Via Jonathan Turley, I encountered the elsewhere-freakish but Florida-mundane story of state senator Larcenia Bullard (D-Miami, via deep space). Bullard became agitated during a Florida legislative debate over a bestiality law. Florida does not have a current bestiality law, apparently. I’m not entirely sure, based on my familiarity with Florida, that this is a bad thing; I’m not sure that they should be excluding some of the smarter animals from their potential gene pool. (No offense, there, Marc Randazza.)
Anyway, Bullard became agitated when someone used the term “animal husbandry”:
Rich’s legislation would target only those who derived or helped others derive ”sexual gratification” from an animal, specifying that conventional dog-judging contests and animal-husbandry practices are permissible.
That last provision tripped up Miami Democratic Sen. Larcenia Bullard.
”People are taking these animals as their husbands? What’s husbandry?” she asked. Some senators stifled their laughter as Sen. Charlie Dean, an Inverness Republican, explained that husbandry is raising and caring for animals. Bullard didn’t get it.
”So that maybe was the reason the lady was so upset about that monkey?” Bullard asked, referring to a Connecticut case where a woman’s suburban chimpanzee went mad and was shot.
Yes, the federal government has grown increasingly law-encrusted. But bear in mind that most of the laws that govern your everyday life, determine how your children are educated, and limit how you can run your business are debated and passed by state and local politicians like Larcenia Bullard. So ask yourself — do the anarchists still seem so silly?
Edit: Cappy, a commenter over at The Agitator, points out that Bullard is the Vice-Chair of the Agricultural Committee and a former teacher. That makes this even more awesome.
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