http://www.nbc10.com/

EASTON, Pa. — The Easton City Council is considering a law that would let the city permanently seize the car of anyone caught cruising for a prostitute.

However, it is unclear if such a law would hold up in court. Easton defense lawyer Gary Asteak said the city cannot impose a severe penalty for what state law calls a misdemeanor. Still, Pennsylvania law lets police seize cars used in drug deals.

Police Chief Larry Palmer said he doesn’t know how the courts will rule, but said such a law is worth trying. Once a few cars are seized, it will make people think twice about going into Easton to find a prostitute, Palmer said.

What if you are cruising on a bicycle? A skateboard? Better yet, what if you approach a prostitute while taking a mid-afternoon stroll? Will they seize your sneakers?

There should be no laws regarding sex for consenting adults. Period.

Government should not only be kept out of the bedroom, but also out of the backseat of some guy’s Chevy.

http://ap.google.com/…

A college student claimed it was all a joke when he put his vote in this fall’s presidential election up for sale on the Web auction site eBay. But prosecutors didn’t see the humor.

University of Minnesota student Max P. Sanders, 19, was charged with a felony Thursday in Hennepin County District Court after allegedly asking for a minimum of $10 in exchange for voting for the bidder’s preferred candidate.

“Good luck!” Sanders wrote under the eBay handle zepdrummer612. “You’re (sic) country depends on You!”

Sanders was charged with one count of bribery, treating and soliciting under an 1893 state law that makes it a crime to offer to buy or sell a vote.

According to a criminal complaint, the Minnesota secretary of state’s office learned about the offering on the Web site and told prosecutors. Investigators sent a subpoena to eBay and got information that led to Sanders.

The student told investigators he made the eBay posting, adding, “That was a joke. It’s no longer listed,” according to the complaint.

“We take it very seriously. Fundamentally, we believe it is wrong to sell your vote,” said John Aiken, a spokesman for the office. “There are people that have died for this country for our right to vote, and to take something that lightly, to say, ‘I can be bought.’

“It’s a real shame,” he said. “I can imagine the conversations being held in American Legion Clubs and VFWs about whether this is a joke or not.”

The scarcely used law had its heyday in the 1920s, when many people sold their votes in exchange for liquor, Assistant County Attorney Pat Diamond said.

“There are two things going on here in terms of why it’s a crime,” he said. “One is the notion that elections should be a contest of ideas and not of pocketbooks — at least not in the sense of straight-out ‘I can buy your vote.’ The second notion is that everybody gets one vote, and you don’t get to buy another one.”

Sanders and his attorney, Steven Levine, declined to comment Thursday. The charge carries up to five years’ imprisonment and a $10,000 fine.

As for the offer on eBay? It got no bids.

It’s OK to vote one way or another for free but the second it’s in exchange for something we’re going to have to pull out the guns to keep you from soiling the wonderful institution of mob rules democracy.

http://www.ballot-access.org/…

http://www.calcatholic.com/…

Even in the face of an estimated $20 billion budget deficit, a bill that would raise revenues by imposing a 25% tax on earnings of the pornography industry is meeting with stiff resistance in the California legislature, with opponents claiming it would drive a multi-billion-dollar industry out of the state.

The bill, AB 2914, authored by Assemblyman Charles Calderon, D-Whittier, would levy a 25% tax on gross revenues from the sale of pornographic magazines, photos, books, films and videotapes, and on the gross earnings of live sexually explicit entertainment and pay-per-view pornography provided to hotel guests.

According to a legislative analysis of the bill, it could raise up to $665 million a year in new revenues for the financially strapped state.

“AB 2914 would tax adult entertainment and adult entertainment venues in a manner similar to the way in which cigarettes and alcohol are already taxed in this state,” said Calderon in the legislative analysis. “Currently, these two products are taxed at higher rates, and the additional revenues are used to address the negative effects of their use. This measure would tax adult entertainment in a comparable manner, with the intent to use the funds to address the various secondary effects associated with the production and consumption of adult entertainment. The secondary effects of production are especially noteworthy as California is the capital of the adult entertainment industry in the United States.”

Money raised by the new tax would be used for “law enforcement, testing and treatment of sexually transmitted diseases, treatment for drug and alcohol abuse, health care and mental health treatment,” said Calderon. “AB 2914 does not make a judgment on the adult entertainment industry. It merely asks the industry to help mitigate some of its ancillary effects in the state that is its production capital, not unlike the state already does with alcohol and cigarettes.”

At a May 12 hearing, opponents testified that imposing a 25% tax on porn industry profits could drive the business out of California, at a cost in jobs and other revenues of as much as $3.5 billion. It would have an especially hard impact, witnesses testified, on the San Fernando Valley, said to be the “porn capital of the world.”

Republicans in the legislature have indicated they would vote against the bill because it is a tax increase and they oppose any tax increase of any stripe. Under state law, tax increases require a 2/3 majority of both houses of the legislature.

Following the May 12 hearing, Calderon’s bill was referred to the “suspense file” of the Assembly Committee on Revenue and Taxation. Although theoretically the bill could be taken out of the suspense file and considered again, the move most likely means the measure is dead for this session of the legislature.

I like that super majority law. Though it’s likely a super majority of a quorum which is less than half of the membership.

Perhaps instead of raising taxes, borrowing or raiding some other funds… I have a suggestion for the California state government. Cut spending. It’s amazing how quickly your bills drop when you just stop taking on debt you don’t need.

As for the proposed tax. As with just about every tax it will harm the industry and likely push it out of state. It just wouldn’t make sense to stay. By some accounts a single DVD could be taxed upwards of 5 times in its creation. No one would stand for that. Then you revenue stream dries up and you’re strapped for cash again sometime down the road. These people have less economic sense then a cup of coffee.

http://www.nytimes.com/…

A majority of the Supreme Court appeared ready on Tuesday to embrace, for the first time in the country’s history, an interpretation of the Second Amendment that protects the right to own a gun for personal use.

That may be the easy part.

The harder question in the case challenging the District of Columbia’s handgun ban is determining what kind of restrictions the government could constitutionally place, in the name of public safety, on the newly recognized right. The answer to that question, on which the outcome of the case will turn, was less clear.

The argument was lively and intense, running 22 minutes over its allotted hour and 15 minutes. Despite “starting afresh,” as Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. put it, on a subject the court had not addressed since 1939, the justices appeared at least as well informed as the lawyers on minute details of English and American legal history.

Sounds like a fun time. Even if they rule against freedom I don’t see how it’s going to change anything. Freer gun states will do their thing and fascist states will do theirs. People like myself will only put up with the states crap for so long. At some point we will just stop even trying to play nice and follow the rules.

One thing about the old Massachusetts law… DC is under federal jurisdiction not state. The 2nd Amendment has not been incorporated so it could be an argument if this were about a state law but it’s not. I also don’t see how not having loaded weapons is in anyway the same has not have any.

http://www.dallasnews.com/…

Mr. Bond intended to set 18 as the minimum age to marry, except when pregnant teens have parental consent. An extraneous “not” in the bill, however, allows anyone younger than 18 to marry at any age if the parents allow it.

The bill reads: “In order for a person who is younger than eighteen (18) years of age and who is not pregnant to obtain a marriage license, the person must provide the county clerk with evidence of parental consent to the marriage.”

A code revision committee corrected the bill, but the Arkansas Legislative Council said Friday the committee may have overstepped its bounds.

The commission is authorized to correct spelling, grammar, incorrect word use, typos and other errors.

The commission will likely have to meet in the coming weeks to undo the change it made to the law, and several lawmakers said a special session may be necessary.

While the RTBA itself wouldn’t have prevented this (given that it’s a state law) a similar law would have. Odds are good that if everyone actually read or heard the incorrect statement that someone would have picked up on it. This is really a minor example compared to the passing of the PATRIOT Act. Some have criticized that making the Congress actually read all of every bill would slow their pace. Since when is the passing of legislation a race? Holding them up would be a benefit to the public. Only the important bills would end up finding their way through to passage. Besides that… how can you argue that it’s OK for those who pass legislation not to even read it before voting. Even the code revision committee is highly suspect. Spelling is one thing… but changing the grammar or word usage after passage is scary.