Cam's WTF Runneth Over

[misscam]

Court Rules Kansas Cannot Punish Gay Underage Sex More Severly Than Straight

The Supreme Court said in a unanimous ruling that a law that specified such harsher treatment and led to a 17-year prison sentence for an 18-year-old defendant "suggests animus toward teenagers who engage in homosexual sex." (...)

The defendant, Matthew R. Limon, has been behind bars since he was convicted in 2000 of performing a sex act on a 14-year-old boy. Had one of them been a girl, the state's "Romeo and Juliet" law would have dictated a maximum sentence of 15 months.

So, let me get this straight - 15 months for straight sex and 17 years for the gay?

My WTF runneth over. Granted, the article does point out this guy has previous convictions, which might suggest a little stricter sentencing, but ye Gods. 15 months versus 17 years? I've seen killers get less than that!

Meanwhile, Bush has headaches

In other Norwegian news:
Russian trawler gets released
Moose attacked moose statue
Labour women fight back with bunads
Signs of Winter in Norway. Oh, brrr.

Meme of Seven. Was tagged by lotus79

1. 7 Things I plan to do before I die:
1. Visit all the continents
2. Write a book
3. Work for the BBC
4. Bungee jump
5. Do a Scot
6. Get a word I made into the Oxford English Dictionary
7. Rule the world

2. 7 Things I can do:
1. Write
2. Know the rules of cricket
3. Impersonate a North Dakota American
4. Lure people into Doctor Who
5. Pick the real banknote out of a vat of thousands of fakes just by the feel of my fingers
6. Manage to have a conversation with someone while doing something else in my head entirely without the other being able to tell
7. Stick fight

3. 7 Things I can't do:
1. Draw
2. Read notes
3. Listen to Bush without shouting "SHUT. UP!" at least once
4. Eat hamburgers
5. Eat breakfast
6. Give up Coca-Cola
7. Dive

4. 7 Things that attract me to the opposite sex:
1. Sense of humour
2. Smarts/brains
3. Nice asses
4. Certain accents of the Commonwealth
5. Niceness
6. Leather
7. Compassion

5. 7 Things I say most:
1. Indeed
2. Bloody
3. Bugger
4. Pus, flytt deg!
5. Faaaaaen...
6. Git.
7. Jajamensann.

6. 7 Celebrity Crushes:
1. Christopher Eccleston
2. Gary Dourdan
3. David Wenham
4. Orlando Bloom
5. Sean Connory
6. Martin Freeman
7. Hugo Weaving

7. Tag 7 people:
At random: falena84, peace_weasel, _tallian_, smalldiver, piecesofalice, siraj & rose_noire

Comments

[drakyndra.livejournal.com]

*smirks at the signs of Winter* You know, just this week, it's been getting warm enough for me to start wearing short skirts to Uni again...

[misscam.livejournal.com]

Oh, shut up.

Anyway, I'll get to ski soon and that's always fun.

[drakyndra.livejournal.com]

Well, I have to agree with you there. I haven't been skiing in years, but it was a lot of fun.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_tallian_/]

Oy, I've been tagged! Good thing I have time.

I'm horrified by the mess in Kansas, but at least the supreme court told them to knock it off, finally. Sometimes, these sorts of things make me concerned about all the other nasty things that aren't being publicized ...

[misscam.livejournal.com]

Tell me about it. A million tragedies go unreported because we're more interested in Michael Jackson's new nose.

Sigh.

[highwindpav.livejournal.com]

Yikes. 17 years is a bit excessive for statutory rape involving people of that age in any case! I'm glad they killed that law! 15 months, I dunno if it's excessive or not, but it's sure a hell of a lot closer to sane...

[misscam.livejournal.com]

*shrugs* That can be debated, I suppose, but realy, to me a 15 year old having sex with someone who's 18 is not... wrong, I suppose, as a 15 year old and a 35 year old. So that law does have some merit - provided it doesn't do what Kansas' tried to.

[highwindpav.livejournal.com]

I agree with that, it's a lot easier to stomach statutory if there's not a huge age difference. I am curious what the law there is if there's more than four years distance?

The Romeo and Juliet law should be for anyone though, if they're gonna have it.

[anothersadsong.livejournal.com]

Ya know, Bush's presidency has seriously made me embarrassed to be an American. *headdesk* How long till we can get this jerkwad out of office?

[misscam.livejournal.com]

Three years. Hang in there.

[anothersadsong.livejournal.com]

I think I can make it. *nods*

[cantralian.livejournal.com]

Re: the fiasco in Kansas: that is unbelievable - or at least I wish it was. So much for all being equal before the law, huh?

And re: Bush. He has achieved one thing that I've noticed, at least over here in Australia.

Before, people would say 'Bloody Yanks!' in a most dergoatory and dismissive tone.

Now they say 'Fu***n Bush - poor bloody Yanks'.

[misscam.livejournal.com]

Heh. Not even the Yanks deserve him, eh? But yeah, some of the same has happened in Norway - people will pity the Americans who didn't vote for him and curse those who did.

[boz4pm.livejournal.com]

Just had to say: that icon rocketh mightily. Where, oh, where did you find it?! *is such a BBC!Freak it's just silly*

[misscam.livejournal.com]

Didn't find it anywhere. hippydeath made it for me in one of those "I'll make you an icon from your interest list" memes. BBC is on my interest list.

If you want to gack, I'm sure that's okay. Just credit her.

[chunkylimes.livejournal.com]

This is from the state that said no to teaching fractions and decimals in its secondary public schools. Who is surprised?

[aervir.livejournal.com]

Really? No fractions in Kansas's secondary education? Gah.

[chunkylimes.livejournal.com]

Yeah. Snopes says it's true, not sure if that's a credible source.

[aervir.livejournal.com]

Well, I've done a little Google research, and it's definitely the Internet equivalent to an urban legend: On the official homepage of the Kansas State Department of Education (www.ksde.org), you can find their Mathematics standards as *.pdf-files, and fractions are definitely mentioned among the number and computation standard for the fifth grade already.

It might be interesting to check out their science standards for the topic of natural history, though...

[unendingreverie.livejournal.com]

I want to move to Norway now.

[psychater.livejournal.com]

Yegads. SEVENTEEN years? Madness.

[irian.livejournal.com]

It's Kansas, which is right smack in the middle of the Bible belt. That explains a lot.

[roguem.livejournal.com]

So, let me get this straight - 15 months for straight sex and 17 years for the gay?
That's just insane.