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MelvinK's comments:
on Measure 74
Today's opponent to medical marijuana raises a couple of interesting points.
He obviously believes that the majority of people with medical marijuana cards were given them for no reason. So why isn't he after prosecuting the issuing doctors?
He raises the point, "why don't you get it legitimized and regulated as other drugs?" He doesn't point out that the roadblocks to that are at the national level, not the state level. We can't address those with a state referendum.
posted 2 years, 7 months ago
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on Primary Conversations: Washington's 3rd
What is your position on Net Neutrality legislation?
posted 2 years, 9 months ago
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on Primary Conversations: Washington's 3rd
What is the cost differential between a purely functional bridge, and an asethetic design? (Have aesthetic designs even been sought?)
And remember that you're amortizing that differential over the lifespan of the bridge.
posted 2 years, 9 months ago
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on Primary Conversations: Washington's 3rd
One of the candidates mentioned that "of every dollar sent to the federal government for transportation, we get 80 cents back".
I would like to know the projected costs of the bridge specifically due to funding purposes given the alternate funding methods:
* the 20% of money sent to the federal government. Also, the additional cost involved in building the bridge due to federal mandates.
* cost of establishing, and paying interest down on any bonds issued
* cost of maintaining toll booths on the bridge(s) over and above any bond interest, for the period the toll is maintained.
posted 2 years, 9 months ago
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on Homeless Man Shot to Death by Portland Police
Might want to look up the story of Peter Watts' encounter with the border guards at a crossing to Canada. Guards issued him orders - after beating him up - and then assaulted (maced) him for failing to immediately comply despite presenting no apparent threat.
I agree that the problem is that the people involved do not obey the police commands. I disagree, though, where you imply that the fact they were not obeyed does not reflect upon the officer involved.
The point being that the training of the officer involves getting people to obey orders. Anything that ensures that the person obeys is a valid subject. This includes training in how to issue the order, how to get the subject to pay attention to the order, in issuing orders that will be obeyed, and in recognizing when the subject will not comply regardless.
If "mental health counseling" gains the compliance of the subject, how can it not be appropriate?
posted 3 years, 1 month ago
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on Homeless Man Shot to Death by Portland Police
Listening in the car, I heard an officer relate that "once the taser camera is on and the taser is pointed at the suspect, the suspect calms down, and that is all the court sees."
Isn't that the goal of the police officer? To make the suspect compliant?
If the officer fires the taser at that point, I have to ask why. Did the officer not pull/aim the taser early enough (that is, at sufficient distance to be safe)? Or was he looking to punish the suspect (for the behavior not caught on camera)?
"Safe" and "sufficient distance" in this case include the officer's ability to react to the changed circumstance. It applies even more so to letal weapons than it does to non-lethal ones.
posted 3 years, 1 month ago
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on An Internet Speed Limit?
1) Identity fraud: The technical means they have been reported to use tells each party in the bittorrent communication that the other one has "reset", assuming the itentity of the computers in question to do this. Even if they had a right to do this on the part of their users, they don't have that right for the other party.
2) Contract fraud: Either a) I pay for X bandwidth, with a cap of Y, and they are limiting those amounts inviolation of the contract; or b) the contract allows them to limit the bandwidth I may use, and they are not making that clear either in the contract or the advertising. (This is, to my understanding, a violation of contract law in that both parties have to understand the contract for it to be valid.)
I use Bittorrent to download updates to online games, and to download revisions of free and open source software (such as Linux), legal uses of the technology.
posted 5 years, 1 month ago
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