The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age
    Richard Day's picture

    LAWS ON THE BOOKS

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    Huffpo presents these silly games that my Firefox does not like. But these laws that are still on the books, according to Huffpo:

    It's illegal to transport bears in Missouri unless they are properly caged.

    In Maine it's illegal to keep xmas decorations up after Jan 14th

    In NJ it's illegal to murder someone while wearing a bullet proof vest

    In Nevada (of all places) it's against the law to buy more than 3 other people drinks at one time.

    This took a lot of work for the staff of Huffpo to put together. I mean I found 20 sites in less than a minute listing stupid laws by state of origin. Here are some laws supposedly still on the books in Alaska:

    1. You can't look at a moose from an aeroplane. [Thanks to Dave Knott]
    2. Kangaroos are not allowed in barber shops at any time. [Thanks to an anonymous contributor]
    3. Even though it is legal to hunt a bear, it is illegal to wake a bear and take a picture for photo opportunities. [Thanks to Kyle Brown]
    4. It is an offence to push a live moose out of a moving aeroplane. [Thanks to Susan Goodgine]
    5. It is State Policy that all emergencies are held to a minimum.

    I don't know if any of these laws are really on the books because there are no links to any statutes. But who cares? Following my reading for the day, I found fodder for laws that should be on the books.


    Just to give you an initial idea, here is a statute I have been working on for over a decade.

    It shall be a violation of public policy for Kevin Costner or Matt Nix (Burn Notice) to narrate ANYTHING EVER ON TV, CABLE, RADIO OR ANY OTHER TECHNOLOGY THAT RECORDS VOICES. Violations of this subsection shall subject the violator including the publisher to a term of no less than one year and no more than two years at a work farm in Montana. (I mean what the hell is Morgan Freeman there for in the first place?)

    The following tidbit describes a playbook used by repubs to reel in the big buck fascists:

    Manipulating donors with crude caricatures and playing on their fears is hardly unique to Republicans or to the RNC - Democrats raised millions off George W. Bush in similar terms - but rarely is it practiced in such cartoonish terms. One page, headed "The Evil Empire," pictures Obama as the Joker from Batman, while House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leaders Harry Reid are depicted as Cruella DeVille and Scooby Doo, respectively.

    It shall be against public policy for any political entity to solicit funds from mentally challenged rich people by using comic books that are not approved by the comic code. Any violation of this subdivision shall subject the violator to five years in a maximum security prison, a fine of ten million dollars and/or a year in the Texas Legislature.

    Liz Cheney is back at it again.

    A furious effort by Liz Cheney to label seven Justice Department lawyers who previously defended Guantanamo detainees as terrorist sympathizers appears so contrary to the American legal tradition that it puts her at odds with the man responsible for getting her father elected vice president.

    Back in January 2007, Ted Olsen -- then a lawyer in private practice but previously a lead counsel in Bush v. Gore and solicitor general of the United States -- co-authored a short article for Legal Times in which he called efforts to demonize detainee defense lawyers as antithetical to American values.

    It shall be against public policy for war criminals or their heirs who speak on their behalf to slander, libel or otherwise defame professionals who are merely attempting to perform their profession with some degree of honor. Any violation of this subdivision shall subject the dickface to five years in a maximum security prison, a fine of five million dollars and/or two years in a gay pornographic studio.

    What does palin do when she is not feigning to be a regular middle class mom who loves America?

    The Los Angeles Times reported that Sarah Palin with an entourage attacked a gift shop at some airport:

    The Times also indicated that Palin was supposed to donate $1,700 along with all of her gift items to the Red Cross, which is currently helping with relief efforts in Haiti and Chile. But E! Online insists, "we can assure you she did not give up any of her swag." They quote an unnamed vendor who claims that upwards of 20 people from the Palin camp swarmed the event. "They were like locusts," he told the entertainment news outlet.

    According to AOL's Pop Eater, publicist Ben Russo of EMC/Bowery said, "she kind of cleaned the place out." They list out a number of her swag-grabs, including United Hair Care products, jewels from Pascal Mouawad, Skagen watches and a whopping 40 pairs or AIAIAI earphones.

    It shall be a violation of public policy for individuals normally described as 'trailer trash' to openly savage gift shops with ill gotten gains while attempting to act as royalty. Violation of this subsection shall subject the violator to five years in an animal relocation area in northern Alaska and a fine of twenty million dollars.

    Mitt Romney apparently doesn't think anyone is responsible for their bill after they leave an emergency room. Here's his response after Mike Barnicle asks him if he believes in universal health care coverage on Morning Joe.

    Romney: Oh, sure. Look, it doesn't make a lot of sense for us to have millions and millions of people who have no health insurance and yet who can go to the emergency room and get entirely free care for which they have no responsibility, particularly if they are people who have sufficient means to pay their own way.  http://crooksandliars.com/

    It shall be a capital crime for multi-multi millionaires to disparage, defame, libel or slander those of limited means who seek the shelter of an emergency room.  Two or more violations of this subsection shall subject the violator to death by lethal injection in an emergency room selected by the sentencing judge and a fine of one hundred million dollars.

    My Salon colleague, Mark Benjamin, writes about last night's Larry King Show -- featuring a debate between Democratic Rep. Alan Grayson and GOP Rep. Michelle Bachmann -- and does so by repeatedly branding Grayson as being every bit as "crazy" as Bachmann.  Beginning with the article's headline ("Bachmann and Grayson: A diary of crazy") to his sarcastic description of "these two towering intellects" to his claim that Grayson and Bachmann are "the Candy Stripers of Crazy of their parties," Benjamin denigrates Grayson's intellect and mental health by depicting him -- with virtually no cited basis -- as the Democratic mirror image of Bachmann's rabid, out-of-touch extremism.

    It shall be against public policy for any pundit, journalist, writer or asshat to compare Representative Alan Grayson to right wing fascist assholes like michelle Bachmann. Any violation of this subsection shall subject the violator to suspension of any rights to publish on any blog site with more than ten members.

    LIMBAUGH: Somebody tell me what it is that qualifies the most inexperienced, unqualified guy in whatever room he walks into, Barack Obama, to run a two-and-a-half-trillion-dollar segment of our economy. Would somebody show me the resume? Would somebody show me that he understands how drugs are developed and brought to market? Would he -- somebody show me that he understands the patent process. Would somebody show me that he understands how the MRI came to be -- what its purpose is? Can somebody show me that he knows how to run a hospital? Can somebody show me at any point in his life where he has had any experience with our health care system other than as a blood-money-sucking patient?

    No. Nobody can, because he doesn't have any. And yet, we're sitting here debating a premise -- ObamaCare. Obama -- he hasn't the slightest idea how to do this. There is no business in this country that would hire Barack Obama to run it. They might hire him as rainmaker. They might hire him as a PR guy. But nobody -- but nobody would ever hire this guy to run any aspect of their business.

    It shall be against public policy for a fascist, drug addicted, fatso demagogue to give any opinion concerning the health care industry in the United States.  Violation of this subsection shall subject the rush to a public flogging while a stick is shoved so far up his arse that his tongue will be pierced by the mighty shaft   and his estate shall be subject to a fine of three hundred million dollars.

    BECK: Health care, yesterday, was one of the more incredible things I have ever seen. This health care speech with the doctors behind him. I don't think I've ever seen anything quite like it. I don't understand how the rest of the nation doesn't see this. Or how they don't understand our nation, as we know it, is in peril. Today is the first day that I actually feel like Paul Revere. The British are coming. The British are coming. [Premiere Radio Networks' The Glenn Beck Program, 3/4/10]

    BECK: I understood for the first time why they killed Socrates. Because Socrates would go and seek out the, you know, the smartest people and he'd say, hey, so, answer this question. And he was really, honestly asking. But then they couldn't answer it, or they'd answer it like an imbecile and he'd say, OK, that's just stupid. Do you know any smart people? That's why they killed him. And I kind of understood that because when all of that was happening I kept going to the smartest people I could find and say, hey, so explain this. And they couldn't, or, you know, it didn't make sense to me, and I'd say, OK, I don't think that works. Thanks. And I'd go find somebody else. [The Glenn Beck Program, 3/3/10   http://mediamatters.org/research/201003040032

    It shall be considered in violation of the Patriot Acts for Glenn Beck to say anything about anything in public. Any violation of this subsection shall subject the violator including his publisher to life imprisonment in a maximum security prison.  This subsection shall not be subject to any plea bargaining by the prosecuting entity.

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