Sunday morning smile

[soup]

from Howard Troxler in progressive Florida:


>>This Monday, a panel in the state House will take up a bill to cut off alimony to an ex-spouse who moves in with a new partner of the opposite sex. The Senate has already passed it.

Aside from whatever fairness issues are involved, this bill also gives Tallahassee a chance to moralize a little bit about Living In Sin. As Gov. Jeb Bush puts it, the current law "basically increases an incentive for people to live together and not get married. That's wrong."

However, it turns out there is a fascinating loophole in this law, pointed out to me by a smart reader.

Ex-spouses are punished only for taking up with "the opposite sex."

But you can keep the alimony checks rolling as long as you switch teams, as it were, and you enter into a same-sex shack-up. I say this is truly progressive thinking by legislators, and hereby award them all little rainbow lapel pins.
http://www.sptimes.com/2005/04/17/Columns/So__brain_surgery_is_.shtml

[rodeodance]

1. what a hoot--made my day!!

[soup]

2. Pat Robertson is going to have to amend his 'feminism' stance

from
"Feminists encourage women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, become lesbians, and destroy capitalism."

to
"Feminists and the Florida legislature encourage women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, become lesbians, and destroy capitalism."

[DoYouEverWonder]

3. Whatever a person's living arrangements are

after they get divorced is certainly not the business of the state or any one else.

What's the difference financially between someone who gets a new mate or moves back in with Mommy and Daddy?

[soup]

4. Here's an interesting bit-

Can't vouch for the validity, and it's not date stamped - but the numbers sound quite plausible to me:

>>Only 15 percent of divorcing women are awarded any form of spousal support, or alimony, these days. Of those, about a third never receive a penny of what is legally theirs. And fewer than half of all women awarded child support ever receive the full amount. In those situations, what are your rights?<<
http://parenting.ivillage.com/mom/structure/0,,lwr,00.html?iv_arrivalSA=1&iv_cobrandRef=0&iv_arrival_freq=1&pba=adid=15749756

--

So, the righteous Florida legislature, backed by the governor, has taken it upon itself to amend the alimony laws - which affect maybe 15% of divorces - to include a 'morality' clause.

It'll be interesting to see if they amend the amendment to cover the 'loophole'.

We have truly slipped into a parallel universe of insanity.