*thumbs up* thanks for the response

I probably shouldn't have come across so grumpy in that post, sorry. I think its good that the law in one state may progress faster than in more restrictive or conservative states, but I just have a bit of a hard time with the idea that there are so many states in the US and they are so different. With all the land there, it seems to me like those states could be different countries - in europe for example, the size of states may very well be the perfect size for a country.
Perhaps I'm not close enough to the issue to understand completely, just trying to get my head around the inconsistencies. Does America still have the death penalty in some states? Things like that I could never understand. It seemed to matter more where you committed the crime rather than what crime it was, wouldn't uniformity be simpler, in regard to criminal matters at least?