Checksum Arcanius

…you just took another step towards complete nanny-statehood!

In the grand tradition of Kelo vs. New London, Washington State voters have jumped on the bandwagon to the feel-good notion of “public health” even while said wagon rolls over and squashes property and personal rights…

No longer can I enjoy the slightly seedy, character-rich, smoke-filled air of the Huricane Cafe or any other place that currently allows smoking… but hey, at least I’m safe from secondhand smoke! Just wait, in a few years we’ll be passing a law that prevents smoking in your own home, because at some future point someone else may live there and the effects of residual smoke will be too much to bear. Its for the children!

…you have successfully forced the rest of the state to pay to fix partially fund safety for your transportation system.

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Washington State’s General election is coming up on Tuesday, November 8th. Here are my recommendations for the races I’m voting in:

Initiative 900: YES
Initiative 901: NO
Initiative 912: YES
Initiative 330: NO
Initiative 336: NO!!!!
Senate Joint Resolution 8207: NO
King County Proposition No. 1: NO
County Executive: David Irons
Sheriff: Greg Schmidt
King County Council District 9: Reagan Dunn
Port of Seattle Commissioner Position 1: John Creighton
Port of Seattle Commissioner Position 3: Lloyd Hara
Port of Seattle Commissioner Position 5: Jack Jolley
Bellevue City Council Position 2: Conrad Lee
Bellevue City Council Position 4: John Albertson
Bellevue City Council Position 6: Don Davidson

If you want to know why, read on below…
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I’ve talked about Factcheck.org before, and thanks to the new “Blasts from the past” section on the left, I went and checked it out again today. There I found this detailed event-by-event log of the unfolding of the disaster in New Orleans.

What I get from reading it is the gross incompetence of government in general: State Officials blocking Red Cross, Federal Officials “just finding out” about the 40,000 people in the convention center, Local Officials ordering the evacuation well after it would have been effective and the failure to follow disaster plans at all levels – if that would have even helped.

Take from it what you will, but here is what I take from it: Government generally does not work very well. I an no anarchist, but I believe as Thomas Paine said, “Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one.” In the Wake of Katrina, we see again and again government at its intolerable best, wallowing gloriously in its own incompetence.

Those that rely on government to protect them will never be safe.
Those that trust government to save them will be left alone in their time of need.
Those that believe that government is the answer will only end up with more questions.

The Primary Election is on the 20th. However, since I vote by absentee ballot (a habit I began while at school out-of-state), I usually do my research and make my decisions a week or so in advance. Today was that day. I will share my decisions and my reasons below.
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The combined intelligence of media and government is astounding

From the article:

Families displaced by Hurricane Katrina will receive debit cards good for $2,000 to spend on clothing and other immediate needs, the Bush administration said yesterday.

and then the kicker:

The administration estimated the cost of the program for 320,000 households at $640 million.

Holy crap! How did they come up with that number?

…

In other sad news (and also from the article):

President Bush sent to Congress a request for $51.8 billion in additional hurricane relief, raising Katrina’s cost to the federal government to $62.3 billion so far, a record for domestic disaster relief. Congress is likely to approve the White House request today.

White House budget director Joshua Bolten made it clear: “We will in fact need substantially more,” estimating the current sum would cover expenses for “a few weeks.”

Last week, FEMA was spending about $500 million a day, an unprecedented rate, House Appropriations Committee aides said. But over the weekend, Bolten said, that “burn rate” soared to more than $2 billion a day as FEMA began signing contracts for the construction of temporary housing.

$2 billion a day! Holieeee…

An Unnatural Disaster: A Hurricane Exposes the Man-Made Disaster of the Welfare State
An Objectivist Review by Robert Tracinski | The Intellectual Activist
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