Free Republic

Social Dancing Banned In New York Appeals Court Rules Ban Is ConstitutionalPOSTED: 9:22 pm EST February 22, 2007 NEW YORK -- Should you find yourself in a bar in New York City, and the music playing makes you want to get up and dance, please resist the urge. A state court on Thursday upheld the city's Prohibition-era law that bans social dancing in bars, restaurants and certain clubs. Those who like to get up and boogie sued, arguing the law illegally infringes on their right of free expression. The city's Cabaret Law, which was enacted 80 years ago, bans social...

SELMA, ALA. - On stage, the famous jazz pianist Thelonious Monk wore a collard-leaf pin in his lapel - an act of solidarity, in the guise of a key Southern food, with his sharecropper roots. Standing in front of Selma High School the other day, principal Roosevelt Wilson broke with Mr. Monk and proclaimed war on the humble but proud collard, the leafy green usually cooked with lard, and all the other unhealthy Southern foods it evokes. "If I could, I'd tell them never to eat collards again," says the appropriately lean Mr. Wilson, as he surveys gossiping gaggles of...

Actors having real sex in art-house movies. Erstwhile child star Lindsay Lohan appearing barely clad on the cover of her new album. Teenage girls strolling down Main Street USA attired in ''Porn Star" T-shirts. A bikini-wearing Jessica Simpson bumping and grinding in the music video for ''These Boots Are Made for Walkin.' " College-age women flashing for the ''Girls Gone Wild" video series with nonchalant exhibitionism. Not too long ago, pornography was a furtive profession, its products created and consumed in the shadows. But it has steadily elbowed its way into the limelight, with an impact that can be measured...

CLARKSTON, WASH. - Washington smokers facing a ban on lighting up in bars and restaurants are taking their habit - and money - to Idaho. "I've had regular clientele tell me right to my face they're going to Idaho to smoke," Tony Salerno, owner of Hogan's in Clarkston, told the Lewiston Tribune. Washington voters approved Initiative 901 in November, which bans smoking within 25 feet of doorways, windows and air intakes of public places and workplaces. It took effect Dec. 8. That has left some establishments in Washington near the Idaho border having to compete with bars and restaurants in...