According to factcheck.org the President does indeed own part of a timber company. Oops.

Yeah, it's been all over the newspapers for... oh... the last *week*. Of course, that wouldn't help him any, since he doesn't read. Apparantly no-one on his staff reads, either. Or maybe he just ignored their memo, like he ignored the terrorism memos.

Here's the most stunning fact from factcheck.org.
It is perfectly legal to lie all you want in political ads.

But can we really trust factcheck.org? Can we really trust any information we receive about politics? The burden of voting is actually a tough one.

To say someone "owns" a timber company vs. "having a share in one" are two very different things.

Given the complexity of most 401K packages or mutual funds I'm certain I'm involved in a lot of companies I'd want nothing to do with...

I 'spose now I can say, "I own Intel" <...wanders off to fire Barrett's butt...>

This leads to my mixed feelings about "get out the vote" and voter registration efforts. I'm certainly all for efforts in high school civics classes to pound into people the importance of voting. But if you're in already in your 20's or older and are just too lazy to grab a registration card...

I used to vote.

For about 40 years, I never missed a chance to go to the polls and express my disapproval of the way things were being done. I doubt if I have voted for an incumbent more than half a dozen times. Ever.

But four years ago I was disenfranchised. No, I was not convicted of a felony, I didn't lose my voter registration card.

Instead, Alaska went to a closed primary system, where voters must choose to vote a Republican ticket or a Democratic ticket in the primary elections.

Alaska is a small (ppulation-wise) state. Working at a radio station, I have the chance to become personally acquainted with many of the people who run for office, and some of them I count as friends. Yet I am no longer allowed to vote against the people I choose. I have to choose all Democrats or Republicans. I don't vote against Parties. I vote against people. Or at least I used to.

My vote is a valuable thing -- and if the parties (or, in this case, Parties) involved have decided to treat me so shabbily, then they don't deserve to have it.

Fuck 'em!

tanstaafl.

So don't vote in the primaries. They're for the people enamored of particular parties anyway. (Honestly, I wasn't aware of any state that allowed people to vote on both parties' primaries. It doesn't really make sense.) Vote in the general election.

Besides, this year you have to opportunity to vote to legalize marijuana (or so I'm told).

Okay, I'm not sure what to make of that post. On the surface, it'd seem like you're promoting marijuana legalization, but that doesn't seem to jibe with your apparently conservative moral stance. Or are you implying that Doug and I are potheads? Or that we'd be particularly interested in legalizing pot?

I'm just confused.

I suppose I was more interested to get his thoughts on the issue than anything else.

I am strongly in favor of legalizing marijuana, but probably not for the reasons you might think.

I have never, ever, not even once in my whole life, used an illegal pharmaceutical, nor have I ever been interested in doing so. Unmodified reality is interesting enough on its own -- I don't need to enhance (or, I guess depending on the drug, diminish) it.

But -- I also have no interest in preventing someone else from doing so.

Oh, if it were a relative or acquaintance and I thought he was ruining his life, I might try and talk him out of it. But I would never countenance passing a law to protect him from himself, "...for his own good." I sincerely hope that if I should ever show signs of that kind of monstrous arrogance, someone will whop me a good one alongside the head, "...for my own good!"

So if I don't care one way or another about whether someone wants to indulge in illegal drug usage, why am I adamantly in favor of legalization of marijuana?

Well, let's re-phrase that a bit. I am in favor of decriminalization of marijuana, that is, let's get rid of the ridiculous laws that have ruined far more lives (orders of magnitude more lives!) than the use of the drug itself has ever done. Imagine how much better use we could make of the billions of dollars spent every year in fruitless attempts to enforce an unenforceable law whose violators harm nobody.

I am mindful of the time some years back that a fellow bought a used pickup truck here in Alaska, to drive to his new job in the lower 48. Apparently the Customs folks at the Canadian border didn't like his looks or something... they pretty much dismantled the truck, and lo and behold, mixed in amongst the ashes in the ashtray were two miniscule seeds (apparently left there by the previous owner) that Customs decreed to be marijuana seeds. Being fair-minded, they did not throw the man in jail. Instead, they confiscated his truck (to be later sold at public auction, the funds going to the Canadian government) and left the man to his own devices to walk 300 miles back home again. Oh, boy, it's a damn good thing that marijuana is illegal, otherwise criminals like that would be out walking our streets. Oh, wait...

Every time I hear somebody say that he thinks marijuana should be illegal, I think of the statement by HL Mencken, who said: "A puritan is someone who wakes up in a cold sweat at two o'clock in the morning, desperately afraid that somehow, somewhere, someone is having a good time."

So, yes, I am in favor of legalizing marijuana, and now perhaps you have some glimmerings of the reasons why.

tanstaafl.

And when a Republican votes in the Democratic primary, he can also vote in the Republican primary, too?

And when a Republican votes in the Democratic primary, he can also vote in the Republican primary, too?

No.

In an open primary, all the names are on the ballot. You can choose one name for each office, regardless of what political party the candidate espouses.

This means you get to choose whom you consider to be the best applicant for the job, period, regardless of party affiliation.

tanstaafl.

Hmm. Interesting.