I don’t know which is worse, that the city of Cleveland requires a “music permit” and a “pool table permit,” or that failing to obtain one is a criminal offense.

California wants to ban driving with a dog in your lap. If this were causing people to drive recklessly, you’d think it would be covered by laws against . . . reckless driving.

Proving that stupid ideas never die…

Congressmen Peter J. Roskam (R-IL) today unveiled his “There Oughta Be a Law” initiative at a press conference in Bloomingdale. Roskam was joined by State Senator Dan Cronin, State Senator Kirk Dillard, State Senator Christine Radogno, State Senator Carol Pankau, State Representative Randy Ramey, State Representative Sandy Pihos, Bloomingdale Mayor Bob Iden and Erickson Elementary School Principal Dr. John Markgraf. Roskam released the following statement:

“As a new member of Congress, I have learned first-hand what most 6th District residents already know, Washington is broken. Partisan politics have hamstrung Congress’ ability to find solutions to the most pressing problems our nation faces.

“The constituents I represent are reasonable folks with sound ideas – and it’s time to send a little more 6th District solutions to Washington.

“Therefore, I am proud to give my constituents the unique opportunity to have their legislative idea introduced in Congress. The very best way to restore faith in our nation’s government is to empower individuals. This is the ultimate definition of representative government.

“Working together, we will send more common sense to Washington and Springfield.”

Another city wants to impound your car for playing your radio too loud.

• Yet another study confirms the benefits of moderate alcohol consumption.
  

  After 4 years of follow-up, new moderate drinkers had a 38% lower chance of developing cardiovascular disease than did their non-drinking counterparts. Even after adjusting for physical activity, Body Mass Index, demographic and cardiac risk factors, this difference persisted.

• Four-year-olds allegedly handcuffed by school safety officer for refusing to take a nap.
• Exhaustive review of 600,000 documents seized after our invasion in 2003 finds no connection between Iraq and al-Qaeda.
• The march to post-reductio America continues. Minnesota lawmaker wants to ban scents in public schools.
• Conservative “Blogger of the Year” and terminal douche Ace of Spades on why he defended GOP hypocrite sex customer Sen. David Vitter but is now jumping all over Democratic hypocrite sex customer Gov. Eliot Spitzer:
  

  “Shut up, that’s why.”

  Can’t argue with that!

A Kentucy lawmaker wants to ban . . . well . . .most of  you.

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.

In a new report for CEI, Eli Lehrer looks at a series of dumb products and activities that the various states have banned. Here’s a little taste:

Louisiana’s unique-in-the nation florist licensing statute makes it illegal for anybody to arrange two or more types of flowers without passing a largely subjective state licensing exam. In theory, a child could face a fine for picking a bouquet of flowers and selling it at a roadside stand.

Whole thing here.

No swearing in South Pasadena.  No crotch-grabbing in Italy.

Chicago gets tough on drugs:

Tiny plastic bags used to sell small quantities of heroin, crack cocaine, marijuana and other drugs would be banned in Chicago, under a crackdown advanced Tuesday by a City Council committee.

Ald. Robert Fioretti (2nd) persuaded the Health Committee to ban possession of “self-sealing plastic bags under two inches in either height or width,” after picking up 15 of the bags on a recent Sunday afternoon stroll through a West Side park.

Lt. Kevin Navarro, commanding officer of the Chicago Police Department’s Narcotics and Gang Unit, said the ordinance will be an “important tool” to go after grocery stores, health food stores and other businesses.

Next year, look for a ban on bags “slightly larger than those we banned last year.”

• Congressional Dems are harassing Pfizer for a commercial in which Robert Jarvik endorses the drug Lipitor. The fuss is that Jarvik apparently isn’t licensed to practice medicine. Of course, he did invent the artificial heart. Which suggests that as far as experts go, he probably knows that he’s talking about. Really. There’s nothing else they could be working on?
• Apple rocks.
• Here’s a piece on the culinary delights of Bloomington, Indiana, your humble Agitator’s alma mater town. Bloomington is an odd little place–a cultural oasis in the middle of a backward (but beautiful) part of Indiana.
• So we’re going on two weeks, now, and police in Lima, Ohio still haven’t explained why they killed a 26-year-old mother of six and wounded a one-year-old boy in a botched drug raid. No work on what motivated the officer to shoot the woman. Nothing on the quantity of drugs police claim to have found in the home. No word on any weapons found in the home.
• While we’re on the topic of legislators needing something to do, Miami Beach has banned restaurants from setting up outdoor food displays to lure customers. It has nothing to do with public health. City officials were just worried that the displays “cheapened” the city’s image.
• Very cool new project from the Library of Congress, which is posting public domain photos from its collection on Flickr, then allowing anyone and everyone to tag them.
• Interesting map of the many languages spoken across Europe.

“It comes to a point where there are certain things you just can’t do. And putting testicles on the back of a truck is just too much. So I am trying to stop it.”

– Marlyand Virginia Del. Lionell Spruill, who has intruduced a bill aimed at the popular “Truck Nuts” accessory. Spruill’s bill would ban “anything on a car or truck that looked like human genitalia.”

MORE: One reader emails to wonder if Spruill’s bill wouldn’t ban some car models entirely.

Massachusetts is cracking down on canines, with proposed new ordinances ranging from requiring dogs in cars to wear seatbelts to regulating ownership of pit bulls the way they regulate the ownership of firearms.

See my Fox News column from last year examining the pit bull hysteria and the problems with breed-specific legislation.

No nutbags.

Get caught without a pooper-scooper in St. Charles, Missouri and you’re looking at three months in the pokey.

Hat tip: Brian Noggle.

A town in Texas wants to ban unsightly basketball hoops from front yards and driveways.

Somewhere, the ghost of Norm Dale is weeping.

The state of Texas has effectively banned diving boards at public swimming pools.

No one in Texas has ever been seriously injured on one. They’re just being extra, extra safe.

Cast in the role of natatorial killjoy in this sad story is Katie Moore, a registered sanitarian with the Texas Department of State Health Services, the agency responsible for the new rules.

[...]

“I sympathize,” she says. “I know diving boards are a lot of fun. But why wait until someone is injured?”

The sad thing is, there are lots of people who read that quote, shook their heads, and said to themselves, “Yeah. That makes sense.”

Via Sploid.

Congress takes aim at MySpace.

The New York Times looks at the Big Apple’s efforts to legislate civility and kindness.

From tighter restrictions on sports fans and car alarms to a new $50 fine on subway riders who rest their feet on a seat, New York’s efforts to curb everyday annoyances and foster more civility among its residents have increasingly been studied and debated far from home.

[...]

With its precipitous drops in crime, New York has increasingly been able to turn its attention to policing offensive behavior, from the mere faux pas to outright misconduct that puts others at risk. And that has put it on the front line of a national crackdown on incivility.

“There’s no excuse for that kind of thing,” said Alderman Edward M. Burke, a leader of the Chicago City Council, who has introduced a sports fan law based on New York’s. “I think it’s a good idea to remind the general public of what is expected of them.”

Alderman Burke ought to be voted out of office for that comment alone.