• sipping a martini in santa clarita a few miles from the fire #
• Twitter Updates for 2008-11-17 http://ff.im/4mil #

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• Watch your life slip by http://ff.im/3ZuJ #
• Furniture Store Employee Wants You To Know There’s Something Wrong With Your Salesperson [Commission Wars] http://ff.im/3ZuK #
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Steven Lipski has vowed to stay off the booze for a bit after the Jersey City Councilman urinated from the second-floor balcony of a Washington D.C. nightclub onto revelers groovin’ to the sounds of a Grateful Dead tribute band Friday night. Cops dragged Lipski out of the popular venue after staffers spotted his drunken weenie raining down on concert goers. The 44-year-old Democrat refused to comment on the peeing incident, but told reporters gathered outside his home that he’s “resolved not to touch alcohol again.” Doin’ Jersey proud, one peeing legislator at a time!

[ Truemors ]

I did some checking, and it was definitely the Dark Star Orchestra show in D.C. Man, that is just bad vibes all around…

[ Google cache of DSO Tour Schedule ]

• Californians: Hug Your Neighbors with Super-Fast Bullet Trains [Mass Transportation] http://ff.im/t8G #
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• Cutting off healthy limbs OK, says Dr Christopher Ryan http://ff.im/mAa #
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• The Folly Of Democracy http://ff.im/5uZ #
• I think that the point that I’m driving towards is that democracy, both in theory and in practice, violates the… re: http://ff.im/5uZ #
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• [Asinine] Not news: Airline wants to charge man $16 for excess baggage. News: Man is double amputee. Fark: Said… http://ff.im/66Y #
• Martha Stewart Lies On-Camera About Exploding Glass Tables [Martha Stewart] http://ff.im/66W #
• Scientists Clone Mouse from Damaged Frozen Cells, Mammoth, Sabertooth Next In Line [Pleistocene Park] http://ff.im/66X #
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The following articles caught my attention:

“There are likely many benefits of an electoral college voting system, but I would still like to see it dead. Because this is just crazy:”

‘The presidency could be won with just 22 percent of the electorate’s support, only 16 percent of the entire population’s.’

“That is, you could lose 78% of the popular vote and still gain The White House!”

[ Kottke.org ]

“The purpose of all these techniques is to alternately expand and then contract the number of options so as to convert circular vote problem into more transitive patterns—before voting. In short, when you come to a problem—don’t vote on it until you’ve redefined it to improve the odds of majority acceptance.”

[ TrustedAdvisor.com ]

I think that the point that I’m driving towards is that democracy, both in theory and in practice, violates the principle of the unalienable and natural rights of all mankind such as life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The reason is simple: Democracy is a system of majority rule. The majority rules over the minority. The either/or duality of democracy actually alienates the freedom of those that are subject to the popular opinion. The democratic governments of the world may be more tolerable than other forms of government, such as totalitarianism, fascism, etc., but it still requires the submission of individuals to the rule of the government in violation of Natural Law.

As USA progressed from the Declaration of Independence, through the ratification of the Constitution, to present times, the government has claimed more and more power. While in the infancy of the nation, democracy may not have represented such a serious detriment to liberty, the Civil War proved just how serious a threat that majority rule could be. According to the Declaration of Independence, allegedly drafted by Thomas Jefferson (a slave-owner), all men are created equal. The problem was that not everyone considered non-white people to be humans. The minority in the South were willing to defend this perspective to the death.

Added to this is the constant push and pull between the two primary political parties. As one party gains power, they pass legislation in their favor. Legislation is another word for a rule that limits the freedoms of others. I’m not talking about basic concepts of morality - everyone agrees (without the need for an imaginary deity) that murder, theft, child abuse, etc. are wrong. The bulk of the laws passed in the last 232 years of US history have to do with other things, like taxes and laws defining what substances adults can consume in the privacy of their own home. As the next party moves in to office, they pass laws to counteract the actions of the previous incumbents, rather than removing laws. Thus this vicious cycle leads to more and more laws, more taxes, and less freedom. And the choices that voters are given become more carefully defined by the politicians so that the choice invariably ends up being between the lesser of two evils.

The only move therefore is to eliminate democracy and eliminate the state. Allow the people to rule themselves. In other words:

“That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.”