It was the spring of 1955, and the shrill squeak of chalk scratching into slate sent shivers through the tiny bodies of the third grade class. Some of the students who had not been paying attention now gazed up and saw me up at the blackboard drawing a stick figure of a naked woman. I was ten years old.

The whole thing took less than 6 seconds to perpetrate and I was sitting safely down in my chair minutes before our teacher, Mrs. Petrocini came in to start the lessons for the day. She strode in, took one look at the blackboard and without turning around to look at the class sternly called my name and instructed me to report to the Principal's Office. How did she know?

Of course if back then we had been as devoid of common sense as we are now, I'd have been up on charges of sexually harassing my teacher and would have had had to register as a sex offender for the rest of my life.

We have lost our way in America with draconian, silly, outrageous punishments for harmless pranks which years ago would not have elicited even a yawn. Consider this example from 2007 of law enforcement going completely nuts:

CNET News, 9 Feb 2007, Police blotter: Teens prosecuted for racy photos

What: Teenagers taking risque photos of themselves are prosecuted for violating child pornography laws.

When: Florida state appeals court rules on January 19.

Outcome: A 2-1 majority upholds conviction on grounds the girl produced a photograph featuring the sexual conduct of a child.

What happened, according to court documents:
...
On March 25, 2004, Amber and Jeremy took digital photos of themselves naked and engaged in unspecified "sexual behavior." The two sent the photos from a computer at Amber's house to Jeremy's personal e-mail address. Neither teen showed the photographs to anyone else.

Court records don't say exactly what happened next--perhaps the parents wanted to end the relationship and raised the alarm--but somehow Florida police learned about the photos.

Amber and Jeremy were arrested. Each was charged with producing, directing or promoting a photograph featuring the sexual conduct of a child. Based on the contents of his e-mail account, Jeremy was charged with an extra count of possession of child pornography.

Hey, we all want to prevent the abuse and sexual exploitation of children in pornography, but kids taking photos of themselves and not distributing, selling, marketing or doing anything commercial with them is not child pornography nor did they sexually exploit anyone; they engaged in private conduct which is none of the state's business. It is universally accepted throughout this country that a minor cannot be criminally prosecuted for having sex with another minor, yet here we have a situation where the state asks that a minor be found criminally liable for photographing that exact same non-criminal event.

And just a few weeks ago, Central Ohio authorities filed felony charges against a 15-year-old girl accused of taking nude cell phone photos of herself and sending them to high school classmates (1). This is only a crime in backward places like Central Ohio and Afghanistan. And if this were not bad enough one of the prosecutors said Licking County authorities are also considering charges for students who received the photos!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have never in my life used more than 6 exclamation marks in a row, but I cannot believe what I am reading: have the prosecutors in this country become so stupid, so devoid of common sense and intelligence that they actually think that it's a crime for someone to receive an unsolicited photo on their cellphone? If this actually happens, I will send naked photos to the prosecutor's cellphone and see how he likes it. I have often read in years past about a prosecutor or judge getting shot by a berserk defendant. Now I'm beginning to understand and sympathize.

Here are some of my previous articles on how seriously mentally unbalanced this country is:

A 16 year old boy has to register as a lifelong sex offender for having sex with a 13 year old girl who lied to him about her age: Not Every Sex Act is a Sexual Offense.

A 4 year old is charged with sexual harassment after the boy hugged a teacher's aide:
Young Children cannot be sexual predators

13 year old boy charged with assault after giving a girl a hickey in school: Sexual harassment affects most college students - what nonsense!

Two 13-year-old Oregon boys are facing serious sex charges for allegedly slapping female classmates' bottoms as a form of horseplay: US Schools Ban Looking at Anyone

A 40-year-old substitute teacher from Connecticut is facing prison time for endangering her students with graphic images from pop-up ads generated by spyware already present on the computer prior to the teacher's arrival: The Julie Amero Case - When Prosecutors Run Wild