unreasonable.org

Once upon a time - before the great 'net explosion, before The September That Never Ended, when AOL was unknown and spam was just another processed pseudo-food product - I was pretty active on USENET. I've mostly moved on to other venues, although I still occasionally read and post. Over the years, I've written a few posts that illustrate my thinking on a number of subjects.

These are some of my hopefully-interesting net posts and discussions on drug policy, animal rights and vegetarianism, and Life in General. They're grouped by thread, presented by "Subject" line, and presented with the original typos and errors intact.

Be aware that you may be seeing only one side of the story, since I generally only save my own posts; but if you want to know what I think, this is the place to look.

Some of these posts are over a decade old. I like to think I'm a little wiser and better informed now, and might express myself a little more subtly these days; but I find no disagreement with that past self strong enough to make me want to take these down.

A more extensive archive of my posts can be found via Google Groups: tms at cs.umd.edu - tms at tis.com - tms at mail.bcpl.net - fantom at wam.umd.edu.

The opinions expressed are mine (or at least belong to one of the voices in my head) and not necessarily those of any other person or organization, including past or present employers and ISPs.

• Medicine & the Mall - Some thoughts on animal rights, medical research, and ethics. Featuring Cheryl Owen (feathers@eskimo.com), avi@seal.imagen.com, Steve Dyer (dyer@spdcc.com), and Rich Young (young@serum.kodak.com) as the opposition. From December 1992.
• argument for ethical eating - Martin Hulsey (mhulsey@hestia.fcs.uga.edu) and I argue about suffering, death, sentience, and ethics. April and May 1993.
• Consequences of vegetarianism - A critique of an attack on ethical vegetarianism by Martin Hulsey (mhulsey@hestia.fcs.uga.edu). From July 1993.
• Plant rights - Rich Young (young@serum.kodak.com) and I argue about about ethics and inconsistency. From July 1993.
• Maryland -- Republican vs. Democrat - From a discussion of budgetary waste in Maryland, we springboard into an argument about drug policy, with diversions into religion, morality, and capital punishment. September and October 1994.
• End the drug war (was Maryland -- Republican vs. Democrat) - In which I take on Anthony Williams (alby@uunet.uu.net) about drug policy. From September 1994.
• HR 135 - Major stupidity! - A thread which starts with a discussion of HR 135 and goes into a debate with Jeffrey Woodford (jwoodfor@unlinfo.unl.edu) on the difference between legalizing and encouraging drug use. January thru March 1995.
• Two Singaporeans Executed in Taiwan - Mostly me vs. Joseph Askew (jaskew@maths.adelaide.edu.au) on the topic of victimless crimes. January and February 1995.
• Conceled Weapons in Balto Wanted By Good Citizens - After a post on guns, justice, and revenge, this thread is the start of a long go-around with Lee E. Brown (leebrown@<address elided>) on drugs and crime. From July 1995.
• Drugs, Drugs, Drugs - More of the go-around with Lee E. Brown (leebrown@<address elided>) on drugs and crime. From July and August 1995.
• Newt's new book - More of the go-around with Lee E. Brown (leebrown@<address elided>) on drugs and crime. From August 1995.
• Newt wants DRUG LEGALIZATION vote! - From an argument with ferch (ferch@pinn.net) on drug policy, we move into a debate with Barbara O'Brien (mahababs@ios.com) and Lee E. Brown (leebrown@<address elided>) about prostitution. Features the story of why "What's so funny 'bout peace, love and understanding?" is in my .sig. From July and August 1995.
• an Urban Legend haiku - A handful of haiku on ULs, from a thread on alt.folklore.urban. From July 1995.
• Evil, children, and Holy Cows. My response to the question, "Please delineate a cleanly defined decision rule that discriminates between those socialized behaviors that are acceptable and those socialized behaviors that are unacceptable." From August 1995.
• YES Law Officer FOR Legalizing Marijuana - I knew he had it in him ;-) - Firehawk (firehawk@tiac.net) and I go around on drug policy, and how "given that we cannot keep drugs out of our prisons, where the ratio of inmates to officers is low, where inmates are under much closer scrutiny than would ever be possible in the population at large, and where inmates have no right to privacy, how the hell do you propose to keep drugs off our streets without locking down the whole damn nation tighter than a maximum security prison?" December 1995.
• Cops on the net - Long argument, on the theme "The police do not make the laws, they only enforce them." vs. "I was only following orders didn't cut it at Nuremburg and it doesn't cut it now." From January 1996.
• Taxes, responsibility, and justice - Some thoughts on the named subjects. From January 1996.
• Lets go junkie hunting - Medical versus social/legal effects of addiction, and what to do about them. From October 1998.
• Plans for ending drug prohibition - What sort of legal controls might replace our current prohibition? From October 1998.