Lawmakers move to lower penalty for bestiality

[Ian David]

MAN ON DOG?
Lawmakers move to lower penalty for bestiality … seriously
PAUL MCMORROW

More than two and a half years ago, the nation laughed as pro-family crusader Rick Santorum predicted the consequences of legalized gay marriage: If man-on-man marriage was sanctified, man-on-child and man-on-dog unions might not be far behind.

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Sponsored by Senators Cynthia Creem and Robert O’Leary, and Representatives Michael Festa and David Linsky, the bestiality measure was buried in a packaged assault on morality, disguised as “An Act Relative to Archaic Crimes.” The bill would strike down several sections of the current penal code criminalizing adultery, fornication and the advertisement of abortion. It also repeals what appears to be a sodomy statute forbidding “abominable and detestable crime against nature, either with mankind or with a beast.”

Archaic, indeed.

The new law would continue to forbid “a sexual act on an animal,” but reduce possible penalties for committing such a crime, making it decidedly less illegal. Whereas the old law punished doggie-diddling and the like with hard time (a maximum sentence of 20 years) in state prison, the new measure would give activist judges the option of slapping perps with a mere two and a half years in plush local jails, or even letting zoophiliacs walk with a $5,000 fine.

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Cold medicine, it appears, is also a greater threat to society than bestiality, as Falmouth Rep. Matthew Patrick denounced NyQuil and codeine, but remained silent about barnyard romance. Patrick’s bill would criminalize the sale of “cough syrup or a cold remedy containing alcohol or codeine … to any person under the age of 18.” Such medicine “wreaks a lot of havoc on young people,” Patrick argued.

And the shoplifting and NyQuil bills were two of the tamer legislative initiatives before the committee; the rest of the docket amounted to a clearinghouse of insanity.

Up for consideration was a measure, sponsored by Southie’s Jack Hart, to ban the advertisement of fireworks; a bill banning the sale of laser pointers to minors; a push to revamp the way the state punishes graveyard vandals; an examination of how to combat the epidemic of drunken riots; new punishments for drivers who steal gas; and—our personal favorite—a bid to make criminally liable anyone who knowingly allows their telephone to be used “repeatedly, for the sole purpose of harassing, annoying or molesting person … or for the purpose of repeatedly using indecent or obscene language to that person or his family.”

More:
http://www.weeklydig.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/article.view/issueID/29b91cce-ad93-4f50-8d61-19e8d1ff6f05/articleID/0a92192c-bbc2-4b91-a809-fe976ce265de/nodeID/4b1339d1-be3a-44a2-be8b-1484963a003a

[rox63]

1. I can't wait to see

how the righties will try to use this one against us.

[Ian David]

2. It's obviously being sensationalized for that purpose

The "unnatural act" law applies to "with man or with beast."

Now that the courts have struck-down the sodomy laws in Lawrence v Kansas, we needed to make sodomy a law separate from bestiality or else it might have legalized bestiality.

In other words, doing this actually prevents bestiality.

And giving the judge more leeway in sentencing also makes it more likely a jury would vote to convict.

Still, I think people on both the left and the right, gay and straight, should all publicly condemn bestiality except in cases involving extra-terrestrial visitors from another planet.

After all, more people believe in Alien Abduction than in Dick Cheney (who has a 19% approval rating).