3/25/2008
Indiana: A tax (and a boondoogle) by any other name
The Indiana legislatures has just proven itself to be dumber than a box of rocks and have morals that Nixon, Libby, and Putin would consider slimy. They have decided that any place selling books with 'sexually explicit' content would have to pay a $250 fee. This information is to be shared with local officials who will then be able to 'monitor' them for violations of the law. The standards for this immensely useful law are:
Now, this standard would include just about any book written for anyone over the age of seven. It would include just about all general psychology text books, most medical text books, all books meant to help children understand puberty, most fiction including genres like science fiction and fantasy, romance, and most classic literature, a large percentage of sociology text books, religious texts like; the Bible, The Torah, The Book of Mormon, the Quorran, vast amounts of poetry.
So let's review a few famous works that would be affected by this law: Wuthering Heights, Hamlet, Watership Downs, and The Scarlet Letter.
There are three (major) things wrong with this law:
1) It's self defeating. The number of places selling materials that will meet the standards laid out in the law vastly exceeds the number of places selling books that don't meet these standards. Everything from corner drug stores to local independent book stores, and big book chains like Borders and Barnes and Noble, department stores like Target, corner news stores, college bookstores etc. How does this law narrow down the list of places that law enforcement needs to look for offenders?
2) It is by any reasonable standard a violation of the 1St Amendment.
3) It's redundant. I'm certain their are other laws regarding telling the truth about what you intend to sell in your place of business.
That includes any work that "describes or represents, in any form, nudity, sexual conduct, sexual excitement, or sadomasochistic abuse."
Now, this standard would include just about any book written for anyone over the age of seven. It would include just about all general psychology text books, most medical text books, all books meant to help children understand puberty, most fiction including genres like science fiction and fantasy, romance, and most classic literature, a large percentage of sociology text books, religious texts like; the Bible, The Torah, The Book of Mormon, the Quorran, vast amounts of poetry.
So let's review a few famous works that would be affected by this law: Wuthering Heights, Hamlet, Watership Downs, and The Scarlet Letter.
There are three (major) things wrong with this law:
1) It's self defeating. The number of places selling materials that will meet the standards laid out in the law vastly exceeds the number of places selling books that don't meet these standards. Everything from corner drug stores to local independent book stores, and big book chains like Borders and Barnes and Noble, department stores like Target, corner news stores, college bookstores etc. How does this law narrow down the list of places that law enforcement needs to look for offenders?
2) It is by any reasonable standard a violation of the 1St Amendment.
3) It's redundant. I'm certain their are other laws regarding telling the truth about what you intend to sell in your place of business.
Labels: 1st amendment, 2nd amendment, bad laws, civil rights, constitution, constitutional rights, democrats, election, election 2008, immigration, the powers that shouldn't be, those who need to die
