In elections, they get voted down 100% of the time. And:

One guy who lives outside of Phoenix, Dave Vontesmar, hated the cameras so much he put on a monkey mask to drive to work every day, to keep the front-facing cameras from identifying him. Racked up 37 tickets that could amount to $6,500 in fines. Says the state can’t prove it’s him, which it has to do in his state

Heh.

We must ban dogs because they are weapons. Weapon dogs? Seriously?

Fired for speaking the truth about marijuana.

In Cali, they’re looking to ban TeeVees.

Getting your neighbors to form a community terrorist watch list. What could possibly go wrong?

Where Great Britain Used to Be, they want to ban glass pint, err, glasses for plastic pint to prevent brawls. Stupid. And, of course, I hate those plastic cups that look like glass ones. They’re too light and I grab it thinking it’s heavier and spill my beer.

Via Bruce, we learn that Bloomberg is a hypocrite in addition to being a loon.

The War on Food Poor People Eat. Same as why the taxes on cigarettes are far higher than the taxes on cigars.

Dumbest thing I’ve heard of but:

An Arizona couple accused of sexual abuse after taking bath-time photos of their children and then trying to have them developed at Walmart are suing the state and the retail giant.

Hope they win.

My Fox DC:

At least 22 states that ban texting while driving offer some type of service that allows motorists to get information about traffic tie-ups, road conditions or emergencies via Twitter.

Kinda weird being here knowing everything in one of my chaecked bags is illegal. Except the flashlight.

Scouts no longer to get knives.

The nanny in your car took a long time to get there. But there she is.

In London, the police are teaching people they should lock their doors by stealing from them. I guess the next step is to beat people up and take their money if they’re out too late in a bad part of town? You know, for their own good.

In Ireland:

IFA inundated with complaints about new gun laws

UNDER new legislation, all gun owners are required to invest a huge amount of time, satisfying complex and confusing red tape requirements, according to IFA countryside chairman David Wilkinson. He called on the justice minister to rethink the newly introduced licensing system for firearms.

Where Great Britain Used To Be:

The British Medical Association (BMA) and Association of Chief Police Officers have discussed ways in which doctors can be made aware of patients who own firearms.

The BMA’s plan to “tag” – or highlight – the medical records of patients who have shotgun or firearms licences have received a mixed reaction.

A man and his family are in his sister’s funeral procession. A police officer pulls them over and writes them tickets for not wearing seat belts. They missed the burial.

Call poison control, lose your kids.

Seen at Pete’s:

California: a penal colony with a nice coastline

I know, they’re actually talking about prisons but it sorta fits the rest of the state too.

Feds look to regulate texting while driving and caffeinated alcoholic drinks.

Anti-gun hysteria in NY over water pistols.

I mentioned before the .gov’s plan could kill people by banning electronic cigarettes. Now, the FDA has stopped some shipments of them at the border. Jacob Sullum notes the weak testing standards of creation science:

It seems clear that the FDA already has decided to ban e-cigarettes and is now seeking evidence to back up that decision. This approach, which replaces science and consumer protection with puritanism and bureaucratic pigheadedness, sacrifices the interests—and possibly the lives—of smokers who could dramatically reduce their disease risks by switching to e-cigarettes.

Tennessee passed a law banning texting while driving. I called it stupid because endangerment already covers that and I said it would be unenforceable. Seems that most phones do other things. My phone is a word processor, data processor, camera, video camera, Mp3 player, web browser, GPS, data storage, email reader, RSS aggregator, other stuff I can’t remember and I think it’s even a phone too. So, if I am using a lawful application (like making a phone call since dialing is lawful, using my GPS, or hitting next on the MP3 player), how can officer friendly determine if I’m doing something lawful or texting? Well, he can’t.

Another case against nationalized/socialized health care.

Rich:

If the healthcare system proposed by Democrats in Congress is so good, why are they exempting themselves from it while forcing it on the rest of us?

Because they’re better than us.

Les Jones on simpler times:

In the permissive, litigation-free Seventies we campers used to walk down the country road (with no sidewalks or shoulders to speak of) from camp to Dude Cooper’s store to buy cokes and gum and candy cigarettes, back when there were candy cigarettes, our shorts filled with pocket knives that were part of the required equipment for attending camp. If you forgot to bring a pocket knife you could buy one after dinner in the camp store along with fountain cokes and ice cream and candy bars and comic books.

Seen at Marko’s:

Massachusetts has a mandatory seatbelt use law.

Massachusetts has a 67% seatbelt use rate.

New Hampshire has no mandatory seat belt law for adults.

New Hampshire has a 69% seatbelt use rate.

A puppy playing with a round of ammo is considered a bomb scare.

Where Great Britain used to be has the highest violent crime rate in Europe. Even more violent crime than the US. Unpossible, since we have all the guns.

Tennessee has a whole host of new laws that go into effect today. Some stupid. Some real stupid. And some inoffensive.

First up, is the no texting while driving law:

Rachel Nichol says reading or sending cell phone text messages while driving isn’t such a good idea — she’s had five fender benders, including one in a fast food drive-thru.

“I was texting and I rear-ended someone each time,” said Nichol, a 20-year-old Nashville bartender. “You’re not looking at the road. You’re only using one hand to drive and it’s really dangerous.”

That’s why she supports a law prohibiting the behavior. It’s among new Tennessee laws that take effect on Wednesday.

You see, because Rachel is an idiot, you must be one too. It only makes sense. For the children. I mean, if only it was illegal, then she wouldn’t do it. The law was unnecessary as our AG already said that it could be viewed as endangering others. It’s also going to be hard to enforce because your phone does other things too, like make phone calls. Ya know, my phone is also an MP3 player so if I’m changing the song by hitting the forward button and a cop sees me, he might think I’m texting.

Up next is a law designed to expand no-pedophile zones. You see, yesterday, pedophiles and sex offenders were required to stay 500 feet away from schools, parks, daycares, and playgrounds. Today, they must stay 1,000 feet away. That’ll help.

Also, a few more that aren’t bad.

We can now order wine and have it delivered. My wife already signed up for some wine club deal.

No more thumbprints for gun sales.

And it’s illegal to aim a laser pointer at firefighters and emergency medical technicians. Seems to me that, like the texting law, that would already be illegal.

Some politicos in DC are looking at putting an end to the arbitrary classification of knives by Customs. Good.

Affirmative Action:

Thousands of people are being stopped and searched by the police under their counter-­terrorism powers – simply to ­provide a racial balance in official statistics, the government’s official anti-terror law watchdog has revealed.

Gotta stop whitey too, I guess.

Where Great Britain used to be, comes the anti-stab knife:

The first “anti-stab” knife is to go on sale in Britain, designed to work as normal in the kitchen but to be ineffective as a weapon.

Ok, then.

One solution is to not let your clothes catch fire. But in their defense, you sometimes catch fire without noticing it. In other news, there was a time when I did posts longer than three lines.

Feds to regulate tobacco. Plenty of reasons why this is dumb but the most striking is that when regulation is supported by players in the industry (in this case, Phillip Morris), you have to wonder exactly what’s going on.

Bob Corker disappoints and supports the bill.

American Knife and Tool Institute:

AKTI has learned that U.S. Customs, at 5:00 p.m. eastern time on June 10, 2009, has denied AKTI’s request for a comment period extension.

Seems silly:

A Franklin woman will serve six months’ probation for leaving her 4-year-old daughter in a running vehicle while she went into a store.

Judith L. Rogers was charged with leaving a child unattended in a running motor vehicle, a class B misdemeanor.

My truck has one of those electronic keypads on the door so I can unlock it without a key. A few times I’ve had the kids in the car and realize that the place I stopped at for gas doesn’t have pay at the pump. So, I leave the air on, lock the door, and run inside to pay. The truck is locked and I always make certain that I can see my vehicle. It’s a lot more convenient than unstrapping two kids; taking them into a dirty gas station; then having to buy them a Slushee because once they see it, they must have one; herding them back to the truck while they’re under their initial sugary beverage rush; getting them back in their seats; and strapping them back in. I didn’t know I was breaking the law.

When you pry them from my cold, dead hands.

In England, a group of thugs threaten some golfers with planks of wood. The thugs want to steal the golf clubs. One problem with their plan is that a seven iron will do a number on a skull. Sounds like all ended happily, right? Wrong. This being England and all, guess who was arrested?

At Pelham Library, a teen did some research on the laws related to the concealed carry of a handgun. Someone at the library reported the suspicious activity. The teen was then called to the principal’s office and interviewed by police. Seems that reporting someone’s reading habits may also be a violation of the law. The library seems mostly unconcerned about this:

‘It is not our procedure to notify somebody,’ about the books people order, library Director Patricia Perito said Wednesday, the day after the incident. But, she said, she had to look into it. Since then, Perito has declined to provide any explanation of the incident or information on the instructions the library has regarding notifying authorities about questionable book choices.”

Is this weird, or what? Apparently, it didn’t stop there, but went on to the police. “Pelham Manor police Detective Ken Campion said the teen was doing research on gun carry and concealment laws, not on how to conceal a gun…. There was not anything to be worried about with regard to the teen, Campion said after interviewing him Tuesday. He did not break any laws.” He didn’t, but somebody did.

According to one of the comments on this article, the busybody in the library who called the school does this sort of thing all the time. It’s not clear if the person is actually a librarian, but it doesn’t matter that much. The director doesn’t seem too upset about it, and presumably she’s a librarian. She should have trotted out a high-minded speech about the ALA and privacy issues and told everyone she was going to fix this problem immediately!

So, Northamptonshire police wonder the neighborhoods with megaphones shouting at the residents to lock their doors. They call it innovative policing. And give themselves a pat on the back.

Ok, then.