CommenTerry

Age Discrimination is Alive and Well

Teen actress Jamie Lynn Spears, younger sister of pop diva Britney Spears, recently announced that she is pregnant. Jamie Lynn is 16 years old while her boyfriend, Casey Aldridge, who is responsible for her pregnancy, is 18. So far, there has been no talk of prosecuting him for any crime. Assuming he is never prosecuted, this is a complete outrage and a clear case of legalized age discrimination. Why? Because if a 38-year-old man, for example, had gotten her pregnant, law enforcement officials would be nailing him to the wall right now, likely charging him with statutory rape and forcing him to register as a sex offender.

This inequity of justice is actually coded into the law in most states. For example, in California, where spears now spends most of her time, it is considered a misdemeanor for someone who is one or two years older to have consensual sex with someone under 18. However, for someone as much as three years older, it is considered a felony. What kind of sense does that make? While the laws vary by state, most states follow California’s example and punish older offenders more severely than younger ones. I’m not a lawyer and I don’t play one on TV, but this seems me to be a brazen violation of the Constitution’s equal protection clause. Any older person who has ever been prosecuted for consensual sex with a teen in California should use the Spears case to file an age discrimination suit against the state. Hopefully, at least one of those cases would make it to the U.S. Supreme Court, resulting in all such age discrimination laws invalidated nationwide.

We can see how stupid and unjust these laws are when we hypothetically apply them to other crimes. Let’s say a state had a law that said armed robbery is a felony for most people, but just a misdemeanor for those under 25. Or, worse yet, a law that said murder is not a criminal act for anyone under 25. How much sense would those laws make? Absolutely none, and neither do laws that prosecute older people who sleep with teens more severely than those closer to their age who commit the same acts. Now, am I in favor of older people having sex with teens? Of course not. However, if consensual sex with minors is going be illegal, it should be illegal for everyone and the punishment should be equitable, no matter what the age of the offender.

Random Rants and Raves #121

Most of the horror stories you hear about various common medical procedures are quite exaggerated.          

---

Here's an idea for a new country music title: "If I Wasn't So Sighted I'd be Blind." 

---

Most of us are so caught up in the pursuit of the big things of life that we often fail to notice the little things, which actually bring the most enrichment to our lives.

---

A liberal is a person who is extremely generous -- with other people's money! 

---

This is the time of the year when you will hear all kinds of nonsensical tax advice -- like giving $100 to charity to avoid $25 in taxes. 

---

How could someone who is opposed to pornography be okay with those disgusting TV ads for Viagra, Cialis, and Levitra? 

---

Never turn down free money -- unless there are strings attached.  

---

You know you're addicted to something when you discover that you can't walk away from it anytime you want.

Giuliani Could Learn from Al Gore

Rudy Giuliani doesn’t seem to be worried about the fact that he did not do well in Iowa, New Hampshire, or Michigan, the states that held the earliest nominating contests. He is not even putting up a serious fight in South Carolina. Instead, he is depending on a win in Florida on January 29th followed up with wins in New York, New Jersey, California, and elsewhere on February 5th to propel him to the Republican presidential nomination. That strategy is indeed a risky one. He can just ask former Vice President Al Gore.

In 1988, four years before being elected vice president, Gore made his initial run for the presidency. He used a strategy similar to the one Giuliani seems to have in mind -- and it flopped miserably. That year, Gore, then a freshman senator from Tennessee, laid low in Iowa and New Hampshire, not putting much time or effort into either of those states. Consequently, he finished near the bottom of the pack in both. However, this didn’t matter much to him as he believed his status as the only southerner in the race holding elective office would guarantee his dominance in the southern primaries, which would ultimately get him the nod for the Democratic presidential nomination.

What Gore didn’t count on was the fact that then-Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis would be able to use the momentum from his win in New Hampshire, along with his ability to speak fluent Spanish, to grab victories in the two most populous southern states, Texas and Florida. While those were the only two southern states that Dukakis won, they were all he needed to secure the nomination, combined with his dominance of the Northeast, upper Midwest, and the west coast. Gore ended up splitting the remainder of Dixie with Jesse Jackson and did not win a single state outside the South. As result, Gore finished well behind Dukakis, and even Jackson, in the final delegate count.

Since the primaries and caucuses have been used to pick the nominees in each party, only two Democratic presidential candidates (George McGovern in 1972, and Bill Clinton in 1992) have managed to get nominated despite having lost both Iowa and New Hampshire. However, no GOP presidential candidate has been able to accomplish this feat. History is obviously not on Giuliani’s side.

Updated 01-17-2008.

What About Anti-Religous Tests?

It's interesting how people who rail against what they believe to be a religious test for political candidates seem to have no problem with anti-religious tests for those candidates. A case in point is presidential candidate Mike Huckabee. Many members of the extreme "separation of church and state" crowd feel that Huckabee's skepticism about evolution disqualifies him from being elected president.

However, if Huckabee believed in evolution, he would be denying one of the basic tenets of his religion -- creationism, which runs counter to the theory of evolution. Why is it that these people believe a man should be required to leave all or part of his religious beliefs behind in order to become president? Isn't that a kind of anti-religious test? 

Wheel of Fortune's Presto Chango

Did anyone else notice the Wheel of Fortune snafu on Monday, December 10th? After the show returned from a commercial at approximately the 18-minute mark, there were three completely different contestants than before. Apparently what happened was that someone was asleep at the wheel (pun intended) and mistakenly aired the Tuesday installment for the first 18 minutes and then realized their mistake and completed the time slot with the Monday installment. The mistake may have originated at my local affiliate, as I am not sure who is at fault.

It's Never Over Until ...

Never scratch an item off your "to do" list until it has been completely resolved. For example, let's say you have an item on your list that says, "call a plumber." You wouldn't want to scratch off that item right after you call a plumber. Otherwise, you would have to put the item back on your list if the plumber you called fails to show up, for example. You would want to wait until the plumber has come to your house and satisfactorily completed the work.

Classic Rants and Raves #27

Three of the saddest things anyone can ever say: (1) "I can't", (2) "I'm poor", (3) "I'm old."    

---

A man cannot be truly good until he has the option of being completely bad.   

---

I came into the world with the expectation that things should always go smoothly for me, and I have never gotten over it. :-) 

---

What if TVs had to be booted up like computers? If that were the case, I bet most people would either watch less TV or just never turn their TVs off.

---

The most gratifying time to win or achieve something is when you are not supposed to or not expected to.    

---

I used to hate winter but I have since grown to appreciate it more, along with the other seasons. Each season of the year has its own special purpose and charm.

---

We now start celebrating Christmas so early that, when it finally gets here, it seems like it has already been over for a while.

---

Any price is too high to pay for something you don't need or don't want.

---

If some automobile dealers and furniture retailers were as an incompetent as their TV commercials often depict them, they wouldn't be able to stay in business a week.

Random Rants and Raves #120

I was recently called by someone purporting to be taking a Gallup poll. However, before he could ask a single question, I stopped him and politely explained that I didn't know anything at all about horses.          

---

Something amazing happens when you stop comparing your luck with everyone else's: Yours starts to get better. 

---

How many seers could seersucker suck if seersucker could suck seers?

---

Rent-to-own store: An establishment where one can purchase a $500 appliance for $1500.

---

It's funny how those who complain the most when the government attempts to legislate morality will usually remain silent when it attempts to legislate immorality. 

---

When the Redskins played Tampa Bay several weeks ago, they dropped the ball so many times I thought it was New Year's Eve! 

---

The NFL needs to make a rule change this off-season to prohibit defenses from calling timeout once the play clock drops below 10 seconds.  

---

Even a strong basket will begin to weaken after someone puts all of his or her eggs in it. 

2008 Presidential Campaign Update #14

We're now just 21 days from the leadoff contest -- the Iowa Caucuses -- and we still have 16 official entries, eight Republicans and eight Democrats, in the 2008 presidential sweepstakes.

The Republicans are Representative Duncan Hunter of California, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Arizona Senator John McCain, Representative Ron Paul of Texas, Colorado Congressman Tom Tancredo, and former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson.

The Democrats are former Alaska Senator Mike Gravel, Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich, former North Carolina Senator and 2004 Democratic Vice Presidential Nominee John Edwards, Delaware Senator Joe Biden, Connecticut Senator Chris Dodd, New York Senator and former First Lady Hillary Clinton, New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, and Illinois Senator Barack Obama.

Today, I also offer my updated presidential power ratings for both parties, in which I rank the candidates in order of their likelihood to receive their respective party's presidential nomination. At this point, all potential major candidates have either opted in or out. Therefore, only the official candidates will be included in the rankings for the rest of the way. Of course, these rankings will fluctuate with time, as the fortunes of the candidates change and some ultimately drop out. Here's my latest installment:

Democrats:

1. Hillary Clinton

2. Barack Obama

3. John Edwards

4. Bill Richardson

5. Joe Biden

6. Chris Dodd

7. Dennis Kucinich

8. Mike Gravel

Republicans:

1. Rudy Giuliani

2. Mike Huckabee

3. Mitt Romney

4. John McCain

5. Fred Thompson

6. Ron Paul

7. Duncan Hunter

8. Tom Tancredo

Stay tuned for regular updates, with the next one coming around the second week in January.

Nitpicking the December Football Scene

The first Saturday in December usually coincides with the last day of college football’s regular season. This is an exciting Saturday in which conference championships are decided and all the bowl bids are finally nailed down. However, for the remainder of the month, we are stuck with what I call “dead-air” Saturdays. With the regular season wrapped up and the major bowls having yet to be played, there is no major college football to be found on my television screen. Sure, there is plenty of basketball airing during that time, but my basketball gene doesn’t awaken until January.

Then we have the problem of meaningless pro football games on December Sundays. Yes, plenty of teams are still in the playoff chase and most of the berths are decided in December. However, what are fans of those teams that have been eliminated from playoff contention to do? You see, pro football games are a means to end, with that end being making the playoffs. Individual games are not an end in and of themselves. When that end is no longer achievable (i.e., a given team is eliminated from playoff contention), its remaining games are rendered meaningless. For fans of those teams, Sunday afternoons in December can be a bit boring.