Americana Music Reviews

 

A Peek at Greatness
by David Miller

As long as we have been known as the United States of America, there has been vigorous debate on which state is the best. Is it New York with its big city glamour or Texas with its size and beauty? Or maybe it's California with its beaches and movie stars? Well, the votes have been cast (ok...so I'm the only vote...at least this ain't no Florida fiasco) and the winner has been chosen. Illinois? Hawaii? Iowa? No, the distinction goes to Washington. Yep, the state that brought us Microsoft, Jimi Hendrix, the Mariners, and Mt. St. Helens is the best state in the Union.

How can this be you ask? Washington? Are you serious? What did they ever do except give us some apples or something?

No friends, it's not the lovely Seattle weather, the proximity to the greatness of Canada (a subject for another time, perhaps), or even the late Kurt Cobain that make Washington the undisputed winner. It's the recent Washington State Supreme Court decision that allows people (ok...lets face it...men) to take video and pictures up women's skirts.

You read it right. It is legal in Washington to perform what is known as "upskirting," a form of voyeurism in which peeping toms either secretly rig up a system of mirrors and hidden video cameras, or simply crouch down with
a camera in order to secretly shoot up a woman's skirt.

I came across this on abcnews.com and was fascinated from the moment I saw the story. Let's face it...this is every guy's dream. We have just been given permission to do what we have been trying to do since the fourth
grade. Ever since the first time I got in trouble by Miss LaRue for trying to look up Bobbi Joe Johnson's denim, "ridin'-too-high for her own good" knee-length skirt, I have been wondering why we couldn't sneak a peek at that not-so-hidden place.

And now the best by-God state in the whole U.S. of A. has given us permission. Hell, I can feel the ground shift now as all of the males over the age of ten stampede to that bastion of guy fun, Washington.

The Washington State Supreme Court ruled that while upskirting is "disgusting and reprehensible," it is not against the law. In a unanimous decision, the court said the voyeurism conviction of defendant Richard Sorrells must be overturned since the women were videotaped in public, hence not subject to a reasonable expectation of privacy (note to self: make sure I have something protecting "the boys" while wearing my kilt to the supermarket).

To everyone else that felt the ground tilt, too, don't worry. Washington lawmakers are hurrying to correct the "flaw" in the system that would allow this to happen.

Damn. Anybody know where I can get a copy of the laws for Texas?


Contact David Miller at miller-at-rockzilla.net

 
Read the Rockzillaworld Guestbook
Sign the Rockzillaworld Guestbook