Hoarse Speak

Mika just ate her first Boston mouse and in a similar fashion to this post:
http://www.meekmok.com/mr_ed/2004/07/01/a-house-cats-hunting-song/

This past week, Ms. A and I dug out the little red honda and headed up to the Berkshires. We stayed at a cute inn (the Race Brook Lodge) near Sheffield and went hiking in the snow on and around Bartholomew's Cobble
and the remains of Jug End resort.

Jug End was apparently named for a German youth camp (Jugen) back when the Germans helped out in the reconstruction of New York after the Martian invasion of the late teens. Jug End was converted from a German youth camp into a ski resort later, here's some other photos.

The hiking was great, weather perfect - sunny and in the high 30s/low 40s - and the snow just deep enough to be fun but still easily hikeable. We're looking forward to trying some snowshoeing or cross country skiing later in the season.

It is snowing again and the little red Honda is getting buried again. Last year, Boston got only 17" of snow the entire winter, as of this morning we had 19.5" and we're getting another 5-6" right now. There is a mountain of snow in front of our house courtesy of Boston Public Works, who decided that our house was a perfect place to dump some of the white stuff. So, well, we just keep digging and throwing it in the bushes. Maybe we'll bury the house that way.

So what brought me back to blogging? I'm done for the semester. Took my last exam yesterday morning and commenced drinking within 15 minutes of completion. What did I learn all semester?

Torts: are not a tasty little sweet, they are nasty ugly lawsuits and what passes for social insurance in this country. The way to accomplish loss-spreading and wealth redistribution is not to enact socialist or communist programs like universal health care or decent unemployment insurance. Let them hire a lawyer and sue! Innovative efficiency is the american way!

Property: isn't about that house or that car or that ipod, well it is, but it isn't, I mean its about the relationship you have to that ipod in relationship with someone else. Sound convoluted? That's what happens when you hand a very simple concept to a lawyer.

Civil Procedure: is Panzer Leader! The Feds make Avalon Hill proud. At least they did better than Divine right, but I bet some states have procedures as convoluted as that game.

Anyways, I'm done. It feels good, I think I'm going to play MTW or something else until I go blind. Then get up in 14 days and start all over again. Happy Solstice everyone!

Not very normal for me to quote a David Bowie tune, but then again I haven't posted in almost 6 months not for a lack of things to say, lots has happened. Ms. A has been better at keeping up with our changes recently, so I'll pick up from here. We're in Jamaica Plain now and it is really great being here so far. The cat, Mika, still hasn't gotten used to the big city nor the new house. We were awoken the first night by raccoons fighting in the backyard which made me wonder if we were really in the city. Seriously though, our house is pretty quiet for being in the city of Boston and we're right near a huge park, the zoo, some large ponds and the arboretum. Today I rode my bike up to Northeastern and it will be about 15 minutes door to door all along a bike path that runs on top of the train line. Here's some links to pictures of Jamaica Pond which is a 10 minute walk from our house

(Ms. A is off in Sandy Eggo at a family wedding and took the camera which has the photos we took - I'll post those instead when she gets back).

I guess the hacks gave up on trying to vandalize wikipedia and got their own mediawiki:

A conservative encyclopedia you can trust.

Conservapedia has over 3,800 educational, clean and concise entries on historical, scientific, legal, and economic topics, as well as more than 350 lectures and term lists. There have been over 1,600,000 page views and over 17,100 page edits. Already Conservapedia has become one of the largest user-controlled free encyclopedias on the internet. This site is growing rapidly.

Conservapedia is a much-needed alternative to Wikipedia, which is increasingly anti-Christian and anti-American. On Wikipedia, many of the dates are provided in the anti-Christian "C.E." instead of "A.D.", which Conservapedia uses. Christianity receives no credit for the great advances and discoveries it inspired, such as those of the Renaissance. Read a list of many Examples of Bias in Wikipedia.

I like the bit about "clean" and "one of the largest user-controlled" (uh I guess wikipedia is the largest?

But ok, to give them a chance I checked out their article on "The Alamo" and compared it to Wikipedia. I must say their scholarship is at about the 3rd grade book report level where I expected it, but see for yourselves:

Conservapedia:
The Alamo (courtesy of conservapedia)

Wikipedia:
The Battle of the Alamo (courtesy of wikipedia)

Well, if you fornicate in Ohio, make sure it isn't with your step-father, step-mother, brother-in-law, sister-in-law or any member of your family legal or otherwise. According to a decision by the Ohio Supreme Court in State v. Lowe, (112 Ohio St.3d 507, 2007-Ohio-606) that would be incest. In the case, Lowe engaged with consensual sex with his step-daughter - both of whom were adults at the time of the crime and both of whom said the sex was consensual. Lowe was charged with Sexual Battery under Ohio State code § 2907.03

Here's the facts:

The Stark County Grand Jury indicted defendant-appellant, Paul Lowe, on one count of sexual battery, a felony violation of R.C. 2907.03(A)(5), as a result of his consensual sex with his 22-year-old stepdaughter, the biological daughter of his wife, on March 19, 2003.

§ 2907.03 reads:

(A) No person shall engage in sexual conduct with another, not the spouse of the offender, when any of the following apply:

Ok, if its your spouse they can rape you but that's another problem…

…
(5) The offender is the other person's natural or adoptive parent, or a stepparent, or guardian, custodian, or person in loco parentis of the other person.

This is what Lowe got hit for.

Lowe's argument relied heavily on the decision in Lawrence v. Texas (2003), 539 U.S. 558, 593, 123 S.Ct. 2472 which ruled that private consensual sexual behavior was protected by the constitution's Due Process Clause (14th amendment clause that says that no one can be deprived of "life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.”)

The Ohio court said that in this case, Lawrence doesn't matter because when looking at Due Process because:

There are two tests used to assess the constitutionality of a statute under the Due Process Clause: strict scrutiny or rational-basis scrutiny. When the law restricts the exercise of a fundamental right, the strict-scrutiny test is used. … A statute survives strict scrutiny if it is narrowly tailored to serve a compelling state interest.

Basically if the law restricts a "fundamental right" then use strict-scrutiny, but here the court says that Lowe under the Lawrence decision has no "fundamental right" to have sex with his adult step-daughter .

Therefore, first we must determine whether Lowe is guaranteed a fundamental right to engage in sexual intercourse with his consenting adult stepdaughter. fundamental rights are those liberties that are “deeply rooted in this Nation’s history and tradition.” … The United States Supreme Court has expanded the Due Process Clause beyond the specific freedoms named within the Bill of Rights in a series of cases. Thus, “liberty” interests specially protected by the Due Process Clause include the rights to marry, …; to have children, …; to direct the education and upbringing of one's children, …; to marital privacy, …; to use contraception, …; to bodily integrity, …; and to abortion,

{¶20} The Due Process Clause also protects the traditional right of an individual to refuse unwanted lifesaving medical treatment … However, the Supreme Court has "always been reluctant to expand the concept of substantive due process because guideposts for responsible decisionmaking in this unchartered area are scarce and open-ended." …

{¶21} Lowe cites Lawrence v. Texas, 539 U.S. 558, 123 S.Ct. 2472, 156 L.Ed.2d 508, to argue that he has a constitutionally protected liberty interest to engage in private, consensual, adult sexual conduct with his stepdaughter when that activity does not involve minors or persons who may be easily injured or coerced. In Lawrence, a Texas statute criminalizing homosexual conduct was held to be unconstitutional as applied to adult males who had engaged in private and consensual acts of sodomy. Lowe contends that Lawrence named a new fundamental right to engage in consensual sex in the privacy of one’s home.

{¶22} However, the statute in Lawrence was subjected to a rational-basis rather than a strict-scrutiny test, with the court concluding that the Texas statute furthered no legitimate state interest that could justify intrusion into an individual’s personal and private life. … In using a rational-basis test to strike down the Texas statute, the court declined to announce a new fundamental right arising from the case.

I cut out the citation with the elipses.

But the money quote is here:

Using the rational-basis test, we conclude that, as applied in this case, Ohio’s statute serves the legitimate state interest of protecting the family unit and family relationships.

The state has an interest in protecting the family unit and family relationships…. hmm…

Lowe should have moved to West Virginia first.