I was working on a big case the other day, the details of which I cannot go into. However, I was down at the county court office in the Judge’s Chambers when I noticed the most adorable wall sconce in his office. Having no idea what a wall sconce is, I asked him. He didn’t know either so we looked it up on the internet. Needless to say, it was quite a distraction from the business we had at hand.
Two women who were married in Massachusetts now want a divorce in Rhode Island. In Massachusetts, same sex marriage is legal and recognized while Rhode Island’s laws are silent on the subject. The legal question has yet to be decided: can you divorce a same sex couple in Rhode Island? If not, one of the two women will have to move to Massachusetts long enough to regain citizenship to start the divorce.
Does anybody remember a few months ago the promotions for the Aqua Teen Hunger Force? There were weird electronic devices displaying a character in LED lights. All the cities effected by the marketing gag took it in stride, all except for Boston. Now, this crazy city has overreacted to a gag once again by arresting an MIT student at gunpoint for wearing a circuit board on her shirt as an art project. What is into these people in Massachusetts? Do they simply have no sense of humor? Maybe if there were any itelligence running through that city and state, we wouldn’t have the laughable commander in chief that we do!
Yesterday, I saw a disturbing news article on the wire about a county in Kentucky that is going to start holding their students responsible for “cyber bullying” on social networking sites like MySpace. With vague intentions and rules, this new legislation could start knee-jerk reactions all across the country, effectively ending a student’s right to free speech. It doesn’t exist in the classroom, and now they want it off the internet. Something is a little disturbing about internet censorship in any form, and I don’t like this one bit.
I laughed this morning when I found out they were charging a New York 15 year old with “attempted conspiracy”. For those not in the know about the law, conspiracy is defined as knowingly plotting to break the law. It is usually tacked on to other charges, however in this case it was the only charge, a fifth degree misdemeanor. The kid apparently joked in a notebook about attacking his high school with a classmate on the anniversary of the Columbine Massacre. Unable to find any evidence he was actually going through with this, they charged him with this fifth degree misdemenor, to which he plead guilty and got even less. I find it rather disturbing a notebook filled with thoughts - no matter how perverse - can lead to punishment. It is akin to thoughtcrime as seen in George Orwell’s classic dystopian novel 1984.
West Virginia delegates don’t normally get a vote on the floor, but recently they were blessed with the ability to shape policy. They will be voting on which hamburger should named after them after they saw the Senator burger at a local restaurant. Maybe it’s just the fact Robert Byrd is the senator in question. Everything in the state is named after the Senator of 600 years. I’m glad to see that cutting-edge legislation is coming from the Mountaineer State, but at least it’s not the real congress wasting time and money on these meaningless projects.
There are tons of publications around talking about crazy laws that have stood the test of time and are still on the books. Most of these crazy laws originated out of serious need. It’s not like the legislators of yesterday wanted to sit around making laws that would be made fun of decades later. Most of the laws came about arising from an authentic concern of the time, most of which look comical in today’s fast-paced world.