Do Jack Boots Come in Hip-Wader Length?

One can only hope so if one is a resident, or perhaps even just a visitor to, Ohio.

I first became aware of this story through this link

here.

From that page I was able to follow a link to the longer story in the Toledo Blade,

here.

In a nutshell, "An Ohio legislative panel yesterday rubber-stamped an unprecedented process that would allow sex offenders to be publicly identified and tracked even if they've never been charged with a crime."

The "good" news is that after six years someone registered as a sex offender through this mechanism can petition to have their name removed from the registry "if there have been no new problems and the judge believes the person is unlikely to abuse again."

Why not just haul everyone into court and ask if they've stopped beating their spouse yet? Heck, why even waste all that precious court time since convictions or even basic charges are not a requirement to have one's name and likeness placed on the internet? One compliant judge and a disgruntled partner/friend/co-worker/neighbor/fool-you-cut-off-in-the-Wal-Mart-parking-lot is all it really takes.

It is growing increasingly difficult for a right leaning libertarian to feel comfortably at home in the land of his birth.