[extropy-chat] Ultra Vires nature of laws made in error?

[Brett Paatsch]

Jeff Davis wrote:

> --- Damien Broderick <thespike at earthlink.net> wrote:
> > 
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Brett Paatsch" <bpaatsch at bigpond.net.au>
> > Sent: Monday, November 17, 2003 10:46 PM
> > 
> > > I am considering an action at present that would
> > overturn
> > > a lame-brained horse-trading regulation that is
> > made under
> > > an act - the Therapeutic Goods Act 1989
> > 
> > Oh my god--for a moment, I thought you were talking
> > about a lame-horse
> > brain-trading regulation.
> > 
> > Damien Broderick
> > [Australia! Land of the Sport of Kings!]
> > 
> 
> Uh, are you talking about trading brains as in
> transplanting brains, say from a now-lame, but never
> the less still smart/enthusiastic horse, to another
> horse, say an athletically-gifted
> healthy-yet-complacent horse?   Or are you talking
> about actual brain trading?  You know, like, I have
> this brain in a jar.  The brain of a horse that was
> lame and had its brain extracted somehow and put in a
> jar, and now I have the brain and the jar, or perhaps
> another jar, a replacement for the original jar, but
> still the same brain as before, and like, I'm engaged
> in some seemingly-bizarre "trading" activity,
> hobbyist, or maybe commercial, which deals in the
> brains of once lame but now just dead (I not sure if
> you,...that is if a horse,... can be both dead and
> lame at the same time.  I think you...I mean a
> horse...has to be alive to be lame.  But I'm just
> guessing here.) horses (presumably they're dead, the
> horses.  Or actually, that is, they're 'still' dead,
> having passed on no later than when their brain was
> extracted.  Unless they were given a replacement
> brain, in which case they would be alive again, or
> perhaps never really dead in the first place, although
> no knowledgeable person would consider a horse with a
> replacement brain to be the same horse as before. 
> Though to the uninformed eye it might well appear to
> be the same horse, still alive, and probably still
> lame, though that might respond to medical treatment,
> or maybe just heal up on its own.)  
> 
> Anyway, I've got this lame horse brain...you know,
> come to think of it, there may be no jar at all.  It
> may be just dried out, or tanned, or lacquered,...or
> something like that, you know like figs or raisins. 
> Hmmmm.  I bet a dried fig would look a whole lot like
> a dried brain, kinda, all wrinkly and such.  Which
> brings up a question I been meaning to ask.  Just how
> big is a horse's brain, anyway?  Not a big squishy
> just-extracted brain, mind you, we'll leave that for
> the wet-brain trade.  You know the wet brain
> trade--trade for transplant/reuse--is very technically
> demanding and expensive, and should be left to the
> professionals.  I'm talking dried-brain here, casual
> stuff, recreational brain trading, you know, for fun,
> where nobody gets hurt.  Like for a mantle piece, or
> in a display case.  Anyway how big is that horses
> brain when it's dried out and all polished up?  I
> don't know.  As big as a fig?  Bigger?  What if it's a
> really big fig?   
> 
> Anyway, I certainly hope--it seems appropriate--that
> the regulations will deal with these two issues
> separately, as well as clear up matters regarding the
> lesser issues some of which I have mentioned here.  As
> far as I can see, trading brains harms no one and
> therefore should not be subject to arbitrary or
> prejudicial treatment by regulatory authorities.
> 
> Support diversity and the privacy rights of consenting
> adults.  A brain is a terrible thing to waste.

Cough. First, for clarity, to whom are you directing
the word you "whiteman"? ;-)

Regards,
Brett