California Lawyer Files "Sodomite Suppression Act" Initiative

[colinian]

Matt McLaughlin, an attorney who has a Mailbox Express mailbox at 19744 Beach Blvd. #219, Huntington Beach, CA 92648 has submitted the following proposed California Initiative:

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SODOMITE SUPPRESSION ACT

Penal Code section 39

a) The abominable crime against nature known as buggery, called also sodomy, is a monstrous evil that Almighty God, giver of freedom and liberty, conunands us to suppress on pain of our utter destruction even as he overthrew Sodom and Gomorrha.

b) Seeing that it is better that offenders should die rather than that all of us should be killed by God's just wrath against us for the folly of tolerating wickedness in our midst, the People of California wisely conunand, in the fear of God, that any person who willingly touches another person of the same gender for purposes of sexual gratification be put to death by bullets to the head or by any other convenient method.

c) No person shall distribute, perform, or transmit sodomistic propaganda directly or indirectly by any means to any person under the age of majority. Sodomistic propaganda is defined as anything aimed at creating an interest in or an acceptance of human sexual relations other than between a man and a woman. Every offender shall be fined $1 million per occurrence, and/or imprisoned up to 10 years, and/or expelled from the boundaries of the state of California for up to life.

d) No person shall serve in any public office, nor serve in public employment, nor enjoy any public benefit, who is a sodomite or who espouses sodomistic propaganda or who belongs to any group that does.

e) This law is effective immediately and shall not be rendered ineffective nor invalidated by any court, state or federal, until heard by a quorum of the Supreme Court of California consisting only of judges who are neither sodomites nor subject to disqualification hereunder.

f) The state has an affirmative duty to defend and enforce this law as written, and every member of the public has standing to seek its
enforcement and obtain reimbursement for all costs and attorney's fees in so doing, and further, should the state persist in inaction over 1 year after due notice, the general public is empowered and deputized to execute all the provisions hereunder extra-judicially, immune from any charge and indemnified by the state against any and all liability.

g) This law shall be known as "The Sodomite Suppression Act" and be numbered as section 39 in Title 3 of the Penal Code, pertaining to offences against the sovereignty of the state. The text shall be prominently posted in every public school classroom. All laws in conflict with this law are to that extent invalid.

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If you don't believe me, go to http://oag.ca.gov/initiatives/active-measures and click on Initiative 15-0008.

However, It appears that for this initiative to be presented for consideration, an initiative expressly removing murder from the Constitution of the State of California and all state acts relative to same, would need to be passed first. It may be possible that the State of California would also have to secede from the United States of America to avoid application of one or more of the following Federal statutes:

8 U.S.C. 1342 Murder related to the smuggling of aliens.
18 U.S.C. 32-34 Destruction of aircraft, motor vehicles, or related facilities resulting in death.
18 U.S.C. 36 Murder committed during a drug-related drive-by shooting.
18 U.S.C. 37 Murder committed at an airport serving international civil aviation.
18 U.S.C. 115(b)(3)
[by cross-reference
to 18 U.S.C. 1111] Retaliatory murder of a member of the immediate family of law enforcement officials.
18 U.S.C. 241,
242, 245, 247 Civil rights offenses resulting in death.
18 U.S.C. 351
[by cross-reference
to 18 U.S.C. 1111] Murder of a member of Congress, an important executive official, or a Supreme Court Justice.
18 U.S.C. 794 Espionage.
18 U.S.C. 844(d), (f), (i) Death resulting from offenses involving transportation of explosives, destruction of government property, or destruction of property related to foreign or interstate commerce.
18 U.S.C. 924(i) Murder committed by the use of a firearm during a crime of violence or a drug-trafficking crime.
18 U.S.C. 930 Murder committed in a Federal Government facility.
18 U.S.C. 1091 Genocide.
18 U.S.C. 1111 First-degree murder.
18 U.S.C. 1114 Murder of a Federal judge or law enforcement official.
18 U.S.C. 1116 Murder of a foreign official.
18 U.S.C. 1118 Murder by a Federal prisoner.
18 U.S.C. 1119 Murder of a U.S. national in a foreign country.
18 U.S.C. 1120 Murder by an escaped Federal prisoner already sentenced to life imprisonment.
18 U.S.C. 1121 Murder of a State or local law enforcement official or other person aiding in a Federal investigation; murder of a State correctional officer.
18 U.S.C. 1201 Murder during a kidnapping.
18 U.S.C. 1203 Murder during a hostage taking.
18 U.S.C. 1503 Murder of a court officer or juror.
18 U.S.C. 1512 Murder with the intent of preventing testimony by a witness, victim, or informant.
18 U.S.C. 1513 Retaliatory murder of a witness, victim, or informant.
18 U.S.C. 1716 Mailing of injurious articles with intent to kill or resulting in death.
18 U.S.C. 1751
[by cross-reference
to 18 U.S.C. 1111] Assassination or kidnapping resulting in the death of the President or Vice President.
18 U.S.C. 1958 Murder for hire.
18 U.S.C. 1959 Murder involved in a racketeering offense.
18 U.S.C. 1992 Willful wrecking of a train resulting in death.
18 U.S.C. 2113 Bank-robbery-related murder or kidnapping.
18 U.S.C. 2119 Murder related to a carjacking.
18 U.S.C. 2245 Murder related to rape or child molestation.
18 U.S.C. 2251 Murder related to sexual exploitation of children.
18 U.S.C. 2280 Murder committed during an offense against maritime navigation.
18 U.S.C. 2281 Murder committed during an offense against a maritime fixed platform.
18 U.S.C. 2332 Terrorist murder of a U.S. national in another country.
18 U.S.C. 2332a Murder by the use of a weapon of mass destruction.
18 U.S.C. 2340 Murder involving torture.
18 U.S.C. 2381 Treason.
21 U.S.C. 848(e) Murder related to a continuing criminal enterprise or related murder of a Federal, State, or local law enforcement officer.
49 U.S.C. 1472-1473 Death resulting from aircraft hijacking.

It appears that this initiative specifically violates "18 U.S.C. 1716 Mailing of injurious articles with intent to kill or resulting in death" by submitting the initiative.

Also, the initiative exempts actions from all applicable Federal statutes. That cannot be done using a state initiative (State law does not supersede Federal Law).

Colin

[Cole Parker]

He doesn't talk about the penalties, if any, that would ensue of someone shoot bullets into the head of a sodomite who turned out not to be. He'd probably invoke the, "Oops!" clause, his bill's first amendment.

C

[Camy]

The world is mad.

[JamesSavik]

You know, I'm beginning to think that we need a special projects team that can deploy in secret and do away with little problems like this.

I have the skills. Just need the budget. Email me for resume.

[Graeme]

Point e) is probably unconstitutional, too, since it's violates separate of powers between the three branches of government.

[Rigel]

There isn't a single paragraph of the initiative that isn't unconstitutional. violating everything from establishment of religion through functioning of the branches of government, freedom of speech, and prevention of cruel and unusual punishment.

Seems like an early April Fool's joke, except that the proposer might actually be a wacko!

--Rigel

[colinian]

There's an interesting piece on Matt McLaughlin in Wonkette (http://wonkette.com/577984/secret-agent-lawyer-files-ca-ballot-initiative-to-put-sodomites-to-death), an attorney who has a Mailbox Express mailbox in Huntington Beach, California. Seems he is a wonk. Read the article and see why (it's also rather amusing). [bTW, I updated the beginning of my original post.]

Colin

[colinian]

Point e) is probably unconstitutional, too, since it's violates separate of powers between the three branches of government.

You're right, Graeme. But Crazy Matt doesn't seem to have a grasp on how state and federal governments work. Or anything else.

Colin

[DesDownunder]

Apart from the affront in a) and b) to the Constitution's 1st Amendment (establishment of religion clause), item c) has the near impossible task of removing any and all references to sodomy from the Internet and any book, magazine, or article already in circulation. However it must be admitted that the penalty of $1,000,000 per offence would not only solve California's financial woes but solve world famine as well, if the resulting fines were distributed globally.

It is item g) however that causes significant head scratching. As the bill outlaws sodomistic (sodomistic?) propaganda of any kind, then item g)'s clause: "The text (of the bill) shall be prominently posted in every public school classroom," makes the bill itself an act of transgression against itself. Furthermore the proponents of the bill, including the submitting attorney (Matt McLaughlin) must be held in contempt of the law and fined $1,000,000 per display in classrooms, banished for life or confined to a correctional facility for multiples of 10 years , again, per offence.

I submit that this makes the bill subject to its own penalties for promotion of sodomistic propaganda, and thus the author and legislative sponsors would be subject to the penalties, if the bill passed, which of course, it can't without becoming the aforementioned sodomistic propaganda outlawed by the bill itself.

In my opinion, the bill should be sealed and filed under the "Do-daddy-tap" provisions of the inadmissible ludicrous laws by loopy luddites, Leviticus division.

[Nigel Gordon]

You know, I'm beginning to think that we need a special projects team that can deploy in secret and do away with little problems like this.

I have the skills. Just need the budget. Email me for resume.

There are times when I find myself thinking the same.

Whatever happened to the gay mafia?

[Chris James]

This absurd suggestion of a law will never come to pass, or perhaps even reach the ballot level. As an attorney, McLaughlin should know (if his law degree came from anywhere other than a Cracker Jack box) that publishing something like this constitutes a hate crime against a class of people. At some point a court will become involved and we can sit back and enjoy the fun.

The initiative system in California has not served them well over the years and this document on file is just an embarrassment. A filing fee of $200 will hardly cover the cost of state employee time analyzing if this suggestion is even legal. We all know it is not but there will have to be paperwork to back that up and this becomes nothing more than something to generate money for legal fees.

As for McLaughlin, he needs to face a jury of his peers, both for his law license and the commitment to a mental institution he well deserves. If his ballot suggestion results in the death of one gay person from some other lunatic then he needs to face murder charges as an accessory. I'd gladly pay for the bullet to his head.

[DesDownunder]

Rather than a bullet, I think the more appropriate penalty would be for him to print and deliver copies, to every anti-gay organisation, of Hilary Clinton's address on "Gay rights are human rights" to the UN when she was Secretary of State. When he has done that, he should do it all over again until every bigot understands its message. Yeah, it's a life long sentence.

[Camy]

It's fortuitous it wasn't the Blow Job Suppression Act.

[Cole Parker]

For initiatives to qualify for the CA ballot, they have to meet certain criteria. One of those is a minimum of a large number of signatures showing support. From what I can see, in 2016, one type ballot measure, a financial one, requires 807,615 signatures, and a non-financial one requires 504,760.

Somehow, I think Mr. McLaughlin might fall a signature or two short of attaining either of those numbers, as the signers become part of the public record.

C

[colinian]

Hmm... just thinking, circulating the petitions may make those who circulated them fall under the terms of this law (since apparently it's retroactive to cover past transgressions) and the $1,000,000 fines. And, of course, those who received the signed petitions and provided them to the California Secretary of State would also be guilty... Mr. McLauglin could find himself fined $1,000,000 per submitted petition. Or smitten. Or even better, both.

Just thinking about all this makes my eyebrows ache.

Colin

[DesDownunder]

Makes my neurons weak at the synapses

[Chris James]

California may now be the flavor of the month in the wacko department with this ballot initiative. It seems the foreign press is now touting this McLaughlin fellow as just another American fanatic. Don't you love being laughed at? But CA is far behind when it comes to crazy politicians...and the prize goes to...Texas. There we have the most dangerous voice in America today:

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/opinion/factchecking-ted-cruz/ar-BBiDKHa?ocid=LENDHP

His speech at Bob Jones University where he stated that he was a candidate for President was filled with little bombs. Among them was his statement that as President he would make sure the "sacrament of marriage" would be preserved. Don't know about you but I don't want Jesus in the White House unless he is a visiting foreign dignitary.

Cruz would have us transformed into a theocracy, or so he claims, within months of his taking office. Like many I don't give his chances of being elected undue concern, but his voice is out there rallying the conservative Christian movement to hate gays even more. Texas seems to export more hatred and foolishness these days than ever before and it seems as if they are just getting started. 2016 will be a very interesting year.

[Nigel Gordon]

Don't know about you but I don't want Jesus in the White House unless he is a visiting foreign dignitary.

Well if Jesus ever did get into the White House I suspect the Republicans would be in for one hell of a shock - if I remember my gospels correctly he spent most of his time in the company of sinners and people of questionable standing telling the rich to give away their wealth and that everybody should love one another.

[DesDownunder]

Looking at the photos of the various right wing fanatics, I find it possible to believe that evolution has somehow activated an ugly gene affecting both body and mind. Of course it could also be that such ugliness is derived not genetically, but through psychological misadventure in the form of early childhood indoctrination to accept ignorance as a virtue.

I think it is obvious that all that stands between secular government and a theocracy is the First Amendment, and that must be protected above any other law of man or god. If we do not protect it, we may well be mandated to observe myths and superstitious as the replacement for scientific inquiry; for sanity and even the pursuit of happiness in recognising the reality of love itself, in our lives.

[Cole Parker]

I can't see Cruz even winning his own party's selection, let alone a national one. He's way, way outside the moderate realm, which is where the majority of us dwell. But he'll get a lot of play in the press because his views are so outrageous. The press loves that.

C

[JamesSavik]

Cruz isn't going anywhere. He has all the tact of an avalanche.

It's Scott Walker that should concern you. If he can bust unions in a blue state, the guy has got super-powers.

[Cole Parker]

Wasn't he the one they were so unhappy with they tried to oust him?

C

[colinian]

Wasn't he the one they were so unhappy with they tried to oust him?

C

Yes, and the try failed miserably.

Colin