Free Republic

China bans "sexual sounds" on airwavesWed Sep 26, 2007 11:31am EDT BEIJING (Reuters) - China has banned "sexually provocative sounds" on television and pulled the plug on a show reconstructing infamous crimes by women ahead of a major Communist Party meeting next month. The order, issued by the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, is the latest in a raft of measures which have included axing reality shows featuring sex changes and plastic surgery and banning talent contests during prime-time. "Sexually suggestive advertisements and scenes showing how women are influenced into a life of crime are detrimental to society,"...

A Fresno elementary school became the latest to ban cupcakes and other sugary treats in favor of healthier snacks this week. School officials at Roosevelt Elementary School say the move is part of a districtwide initiative to improve student nutrition. As part of the effort, the school substituted its "Donuts with Dad" event scheduled for later this week for one called "Fruit with Dad." Officials say they're also giving students more whole-grain bread and reduced-fat cheese, and cutting out high-sugar breakfast cereals and soft drinks in vending machines.

CAIRO, Egypt - Saudi Arabia has indefinitely banned the distribution of a leading Arab newspaper, days after the paper disclosed that a Saudi extremist had played a key role in a violent Iraqi al-Qaida front group. One of the kingdom's most influential journalists immediately criticized the ban, calling it a sharp retreat from recent growing press freedoms. It was unclear if the Iraqi article was the main impetus for the ban, or merely the culmination of several weeks of disputes, mostly on other issues, between the Al Hayat newspaper and the kingdom's information minister. Saudi officials are sensitive to criticism...

BEIJING - City officials yanked hundreds of thousands of cars off Beijing's streets Friday to test whether a partial car ban could clear health-threatening smog and ease gridlock during next year's Olympic Games. The test is a challenge for Beijing Olympic organizers and city authorities to see if they can balance the need to dampen severe pollution without angering a growing middle class. Upwardly mobile Beijing residents have quickly grown used to the comforts of driving, as private car ownership exploded in the past five years. "We just got used to driving and suddenly we're not allowed?" said Zhang Jie,...

Should California ban or place speed limits on lane-splitting by motorcyclists? Ban all lane-splitting (0 Votes, 0%) Allow lane-splitting, but set speed limits (0 Votes, 0%) Allow all lane splitting (1 Vote, 100%) Note: Scroll down on the homepage a bit and look for the poll on the right side. Vote accordingly.

The Moscow government has officially rejected the organization of gay pride parade in Russia's capital, RIA Novosti reports with reference to security agencies of the city authorities. The organizers of the gay pride parade officially informed the Moscow administration of their intention to hold the event in the city at the end of May, officials said. Moscow's first gay parade in 2006 ended with clashes and arrests

Deeply disturbing, Google lawyer saysA court in Dallas, Texas has found a website operator liable for copyright infringement because his site linked to an 'audio webcast' without permission. Observers have criticised the judge for failing to understand the internet. Robert Davis runs Supercrosslive.com and put direct links on his site to audio streams of motorcycle racing. Those streams were created, owned and hosted by SFX Motor Sports, which is behind some of the events covered. A preliminary injunction was granted on 12th December by Judge Sam Lindsay in the US District Court for the Northern District of Texas. Judge Lindsay...

No smoking would be allowed inside public buildings in Texas — including restaurants, bars and workplaces — if a legislative proposal is approved to make the Lone Star State one of 18 states with sweeping bans on smoking. "It is a public health crisis and a very expensive one," said state Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, who is spearheading the proposal. He said he plans to file a bill at the end of the month and that he will be joined at that time by a coalition of anti-smoking groups as he unveils details. The proposal is sure to trigger a...

Something has happened to freedom in modern America. There seems to be less of it, and we don’t all seem to know how. There certainly has been a slight but undeniable Osauma Bin Ladin tax; levied against our individual rights, since the attacks of 9/11. However, the people keeping us down today aren’t from the Middle East, don’t speak Farsi, unless they came by it from their family, and are not oppressing the masses in hopes of imposing Sharia. They do it for the children. They do it because they care. Anything that might hurt an ordinary American gets reflexively...

JERUSALEM – A Jewish Knesset member yesterday proposed a bill to ban adults from "pressing" minors into becoming more involved in religion and Jewish tradition. Ophir Paz-Pines, from Israel's Labor party, is seeking to pass legislation to prevent adults from attempting to increase or decrease the religious involvement of anyone under the age of 18. Labor is the main coalition partner in Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's government. According to Pines' bill, influencing the religious involvement of children can "cause the break-up of a family and cause damage to minors." The bill was seen as targeting religious youth groups and...

Berkley, Michigan City Council Caves In To ACLU Threat And Removes Decades-Old Nativity Display Tue, Nov 21, 2006 ANN ARBOR, MI – The Berkley, Michigan City Council last night voted 6-to-1 to no longer display a Nativity scene on city property. The City caved in to an ACLU threat of a lawsuit if they continued their decades-old Nativity display. Some residents claim that the Nativity display had been on city property for more than 60 years. Richard Thompson, President and Chief Counsel of the Law Center, commented, “The City Council crushed the crèche. Despite all of its rationalizing last night,...

GRAND RAPIDS -- Spectrum Health and Saint Mary's Health Care will require all their employees to not use tobacco at any time during their work shift beginning January 1. The staffs of both hospitals will need to arrive without smelling of smoke, and they can't use any tobacco products until they leave hospital property after their shift. Metro Health is also joining in the Smoke-Free Work Day Every Day campaign. In 2003, the Grand Rapids hospitals became the first in the country to jointly declare their hospital campuses smoke-free. Today, more than 30 Michigan hospitals have smoke-free campuses. This...

SEATTLE -- Non-tribal casinos have already lost tens of millions of dollars because of Washington’s new indoor smoking ban. A new financial study, conducted by our own KIRO Team 7 Investigators, discovers taxpayers could loose millions as well. Card-rooms, charity bingo halls, and some bars and restaurants are required to report financial information to the state every year. The state hasn't had a chance to look at the figures since the smoking ban took effect. I have. It looks like "no smoking" means economic devastation for the non-tribal gaming industry. If there was ever any doubt that gamblers are also...

Following are actual statistics reflecting examples of the negative impact upon individual businesses following the recently instituted smoking ban ordinances, effective in Springfield, Illinois and surrounding unincorporated Sangamon County this September 15, 2006 (less than two weeks ago). When small businesses account for about two-thirds of our country's economic growth and new jobs, it is difficult to comprehend elected officials' reasoning in voting to implement an intrusive ordinance which will hurt those same business owners. A restaurant owner who does not permit smoking will see it as a violation of his property rights if a coalition uses the political...

Delaware County's ban on smoking in most work places has become a problem for some nursing homes, which are both work places for employees and homes for the residents. The smoking ordinance does not prevent people from smoking in their homes, but it does ban smoking in most public buildings and work spaces. If a nursing home bans smoking, they could lose federal funding for failing to comply with regulations, but if they allow smoking they could face fines or a lawsuit from the county health department, officials said. Federal regulations state that if a nursing home changes its...

Churchill Downs could be hurt financially if it is forced to go completely smoke free, a company official said Wednesday. Kevin Flanery, Churchill Downs Inc.’s vice president for national public affairs, told a Louisville Metro Council committee considering a new, tougher smoking ban, that the race track is already facing heavy competition from Indiana and from computer and telephone betting services.And he said the company’s experience at a Florida track shows some people will stop betting when a smoking ban takes effect. But the former head of the Greater Louisville Medical Society testified that his group favors a complete...

A private smokers club in Smiths Falls challenged Ontario's indoor smoking ban with its grand opening Friday — and Ontario officials did not brave the fumes to attend. Instead, the club's founder was charged under the province's Smoke-Free Ontario act the day before it opened. Since Ontario's indoor workplace and public smoking ban went into effect, ashtrays and cigars have been illegal in bars. The grand opening of Do' Little's pub as a club for members of a private smokers association took place at noon at the Comfort Inn on Centre Street in Smiths Falls, about 65 kilometres south of...

Park Ridge aldermen will resume discussion of the city's public smoking ban, following complaints from three restaurant owners that their businesses have been adversely affected by it.The restaurant owners spoke briefly to the City Council Monday night, prompting Mayor Howard Frimark to ask the aldermen if the smoking ban should be brought back before the Procedures and Regulations Committee. Alderman Jeannie Markech agreed that it should, and made a motion for the discussion. Eight aldermen voted in favor of the issue going back to committee and five voted against. One alderman was absent.The next meeting of the Procedures and Regulations...

There have been a bunch of books about the mistakes made after the American invasion of Baghdad, George Packer's Assassin's Gate and Thomas Ricks' Fiasco being the two best in my opinion.Yesterday, the Washington Post published an excerpt from Rajiv Chandrasekaran's effort. He was their bureau chief there for a few years and his book, Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Iraq's Green Zone, will be released tomorrow.I haven't read the book, but the excerpt is as damning as anything could be. It outlines how people were recruited to serve in the Coalition Provisional Authority, the group that ran...

Jobs are being eliminated by special interest activist organizations Now that air quality test results by the likes of the American Cancer Society are proving that the secondhand smoke kills argument is completely fabricated. http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2004/04/american-cancer-society-test-results.html It's time for lawmakers to investigate why this fallacy has permeated the local government debate.....and specifically who is funding and spreading that false information. http://www.rwjf.org/about/founder.jhtml The "who" is in large part the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. And since RWJF is an affiliate of the Johnson & Johnson Company (the manufacturer of competing nicotine product interests Nicoderm & Nicoderm CQ), it stands to reason that the...