Meanwhile, in Denver ...

Delicious direct democracy does Denver.

My favorite bit:

Recognizing that ET contact protocols aren't foremost in the minds of voters these days, Mr. Peckman has refined his pitch on Initiative 300. These days, he promotes it as a jobs bill.

He envisions sci-fi film directors flocking here, space-travel researchers, and engineers hoping to pry the secrets of intergalactic technology from space visitors.

Councilman Charlie Brown is skeptical. "That's not the kind of job we want to create," he says.

But Kelly Brough, president of the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce, says she's game: "We are open for business to all other planets."

Hat tip: Nat Wilcox

Selling your vote

A young man in Minnesota has been charged with attempting to sell his vote in the November election on ebay. My question is why?

If naive young Max Sanders were to join a group - let's pick a name at random and call it the Minnesota Education Association - that regularly "sells" its members votes to a particular political party, no one would bat an eye. Some would even say that this is the beauty of interest group democracy at work. Why is it okay for groups to implicitly sell the votes of their members, in the case of teachers' unions in exchange for restrictions on competition and a bizarre system of tenure for a job that has no need of it, but not for individuals to leave out the middleman and do so directly?

Bonus thought question also left out of your high school civics course: why is it okay to trade votes for political favors but not to trade cash for political favors, when politicians can turn cash into votes via campaign expenditures?

My one year old can tell a small bottle from a large one ...

The one inconsistency that never seems to come up regarding nanny state regulation is why it is that consumers who cannot even manage to distinguish between 0.5 liter and 0.6 liter bottles, a in this story of outrage from Denmark, should be trusted to vote.

Hat tip: Lars Skipper