As a means to torture myself

I started following the Religion Clause blog, which basically means every time I read it I find myself muttering unintelligible sentence fragments while pulling out strands of my hair and spitting small sprays of saliva through my clenched teeth*. On the rare occasion, however, I come across a golden nugget of wisdom that just might help me later on in life and it is all worth it. Yesterday was such a day as I learned that if, when speaking to a police officer in Pennsylvania, I get riled up and curse, using God in my expletive laced rants is protected speech. The police in PA, apparently too often, have been using terroristic threats, harassment, and disorderly conduct statutes to unlawfully prosecute this protected speech. For instance, I call a cop a G$^ d&!* a-hole and tell him God's going to punish him for this great injustice that has just taken place (perhaps a parking ticket was issued?). And instead of letting it slide, the cop charges me with crimes of Terroristic Threats and Harassment. Only this speech isn't a threat but rather "protected religious speech identifying God's righteousness and willingness to punish". Awesome. (This is called a persuasive primary authority so it could be used in Oregon to help convince a judge to rule in a similar way, in case you're wondering.)

*Kenneth Copeland Ministries challenged the denial of a tax exemption for a $3.6 million jet owned by the evangelical religious group. They weren't denied because it's ridiculous that a church gets to not only have but not pay taxes on a $3.6 million dollar jet but because they took issue with the county's requirement when applying for such an exemption to include the names, positions, and salaries of the organization's employees. ARGH.