PORN!!!

Content based Taxation

In an attempt to raise revenue and reconcile the budget against a massive shortfall the Alabama House Ways and Means Committee has passed (10-4) that in addition to any other applicable taxes, a 40% state excise tax will be levied on gross receipts from the sale, rental or admission charges of pornographic material. The bill heads to the Alabama House floor for a vote.

This presents an interesting constitutional question in regards to the first amendment... Can you tax the content of First Amendment protected material?

Now Arkansas tried this once already, although not on porn, imposing a tax on general interest magazines but exempting newspapers, as well as religious, professional, trade, and sports journals.  The Supreme Court held in Arkansas Writers Journal v. Ragland that the tax "burdens rights protected by the First Amendment by discriminating against a small group of magazines, including appellant's, which are the only magazines that pay the tax" the court also said that " its use here is even more disturbing because the Arkansas statute requires official scrutiny of publications' content as the basis for imposing a tax. This is incompatible with the First Amendment, whose requirements are not avoided merely because the statute does not burden the expression of particular views expressed by specific magazines, and exempts other members of the media that might publish discussions of the various subjects contained in appellant's magazine."  -Caselaw-

While I oppose social engineering through the use of taxation as it is not the government's job to tell us how to act, think, eat, drink, or what to do or not do behaviorally... at least taxation on cigarettes and alcohol can be partially justified on the cost imposed on society by their abuse (I don't support that position but I can understand it).  Alabama will be hard pressed to specifically attribute a cost to the use, viewing, or experience of pornography.

I think there are two things going on here, one is greed in the face of severe budget shortfalls, the other is the imposition of a religious moral restriction on pornography that is not reflected in the law of the land on material that is substantially protected under the First amendment. 

What do you think?

burdens rights protected by the First Amendment by discriminating against a small group of magazines, including appellant's, which are the only magazines that pay the tax. - See more at: http://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-supreme-court/481/221.html#228

burdens rights protected by the First Amendment by discriminating against a small group of magazines, including appellant's, which are the only magazines that pay the tax. - See more at: http://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-supreme-court/481/221.html#228

burdens rights protected by the First Amendment by discriminating against a small group of magazines, including appellant's, which are the only magazines that pay the tax. - See more at: http://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-supreme-court/481/221.html#228"

Snakes for a Reason?

In Connecticut, a teenage girl is mature enough to obtain an abortion without parental consent.  Apparently, she's mature enough to end any life but her own...

Connecticut forces 17 year old with Stage 3/4 Hodgkin's Lymphoma to undergo chemotherapy against her own will, and that of her mother who supports her daughter's choice.  

“Following a hearing at which Cassandra’s doctors testified, the trial court ordered that she be removed from her home and that she remain in DCF’s care and custody,” read court documents.  “The court also authorized DCF to make all necessary medical decisions on Cassandra’s behalf.” 

After Cassandra had a portion of her lymph node surgically removed at the hospital, mother and daughter left "to seek a second opinion." Fortin said they were going to consult with doctors in another state — but the local doctors, who are mandated reporters, called the DCF and raised an issue of parental medical neglect. The DCF went to Superior Court and won temporary custody and permission to proceed with the treatment. Courant

What do you think?  You may not agree with her decision, but do you think she has the right to make it?

Do you think the state is inconsistent with its application of medical maturity?

The Selfie

Robert Cornelius

The photo above is presumed to be the first "Selfie" taken in 1839 by Robert Cornelius.  With the advent of the Kodak box camera, Selfies moved from the realm of the professional to the amateur.

Unknown

It wasn't until the advent of the internet and the camera phone that things really started to go downhill.

Child Pornography

A sixteen year old girl in Virginia takes a nude selfie of herself and shares it with her friends on Twitter.  Someone notifies a school resource officer who talks to the girl, her parents, and then notifies the authorities.  The authorities then charge the girl with one felony count of possession, reproduction, distribution, solicitation, and facilitation of child pornography.  The minimum sentence associated with the charge is five years.  Had any of her friends retweeted the image, they would also be guilty.

CBS News 

Rare but increasing

Involvement of the authorities is a rare but increasing phenomena.  Two teens in Los Angeles have been charged after swapping nude photos, two teens in Florida have also been charged.  In the worst case among the many I stumbled across browsing news stories was that of the State of Tennessee stamping out a "child pornography ring"... 24 teens who were swapping nude selfies amongst themselves.

Misapplication of the Law?

Laws that were written and implemented to protect children from adult predators are being used to prosecute, some say persecute, the children themselves.  Not confined solely to the United States there have been similar cases in Canada and Australia, as far as Europe goes I found one case in Malta (although that was a case of reposting by a third party).  

Of Questionable Taste

Other selfie phenomena that have manifested in our digital age are funeral selfies, including selfies with the deceased, homeless selfies in which one intentionally captures a homeless person in the background, and accident selfies in which one captures oneself in the aftermath of tragedy. One woman even captured a selfie with a man attempting to commit suicide off the Brooklyn Bridge.

J.N.L