Current mood: bored



I've been wondering if there's a way to rig a desktop printer to fit Federal Reserve Notes — I'd like to add the following disclaimer to as many FRNs as possible:

This note is redeemable upon State demand from your life, liberty, property and pursuit of happiness.

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bomb gun firearm steak knife Allah Aryan airline hijack

Current mood: annoyed

The concepts of "age of consent" and "age of majority" are culturally defined, so the idea of the legislature passing laws about how old you have to be to do anything is idiotic.

Let's see --

• The bar mitzvah (or bat mitzvah for girls) is the rite of passage into adulthood for Jews, at age 13.
 
• The Romans (and most other societies up to the 1890's) didn't really care what age you were when you joined their army or navy, just that you were an able-bodied male at the time of enlistment. ^[1]
 
• It wasn't until the 20th Century, and in Western cultures at that, that the age of marriage rose above 18 years. In some American states, the age of consent remains at 16.

• "The power of the sword, say the minority..., is in the hands of Congress. My friends and countrymen, it is not so, for THE POWERS OF THE SWORD ARE IN THE HANDS OF THE YEOMANRY OF AMERICA FROM SIXTEEN TO SIXTY. The militia of these free commonwealths, entitled and accustomed to their arms, when compared with any possible army, must be tremendous and irresistible. Who are the militia? Are they not ourselves? Is it feared, then, that we shall turn our arms each man against his own bosom. Congress has no power to disarm the militia. Their swords and every terrible implement of the soldier are the birthright of Americans. The unlimited power of the sword is not in the hands of either the federal or state governments but where, I trust in God, it will always remain, in the hands of the people."
  -- Tench Coxe

  The emphasis (bold text) above is mine alone -- why no insistence on age 18 from Coxe?

Didn't all of these people they know they're supposed to wait until age 18 to recategorize kids as adults, so they're in "compliance with State and Federal Law" ?

Apparently, the Feds and State legislatures don't care about that either, as while people can join the military, vote in public elections and buy rifles at age 18,

• American state governments allow people to get "driver's licenses" at age 16.
 
• Those same state governments mandate that people must wait until age 21 before being purchasing or drinking alcohol, or purchasing and carrying a handgun.

Oh, that's right -- the age of 18 "requirement" started mostly after World War II. Before then, it wasn't a big deal if a teenager had a drink, or carried a pistol or rifle.

The people that crack me up are the "Christian" socialists (Falwell Followers, 700 Club members, etc.) and their counterparts amongst the Islamic and Judaic faiths who insist that without such laws, some fifty-year-old will their eight-year-old to sex, drugs, drink and rock-n-roll.

Let's say that such a case does indeed happen -- the kid goes out the front door and tells Mom and Dad just what they're going out for.

What's that say about the parents' skills as parents if they let the kids do that sort of thing? When I was a kid, cigarettes, alcohol, pot and cocaine were available if I had chosen to partake. Yet I didn't avail myself of any of these. Why was that the case?

NOTES

1. Examples abound throughout history of kids as young as seven being enlisted in armies as foot soldiers and laborers.

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