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For the record, you also cannot sell dildos in Texas. I don't know why people are always crowing about how Texas is the land that respects individual rights an

For the record, you also cannot sell dildos in Texas. I don't know why people are always crowing about how Texas is the land that respects individual rights and free enterprise. It's not. It's the land of unlimited corporate malfeasance, unchecked pollution, and a ban on fire codes.

cobrausn 13y ago
The statute you refer to was overturned five years ago.
- thrownaway2424 13y ago
  Sure, by a federal court. The state, under the same governor who is still in office today, went to court and argued that Texas had a compelling interest in preventing people from having sex for reasons other than procreation.
  - cobrausn 13y ago
    Yeah, it's an example of government as envisioned by the founders working as intended - when someone at the state level overreaches, a federal court strikes it down (I'm hoping the same thing happens to this absurd law regarding dealer sales). This happens in more places than just Texas. Doesn't change the fact that your first statement is not factual anymore. Given time I think we (Texans) can eventually stop / vote out all these morons who think legislating morality is their job - we've been headed that way last few elections anyway.
    - socialist_coder 13y ago
      Well, your current governor is Rick Perry so your recent track record on electing non-morons is pretty bad. Austin != Texas.
      - krapp 13y ago
        That's Governor Goodhair to you.
      - cobrausn 13y ago
        I don't live in Austin, and Austin isn't as special as it thinks it is. I will repeat myself - I live in the fourth largest city in the United States, which happens to be in Texas, is not Austin, and has a homosexual mayor, who is (all things considered) a fairly conservative Democrat. Some people are just pragmatic.
        deleted 13y ago
        [deleted]
    - alexqgb 13y ago
      Glad to hear it. Just consider this poor bastard, who was recently sentenced by said morons to 50 years for the entirely non-violent act of shoplifting a package of ribs. www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/31/willie-smith-ward-rib-theft_n_3365554.html That's "justice", Texas style. Better than the Taliban's, I suppose. But not by much.
      - cobrausn 13y ago
        It seems he was sentenced not for stealing ribs, but because the threatened the store owner that confronted him, which is, in fact, a violent act. It also appears he was somewhat of a habitual offender, having been convincted of various violent and non-violent crimes many times previously. The sentence is somewhat harsh (eligible for parole in 12.5), but your comparison to the Taliban is absurd. EDIT: somewhat harsh in relative comparison to normal American sentencing standards, since the goal is apparently to single out Texas as some horrible place where sentencing is too harsh. I will now point out draconian three-strikes laws in other more progressive states that would have had him in jail for life. Make no mistake, I think American criminal courts and sentencing are too harsh in general and our prisons are horrible travesties of justice. But the singling out of this state is what I'm calling absurd - all of American criminal sentencing is broken.
        jbooth 13y ago
        SOMEWHAT????????????
        bobwaycott 13y ago
        The clarification here on the details is certainly nice to have. However, are you seriously suggesting that 50 years imprisonment is only somewhat harsh?! Taking 12.5 years at the minimum before being eligible for parole for stealing $35 ribs and "threatening" someone? By the way, saying "I've got a knife" and calling that a threat is both a stretch of what it means to threaten and what it means to call something a "violent act". $35 food theft != 50 years imprisonment. That is fucking insane, not somewhat harsh.
        13y ago
    - Androsynth 13y ago
      > Yeah, it's an example of government as envisioned by the founders working as intended - when someone at the state level overreaches, a federal court strikes it down Jeffersonian democrats certainly were against that idea, as evidenced by nullification, which was in issue up until the civil war. Maybe the federalists, but it sounds extreme even for them. It sounds like something that the northern politicians had in mind in the late 19th century or maybe early 20th century. i know its OT, but could you expand on that idea?
      - encoderer 13y ago
        Washington and Hamilton -- the Federalists you mentioned -- desperately wanted a strong federal gov't with supremacy over state laws. Washington wanted the powers of the federal gov't enumerated in the constitution (and many of them), and his desire was for a unicameral legislature with direct popular representation. That our constitution ended up vague on these issues-- and the existence of the Senate with its state-appointed representitives-- is owed to negotiation and comprimise. Of course, Washington presided over the congress on these issues, he was not himself a delegate, so you don't have a lot of direct quotes on these topics but what we know has been pieced together over the years from his (limited) correspondence and 2nd party accounts.
darkarmani 13y ago
I thought that was changed about 6 years ago? Prior to that you could sell things that were almost completely like dildos, but they were called "demonstrators" for educational use only. Interestingly enough, they were only illegal if marketed for vaginal use and not for use in other ways since the other ways weren't considered "sexual."
TamDenholm 13y ago
This doesnt contribute to the OP's discussion but i thought i'd mention it anyway. Texas love executing people. Since 1976 Texas executed 498 people, the state in second place is Virginia with 110. Also, their supreme court does not hear criminal matters, only civil, because it makes the appeals process for executing people faster. But yeah, the law is a strange thing.
- blktiger 13y ago
  Texas has a little over 3x the population of Virginia with 4.5 times the number of executions. Keeping in mind that crime isn't necessarily consistent from place to place I don't think that is a drastically larger number proportionally.
  - thedufer 13y ago
    That's assuming, of course, that Virginia is at all representative of the US as a whole. The median execution rate by state is about 1 per million residents since 1976. Texas's, while not the highest, is almost 1 per 50,000 residents. Its not the worst, but its still something of an outlier. The worst, incidentally, is Oklahoma, at about 1 per 40,000 residents.
    - hotpockets 13y ago
      Restating your numbers in consistent units (number per million) for easier comparison: Median 1 Texas 20 Ok 25
- pattisapu 13y ago
  > Also, their supreme court does not hear criminal matters, only civil, because it makes the appeals process for executing people faster. No. Texas simply has separate civil and criminal courts. The Court of Criminal Appeals is the supreme court for criminal cases. The Texas Supreme Court is the supreme court for civil cases. A convict can appeal through the intermediate appellate courts and then the Court of Criminal Appeals (and then perhaps later state-level collateral attack or even federal habeas). The criminal appellate process in Texas has as many steps in it as most states have.
penland 13y ago
Wut? This is, umm, complete and totally false. Where do people come up with this crap?
- thrownaway2424 13y ago
  People "come up with this crap" by being literate. Texas Penal Code 43.21 DEFINITIONS (7) "Obscene device" means a device including a dildo or artificial vagina, designed or marketed as useful primarily for the stimulation of human genital organs. Sec. 43.23. OBSCENITY. (a) A person commits an offense if, knowing its content and character, he wholesale promotes or possesses with intent to wholesale promote any obscene material or obscene device. http://www.statutes.legis.state.tx.us/Docs/PE/htm/PE.43.htm http://www.statutes.legis.state.tx.us/Docs/PE/htm/PE.43.htm
  - EliRivers 13y ago
    Ah, I see. It's legal to own dildos, it's illegal to promote dildos (so that's, what, selling a dildo, or does telling people how awesome dildo are count as promotion too?), and if you've got more than six dildos, or two the same, that's too many for personal consumption and you must be an illegal dildo-dealer. If I made this up, people would tell me it was laughably unrealistic :)

cobrausn 13y ago

The statute you refer to was overturned five years ago.

thrownaway2424 13y ago
Sure, by a federal court. The state, under the same governor who is still in office today, went to court and argued that Texas had a compelling interest in preventing people from having sex for reasons other than procreation.
- cobrausn 13y ago
  Yeah, it's an example of government as envisioned by the founders working as intended - when someone at the state level overreaches, a federal court strikes it down (I'm hoping the same thing happens to this absurd law regarding dealer sales). This happens in more places than just Texas. Doesn't change the fact that your first statement is not factual anymore. Given time I think we (Texans) can eventually stop / vote out all these morons who think legislating morality is their job - we've been headed that way last few elections anyway.
  - socialist_coder 13y ago
    Well, your current governor is Rick Perry so your recent track record on electing non-morons is pretty bad. Austin != Texas.
    - krapp 13y ago
      That's Governor Goodhair to you.
    - cobrausn 13y ago
      I don't live in Austin, and Austin isn't as special as it thinks it is. I will repeat myself - I live in the fourth largest city in the United States, which happens to be in Texas, is not Austin, and has a homosexual mayor, who is (all things considered) a fairly conservative Democrat. Some people are just pragmatic.
      - deleted 13y ago
        [deleted]
  - alexqgb 13y ago
    Glad to hear it. Just consider this poor bastard, who was recently sentenced by said morons to 50 years for the entirely non-violent act of shoplifting a package of ribs. www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/31/willie-smith-ward-rib-theft_n_3365554.html That's "justice", Texas style. Better than the Taliban's, I suppose. But not by much.
    - cobrausn 13y ago
      It seems he was sentenced not for stealing ribs, but because the threatened the store owner that confronted him, which is, in fact, a violent act. It also appears he was somewhat of a habitual offender, having been convincted of various violent and non-violent crimes many times previously. The sentence is somewhat harsh (eligible for parole in 12.5), but your comparison to the Taliban is absurd. EDIT: somewhat harsh in relative comparison to normal American sentencing standards, since the goal is apparently to single out Texas as some horrible place where sentencing is too harsh. I will now point out draconian three-strikes laws in other more progressive states that would have had him in jail for life. Make no mistake, I think American criminal courts and sentencing are too harsh in general and our prisons are horrible travesties of justice. But the singling out of this state is what I'm calling absurd - all of American criminal sentencing is broken.
      - jbooth 13y ago
        SOMEWHAT????????????
      - bobwaycott 13y ago
        The clarification here on the details is certainly nice to have. However, are you seriously suggesting that 50 years imprisonment is only somewhat harsh?! Taking 12.5 years at the minimum before being eligible for parole for stealing $35 ribs and "threatening" someone? By the way, saying "I've got a knife" and calling that a threat is both a stretch of what it means to threaten and what it means to call something a "violent act". $35 food theft != 50 years imprisonment. That is fucking insane, not somewhat harsh.
        13y ago
  - Androsynth 13y ago
    > Yeah, it's an example of government as envisioned by the founders working as intended - when someone at the state level overreaches, a federal court strikes it down Jeffersonian democrats certainly were against that idea, as evidenced by nullification, which was in issue up until the civil war. Maybe the federalists, but it sounds extreme even for them. It sounds like something that the northern politicians had in mind in the late 19th century or maybe early 20th century. i know its OT, but could you expand on that idea?
    - encoderer 13y ago
      Washington and Hamilton -- the Federalists you mentioned -- desperately wanted a strong federal gov't with supremacy over state laws. Washington wanted the powers of the federal gov't enumerated in the constitution (and many of them), and his desire was for a unicameral legislature with direct popular representation. That our constitution ended up vague on these issues-- and the existence of the Senate with its state-appointed representitives-- is owed to negotiation and comprimise. Of course, Washington presided over the congress on these issues, he was not himself a delegate, so you don't have a lot of direct quotes on these topics but what we know has been pieced together over the years from his (limited) correspondence and 2nd party accounts.

darkarmani 13y ago

I thought that was changed about 6 years ago? Prior to that you could sell things that were almost completely like dildos, but they were called "demonstrators" for educational use only. Interestingly enough, they were only illegal if marketed for vaginal use and not for use in other ways since the other ways weren't considered "sexual."

TamDenholm 13y ago

This doesnt contribute to the OP's discussion but i thought i'd mention it anyway. Texas love executing people. Since 1976 Texas executed 498 people, the state in second place is Virginia with 110. Also, their supreme court does not hear criminal matters, only civil, because it makes the appeals process for executing people faster. But yeah, the law is a strange thing.

blktiger 13y ago
Texas has a little over 3x the population of Virginia with 4.5 times the number of executions. Keeping in mind that crime isn't necessarily consistent from place to place I don't think that is a drastically larger number proportionally.
- thedufer 13y ago
  That's assuming, of course, that Virginia is at all representative of the US as a whole. The median execution rate by state is about 1 per million residents since 1976. Texas's, while not the highest, is almost 1 per 50,000 residents. Its not the worst, but its still something of an outlier. The worst, incidentally, is Oklahoma, at about 1 per 40,000 residents.
  - hotpockets 13y ago
    Restating your numbers in consistent units (number per million) for easier comparison: Median 1 Texas 20 Ok 25
pattisapu 13y ago
> Also, their supreme court does not hear criminal matters, only civil, because it makes the appeals process for executing people faster. No. Texas simply has separate civil and criminal courts. The Court of Criminal Appeals is the supreme court for criminal cases. The Texas Supreme Court is the supreme court for civil cases. A convict can appeal through the intermediate appellate courts and then the Court of Criminal Appeals (and then perhaps later state-level collateral attack or even federal habeas). The criminal appellate process in Texas has as many steps in it as most states have.

penland 13y ago

Wut? This is, umm, complete and totally false. Where do people come up with this crap?

thrownaway2424 13y ago
People "come up with this crap" by being literate. Texas Penal Code 43.21 DEFINITIONS (7) "Obscene device" means a device including a dildo or artificial vagina, designed or marketed as useful primarily for the stimulation of human genital organs. Sec. 43.23. OBSCENITY. (a) A person commits an offense if, knowing its content and character, he wholesale promotes or possesses with intent to wholesale promote any obscene material or obscene device. http://www.statutes.legis.state.tx.us/Docs/PE/htm/PE.43.htm http://www.statutes.legis.state.tx.us/Docs/PE/htm/PE.43.htm
- EliRivers 13y ago
  Ah, I see. It's legal to own dildos, it's illegal to promote dildos (so that's, what, selling a dildo, or does telling people how awesome dildo are count as promotion too?), and if you've got more than six dildos, or two the same, that's too many for personal consumption and you must be an illegal dildo-dealer. If I made this up, people would tell me it was laughably unrealistic :)