A whole new spin on the term loveseat...

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I do love a tale of star-crossed lovers fighting against the forces that keep them apart.  Romeo and Juliet, Mark Antony and Cleopatra, Buffy and Angel, who doesn't enjoy a good angsty romance?

So I think that's why I find myself sympathizing with Gerard Streator, the Wisconsin man who takes "cushion pushin" in a whole other direction.

Mr Streator was sentenced to five months jail the other day for having "intimate relations" with a couch someone had left on the footpath [link].  Honestly, just because his paramour was not a traditional partner, was that any reason to put a harsh on his mojo?  I mean, it's just rude to interrupt a man mid couch-coitus.

Okay, so maybe there problem wasn't so much that he was getting funky with a couch, but that he was doing it in public.  I'm pretty sure that if Mr Streator had wanted to have romantic candle lit interludes with his sofa in the privacy of his own home, no one would have questioned it ... or at least no one would have arrested him for it.

But instead he chose to do it in public on the street, so I suppose the police can be forgiven for taking offence.

In addition to the jail sentence, Mr Streator has been fined $243 to cover court costs and, something which seems odd to me, banned from owning pornography.  Seriously?  Completely banned?  That seems overly harsh.  I mean, this really was a victimless crime ... at least, as long as you don't count the people who had to watch his bare ass bouncing up and down.  I'll admit that they may have suffered a bit.

But banning him from owning pornograhy seems overkill to me.  And really, does an IKEA brochure count as porn anyway?