On Thursday, May 16, 2002, at 10:12 AM, Steve Furlong wrote: > Eric Cordian wrote: >> >> <snicker> >> >> ----- >> >> JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Taking aim at animal rights activists and >> undercover reporters, the Missouri House has passed a measure that >> would >> make it a crime to take pictures of animals in barns without an owner's >> permission. > > If we play it right, we can get a whole lot of the Cowmen of the > Apocalypse: > > - Underage porn (freshest veal pics on the net; heifer's first time > posing)
"PlayPork" is being published by Hugh Heifer. But seriously, this law illustrates to even the naive why things have gotten so out of control. The law is not meant to be actually enforced. It fails on constitutional grounds and will ultimately be overturned. There is no "obscenity" fig leaf to use to justify, even to our statist courts, the abrogation of the First Amendment. But the lawmakers don't care: it is enough to prove that they "cared." (Holding them liable for costs associated with litigation would be useful.) If the photos were taken illegally, e.g., by trespassers sneaking into barns and labs, then prosecute the trespassing, a property crime. If the photos were taken legally, without trespassing, then criminalizing publishing is a violation of the First Amendment. Not that they care. --Tim May "The State is the great fiction by which everyone seeks to live at the expense of everyone else." --Frederic Bastiat
