The Baltimore City Council Hates Poor People

City Council goes to work on important legislative work -- like enacting highly regressive taxes used to punish poor people. Keep up the good work assholes!

Baltimore City Council is scheduled to take another run Tuesday at reducing the proliferation of plastic bag litter around the city.

The council will have a hearing and work session on bills aimed at banning plastic carryout bags altogether or imposing a 25-cent fee on each. The hearing begins at 10 a.m. before the Judiciary and Legislative Investigations Committee, 4th floor of City H all.

One bill, introduced by Council members James B. Kraft, Mary Pat Clarke and Bill Henry, would bar grocery stores and "formula retail establishments" (aka convenience stores and fast-food chains) from giving customers their merchandise in plastic bags.

Merchants would only be able to put merchandise in recyclable paper bags or reusable bags. Violators would be fined $250 for a first offense up to $1,000 for three or more offenses in a six-month period.

The other bill, inroduced by Council members Henry, William H. Cole IV, Kraft and Clarke, would require merchants to levy a 25-cent fee on every plastic bag dispensed at carryout. Exceptions would be granted for bagging up fresh fish and meat, candy, cooked foods, dairy products, fruits and nuts and ice.

Fucking retarded. When I accused a supporter of the tax via twitter, of hating poor people he requested the data that shows poor people use more plastic bags than other economic brackets. As I told him, it doesn't matter. If we assume everyone is using the same number of plastic bags (and I'm willing to bet that poor people DO use more plastic bags) a greater percentage of the poor consumers' income is going towards a stupid plastic bag tax. At 25 cents a pop that's a pretty stiff tax on a grocery trip.

The exceptions make even less sense. How does that work? The cashier at the store is tasked with keeping track of what items are exempt, and making sure they all go in the same bag? Can you mix exempt and non-exempt goods in the same bag? Does the bag get taxed or no? It's the very definition of an unfair bureaucratic burden on commerce. It's stifling and punitive. Not a very good idea in a poor city.

Horseshit

Via @mikeriggs -- "There's no bottom in the horse market". The Denver Post reports on the horse market:

Horse after well-pedigreed horse failed to fetch decent prices at this year's Mile High Select Sale of quarter horses and paint horses at the National Western Stock Show.

The bad economy, the closure of the last U.S. horse slaughterhouse in 2007, overbreeding, an abundance of mid- and low-grade horses, and the high cost of caring for horses have all conspired to cause horse prices to plummet across the country.

"There's no bottom to the horse market any more," said Scot Dutcher, chief of the Colorado Department of Agriculture's bureau of animal protection.

The horse beat is a familiar one to readers of this blog. We've covered bans on fucking, eating, and grinding the galloping creatures, coming out against all of the above. Especially the fucking one (wink, wink). [Yikes, that sounded creepy even to me when I read that back.....]

Falling prices and abandoned horses, noted here a year ago, was bound to become more of a problem when Congress made killing horses for human consumption illegal. A problem started in 2006 when the Feds tried (and essentially did) to shutter all domestic slaughter houses.

So next time you see Trigger limping down your street, looking like a straving Haitian refugee you can thank the bums in Washington for their hand in torturing thousands of horses.

"Accountability Bullshit"

There is a great article in New Yorker about how teacher's unions effectively control the city's school system and have made firing any teacher - no matter how incompetent - impossible.

It focuses on so-called "Rubber Rooms", places where the NYC school system houses the teachers (still getting full pay BTW) it is trying to fire until their cases can be heard:

The [teachers] union’s Web site has a section that features stories highlighting the injustice of the Rubber Rooms. One, which begins “Bravo!,” is about a woman I’ll call Patricia Adams, whose return to her classroom, at a high school in Manhattan, last year is reported as a vindication. The account quotes a speech that Adams made to union delegates; according to the Web site, she received a standing ovation as she declared, “My case should never have been brought to a hearing.” The Web site account continues, “Though she believes she was the victim of an effort to move senior teachers out of the system, the due process tenure system worked in her case.”

On November 23, 2005, according to a report prepared by the Education Department’s Special Commissioner of Investigation, Adams was found “in an unconscious state” in her classroom. “There were 34 students present in [Adams’s] classroom,” the report said. When the principal “attempted to awaken [Adams], he was unable to.” When a teacher “stood next to [Adams], he detected a smell of alcohol emanating from her.”

Adams’s return to teaching, more than two years later, had come about because she and the Department of Education had signed a sealed agreement whereby she would teach for one more semester, then be assigned to non-teaching duties in a school office, if she hadn’t found a teaching position elsewhere. The agreement also required that she “submit to random alcohol testing” and be fired if she again tested positive. In February, 2009, Adams passed out in the office where she had to report every day. A drug-and-alcohol-testing-services technician called to the scene wrote in his report that she was unable even to “blow into breathalyzer,” and that her water bottle contained alcohol. As the stipulation required, she was fired.

It gets even better than that. The author contacted the teacher in question. She said that she sabotaged her own career and the article was a pack of lies put together by the union against her own wishes.

Read the whole thing, especially the bit featuring the teacher who scorns the city's recent efforts at firing bad educators as "accountability bullshit".

You Can't Get Ahead Even When You're Giving Head

Every so often I hear libertarians make the argument that we should legalize something so it can taxed and become a great source of revenue. Actually it's more of a liberal argument than a libertarian one, but I hear libertarians make it often enough.

Personally, I don't get it. Taxation and regulation can be just as onerous, burdensome and flat-out unfair as keeping it illegal. And since when should classical liberals be encouraging any new taxes?

Here's a case in point of why the legalize-it-to-tax-it argument is so rotten:

Tax authorities in Germany are poised to claim 50 per cent of the money that a teenage student earned for 'auctioning' her virginity because they claim it was 'tantamount to prostitution'.

Romanian-born Alina Percea [pictured left], who is a student in Germany, was paid £8,800 in cash for a weekend of sex with the Italian businessman after she auctioned her virginity online.

But tax officials in Berlin regard the 18-year-old's act as 'nothing more than prostitution'.

Prostitution is legal in Germany - but it is heavily taxed.

'It is not a moral standpoint but a fiscal one,' an official said. 'Prostitution is not an illegal act in Germany, but not paying tax on earned money is.

'Consequently we are assessing her case and it looks likely she will have to pay around half of the sum she gained.'

Wait, it gets better:

It also emerged that, because Alina earned so much in such a short time, she may even be liable for a hefty VAT bill too.

VAT in Germany works out to 19 per cent, meaning the sale of her virginity could land her with just over £3,000 in the end.

So, in other words, of the £8,800 she earned for selling her body, the government may claim £5,800. Read the whole story here.

Glenn Quagmire, You Have The Right To Remain Silent ...

Will Rhode Island now be monitoring what goes on in your bedroom? Looks like it :

PROVIDENCE, R.I.—Rhode Island could soon end a dubious distinction of being the only place outside certain counties in Nevada where indoor prostitution is legal.

House lawmakers voted 62-8 on Wednesday to close a loophole in state law, which criminalizes the solicitation of sexual acts in the street but not behind closed doors. It now heads for a vote in the Senate, where identical legislation is pending.

***

Rhode Island never expressly legalized prostitution and has several statutes meant to discourage the world's oldest profession.

Instead, lawmakers goofed in 1980 when they revamped a statute making it illegal for people to engage in prostitution in or near the street. The law also prohibits stopping vehicles and people to solicit sex. Nothing in the statute explicitly prohibited prostitution that occurs indoors, however.

Giannini's bill would end that distinction. If it becomes law, prostitutes could be punished by a prison term of up to six months in prison and a maximum $1,000 fine for a first offense. Subsequent convictions would carry a prison term of up to one year and similar fines.

That's 6 months in prison and $1,000 for doing something indoors with the shades pulled down.

The Latest Example Of "No Guns In School" Zero Tolerance Insanity

Meet the latest dire threat to the good people of Newton County, Georgia: 10 year-old cap pistol owner Alandis Ford. Yes, I said "cap pistol" as in what you can buy from the toy section of Wal-Mart for less than $6. Taking it to school got him arrested and fingerprinted.

Tosha [Ford, his mother] said that Wednesday afternoon, after school, "six police officers actually rushed into the door" of their home. "He [Alandis] opened the door because they're police. And then they just kind of pushed him out of the way, and asked him, 'Well where's the gun, where's the real gun?' And they called him a liar... they booked him, and they fingerprinted him."

He faces charges of making -- I shit you not -- "terroristic threats" and, if convicted, juvenile detention. He also faces possible expulsion from school. The law enforcement officers insist it was the right thing to do:

"In this day and time, we do not take anything lightly, whether it's a toy gun or a real weapon, for the safety of the kids and everyone involved, the safety of the school. That's our main concern."

***

"A toy gun is a toy gun," Lt. Mitchell said, "to be played with and for kids to have fun with. But when kids use it the wrong way, just like anything, then it can be scary."

And that's the crux of the dispute about the "terroristic threats" charge, whether Alandis purposely did anything to scare anyone, or whether other children over-reacted at the sight of his toy gun.

Nor should we take lightly traumatizing a ten year-old kid playing with a toy that people in earlier, saner decades wouldn't have given a second thought to. Ironically the kid now wants to be a police officer himself when he grows up, according to his mom. With the kind of role models he has seen now, what could possibly go wrong with that?

UPDATE: Forgot to include a link to the original story, which is here. I should also point out that the story is from December. That doesn't make the police's reaction any less stupid.

Recession Dispatches

The days of gluttony are nothing more than a faint dream of yester-year. Back in the roaring early aught years people were lining up and paying good money to take in up the ass from horses. No more my friends. Those good times are merely memories now.

Star Tribune:

Emaciated horses eating bark off trees. Abandoned horses tied to telephone poles. Horses subsisting on feces, walking among carcasses.

As the economy continues to falter, law enforcement officers in Kentucky and throughout the country are seeing major increases in the number of unwanted and neglected horses, some abandoned on public land, others left to starve by their owners.

Geesh..Don't let this reporter write copy for the next 'Visit Kentucky' ad spot. What a gloomy Gus.

So what are the options for what seems to be quite a sticky (pun intended) situation? Fire up the grinders say state governments:

The situation has renewed the debate over whether reopening slaughterhouses in the United States -- the last ones closed in 2007 -- would help address the problem. Some states, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota, for example, are looking at ways to bring slaughterhouses back.

An estimated 100,000 horses a year are shipped to Canada and Mexico for slaughter, prompting Congress to consider a bill that would ban the sale and transport of horses for human consumption outside the country. But Arkansas, Georgia and eight other states are against such a ban, saying owners need affordable options for unwanted horses.

Horse slaughtering -- Yet another job Americans won't do. Or in this case, aren't allowed to do. We essentially banned horse slaughtering back in '06 when the last slaughter house in the US went out of business in Illinois in what was surely a conflict of interest when a gigantic horse's ass signed a state law banning export, possession, and slaughter of horses intened for human consumption.

So job well done lawmakers. Yet another market distorted, yet another behavior criminalized that shouldn't be.

Sammy Hagar Was Right!

You shouldn't have to drive 55 mph either. Cracked.com explores that truth and explodes four other safety laws that have been proven to be either ineffective or completely counterproductive.

It's for the Kids...And One Self-Righetous Douche Bag of a Lawmaker

News from the Free State:

A Maryland lawmaker hopes to pass a bill that would prohibit people from smoking while driving young children around.

Montgomery County Sen. Mike Lenett is sponsoring a measure that would fine people who smoke in the car while driving children under the age of 8. Drivers would also be fined if they allow another passenger to smoke in the car while in the presence of children under the age of 8. Lenett's bill sets a $50 fine for violations.

Seven senators have agreed to co-sponsor the legislation.

My takeaway? According to this proposed legislation, the great state of Maryland would condone lung cancer for kids over the age of 8. The outrage of it all!

New York To Boost Porn Downloading In New Jersey

Gov. David Paterson is pushing for a law to add a 4% tax on downloading music and movies, and, yes, this will apply to porn too:

"This is simply bringing the tax code in line with technology," said Matt Anderson, a spokesman for the state Division of the Budget.

"Regardless of whether or not an item is purchased at a brick-and-mortar store or online, it would be treated consistently."

Paterson also said last night that the rich will "share in the sacrifice" of closing New York's budget gap.

Paterson, in language almost identical to that used by supporters of the so-called millionaire's tax, said the wealthy will not be spared.

"Every New Yorker will share in the sacrifice to get this budget balanced," he told the New York State Association of Black and Puerto Rican Legislators.

Would it be too terribly tasteless of me to point out that a tax on watching porn is being proposed by a guy who is blind? It would be? Okay, then I won't mention it.

In any event, as the New York Daily News article notes, since the law applies only to businesses that are physically located in the state, all it does is create an incentive for them to move across state lines. Which is pretty easy to do if your product is electronic.

Oh, and by the way:

Paterson has previously argued that spending cuts - not a new tax on the wealthy - should be the priority. His spokesman said the governor's new comments did not represent a shift in his position.

A Crime I Didn't Know About: Drunk Not-Driving

File this under "Shit I'm glad I learned now and not later". Cecil Adams, the guy behind the Straight Dope column, points out something I didn't know about drunk driving laws: You don't have to be driving the car to be convicted.

He mentions it in passing while dismantling a particularly retarded urban myth about how a person can get out of a dui conviction by drinking after the cop has pulled you over:

In one classic early case, State v. Lizotte (1993), police pulled the defendant over for speeding. He seemed drunk when questioned, had an open beer can on his dashboard, and blew BACs of .13 and .14. He was convicted of drunk driving but appealed the verdict, claiming he'd quickly downed the beer after being pulled over to avoid being charged with an open-container violation. Because he'd consumed alcohol after he'd stopped driving, he argued, the Breathalyzer test was invalid.

Nuh-uh, said the appeals court. Its implicit rationale: You're operating a motor vehicle whenever you're in control of it, not just when you’ve got it in motion. (In fact, people have been convicted of drunk driving for sleeping it off in a parked car.) That you claimed to have been stopped when you drank the beer makes no difference; you were still operating the vehicle.

You see what this means. If you're in a jurisdiction that accepts a broad definition of operating a vehicle, chugging a bottle in front of a cop won't help you, even if you're physically outside the car. A court could easily conclude that technically you were still in control.

I'm glad I learned that. The next time I've been out and had a few drinks and I'm not sure if I can make it all the way home, I won't pull over and rest. I'll just keep on driving, secure in the knowledge that even if I fall asleep at the wheel, legally I didn't have a choice.

Happy motoring people!

LA Needs a Moratorium on Worthless, Overweight Women Serving on the City Council

Or, let's just ban city councils across the nation. Has a city council anywhere ever done anything productive? Anything at all?

A law that would bar fast-food restaurants from opening in South Los Angeles for at least a year sailed through the Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday.

The council approved the fast-food moratorium unanimously, despite complaints from representatives of McDonald's, Carl's Jr. and other companies, who said they were being unfairly targeted.

Councilwoman Jan Perry, who has pushed for a moratorium for six years, said the initiative would give the city time to craft measures to lure sit-down restaurants serving healthier food to a part of the city that desperately wants more of them.

"I believe this is a victory for the people of South and southeast Los Angeles, for them to have greater food options," she said.

This story has been covered to death by blogs that actually, you know, have bloggers that blog; but I came across that last line from Jan (who incidentally may just be banning fast food restaurants because she doesn't have the self control to lay off the fried chicken and fries. Seriously Jan, you could stand to lose a pound or two.) and had to point it out. She perversely thinks that by limiting the number of restaurants that can open in her city that she is offering the citizens of LA gain more choices. Got it? 'Cause I don't. Other than it's magic. By taking away options, we give you more! The councilwoman can take this show on the road, start selling out auditoriums and making 747's disappear.

Full story here.

It's Not Just Fines Anymore

You can now get the cops to come to your house and arrest you for speeding past those traffic light cameras.

Congress Needs to Hold Hearings on Congress's Inability to Their Jobs

They can't even steal our money without fucking up:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The House of Representatives will vote again on sending the $289 billion U.S. farm bill to the White House to clear up an embarrassing clerical error discovered after the bill was vetoed, Democratic leaders said on Thursday.[...]

House Agriculture Committee leaders said a clerical error omitted the 35-page trade title from the copy of the bill sent to the White House. Congress is required to provide exact copies of its bills for the president to approve or veto.

If only this mistake could last. On another note, how depressing is it that bills are so large that 35 pages can go missing without anyone noticing?

Full story here.

From Sea to Shining Sea, We Shall Be Testicle Free

First Maryland then Virginia, now Florida -- Lawmakers across the country will not rest until hanging plastic testicles on the back your truck is outlawed. The Tallahassee Democrat:

The Florida Senate on Thursday passed an amendment to impose a $60 fine on Truck Nutz, one brand name for the novelty item on vehicle trailer hitches that resemble the dangling southern end of a northbound bull.

The proposal would make displaying bull genitalia reproductions on a vehicle subject to a $60 fine, moving violations and points against a driver license.

Great Plan; But Why Waste a Night of Real Drinking?

Kids throw root beer kegger to make a point. Cops show up:

ROTHSCHILD -- The Zebro home in Kronenwetter showed all the signs of an underage drinking party March 1: cars blocking the road, dozens of rowdy kids and a keg.

And yet, every partyer's breath test revealed an alcohol-free gathering.

Dustin Zebro, 18, and his friends said they threw the party after D.C. Everest High School administrators suspended their friends from sports.

"We didn't know it would work well enough to make the cops show up," Zebro said of the plan to poke fun at the administrators by throwing a root beer kegger.

Clever idea. Way more clever than anything I could have thought up at that age. My goal was to keep the cops as far away as possible, not bring them closer with an elaborate hoax, but kudos goes to the students for making a point. Of course school officials weren't so pleased, experessing thier displeasure that the root beer kegger downplayed the significant consequences of underage drinking.

Enter Debra Burgess, who from her job title, I can tell is one helluva' fan of fun.

Debra Burgess, drug free communities coordinator for the Wausau School District, said the root beer party, and its motivations, downplay the consequences of underage drinking, which include harmful decisions and stalled brain development.

I'm not a medical expert, (though I do like to give out free advice on subjects I know nothing about) but I'm fairly sure that high school sports are more of a danger to brain development than underage drinking. You know, like concussions and repeated pounding of the head against helmets, soccer balls, goal posts, etc. So I say, ban sports! Wait...They're already working on that? Nevermind then. I'll try and think of something else fun we can ban. Back to the drawing board!

Full story here.

My Real Name is Timothy Akers. I'm 38, 215lbs, Play WoW in My Mother's Basement and Jerk Off to Hentai Porn. Happy?

Meant to post this yesterday..Kentucky lawmaker seeks to ban To the People along with just about everything else on the Internet:

Kentucky Representative Tim Couch filed a bill this week to make anonymous posting online illegal.

The bill would require anyone who contributes to a website to register their real name, address and e-mail address with that site.

Their full name would be used anytime a comment is posted.

If the bill becomes law, the website operator would have to pay if someone was allowed to post anonymously on their site. The fine would be five-hundred dollars for a first offense and one-thousand dollars for each offense after that.

Representative Couch says he filed the bill in hopes of cutting down on online bullying. He says that has especially been a problem in his Eastern Kentucky district.

I bet it's a problem. You know why? Because everyone in Eastern Kentucky is stupid. And ugly. Stupid and ugly. Actually, they are more retarded than anything else. Stupid, ugly and retarded. Impotent as well. A lot of impotent retards is what you would find in Eastern Kentucky, if you were ever dumb enough to go there.

Anonymous Cyber-Bullying: Get In On It While You Can

The Coming Wars on Hanging Testicles

Some stupid Maryland legislator gave it a go last year, now an equally stupid Virginia legislator does the same and introduces a bill to ban hanging testicles from the back of trucks.

Here's hoping that a blow will be dealt to those that would try to limit the testicle displaying rights of real American men across this fine country. March on with testicles proudly displayed men, and show these lawmakers what we are fighting for in Iraq. Freedom. Freedom to hang plastic testicles from the back of your pick-up truck....One day I hope to see a world where little Iraqi children ride in their Dad's Toyota with red, hanging testicles dangling from behind. THAT will be the victory.

Thanks to Sean Higgins for the tip.

Strip Down for Your Rights

Strip clubs are on the verge of being forced out of business in Sarasota County, Fl, as the county is set to pass regulations that belong in churches, not in clubs that sell skin and lap dances. From a story that is no longer up on the local news website: [see related article from a different source here]

The future of strip clubs in Sarasota County took center stage Monday night at the commission meeting. Commissioners are considering strict regulations that would shut the clubs down.

Commissioners were talking about the Cheetah. The ordinance commissioners are considering would ban all alcohol from the club and it would require dancers to stay at least six feet away from the customers.

But the strippers won't go down quietly..

"I love working at the Cheetah." It's not everyday you hear someone tell county commissioners that, or see a commission meeting packed with exotic dancers. But these women came to confess to commissioners that they all love their job at the Cheetah.

"I've been able to obtain home ownership, attend USF to finish my business degree but most importantly, I've been able to raise my 6-year-old daughter by myself."

The reason for their emotion...their livelihood is in jeopardy. All because of what happened in 1996. It was then that commissioners gave the Cheetah Lounge a ten year grace period before it would ban bareness at the bar.

And a soldier makes a fair point..

Commissioners heard from them all, even a soldier who just returned from his third tour of duty in Iraq. "Just so the women in Iraq didn't have to wear burkas. Now you want to cover up the women of the Cheetah, and take my rights away from me to visit the Cheetah."

Thanks to Sean Higgins for link.

More Smart Moves from Mugabe

Robert Mugabe is not known for sound economic judgment and his latest move will not improve his reputation. The parliament of Zimbabwe has passed a bill that will transfer ownership of foreign companies operating in the country into the hands of black Zimbabweans.

This completes his seizure of property owned by Zimbabwe’s white population, which began in 1999 when the state took over the land of white farmers. In a country that lacks the human resource capacity to effectively run these businesses, Mugabe’s plan will ultimately hurt the people of Zimbabwe instead of leveling the playing field. Story from the BBC.

In Praise of 'Official State Nothing'

Fresh off the heels of Oklahoma anointing watermelon as its state vegetable comes this fantastic editorial in the Salem Evening News (my hometown paper, at least since the Beverly Times folded) bashing the whole concept of declaring an official state anything.

Every year, it seems, a group of students, with the encouragement of a friendly state senator or representative, makes it their business to have some beloved food item or other object entered on the list of "Emblems of the Commonwealth."

Now a fifth-grade class from Pittsfield's Egremont Elementary School is seeking to trump all of the other great literary works produced in this state by having the Legislature designate Herman Melville's "Moby-Dick" as the "official book of the commonwealth of Massachusetts."

We can think of many books produced by authors right here North of Boston that are equally or more worthy of that honor.

Salem's Nathaniel Hawthorne produced at least two - "The Scarlet Letter" and "The House of the Seven Gables" - that certainly merit consideration. Of more recent vintage are John Marquand's "The Late George Apley" and John Updike's "Rabbit is Rich," both of which won the Pulitzer Prize. Marquand lived in Newburyport for many years prior to his death in 1960; Updike was a longtime resident of Ipswich before moving to Beverly Farms where he currently resides.

We'd prefer to see the Legislature get out of the naming game altogether.

Me, too. And I love the palpable derision the paper's editors show for these literally childish official declarations.

The official-book issue isn't even the Commonwealth's most high-profile state-designated story du jour. No, that honor goes to a fight over assigning an official state maple syrup, which pits pure syrup makers against a syrup/molasses mix (yuck!) you might find served at Alice's Restaurant.

Of course, if the "work" of declaring an official state something keeps legislators from the more egregious work of declaring an official state everything (see Hugo Chavez), then I suppose this form of McCainsian economics -- unfunded nannyism -- is the lesser of two evils.

Still, I could stand a whole lot less "news" about rent-seeking toads pitting kids against scientists, and could live several lifetimes before I'd resort to reading filler stories like this and this. Ridding our state legislatures of the official-state urge would also mean I wouldn't have to try to figure out whether Wikipedia is lying when it notes that Kentucky's state food really is made by Colonel Sanders. Enough.

I-Fi, You-Fi, We All Fi (In Our Cars, Outside Some Sucker's House)

The only thing more inane than the length people will go to "steal" wi-fi is the lengths police will go to intimidate these folks.

Two people have been cautioned for using people's wi-fi broadband internet connections without permission.

Neighbours in Redditch, Worcestershire, contacted police on Saturday after seeing a man inside a car using a laptop while parked outside a house.

He was arrested and cautioned. A woman was arrested in similar circumstances in the town earlier this month.

More here. If only there was some solution to this scourge. Like if people only had some way to lock out wi-fi "thieves". If only. If only...

West Mercia Police said people with wi-fi should follow security advice given by their internet provider.

ISPs recommend that wi-fi users secure their wireless networks.

I steal radio. I drive around in my car and turn the channel and listen to free music on these things called "stations".

Illegal: Taking a Tooth from a Dead Whale

I just learned it's illegal to try to perform a root canal on a dead whale.

U.S. authorities are looking into accusations a University of California, Santa Barbara, student tried to illegally remove the teeth from a dead sperm whale.

Shane Anderson, supervisor of marine operations at the University of California-Santa Barbara Marine Laboratory, said he spotted a student trying to remove the teeth from the beached whale in Isla Vista, The Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday.

"I arrived and this guy had a hammer and was hammering away on the teeth," Anderson said. "I explained to him that there was a federal law against doing that and that the specimen was important for science. He didn't want to hear it."

Anderson said the student became so verbally abusing toward him that he was arrested by a Santa Barbara County sheriff's deputy and cited him for public disturbance. The student was released at the scene, the newspaper said.

"It's illegal for someone to go and yank the tooth out of a dead marine mammal," Roxanna Behtash, a special agent with the National Marine Fisheries Service, which is investigating the incident, told the Times. "It's illegal to possess or sell marine mammal parts of any kind, unless you have a permit."

Nothing more here.

Behold, the Power of Politicians

From the Sun: [emphasis mine]

Companies with state service contracts would be required to pay workers a "living wage" under first-in-the-nation legislation that the General Assembly approved yesterday and sent to Gov. Martin O'Malley, who championed the idea on the campaign trail.

Lawmakers gave final passage to the bill on the last day of the session, less than one week after legislative leaders and O'Malley hashed out an agreement to make the proposal palatable to some opponents. The bill, as revised, sets up two pay grades for the workers - at least $11.30 an hour in the Baltimore-Washington corridor and $8.50 an hour in rural areas

[...]

"It doesn't make them rich," said Sen. Thomas M. Middleton, a Charles County Democrat and chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. "We're just lifting them a little bit more out ... of poverty

First, I'm embarrassed at what I make. Holy shit am I serious. Second, why not make them rich? It seems pretty simple. You just tell employers to pay their employees more money and presto! Everyone is rich. Fire up the money presses!

These last few months have made me yearn for the better days gone by...

The General Assembly passed a living-wage bill three years ago, but it was vetoed by former Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., who raised concerns about one wage standard being applied statewide. Republicans said that the latest version is still flawed, and some rural lawmakers were upset that their workers would get paid less.

Full article here.

Freedom of Assembly? Pshaw...

Example number.....Well I've lost track of how many examples why I don't believe in any rights that you don't claim for yourself as a right. The Constitution is nice and all...but it would be even better if we actually abided by it as a country. From the Examiner: [emphasis mine: what group wouldn't fall under those specifications?]

This bill “allows prosecution of gangs as a unit,” said Attorney General Doug Gansler, who would gain additional authority to prosecute gangs operating across county lines. Gansler denied that the bill infringed on freedom of association.

The bill prohibits a person from participating in a criminal gang knowing that the other members engage in crime, and willfully promoting or assisting in the commission of a long list of violent crimes. To be a gang, it must have some kind of identifying sign, symbol, name, leader or purpose.

Funny. I wasn't aware they (Baltimore cops at least) needed more reasons to arrest people. They do a pretty good job as of now arresting 1 out of every 6 city residents. Especially those darn dark people. Full article here. Via Baltimore Crime.

There Ought Notta Be a Law (But There Is)

Came across this in the course of doing some Massachusetts statutory research for one of my classes:

CHAPTER 148. FIRE PREVENTION

Chapter 148: Section 55. Explosive golf balls

Section 55. Whoever manufactures or sells or knowingly uses, or has in possession for the purpose of sale, any golf ball containing any acid, fluid, gas or other substance tending to cause the ball to explode and to inflict bodily injury shall for the first offence be punished by a fine of not more than five hundred dollars, and for any subsequent offence by a fine of not more than one thousand dollars or by imprisonment for not more than one year, or both.

I'm going to guess the law's been on the books since about, oh, shortly after the release of Caddyshack, and that no one has ever been charged under it.