Yes. Yes, it is. I wrote a column for my alma mater's paper about it once. One underage person drinking a beer isn't civil disobedience, especially when it's followed by whining that that underage person got busted for it. Thirty underage people drinking beers in full view of law enforcement and accepting their punishment is. Heck, even one person can be, if that person does it right.

__________________
Gillian

"Now everyone was giving her that kind of look UFOlogists get when they suddenly say, 'Hey, if you shade your eyes you can see it is just a flock of geese after all.'"

"You can't erase icing."

"I can't believe it doesn't work! I found it on the internet, man!"

Good point. I read a similar article that highlighted Henry David Thoreau, who civilly disobeyed a tax policy by refusing to pay. He was found guilty and without complaint let himself be jailed. He was freed the next day when a family member paid the taxes, much to Thoreau's protests.

By contrast, a group of abortion protesters were arrested for actions, and the article stated that they were thrilled to be arrested for their cause. They even wore loose comfortable clothing and carried no valuables, knowing that they would want to minimize inconvenience while incarcerated. But when a judge sentenced them to actual jail time they were outraged. They weren't intending to actually pay the consequences for their civil disobedience. They were wanting to spend a Saturday in a local cell and be back to work on Monday morning beaming at each other over their shared experience.

Sorry, but if you can't do the time, don't do the crime.

The woman who was arrested for registering under her dog's name to show how easy voter fraud is, had she exhausted all her legal means of action? Or did she just think she was being cute?

Was she arrested because she broke the law or because she embarrassed the powers that be? There are some elected officials who aren't too zealous about going after voter fraud but get real upset when they're embarrassed about failing to do their jobs.

IIRC, she registered her dog to vote. She didn't cast a vote using the dog's voter ID. There is a big difference, IMO.

I think that breaking the law to prove a point has it's place, but that place is at the end of a pretty long chain of events.

In my "perfect world", if a situation like this came up where it was possible to register to vote regardless of eligibility, and this woman registered her dog, her punishment for breaking the law and helping an ineligible "person" register would be based on the documented evidence that she'd tried other things. Registered letters to the office that oversees the practice that went unanswered would be good. An internet blog, not so much. If she had taken all reasonable and proper steps (going to the press would not be a "proper step" in this case because long before anyone cared enough to fix it, the story would go out and alert others the the holes in the system) were taken, then she did this to make a point, the judge in my world would find her guilty and issue a fine of $1 suspended and 3 months probation. There would also be many butts on the line from the offices of those she could prove that she contacted.

If her evidence of contact was a blog, or web page, or newsletters passed out in the grocery store parking lot, she's getting the full sentence, but those same butts from above will still be on the line.

__________________
A Nerd can figure out how long it will take the original Enterprise traveling at warp 6.5 to travel from Regulus to Antares.
A Geek with think he can use that to pick up a girl in a bar.
A Dork knows he can't pick up the girl with it, but will hang around for hours anyway, just in case she asks.
She might. You never know.

Parents Fight Over Which Gang Toddler Should Join

Do I even need to make a comment?

__________________
Numbers are not case sensitive. (me)

Harried family forgets tot in Vancouver airport

Ok; multiple caretakers and a game of who's got the kid. That part is understandable.
What I don't understand is this. The last person didn't watch people leave or check if everyone did. Ok; maybe that can slip, but...
When they arrived at the plane, nobody stopped at the door and thought "are we all here", or event thought that before sitting down.

Sounds like "run for your lives, everyone fend for yourselves, you're on your own, don't count on me to help."

__________________
Numbers are not case sensitive. (me)

Nice to hear about an airline doing something right for a change.

__________________
Cum catapultae proscribeantur tum soli proscripti catapultas habeant.

It's Home Alone 2 all over again.

Obviously; that's probably why the article said that...

__________________
Numbers are not case sensitive. (me)

Silly me, I didn't actually read the article. Mea culpa.

Man used 2-year-old son as human shield

Glad I could help, Dad.

__________________
SeanF

"Ask to understand, but don't challenge unless you have the knowledge."--NEOWatcher

The contents of this post are ©2008 by SeanF and may not be copied or retransmitted in any form without the express written consent of SeanF

"...and charged with two counts of assaulting federal officers. " but no mention of reckless endangerment of his child?

The worst thing is, if he'd just poured out his beer...

that makes him a "stupid criminal" as well!

__________________
-----
Todd (Bowie, MD, US, North America, Earth, Sol System, Vega region, Local Bubble, Orion arm, Milky Way Galaxy, Local Group, Virgo A Cluster, Virgo supercluster, the universe in which spock is clean shaven)

Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum sonatur.

personal page: http://blog.astrosketches.info

Ok; this one is only remotely a parent story because parents are involved in little leagues. But; I figured it fits better here than a new thread.

Youth All-Star Game Canceled To Prevent Bruised Egos

Ok; I can see a debate on whether ages 9-12 are old enough for competition. Whether I agree or not is irrelevent to my reaction.

For [gosh] sakes...make that decision in the off season. Don't tell some little kid he's getting honored with the ability to play, then yank the rug from under him.

Instead of a few possible bruised egos, you just made a considerable number of definite bruised egos.

__________________
Numbers are not case sensitive. (me)