A British man was arrested for singing the 1970s hit “Kung-Fu Fighting”. Simon Ledger and his band were performing the song at a bar on the Isle of Wight. An asian audience member found the song offensive. Rather than tell the band, or take his business to a different establishment, he went to the police, claiming racial abuse. Racism is a punishable crime in Britain.
Police found the singer and arrested him later that night, appropriately enough, at a Chinese restaurant.
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Posted in Nanny State, Regulation of the Day
Tagged britain, kung-fu fighting, political correctness, racial abuse, racism, uk
Yesterday, I noted that Portland, Oregon is banning city workers from wearing perfume or cologne. Nevada’s legislature, not to be outdone, is considering restricting or banning pesticides, potpourri, air fresheners, candles, and pretty much anything with a scent in public places.
You can read the bill, AB 234, here. The restrictions on pesticides have to be read to be believed. It doesn’t take much imagination to see regulations that burdensome leading to less pesticide use. That means more pests. It also means public places would be less healthy, not more.
What will legislators go after next in the War on Scent? Body odor? Because there will be a lot more of it in Nevada if this bill passes.
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Posted in Nanny State, regulation
Tagged ab 234, body odor, candles, fragrances, nevada, nevada assembly, nevada legislature, paul aizley, potpourri, scent, the war on scent
Portland, Oregon is banning city government employees from wearing perfume or cologne at work. The ban also covers “aftershave or other scented products like hair sprays and lotion.”
Violators will be disciplined.
Posted in Nanny State, Regulation of the Day
Tagged Nanny State, oregon, perfume ban, portland, portland oregon
Switchblades are illegal. But Maine state representative Sheryl Briggs would like to end her state’s switchblade ban – but only for people with one arm.
One of her constituents is Paul Dumas, Jr., who lost an arm as a teenager. Because switchblades are spring-loaded, they can be opened with one hand. A retractable knife without a switchblade’s springs requires two hands to open.
That’s fine for most people. But it puts Dumas at a disadvantage. As he told the Associated Press, “I’m tired of opening knives with my teeth.”
Switchblade liberalization makes sense. For one, it would allow people like Dumas to live with a little more dignity.
For another, switchblade bans don’t even make sense. The federal ban was enacted in 1958, after an irrational moral panic involving West Side Story. Most states also have switchblade bans on the books. There was not an epidemic of switchblade violence at the time.
To this day, some shady people will ignore the ban and own switchblades; prohibition doesn’t work. But switchblade violence remains rare, depite most of the law-abiding population respecting the ban and being more vulnerable as a result.
Posted in Nanny State, Regulation of the Day
Tagged knives, maine, maine switchblade ban, mexico maine, paul dumas, sheryl briggs, switchblade ban, switchblades
At least three states are poised to make it illegal to use your iPod or cell phone while crossing the street. At 11:05 am EST, I’ll be on WBAL 1090 AM (Baltimore, MD) to talk about why this is a bad idea. You can listen here if you like.
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Posted in Media Appearances, Nanny State, regulation
Three states are proposing to make it illegal to listen to your iPod while crossing the street. Legislators in California, New York, and Oregon are leading the charge, citing increasing pedestrian deaths. A similar proposal in Arkansas was retracted after constituents mobbed the state legislator who wrote the bill with hate mail.
Pedestrian deaths did go slightly up last year. But pedestrian deaths have been trending down for two decades, despite the rise of iPods and smartphones. Turns out that most people have enough common sense to pay more attention to traffic than their phone while crossing the street.
Legislating common sense is at best redundant. But in this case, it’s actually harmful. Police departments only have so many resources to go around. All the time and manpower they spend watching people cross the street is time and manpower not spent on more serious crimes. This is a solution without a problem.
Caroline May has more over at the Daily Caller (I am also quoted).
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Posted in Media Appearances, Nanny State, Regulation of the Day
Tagged caroline may, crossing the street, daily caller, iphone, ipod, Nanny State, nanny state regulation, pedestrian deaths, public safety, regulation, Regulation of the Day, safety
Warren T. Brookes Journalism Fellow Kathryn Ciano talks about Washington, DC’s five-cent tax on plastic bags. While plastic bag use has dropped from about 87 million per year to 55 million per year, it has only raised a little more than half the expected revenue. The Anacostia River also remains as dirty as ever; the tax was put into place to fund cleanup efforts.
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Posted in CEI Podcast, Economics, Nanny State, Taxation
Tagged bag tax, dc bag tax, kat ciano, kathryn ciano, plastic bags
Having solved all other problems, the Morinville, Alberta town council is banning residents from owning 130 species as pets. Targeted animals include armadillos, elephants, giraffes, walruses (walri?), spiders, and kangaroos.
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Posted in Nanny State, regulation
And the award goes to:
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Posted in Nanny State, regulation
Michelle Minton, CEI’s Director of Insurance Studies, takes a whirlwind tour of alcohol regulations across the country. From Pennsylvania to Texas to Colorado, there are regulations at every turn. They do everything from raise revenue to tell people what products they can buy at what times, to shelter politically favored companies from pesky competition. In this way, alcohol is like most other sectors of the economy.
Comments Off on CEI Podcast – December 15, 2010: Alcohol Regulations Across the Country
Posted in CEI Podcast, Nanny State, regulation
Tagged alcohol, alcohol regulation, blue laws, cei podcast, michelle minton, prohibition, regulation
Inertia Wins! 