists and Turns

“State of Fear” is, in a sense, the novelization of a speech that Mr. Crichton delivered in September 2003 at San Francisco’s Commonwealth Club. He argued there that environmentalism is essentially a religion, a belief-system based on faith, not fact. To make this point, the novel weaves real scientific data and all too real political machinations into the twists and turns of its gripping story.
Read the rest of this entry »

Excellent article in today’s Parade magazine by Michael Crichton about the decades of false doomsday predictions he’s seen. It won’t be online until the 13th of December, 2004, but you can read it today by picking up a Sunday Seattle Times/Post-Intelligencer.

In fact, the trend of false doomsday predictions goes back further than even Mr. Chichton points out, but the author is working only from his personal recollections. In fact, way back in the 18th century (1798), Thomas Malthus published his Essay on the Principal of Population, in which he observed “that in nature plants and animals produce far more offspring than can survive, and that Man too is capable of overproducing if left unchecked. Malthus concluded that unless family size was regulated, man’s misery of famine would become globally epidemic and eventually consume Man” (berkley.edu).

As Crichton points out, doomsday predictions have been around for all time. Until we learn to generally ignore them (as Crichton recommends), we will continue to live in fear, and hurt ourselves with legislation reacting to problems that don’t really exist.

Browsing the newspaper today (Seattle Times), I came across the following: “Oklahoma routs Colorado 35-0 in Big 12 Championship.”

Which isn’t true.

Ok, they got the winner right, but I watched that game. The score was 42-3.

In many circumstances when I know better, I have noticed errors like this in newspapers, both large and small. For things of this nature, where there is no reason for them to report it wrong, I’m sure that its just inattention to detail, tight deadlines, or not really caring about the subject in this case. Nevertheless, it does lead me to wonder how badly things could get messed up – especially when there is a bias because the reporter cares about the topic one way or another.

Every time this happens, I use it to remind myself that just because I’ve only heard one version of a story, that doesn’t mean I know the truth. I have seen wrong dates by ten years, outright false information about an organization, quotes that were never uttered, statistics twisted to suit a purpose (even I have done this), and all of these in newspapers who claim their job is to provide accurate, unbiased information (as I read on the Seattle P-I opinion page just before the election, they think the rest of the pages have no particulat bias).

So just remember, even if you heard it somewhere, it doesn’t make it true, or even close in many cases.

Sure, I listen to conservative talk radio sometimes (and get pissed off when Michael Medved talks about how government becoming involved in the definition of marriage is somehow justified when government becoming involved in finances is not), but I also listen to liberal talk radio (not Air America, mind you, but Kiro’s Erin Hart and Mike Webb (who is, by the way, the only talk show host I’m talked to on the air (how do you like these triple parentheses!))).

I encourage you to do the same. You liberals out there who make a habit out of Mother Jones or The Atlantic, take the chance to read National Review sometime. If you saw and loved Fareinheit 9/11, go watch Fareinhype 9/11, go read 59 deciets in Farenheit 9/11. And you conservatives who have seen and read these things without ever seeing the orginal, now is the time. Now is the time to pick up a liberal magazine and read the other side. It won’t hurt you, I promise.