In Idaho, Both The Stupid And Non-Stupid Get Punished

We all know that the natural laws of the universe require that the stupid be punished, as demonstrated by this guy in the Idaho jail system:

A federal judge sentenced an Idaho inmate to three years in prison for threatening to kill George W. Bush in a letter in which the accused called the U.S. president "stupid," federal prosecutors said on Wednesday.
Ricky Arnell Ward, 20, put his name and address on the January 2006 letter he sent to the FBI claiming he planned to kill the president because "he is a stupid ... man."
Ward said Bush needed to be killed before he got "all the people in the USA killed," according to a release by the U.S. attorney's office in Idaho. He was sentenced on Monday.
When questioned by the Secret Service about the letter, Ward told them he was periodically visited by "command hallucinations," among other mental ailments, and if he received one concerning Bush after he was released from Ada County Jail in Boise, he might act on it.

Yesterday's newspaper also had a reminder that even Idahoans with the best intentions can be punished if they interact with the particularly uncaring sort:

Dennis Bohrn paddled hard across the Snake River to get a suicide victim's body to land.
When he and three others paddling canoes Sunday morning dragged the woman's body, they were stunned and crying - had she jumped? Had she been pushed? Had she slipped? And they were even more stunned when at the shore a deputy cited them twice for not carrying life vests in either canoe.
"The body was right there," said Bohrn, 58, of Twin Falls. "A girl deputy was trying to console everybody. Then a sergeant walked up. He said, 'I see you don't have any life jackets so I am going to give you a citation'. It seemed a little cold."
The fine for each citation is $85.

The article goes on to say that the ticketed people are planning to fight the case in court. They should demand a jury trial if it gets that far...

Update 2218 03 May: The canoeists had their tickets dismissed today.