Baylen Linnekin, author of the recent CEI On Point “Extreme Refreshment Crackdown: The FDA’s Misguided Campaign Against Alcohol Energy Drinks” and contributor to the food regulation blog Crispy on the Outside, looks at the recent push to ban alcoholic drinks that contain caffeine.
Baylen believes that regulators are over-reacting. Alcohol energy drinks typically contain no more caffeine than a cup of coffee, and their appeal to underage drinkers is overstated.
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Posted in CEI Podcast, Nanny State
Tagged alcohol, alcohol energy drinks, alcohol policy, baylen linnekin, cei, cei podcast, crispy on the outside, four loko, four loko ban, joose, Nanny State, podcast
Yacahuda Harrison, 49, likes to play chess. He and six of his friends were playing the classic strategy game in an Upper Manhattan park. Their game was broken up by “A squad of cops in bulletproof vests,” The New York Post reports.
This is because it is illegal for adults to be in said park unless they are accompanied by a child under 12 years old. The law is intended to keep molesters away from children.
No children were in the park when Harrison’s chess game was busted.
He and his accomplices were ticketed and have a December 28 court date.
Posted in Nanny State, Regulation of the Day
Tagged chess, child molesters, excessive force, manhattan, new york, New York Post, nypd, overreaction, overreactions, parks, pedophiles, y.a. harrison, yacahuda harrison
With an 8-3 vote, San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors banned the greatest menace facing it or any other city: happy meals.
Restaurants are no longer allowed to include a free toy with kid’s meals. “This is a challenge to the restaurant industry to think about children’s health first,” said the bill’s sponsor, Eric Mar. He was named Reason.tv’s Nanny of the Month for his troubles.
I’m guessing restaurants’ first thoughts about the ban are not printable on this blog.
There is a loophole, though. If a kid’s meal is under 600 calories, includes sufficient amounts of fruit and vegetables, and does not include a sugary drink, then restaurants may include a toy.
Children’s reactions are said to be less than positive. Hearing “no” now and again is an important part of not growing up spoiled; though parents are the ones who should be saying it. But who needs parents when the nanny state is here?
With an 8-3 vote, San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors banned the greatest menace facing it or any other city: happy meals.
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Posted in Nanny State, Regulation of the Day
Tagged child obesity, eric mar, happy meal, kid's meals, mcdonald's, nanny of the months, Nanny State, nanny state regulation, reason tv, san francisco
Regulators kept themselves plenty busy for yesterday’s holiday. Highlights:
Silly string is forbidden in Hollywood on Halloween. Revellers are warned by street signs featuring not one, but two sets of unnecessary quotation marks (pictured above). The punishment is a $1,000 maximum fine and up to six months in jail. The punishment is the same as the maximum for a DUI, less a six-month driver’s license suspension.
Across the country in Zebulon, North Carolina, a 20-year old man was arrested for “wearing a mask or hood in public” on Halloween. The 1953 ordinance was anti-Ku Klux Klan measure. Ironically, yesterday’s arrestee is black. His bond is set at $7,500.
And in the Midwest, Belleville, Illinois has made it illegal for anyone over age 12 to go trick-or-treating.
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Posted in Nanny State, regulation
Tagged belleville, ca, california, halloween, hollywood, il, illinois, mask ban, nc, north carolina, sillt string ban, silly string, trick or treating, trick-or-treating ban, zebulon, zebulon nc
Italy, despite housing the Vatican in its borders, is not exactly known for uptight morality. But the small town of Castellammare di Stabia is. Located at a scenic point just south of Naples, the town lies within the shadows of Mt. Vesuvius, which famously erupted in 79 A.D.
Maybe that visible threat of apocalypse drove conservative Mayor Luigi Bobbio mad. He wants to ban miniskirts within town limits. Police officers would be tasked with paying close attention to women’s hemlines; no doubt many already do. Women who catch an officer’s eye could be fined as much as $700.
Other new regulations that Mayor Bobbio has proposed for Castellammare di Stabia would ban playing soccer in public, sunbathing, and blasphemy. Hopefully the punishment for that last one is less severe than in past centuries.
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Posted in Nanny State, regulation, Regulation of the Day
Tagged annay state, Castellammare di Stabia, italy, legislating morality, luigi bobbio, mayor luigi bobbio, miniskirts, mt. vesuvius, naples, vatican
The federal government is considering limiting, or even banning potatoes from school lunches. Officials fear the tasty tubers are causing childhood obesity. They would rather children eat more leafy greens instead.
The children are not pleased. One child told the Associated Press, “That would be so not cool. I love tater tots.”
Critics of the nanny state’s slow but steady mission creep often ask, “What’s next, a law saying eat your vegetables?” Well, apparently it is next. Freedom advocates need to find a new reductio ad absurdum.
In fact, the USDA already has a temporary regulation in place disallowing food stamps to be used to buy potatoes. The rule may be made permanent next year. Poverty has more important indignities than losing some choice of what you buy at the grocery store. But what a way to treat adults.
Eat your vegetables. Or else. They’re good for you.
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Posted in Nanny State, Regulation of the Day
Tagged eat your vegetables, eat your veggies, food stamps, Nanny State, potatoes, school lunches, usda, vegetables, wic
CEI Director of Insurance Studies Michelle Minton analyzes proposals to privatize Virginia’s liquor stores. Virginia is one of 18 states where the government holds a legal monopoly on the sale of spirits.
Posted in CEI Podcast, Nanny State
Tagged abc, cei, cei podcast, liquor store privatization, michelle minton, podcast, prohibition, relic of prohibition, virginia, virginia abc
Most car thefts happen to unlocked cars. The government of Bucks County, Pennsylvania, thinks it can help. It plans to issue $25 fines to people who forget to lock their cars. First-time violators get off with a warning.
Bear in mind that enforcing this policy involves police systematically trying to break into peoples’ cars. First, that’s inherently creepy. Second, that’s a significant privacy violation. It’s also a Fourth Amendment issue. If an officer stumbles upon something illegal and decides to prosecute, he has performed a warrantless search.
It’s also a safety issue. If a thief decides to play dress-up and look like an officer, he could very easily steal valuables from parked cars in broad daylight and no one would be the wiser.
One more problem to add to the pile is corruption. A legitimate officer might be tempted to give himself a quick pay raise at a forgetful car owner’s expense. Policing for profit is all too common.
Better for the government to stay out of this one.
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Tagged bucks county, car theft, fourth amendment, lock your door, Nanny State, pa, pennsylvania, privacy, Regulation of the Day, unlocked cars
The American Spectator has kindly asked me to contribute to their blog. My first post ran today. It’s about Boston’s proposed ban on non-diet soda sales in government buildings. Read it here if you like.
Blogging at this site will be unaffected.
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Posted in Nanny State, Publications, regulation
Samuel Burgos is 8 years old. One day he brought a toy gun to school in his backpack. That got him expelled from his Miami school for two years. Toy guns violate his school district’s zero-tolerance policy for weapons.
The district offered to place Sam in a correctional school; his parents opted to home-school him instead. His father told the local NBC affiliate, “I can’t sit here and allow them to send my kid to a school where students have committed actual crimes,” Burgos said. “He hasn’t committed a crime.”
Sam misses his friends. And he may have to repeat the second grade. All because common sense has gone missing from Broward County’s schools. That’s what makes the school board’s response especially galling:
The school board says it’s common sense to know that this kind of item can’t be allowed on school campus and that responsibility also falls on parents to know what their children have in their backpacks.
The Burgos family has suffered enough. Toy guns are not weapons. They are toys. The school board should exercise a bit of common sense and reinstate Sam immediately.
Posted in education, Nanny State, Regulation of the Day
Tagged broward county, common sense, education, florida, guns, miami, public schools, toy guns, zero tolerance, zero tolerance policies
Inertia Wins! 
