Win Moses proposes new "Knock First" Bill

State Representative Win Moses (D-81) has proposed a "Knock First" law. He insists that homeowners might shoot police by mistake. While I agree that the safety of homeowners and police officers is important, this seems to imply that police do not need to knock if they are raiding the house of a non-gun owner. Police should give some notice that they are about to search a residence so to give the resident time to pull their pants or skirt up.

Monitor-Side Chat Show

Because nobody uses their fireplace anymore...

Folks, there have been some very long comment threads on recent posts on Mike Sylvester's blog. Some of you have comments, concerns, and criticisms about libertarian positions on certain issues. I think that these are all worthy of being addressed, but we end up have a ten way conversation. So I thought I'd open up the floor to comments about the libertarian philosophy to non-libertarians, and I'll try to address them. If this works out well, maybe the Monitor-Side Chat Show will be a regular feature.

Red Cross Banquet

Yesterday I attended a Red Cross banquet for pheresis donors. It was held in Bentley's on Broadway, which is the old Fraternal Order of Eagles building. Pheresis is a process in which blood is drawn from a donor, then run through a centifuge. Platelets and plasma are seperated out, and red blood cells are returned to the donor. This allows the donor to contribute up to 24 times a year instead of only 6 times a year. The platelets are used to help hemophiliacs and cancer patients.

There they fed and entertained us. Several nurses sang and danced on stage. They did their own renditions of "So Happy Together", "Daydream Believer", and "Proud to be an American". For that last song, the crowd stood up and sang along with the chorus. The lyrics had been slightly modified for the times: "And I won't forget the ones who died" instead of "men who died". It reminded me of the change in Star Trek's "To Boldly Go" speech.

For more information on pheresis, please call (260)480-8299 or 1-800-589-8127.

How to make someone disappear

My mother had loaned money to a friend. Now that friend is never home, nor does she return any phone calls. My mom is somehow suprised by this, but I've seen this happen before. Loaning people money tends to make them disappear. It's the one exception to the laws of matter and energy conservation. The Earth suddenly has 68 less kilograms of mass because this person who is debt to you simply no longer exists.
I wonder what would happen if I were to try this myself. Now, I get along swell with all the neighbors and all my coworkers. But the next time I have a feud with somebody who happens to have financial problems, I am going to try the following. I'll go up to them and say "Look, I know we had some differences, but I've been hearing that you've run into some tough times. Here's $50, you can pay me back in a couple weeks." Within two weeks this person will be gone. For %1 of the cost of an actual contract killing, I can be rid of the person.

After reading this, I bet there are some anarchists who are now tempted to buy US savings bonds. Don't do it. That is exactly what the Chinese are doing, and probably for the same reason. The ChiComms will actually make you miss the federal government.

Luxury Issues

Sometimes political scientists will refer to issues unrelated to the economy or an ongoing crisis as "luxury issues". That means that no matter what public policy is set on these particular issues, they are unlikely to have much of an impact on most people's overall quality of life.

For example, posting the Ten Commandments in a public school is unlikely to convert any students to Christianity, nor is it likely to improve the behavior of the students. Likewise, forbidding the Ten Commandments from being posted is not going to create a hostile enviroment for Christian and Jewish students. Rather, it is an issue designed to get you all hot and bothered. The proponents of posting the Ten Commandments know that it will not pass constitutional muster. It is designed to get those who feel strongly about it to send in their contributions. Likewise, organizations that oppose the posting of religious documents in government buildings can have use it to get their own supporters alarmed enough to send money.

The same goes for issues like flag buring and gay marraige. One would think that a person opposed to gay marraige should be quite content with the status quo, since it is illegal on the federal level and in most states. Nevertheless, the Senate had to vote on a proposed constitutional amendment even though it had zero chance of passing.

Typically luxury issues are brought up during times of relative prosperity. Gay marraige was not discussed as much in the months immediatly following 9/11. Nor was flag burning discussed much during the recession that took place during the early 90's.

Politics is fueled by drama. Even when things are swell politicians need to find ways to pit voters against each other. Now, with public interest in the war waning, both Republicans and Democrats are trying to find new things for us to be upset about. We don't need issues to be upset about. We have politicians to be upset at.

Same-sex marraige.

I see it as a seperation of church and state issue. Right now, two men can be married in a Unitarian church, but the marraige would not be recognized by the state of Indiana or the federal government. Likewise, a person who got divorced but did not get an annulment prior to getting remarried would not have their marraige recognized by the Catholic Church, yet it would still be recognized by the state that it took place in.

Marraige usually consists of two things. It consists of a expensive party in a fancy building with stained glass windows and a legal contract. Let the entities who own the fancy buildings decide who may get married inside. And let any consented adult enter into whatever legal contract they choose.

Or we can go back to the good old days, when a man had his wife, and his secretary, and the babysitter. And a woman had her husband, and her gardener, and the mailman.

What I bought this week

On Wednesday, I bought the following at the Borders on the corner of Coldwater and Coliseum

"Settling Accounts: Drive to the East" by Harry Turtledove
"Against the Tide of Years" by S.M. Stirling
"On the Oceans of Eternity" by S.M. Stirling
and a CD entitled "Our Time in Eden" by 10,000 Maniacs.

See, Borders gave me a discount card, so that I would swipe it every time I bought something in that store. This allows them to write down and record everything that I buy. I figure that if Borders knows what I bought on Wednesday, everyone else should too.

Seriously though. If you want to protect your privacy, pay cash. I did not mind using the discount card because I don't care if people know that I read alternate history or listen to sappy music from the 90's. However, Borders may accumulate a list that reflects my reading habits. Some of what I have read contains nudity (National Geographic). Some of it contains violence. (the Old Testament) And some of it could be considered subversive (the Bill of Rights) Under the Patriot Act, the government can request a copy of that list. So I will probably take care to make I don't buy the wrong things with my discount card.

This Patriot Act was intended to fight terrorism. Actual terrorist pay cash when they buy a copy of the Koran and "Anarchist's Cookbook". This law was never mean to track them at all. It is designed to see who is buying Al Frankin's books and DVD copies of Fareinhiet 911. Some Republicans may think that this ability of the government to spy on leftists is a good thing. They should be concerned about what will happen if, God forbid, Hillary wins in '08.

My advice to the Republicans is to repeal the PAtrioit Act while they still have the majority. I'm worried that the Democrats have no intention of repealing this bill themselves....