zombie law
In zombie films, when the hero kills the zombie it just stands up againt 10 secons later. A monster like this should be feered. But what if the zombie didnt get back up after it was killed? Would the hero be justified in contiuning to be frightened of such a monster?
This week, COPA was struck down as unconstitutional for like the 40th time in a row. However, the panic induced cries of woe that we are all still in danger began almost imediataly. Same old paranoia as it always is. “Vague And Overbroad”.
When the COPA passed in 1998 (damn this evil bush dictatorship) there was almost imediatly an injuction put on it to keep it from being enforced. Nobody could be charged with the law untill things got straghtend out. In the past 10 years nobody has ever been arested under this law cause nobody COULD be arested. The zombie was shot and on the ground. Put people continued to be scared of it anyway.
A year later the 3rd circute court of appeals not only upheld this ‘nobody can be charged with this law yet’ injunction, but went a step further and held the law unconstitutional. Used the same old ‘Vague And Overbroad’ ratiolization. The zombie, having never got up from the last shotgun blast, was shot down again. But the panic and fear continued anyway.
Well from there it goes to the supreme court. They dont even bother wasting time listining to any of it. They basicly say ‘Quit wasting our time with this garbage’ and threw the whole thing back down to the lower courts with instructions not to come back untill they had something more meaningful in the case. The zombie, still on the floor, is shot again. But this dosent stop the fearmongers from reciting ‘Vague And Overbroad’ again. After all, we just ~know~ the law is Vague And Overbroad despite the supreme court saying that there is no proof at all that suports the ‘Vague And Overbroad’ fearmongering.
So back down to the circut court where 4 years later the law was again struck down as unconstitutional. This time changing the argument from ‘Vague And Overbroad’ to ‘filtering software works better’. Yet another shotgun blast for the zombie. But sexual-rights advocates witched this going on and instantly went into panic mode saying the zombie MIGHT get up again so theirfore we all have to panic and fear for our safety.
Well, the zombie had the oportunity to get up a year later when the supreme court once again had the oportunity to hear the case. They did look over it enough to say that the ‘filtering software works better’ is more convincing and probably a better line of legal argument than the old tired ‘Vague And Overbroad’ argument. But the supreme court, as before, said ‘quit wasting our time’ and threw the whole mess back down to a lower court. Another shotgun blast. And like before, sexual rights advocates were workign themselves into a frenzy saying the law wasent dead YET and the zombie MIGHT get up so we shoudl all fear the heavy handed government police state.
Well, the whole shebang had to start over from scratch at this point. And here is where it starts to get funny. This new trial was filed on behalf of (among others) nerve.com who claimed that COPA was so ‘Vague And Overbroad’ that it might impact them. The alt-sex comunity cheeered nerve.com for being so brave and a beacon of hope for all sexual rights everywhere. Somehow sexual rights advocates had forgot that only 4 years previously, nerve.com was lambasted as a hate-group and a front orgnization for the christian right wing. Because nerve.com had published the ‘Letters From Leather Camp‘ article that had violated the privacy of kinksters attending a BDSM event. But wait! Theres more! As part of the trial, proscuters wanted to show evedence of how prevelant porn was on the internet and asked major search engins for a milion random searches each. All rolled over but google. Sexual rights advocates praised google for having the courage to not give into government goons that wanted to ~spy~ on its own citizens. But short term memory being what it was, everyone had forgoten this in just 2 years. Google released porn related search info to the government and this time were praised as heroes for doing so.
The trial ends in March of last year with a district judge once again ruling the law as unconstitutional. (How many shotgun blasts to the zombie is that now?) Sexual rights advocates still shit their pants in abject terror. What happens on appeal?
Well, this week we find out what happens on appeal. From district court it movces up to circut court of appeals. They agree with the district court that the law is unconstitutional. Instantly, the sexual-rights advocates recite their ‘Vague And Overbroad’ fearmongering again and tells us that we should still be fearful of this zombie on the floor. Its not over yet cause this could go to the supreme court. Nevermind that the supreme court has twice before said ’stop wasting our time’ and refused to hear the case. It COULD go to the supreme court, so we shoudl still be afraid. The zombie COULD get up so we should still be afraid.
Actualy, so the sexual-rights advocates tell us, we are closer to doom and destruction now that ever before. Ya see, all the other times this law has been ruled unconstitutional (3? 4?) we still had a buffer in the supreme court being evenly split. But now that the evil bush dictatorship has ‘packed the courtsd’ with consertive judges, it could speel doom if it gets to them.
Im totaly lost on how. Going off the court were a consertive and a moderate. Comming onto the court were a consertive and a moderate. But if sexual rights advocates say the new ‘packed court’ might cause that zombie to rise up off the floor, then gosh durn it, we should be totaly terrified of that zombie now!
Ok, so lets assume the court WONT say ’stop wasting our time’ like they already have done before. Lets also assume that the supreme court IS packed to the right. Those neocon nutjobs would be willing to let a ‘Vague And Overbroad’ law stand and subject milions to be brutal whim of a purticanal police state. Right? Well, maybee not. In the previous times the court has sent this back down to the lower courts for review, all the justices have writen oppinions. The liberal wing agrees witht he ‘Vague And Overbroad’ rtetoric. But the consertive wing are far from being the ‘lets cencor everytthing’ prudes they are steriotyped as. The opinion they gave isnt ’sure the law is overly broad, but we dont care’ but rather ‘the law is not Vague And Overbroad’.
So in other words, if the liberal wing gets its way cencorship of ordnary citicizens will not come from this law because the law will become unconstitutional and cease to exist. If the consertive wing gets its way cencorship of ordnary citicizens will not come from this law because the law is very narrowly defined and will not atack the freedom of speech of odnary citicens. Either way, the zombie aint going to get up.
Why do people still believe that today, now, is the most sexual opresive moment in all of human history?