ISP: Sex Toy Ban
Video: "In order for a pickle to officially be considered a pickle, it must bounce."
This is an actual law on the books in Connecticut. And there are plenty more like it, in every state in nation.
For example, in Nevada it is illegal to drive a camel on the highway. In Ohio, women are technically prohibited from wearing patent leather shoes in public. As we all know, they reflect up.
I found these at a website called Dumblaws.com, and the site served as an inspiration for a theme to today's ISP. All the stories are a little slice of the ridiculous from the legal world.
One of the most popular videos today, number seven on Technorati, is an investigative piece from the CBS affiliate in Austin, KEYE, first reported last May. In it, you see Texas state lawmakers manipulating the voting system by casting multiple votes at once. State representatives basically play a game of whac-a-mole to get to abandoned buzzers of missing colleagues and usurp those votes.
In Alabama, a legal battle is underway over sex toys. Apparently, they violate the obscenity codes in that state, and store owners are not allowed to stock or sell them.
One sex shop owner, a woman named Sherri Williams, is challenging the law on free speech and privacy grounds. It got all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, but yesterday the Justices declined to take the case.
Williams is not backing down, saying the state of Alabama will have to pry those toys "from her cold, dead hand."
And check out a clever video from YouTube—some teens reenacting several of the dumb laws from the website mentioned above.
And be sure to post comments and send along story ideas!