Wednesday 21 December 2011

PEOPLE WHO LIVE IN GLASS HOUSES

There has been a lot of discussion recently about what marriage means, what it should mean and if and how we should amend the laws relating to it. 


Reading around the subject today I found an interesting fact.


In the American state of Minnesota (that's one of the big ones, in the middle at the top, surrounded by Canada to the north, the Dakotas to the west, Iowa to the south and Michigan and Wisconsin to the East), adultery is a crime (Statute 609.36), punishable in law by a fine of $3,000,  1 year's imprisonment... or both.


So what, you may say, a lot of countries have old laws, based on strict adherence to the Old Testament's or Torah's, teachings of Leviticus (Vayikra), which should have been repealed years ago, but were simply forgotten. The police would never act upon them.


After all, until a few years ago you weren't allowed to buy sugar or carrots in England on a Sunday, alcohol sales were banned in some parts of Wales and in the Western Isles of Scotland pretty much everything was banned on the 'Sabbath' (which wasn't Saturday, but Sunday!) if it didn't involve reading the Bible. 


But in this case, you would be wrong. A Democrat Senator tried to have the law repealed in 2010, but an organisation called the Minnesota Family Council (MFC) objected. The MFC not only wanted the law retained, they wanted it strengthened. They said it sent a message to the public about how important marriage is and they were supported by the Republicans.


As far as I can make out, no actual strengthening was done, but the law remains on statute. To strengthen marriage however (and placate the MFC), the leader of the Republican majority in the Senate, Amy Koch, brought  forward legislation guaranteeing that marriage would always (in that state) be between a man and a woman. (The constitutional amendment, of course, has to be voted on in a referendum to take place at the same time as the Presidential election in November next year.)


So we can deduce from that that Amy Koch is strong on marriage, or can we?


No. In fact, Mrs Koch might have been better advised to avoid getting involved in the subject of marriage altogether, because it has come to light that Mrs Koch has been conducting an affair with one of her subordinates, and has been obliged to resign her leadership. 


Oops. 


I expect that she will be glad that they didn't strengthen the penalty for adultery to, say ten years or $100,000



8 comments:

  1. Tris old boy, I can vouch via my relatives up in Stornoway (well Oronsay) that they all just sneak into the pub after Sunday service! (by the backdoor naturally!!)

    ... so not sure just how 'closed' everything really is (provided your 'local' ... and not one of the "damn English settlers"- that my great uncle bangs on about)

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  2. Yes, I guess that's true, Dean. have you ever seen the film, "Whisky Galore"?

    It's the Englishman in cahoots with the Excise Man... which also reminds me of a song of my Gran's "The De'ils awa wi' th'excise man".

    My ex-boss told me that when he was young, on his honeymoon in an hotel on one of the islands, he and his new wife decided to go for a ride on their motor bike. On the Sabbath!!!!!!!!

    Ouch.... bad idea.

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  3. Errant posts dealt with Dean. It must have been a glitch, somewhere.

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  4. tris

    that Koch woman not related to Iris Robinson is she......


    Dirty bitches Grr!

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  5. Yeah probably, but it seems her boyfriend was out of short trousers, which, I suppose, is something.

    And, she only had one job in politics, unlike the good... "here's to you" who seemed to have them all.

    I wonder how that dirty old bitch is getting on. Hope they keep her away from teenagers though. Ewwww, what a thought.All these wrinkles....

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  6. Minnesota...you do get around tris!
    Why do people who live in glass...(to mix your metaphor)...sh*t on their own doorsteps so often, and more to the point why do the rest of the people let them return time and again to 'tell them what they should do'...20 yrs and 50 lashes sounds more like it for such folk!

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  7. I'm sure that's what Leviticus would have said....:)

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  8. Aye he was a good yin ol' Leviticus!

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