Michigan legislative action thread
Posted on 05/06/2013 10:25:18 AM PDT by MichCapCon
A man seducing and corrupting the moral purity of an unmarried woman is a felony with possible prison time. Throwing a few bucks into the office college basketball tournament pool is illegal gambling. And playing the national anthem for people to dance to is a misdemeanor.
Though routinely broken and ignored by citizens and government officials, these laws and more are on the books in Michigan. In fact, there are so many statutes in the state code that it is likely every resident would be considered a criminal if the codes actually were prosecuted.
State and federal laws are being added so quickly that the average citizen commits three felonies per day and cannot possibly figure them all out, said attorney Harvey Silverglate.
“Many laws are indeed routinely broken,” he said. “Since no individual can keep track of what is illegal, every citizen is in danger of being singled out for prosecution simply because he or she has come within the sights of a law enforcement official. This makes us all vulnerable to official power.”
Silverglate is the author of the book, “Three Felonies A Day,” and estimates that there are 4,000 federal criminal statues with countless more state and local regulations.
In Michigan, some of these laws seem crazy, archaic or both.
Authorities would have to prosecute within a year, but if they do, Section 532 of an early 1930s law criminalizes "any man who shall seduce and debauch any unmarried woman." The act is a felony, punishable by up to five years in prison or a $2,500 fine.
Michigan’s law regarding the national anthem is Act 328 of 1931. It prevents the “Star Spangled Banner” from being “played, sung or otherwise rendered … except as an entire and separate composition or number and without embellishments … nor be played as a part or selection of a medley of any kind … nor be played for dancing or as an exit march.”
Another statute involves low-level gambling. Though state law allows an exception for card games played at home in which there is no money taken by the house, it remains mostly illegal to make monetary bets — even on minor things. While an estimated 50 million Americans fill out March Madness brackets, those putting money in a pool are breaking state law, which prohibits betting on college sports.
"From a legal standpoint, gambling is still illegal, although I think that generally enforcement turns a blind eye to these things,” Travis Dafoe, a Saginaw County lawyer, told MLive in March. And the federal government has been known to warn its employees against taking part in betting on the basketball tournament.
Other acts prohibited in the state include having an unlicensed dog (the sheriff is required to kill the animal), adultery (a felony), mocking a person for refusing to duel, exhibiting deformed human beings, marrying an inmate girl from the Adrian training school without the permission of the superintendent, and cursing or blasphemy.
And while these may sound crazy, some are occasionally prosecuted.
In 1998, a man dubbed the “cussing canoeist” was convicted of violating a 105-year-old law for swearing after he fell out of a canoe on the Rifle River. The 1897 statute “prohibited using indecent, immoral, vulgar or insulting language in the presence or hearing of women or children.” While the ACLU eventually had the law struck down by the Court of Appeals, a separate Court of Appeals case from 1996 held that “the fact that a statute has not been recently enforced does not mean that it has been repealed de facto.” The case, Stopera v. DiMarco, cited Washtenaw Co. Rd Comm'rs v. Public Service Comm. (1957), which stated “statutes do not wither by disuse.”
Many of the laws on the books in Michigan may be considered unconstitutional if ever actually prosecuted. And while the regulations are mostly forgotten, ignored or unknown, there they sit for whenever the state or another citizen wants to go after someone.
“An excess of laws is very bad for society,” Silverglate said. “It saps the vitality of a state or nation for citizens to have to spend so much time figuring out if they may or may not take a certain action — with a misjudgment at their peril.”
Today we need a law that makes it a felony for a woman to seduce an unmarried man. Liberalism has succeeded in making most women believe being a whore is “empowering”.
MI ping.
"Society cannot exist unless a controlling power upon will and appetite be placed somewhere, and the less of it there is within, the more there must be without."-- Edmund Burke
What kind of dance goes with the Star’s Spangled Banner?
They really need to clean those up. Laws that aren’t enforced teaches disrespect for the law. That goes for speed limits, out of date laws, hiring illegals, immigration, etc.
It also promotes, the “Selective enforcement” idea that is plaguing the white house today.
Blue laws. Not sure why the press is picking on MI when MA has tons more old blue laws on the books.
“What kind of dance goes with the Star’s Spangled Banner?”
Really....it’s never even occured to me that it would even be attempted.
To my mind, every law at every level below the Constitution should have an automatic and mandated expiration date of no more than 10 years.
If they make sense, they should be trivial for an elective body to reinstate. If they don’t, then legislature should be on record for keeping them in place.
If it were up to me, the session to reinstate/expire laws would be mandatory for all legislators in their respective bodies, and no voice votes or bundling action would be allowed - each statute would need an individual vote by the whole body or it would expire by default.
Guess that leaves married women and divorces? Seems like they cut quite a few from the herd!
New Study Finds 85% of Americans Don't Know All The Dance Moves to the National Anthem
Dang. I knew those teacher I had back in the fifties should have been investigated by Joe McCarthy. Lousy commies didn’t teach us the dance.
"The Star-Spangled Banner" is a 32-bar minuet. The mazurka, waltz and other dances can also be done to the music.
So! If you seduce an unmarried woman to the tune of the national anthem, you are in deep doo-doo.
This story comes up as a result of a current arguments over the legality of police and civilians shooting dogs in various situations.
There are lots of old laws on the books. For instance in my county the sheriff is supposed to pay a bounty for dead rats.
I don’t know about dancing to the Star-Spangled Banner but it should be the law of the land that it will not be sung. I’m so tired of hearing it butchered... It should only be played by bands, mainly Military Bands or Community Bands.
It should be sung right or not at all. Also I wish someone would tell Yankee fans that God Bless America is not the national anthem.
Tens of thousands of new laws are put into the book every year on the state and federal level.
It's purpose is to give the authorities the right to arrest anyone any time and there will be a law broken if the police watch anyone for a few minutes to a few hours.
It's all part of the plan to control us when the PTB's start the revolution.
I took a driving course for getting a ticket so it would not appear on my insurance, thus costing me about $1,000 more in premiums over the 3 years it stays on the ins companies books because it allows them to raise the rate you pay.
The instructor was an ex CHP officer and one of the outrageous laws he told us about was concerning a car moving at a stop sign.
He said if the car is running, it is technically moving and the driver could be cited.
Pretty boring classes I'm sure those that have attended them in person will attest.
To help us stay awake, when he asked how many people can ride in a car/SUV with 8 seat-belts, I raised my hand and said 9
When he questioned the accuracy of my answer, I mentioned Siamese twins...
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