In this special series on the Stupid Patrol we are bringing you the truly stupid laws that exist in the USA, and around the world.

We hope you knowing these stupid and relatively unknown laws will give you a laugh, keep you informed on the idiocy that can be law, and help keep you out of jail – for being Stupid.

As they say “ignorance of the law is no excuse” and as we say stupidity must be a real good excuse!

Today we discover – Maine

• Shotguns are required to be taken to church in the event of a Native American attack.
• You may not step out of a plane in flight.
• After January 14th you will be charged a fine for having your Christmas decorations still up.

Sheriff: Good thing I grew up in NYC – mom from Pennsylvania. Lights always came down around Easter! We would have gotten a fine every year!

If you know any stupid laws that I missed from your state? Let me know – expose stupidity for what it is – STUPID

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In this special series on the Stupid Patrol we are bringing you the truly stupid laws that exist in the USA, and around the world.

We hope you knowing these stupid and relatively unknown laws will give you a laugh, keep you informed on the idiocy that can be law, and help keep you out of jail – for being Stupid.

As they say “ignorance of the law is no excuse” and as we say stupidity must be a real good excuse!

Today we discover – Hawaii

• Billboards are outlawed.

Full text of the Law 445-112

Where and when permitted. No person shall erect, maintain, or use a billboard or display any outdoor advertising device, except as provided in this section:

(1) The display of official notices and signs, posted by order of any court or public office, or posted by any public officer in the performance of a public duty, or posted by any person required to do so by any law or rule having the force of law.

(2) Any outdoor advertising device announcing a meeting or series of meetings is not prohibited by this section if displayed on the premises where the meeting or series of meetings will be or is being held. Meeting, as used in this section, includes all meetings regardless of whether open to the public or conducted for profit and includes but is not limited to sports events, conventions, fairs, rallies, plays, lectures, concerts, motion pictures, dances, and religious services.

(3) Any outdoor advertising device indicating that the building or premises on which it is displayed is the residence, office, or place of business, commercial or otherwise, of any individual, partnership, joint venture, association, club, or corporation, and stating the nature of the business.

(4) Any outdoor advertising device that advertises property or services that may be bought, rented, sold, or otherwise traded in on the premises or in the building on which the outdoor advertising device is displayed.

(5) The offering for sale of merchandise bearing incidental advertising, including books, magazines, and newspapers, in any store, newsstand, vending machine, rack, or other place where such merchandise is regularly sold.

(6) Any outdoor advertising device offering any land, building, or part of a building for sale or rent, if displayed on the property so offered or on the building of which part is so offered.

(7) Any outdoor advertising device carried by persons or placed upon vehicles used for the transportation of persons or goods.

(8) Any outdoor advertising device warning the public of dangerous conditions that they may encounter in nearby sections of streets, roads, paths, public places, power lines, gas and water mains, or other public utilities.

(9) Signs serving no commercial purpose that indicate places of natural beauty, or of historical or cultural interest and that are made according to designs approved by the department of business, economic development, and tourism.

(10) Any outdoor advertising device or billboard erected, placed, or maintained upon a state office building, if erected, placed, or maintained by authority of a state agency, department, or officer for the sole purpose of announcing cultural or educational events within the State, and if the design and location thereof has been approved by the department of business, economic development, and tourism.

(11) Signs urging voters to vote for or against any person or issue, if erected not more than forty-five days before, and removed not less than ten days after, the election in which the person is a candidate or in which the issue is to be voted upon.

(12) Signs stating that a residence that is offered for sale, lease, or rent is open for inspection at the actual time the sign is displayed and showing the route to the residence; provided that the sign contains no words or designs other than the words “Open House”, the address of the residence, the name of the person or agency responsible for the sale, and an arrow or other directional symbol and is removed during such time as the residence is not open for inspection.

(13) The erection, maintenance, and use of billboards if the billboard is used solely for outdoor advertising devices not prohibited by this section.

(14) The continued display and maintenance of outdoor advertising devices actually displayed on July 8, 1965, in accordance with all laws and ordinances immediately theretofore in effect.

(15) The continued maintenance of any billboard actually maintained on July 8, 1965, and the display thereon of the same or new advertising devices, all in accordance with all laws and ordinances in effect immediately prior to July 9, 1965.

(16) Any outdoor advertising device displayed with the authorization of the University of Hawaii on any scoreboard of any stadium owned by the university. An outdoor advertising device displayed under this paragraph shall be on the front of the scoreboard and face the interior of the stadium.

(17) Any temporary outdoor advertising device attached to or supported by the structure of any stadium owned by the University of Hawaii, located within and facing the interior of the stadium, and authorized to be displayed by the university. For the purpose of this paragraph, “temporary” means displayed for a short period before the official start of organized athletic competition, during the organized athletic competition, and for a short period after the official end of the organized athletic competition; and

(18) Any outdoor advertising device displayed with the authorization of the stadium authority on any scoreboard of any stadium operated by the stadium authority. An outdoor advertising device displayed under this paragraph shall be on the front of the scoreboard and face the interior of the stadium.

[L 1965, c 233, pt of �1; Supp, �155-121; HRS �445-112; am L 1986, c 245, �1; am L 1987, c 336, �7; am L 1990, c 293, �8; am L 1994, c 118, �1]

Why does this law exist?

One of Hawaii’s major sources of income is tourism, and therefore many measures are taken to protect its natural beauty. Therefore, building codes such as this have been established to preserve views of the mountains, volcanoes, and beaches of the islands.

• All residents may be fined as a result of not owning a boat.
• Coins are not allowed to be placed in one’s ears

If there are any Stupid – and we mean STUPID laws in your State that we missed, or in your city for our upcoming stupid city laws list, let us know.

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Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi

NEW YORK, NY – Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi tried to set up a tent in a New York suburb but was blocked by city officials, US media reported.

Gaddafi, who is famous for staying in his large Bedouin tent during foreign visits, was getting the tent erected in the city of Bedford on an estate owned by US billionaire Donald Trump, ABC News reported Tuesday.

But city officials sought to stop its construction, arguing it violates town regulations. It was unclear if the eccentric Libyan leader ever planned to stay in Bedford.

Trump may have unwittingly loaned the estate to Libya. His company in a statement said the property was leased to Middle Eastern partners that “may or may not have a relationship to Gaddafi” and it was looking into the issue.

Gaddafi’s people have previously been barred from erecting the tent in New York’s Central Park and on land in a New Jersey suburb owned by the Libyan embassy.

The ongoing saga has left Libya struggling to find a place for Gaddafi to stay during his visit to New York, where he is set to address the UN General Assembly this week. It is his first visit to the United States since taking power in 1969.

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New York, NY

Add this one to the presidential collection: the heart-shaped potato. 

By the time Barack Obama came on stage to the taping of the “Late Show” on Monday, host David Letterman had offered up 10 reasons why in the world the president had agreed to do it. 

Among Letterman’s theories: Obama said yes without thinking about it, or as Letterman put it, “Like Bush did with Iraq.” 

But Obama had other ideas. It turns out he was listening when Letterman had bantered with a woman in the audience who brought — yes — a potato in the shape of a heart to the show. 

Obama told Letterman: “The main reason I’m here? I want to see that heart-shaped potato.” 

The woman tossed the potato to Letterman.

 She agreed to let Obama keep it. Said the president: “This is remarkable.” 

Actually, the Top 10 list was edited out of the broadcast, but it was available on the CBS Web site. A spokesman said the length of the Obama interview caused the edit.

 Obama also had his most irreverent answer yet on the question of whether some of the vitriolic reaction to his health care plan is driven at least partly by racism.

 ”First of all, I think it’s important to realize that I was actually black before the election,” Obama said to huge laughs from Letterman and the audience.

 Responded Letterman: “How long have you been a black man?”

Letterman covered a number of topics with Obama — many of them serious — in a taping that ran about 40 minutes. The show will be broadcast on CBS on Monday evening.

On the economy, Obama offered a sober prediction as the country deals with 9.7 percent unemployment, the worst level since 1983. He said he expects unemployment will be a “big problem” for at least another year. But he also said the economy will rebound even stronger.

As for the war in Afghanistan, Obama said he knows some people want him to bring troops home, and others are calling for him to increase U.S. force levels to combat the insurgency. The top U.S. commander there is warning the war could be lost without more troops.

Obama said he won’t make a decision on sending in more troops, though, until he completes a comprehensive review of the war effort and settles on his next strategy.

“I’m going to be asking some very hard questions,” Obama said.

Obama’s visit made him the first sitting president to appear on Letterman’s program. He had been on Letterman’s show five times before, though, most recently in September 2008.

The White House said it was a good way for him to reach yet another audience as Obama wraps up a blitz of TV appearances, trying mainly to build support for his health care plan.

As president, Obama also went on NBC’s “Tonight” show when it was hosted by Jay Leno.

After the taping, the president returned to his midtown Manhattan hotel and quietly emerged a while later in gym clothes and a baseball cap. His destination: the church across the street for some basketball with his aides.

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SHREVEPORT, La. – A man impersonating an officer with a flashing red light in his car has been arrested after he pulled over the wrong driver — the mayor of Shreveport, La., police said.

Police think the suspect was using the in-dash light to maneuver through traffic Monday night in northwest Louisiana.

Shreveport Mayor Cedric Glover said he pulled over when the driver pulled up behind him, but that the man turned around and left as soon as he saw it was the mayor.

Mayor of Shreveport

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Mia Engberg’s film series, Dirty Diaries premiered tonight in the Swedish capital of Stockholm and has sparked controversy with regard to its public funding. The collection of erotica received the equivalent of US $69 000 in financial support from the Swedish Film Institute and each picture was filmed using a mobile phone. 

The Dirty Diaries website outlines the feminist perspective behind the one dozen films highlighting the ways in which they challenge gender norms and empower women. The online manifesto confronts gendered norms of beauty, heterosexism and misogyny and calls for women to engage in safer sex, embrace self-pleasure and celebrate sexual diversity.

Engberg and The Swedish Film Institute defend the public financing of feminist porn as a means of revealing and exploring sexuality through a female’s perspective. The filmmaker emphasizes that unlike mainstream pornography, her work is “not made to please a male audience and it’s not made to make money.”

Not surprisingly, taxpayer funding of the Dirty Diaries series has drawn harsh criticism from conservatives. The Local, a Swedish news source, suggests that feminism has gained an undeserved special status and the funding of feminist erotica represents a saddening disrespect for public monies.

Click here to view (NSFW) clips and stills from Dirty Diaries.

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