Silly, Silly Laws

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April 2008
- Bowl System May Violate Federal Law
  
  Associated Press | Apr 18, 08 11:31 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - A Congressional resolution could have the Justice Department looking into whether the college football bowl system is illegal, the AP reports. The authors of the resolution say the system restricts trade because only the biggest schools seem to have a shot at being voted into the championship game. A look at the leglsiators' home addresses suggests a personal angle, however. More »
- Media-Shy Scalia Hits Road With 18th-Century Views
  
  USA Today | Apr 18, 08 2:20 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - After years of courting controversy but shunning publicity, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia is about to go on a media offensive, reports USA Today. The conservative Scalia, who has notoriously kept the press away from his public appearances, allowed C-SPAN recently to broadcast a question-and-answer session with students. He'll also appear on 60 Minutes this month. Why? He's plugging a book he co-authored on legal arguments. More »
- Jilted Wife Takes Divorce to YouTube
  
  Associated Press | Apr 16, 08 11:40 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Divorce has a new weapon: YouTube. The former-actress wife of a millionaire theater impresario took to the Internet last week in a teary six-minute video in which she claims her older hubby is evicting her from their Park Avenue pad after years of refusing her sex despite owning porn, condoms, and Viagra, the AP reports. May not play in divorce court, but it's scored 287,776 hits. More »
- France Moves to Outlaw 'Inciting' Thinness
  
  Guardian (UK) | Apr 15, 08 1:50 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - France’s lower legislative body today approved a law banning the promotion of anorexic behavior, the Guardian reports. Applicable to magazines, advertising and the web, the law can impose up to a $47,000 fine and two years in prison for “excessively inciting others to deprive themselves of food." Directed chiefly towards pro-anorexic websites, the bill could have broad repercussions for fashion. More »
- Internet Bigwigs Fight NY Law on Tracking Web Users
  
  Wall Street Journal | Apr 10, 08 4:15 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Google, Yahoo and a bevy of Internet biggies have joined to fight a proposed New York state law that would limit their ability to collect information about people's web habits for advertisers, reports the Wall Street Journal . The coalition says the law would endanger the future of online advertising and “the availability of free content on the Internet.” More »
- Florida Passes 'Take Your Gun to Work' Law
  
  Reuters | Apr 10, 08 6:06 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Florida lawmakers have passed a law that prohibits most businesses from banning employees keeping guns in their cars on company property, Reuters reports. Backers hail the measure as a victory for Second Amendment rights. Business groups, fearing an increase in workplace shootings, are urging the governor to veto the so-called "take your gun to work" bill. More »
- UK to Get Tough on Pot
  
  Independent (UK) | Apr 4, 08 9:14 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - The British government is set to tighten the law on marijuana, reclassifying it as a more dangerous drug and imposing a maximum sentence of 5 years in prison for possession. Prime Minister Gordon Brown is determined to designate pot as a class B drug, only three years after Tony Blair downgraded it to class C. More »
March 2008
- States Fume on Eve of REAL ID Deadline
  
  Christian Science Monitor | Mar 30, 08 4:15 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Washington is locked in a standoff with states over REAL ID, an anti-terror law that aims to make driver's licenses harder to dupe or obtain. But no states are near complying and Montana, New Hampshire, and Maine have all balked at the unfunded plan. What's more, REAL ID is just one of the federal mandates that have irked states in recent years, the Christian Science Monitor reports. More »
- Pizza Police Pursue Posers
  
  The Smart Set | Mar 12, 08 3:20 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Think that pineapple-and ham-concoction is a pizza? Not according to Italian law, Julie Reno writes in the Smart Set. Only hand-kneaded dough, rolled to no more than 14 inches in diameter, topped with San Marzano plum tomatoes and baked in a brick wood-fired oven qualifies. La Pizza Polizia crown such authentic Neapolitan pies with Guaranteed Traditional Specialty status: Only two NYC pizzerias have made the cut. More »
- Montana Gov Rips Real ID Law
  
  NPR | Mar 9, 08 8:19 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - NPR Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer and every single state legislator have refused to implement the Real ID Act, a congressional mandate to create standardized identification documents. Schweitzer tells NPR the law is "kooky" and "hare-brained," asserting that half a dozen high school students and a Kinko's are all that would be needed to subvert it. More »
- Court Sends Homeschoolers to Detention
  
  San Francisco Chronicle | Mar 7, 08 12:36 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - California homeschoolers are breaking the law, an appeals court ruled yesterday, by not having certified teachers instructing their kids. California’s law has been clear since 1953, the court said: Kids must go to school full time or be tutored by a credentialed teacher. The decision puts the parents of 166,000 kids at risk of prosecution, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. More »
- Norway Shatters Its Glass Ceiling
  
  Guardian (UK) | Mar 6, 08 5:44 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - A state-mandated shattering of Norway's glass ceiling is drastically changing gender balance in boardrooms there—and not without some resistance, the Guardian reports. A law that 40% of non-executive board directorships at larger firms must go to women went into effect Feb. 22—and though a dozen Norwegian companies failed to fill the quota, an astounding 451 out of 463 did. More »
- Teddy Teacher Spurs UK to Kill Own Blasphemy Law
  
  Los Angeles Times | Mar 6, 08 2:12 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - Britain's House of Lords voted yesterday to abolish blasphemy laws after an international incident sparked debate over secularism and tradition, the Los Angeles Times reports. With the UK and Sudan at odds in November over the prosecution of a British teacher allowing students to name a teddy bear Mohammad, many pointed out the hypocrisy of having a similar measure on common-law books. More »
February 2008
- Pet Ferrets: Cute, Cuddly, Illegal
  
  Chicago Tribune | Feb 23, 08 6:03 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - Americans own about 2 million ferrets, and some are asking why they remain illegal in several states and cities. “Martin Luther King said an injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere,” one ferret advocate said. “And this is an injustice.” Opponents say that owners are imprisoning wild animals, but defenders maintain that a common breed has been domesticated for centuries. More »
December 2007
- Chicago May Ban Pet Chickens
  
  Associated Press | Dec 12, 07 6:34 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - Are chickens a city pet? Chicago’s city council is nearing a vote on a proposal to ban chicken ownership, even as green- and organic-minded citizens around the country increasingly keep the birds for eggs, yard work, and companionship. Among worries for Chicago politicians, the AP reports, are that chickens’ waste attracts rodents and that the birds might transmit avian flu. More »
- Teddy Bear Teacher Goes Free
  
  Guardian (UK) | Dec 3, 07 11:36 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - Gillian Gibbons was released today after a week behind Sudanese bars and apologized "if I have caused any distress," the Guardian reports. Though some called for her death, Gibbons wasn’t bearing a grudge. “I have encountered nothing but kindness from the Sudanese people,” she said in a statement. A spokesman for Sudan’s London embassy said protesters represented a fringe element. More »
November 2007
- Armed Mob Wants British Teacher Dead
  
  Times (UK) | Nov 30, 07 11:24 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - An armed mob thousands strong protested in front of the presidential palace in Khartoum today, demanding the execution of the British teacher who allowed her students to name a teddy bear "Mohammed." Meanwhile, Britain's first Muslim MP is flying to Sudan to push for the teacher's early release, the London Times reports. More »
- Teacher Held for Teddy Bear Blasphemy
  
  Daily Telegraph (UK) | Nov 26, 07 7:25 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - A UK teacher in Sudan may get 40 lashes and a 6-month sentence over a teddy bear named "Mohammed," the Telegraph reports. Sudanese cops nabbed Gillian Gibbons yesterday for blasphemy after she let her elementary school kids name the bear after Islam's prophet. School director Robert Boulos, who has closed the school for fear of attacks, said Gibbons used the bear as a teaching tool. More »
September 2007
- Fed Judge Rules Against Patriot Act
  
  Associated Press | Sep 27, 07 6:07 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Key provisions of the Patriot Act allowing secret searches have been ruled unconstitutional by a federal judge. In the case of Portland lawyer Brandon Mayfield, whose home and office were secretly raided after he was mistakenly linked to bombings in Madrid, a US District judge found that search warrants were issued without probable cause, violating the Fourth Amendment prohibiting unreasonable search and seizure. More »
- Judge: Parts of Patriot Act Unconstitutional
  
  Associated Press | Sep 6, 07 4:03 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - The Patriot Act violates the Constitution by allowing unreasonable searches and seizures, violating separation of powers, and denying free speech, a federal judge ruled today in striking down parts of the revised legislation. Judge Victor Marrero said investigators must obtain court approval before ordering ISPs and phone companies to turn over confidential information without notifying customers, the AP reports. More »