Just posted a quick update of about 1,600 new pictures in the public galleries. Members update will follow tomorrow or Thursday. Thank you to all the contributors and to slaughterkittie (that's a brand new account if you're wondering why I'm linking to something that's not set up) from Austria for the cover shot.
Anyway, we're in Los Gatos (ie. Santa Cruz) right now… Today is a US election day (no, it's not time to get rid of the madman and the dark lord yet), so I wanted to comment on how Denver has just legalized marijuana and some folks are insisting that state laws be used to do the arrests. I agree with Mason Tvert that this makes a disturbing comment on democracy — if the will of the people is that marijuana be legalized, at what point do you accept that you're not living in a democracy when the will of the people is ignored?
I finished off Freakonomics this morning (a brilliant and highly recommended book)… It points out a variety of things, such as talking about how the real reason that crime dropped in the 90's wasn't policing or the economy or anything like that, but Roe v. Wade — the flow of unwanted children that allowing abortion caused to cease would have aged to teen criminal during that period… and since they didn't exist, crime dropped (dummy interpretation).
The core statement being made (in my opinion) is that people who have happy lives contribute to the health of society. Thus government has to protect people's rights to lead the lives they choose to lead, while also ensuring that these decisions don't extend so far as to impede negatively on other people's lives… but if you look at the various ballot measures out there like gay marriage and even redistributing, anti-teacher policies, and so on, it feels like people are seeking out laws where they can spy on and attack the happiness of those around them, rather than simply seeking out joy for themselves.
Sad state of affairs when people care more about making sure that their neighbor can't be in love with and marry the person of their dreams, or ensuring that their neighbor isn't consuming a substance that makes them happy or viewing a (porn) movie that offends them, rather than just trying to be happy themselves. Schadenfreude nation? Or maybe “fear” nation would be a better name? One of the other points that Freakonomics makes is that when presented with the choice of investing a trillion dollars to fight a war on terrorism, and investing it to fight a war on heart disease, the latter option, which really would save and improve millions of lives, is ignored… Humans appear driven far more by fear and hatred than by logic and love, and the ballot questions asked in these elections sadly illustrate that.
But really, it's not like people care about elections anyway.
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