One problem is that many people are classed as sex offenders because they had consensual sex with someone under 14 when they were teenagers themselves. The law doesn't differentiate between them and a 40-year-old who had sex with a 10-year-old. That's why a number of states are passing "Romeo and Juliet" laws that decriminalize sex between, say, a 17-year-old and a 14-year-old. Georgia passed a law a couple of years ago that banned sex offenders from living within X feet of any place children might congregate, including proposed bus stops. This often mean that elderly sex offenders had to move out of homes their families had owned for years. There was almost no place in the state a convicted sex offender could live.

Susan's kid breaks tech, my kids break antiques. Grrrrr. Owen has broken the wood desk piece on my great-grandmother's side-by-side bookcase secretary that dates from the 1890s. It's fixable--they piece just needs to be glued but he's chipped the finish on it and I don't know if it will require refinishing the entire piece or if they can just do the pull-down desk.

I'm going to have to get a professional in here to take a look at it.

With all the toys in this house he wants to climb into the bookcase and "play astronaut" because it has a glass door (an irreplacable curved glass door, I might add) because he can stand up in it and pretend it's a spaceship.

Someone shoot me.

Better to spot refinish if they can, Cash. If you could magically transport me there, I could fix it for you. MM, where the hell's that transporter?

Does the piece have a lock? The keys from that era are pretty standard.

Someone shoot me.

With a ray gun?

Ducks and runs.

{{{Cashmere}}}

It does have a lock, Ginger on the bookcase, the desk part and even the individual drawers. The key was lost after the thing survived a house fire at my parents' house. Where can I obtain another one? Ebay? Antique shop?

I've tried to do my best to reinforce the idea that the antiques are not toys but they can't seem to resist the secretary or my 1920s Hoosier cabinet.

One problem is that many people are classed as sex offenders because they had consensual sex with someone under 14 when they were teenagers themselves. The law doesn't differentiate between them and a 40-year-old who had sex with a 10-year-old.

I would venture to say that this a huge part of the problem.

I'm totally NIMBY today about my own effing body. I don't know if it's the communist invasion or something else but it can just stop wreaking havoc with my GI tract now.

ION, Timelies!

I've read the stuff in the local megan's law database. It is very hard to tell who is truely dangerous and who is less so.

Due to recent conversations I find myself wondering what ringtones the Buffistas have. Mine's the Invader Zim theme song. What's yours?

Firefly. And my SMS alert is ASH saying "Ignore the shooty dog thing" on Doctor Who in his best eeevil headmaster voice.