While the people of Boston willingly give up their most basic 4th Amendment rights so thousands of SWATted-up cops could find one bomber, April wasn’t the busiest of months for stupid, intrusive laws. But it did provide some doozies.
Councilman Peter Vallone Jr., for example, introduced legislation that would ban or introduce tight regulations on costumed characters in New York City.
“Clearly, the situation can’t continue to exist the way it does, and the laws we already have don’t deal with the situation.”
Vallone is concerned about costumed characters running amok in Times Square. His concern is based on a few creeps in recent months saying, or doing, creepy things — such as uttering anti-Semitism, as is the case with “Evil Elmo” Adam — “no relation to the actor” — Sandler.
Times Square Alliance president Tim Tompkins is also concerned about other evil Elmos popping up.
“We’ve reached a critical point where this needs to be addressed. Times Square is Times Square. A little bit of quirky is OK. A lot of creepy is not OK.”
Quirky OK. Creepy not OK.
The councilman and Tompkins are upset that the 1st Amendment gets in the way. They say the only way to currently arrest evil Elmos is if they A) Disrupt foot traffic or B) Sell something.
Really — you can’t arrest them if they hurt someone? And wasn’t Evil Elmo already arrested? So why do you need MORE intrusive laws?
The answer is that control freaks in this council want to regulate every aspect of New Yorkers’ lives…right down to the costumes they wear and (potentially vile) things they say.
Should these be banned in Times Square too?
So, if the legislation passes, cops will just have to remember Tompkins’ golden rule about wearing costumes: Don’t be creepy.
Yoko Ono (Upper West Side resident), and wearers of Yoko Ono’s emasculating fashions, are you listening?
Here is some more legislative ridiculousness from April:
Bloomie back at it. Speaking of NYC, what intrusive laws list would be complete without Mayor Bloomberg? Now he wants to ban the sale of cigs to adults under 21. (He’s also trying to ban the DISPLAY of cigs to ANYONE.)
Drunk walking banned? In Bethel Alaska, it could be against the law to walk drunk. (Alaska DUI laws already apply to rafting while drunk!)
Background checks for dogs. One North Carolina pol wants residents to get background checks before getting a Pit Bull, Mastiff, Chow or other allegedly “dangerous” dog breed. Canine profiling anyone?
Cheesy regulators. The FDA is frankly out of control. You will see this outfit in the coming months attempt to expand its already gargantuan reach. They’re currently gunning for caffeinated products. Now they’re worried about French cheese.
Where’s yer gun? As New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo jockeys for the national spotlight by banning things such as magazines with more than seven rounds, councilmen in Nelson Georgia have gone off the deep end — on the other side. The town in April actually passed a law MANDATING gun ownership!
“It bumps up against the national issues on guns,” the mayor said.
Ya think?