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Meanwhile, in the Show Me State
A St. Louis-area town is considering a bill that would ban swearing in bars, along with table-dancing, drinking contests and profane music. City officials contend the bill is needed to keep rowdy crowds under control because the historic downtown area gets a little too lively on some nights.
In unrelated news, did you know that St. Louis was once the fourth-largest city in the U.S., and had as many as 856,000 residents in 1950? It's lost more than a half-million people since then. (Link via Wonkette.)
Vincent Gigante|1.9.08 @ 12:01PM|#
the sad thing is it probably will pass...
how is the christianofascist presence there?
Episiarch|1.9.08 @ 12:05PM|#
I'd love to see them try to enforce "no profanity". Bring it on, assholes.
VM|1.9.08 @ 12:08PM|#
The guy was interviewed on WGN 720 this morning. What a freakin
tool.
typical fucking fundie.
jerk.
|1.9.08 @ 12:11PM|#
A local Sun-Times columnist wrote about this
here.
He called the councilman who proposed this. Apparently, there is
already a state law about obscene language and this local law's
language was lazily copied from the state liquor laws
Veit said he had just copied the legal language straight from
the state of Missouri's liquor license regulations, which set forth
lengthy rules of conduct for bars. The prohibition on "indecent,
profane or obscene language" was just an obscure provision in the
state regulations that he hadn't much noticed, he said.
"I did not expect it to get this attention," Veit admitted,
explaining he was focused on other restrictions. "I thought the
story was we were cracking down on underage drinking."
So you don't have a particular concern with swearing?
"Absolutely not," he said.
Not that this makes it any better. In fact, if true, it tells quite
a bit about the councilman and his lazy and sloppy regard for
ordinances.
It's pretty sad when the guy proposing the law "hadn't" really
noticed what the language of the ordinance is.
|1.9.08 @ 12:11PM|#
In unrelated news, did you know that St. Louis was once the
fourth-largest city in the U.S., and had as many as 856,000
residents in 1950? It's lost more than a half-million people since
then.
We've doubled those numbers here in Motown.
We're not exactly proud of it.
|1.9.08 @ 12:12PM|#
This arrangement works out perfectly. Missourians are protected from hearing my profanity, and I am protected from ever desiring to go to St. Louis ever.
|1.9.08 @ 12:16PM|#
To think I forswore obscenity laced postings on the internet this year. Darn, this is a golden opportunity.
|1.9.08 @ 12:17PM|#
In unrelated news, did you know that St. Louis was once the
fourth-largest city in the U.S., and had as many as 856,000
residents in 1950? It's lost more than a half-million people since
then.
Unrelated? Don't you get it...all the swearin' and drinkin' has
driven the good folks away!
shecky|1.9.08 @ 12:17PM|#
St Charles isn't exactly St. Louis. Not even the same
county.
MO did have some weird rules, as I recall. Believe it or not, St.
Louis was something of an oasis.
VM|1.9.08 @ 12:22PM|#
ChicagoTom-
what you cite certainly doesn't leave that "ick" impression that he
did on Spike O'Dell this morning (which might account for part of
the factor, of course). Interesting! Thanks!
Jennifer|1.9.08 @ 12:31PM|#
Serious question: even assuming you agree with the rationales
for laws against obscene or scatological language, how can laws
against profane language not run afoul of the first
amendment stance against government-supported religion?
"Fuck that shit" is obscene (fuck) and scatological (shit), and the
Supreme Court has ruled that such language can be banned because it
makes children's ears melt off or whatever. Fine. But profanity
such as "Goddammit" or even "by Jove" is only a problem if you
worship the god being mentioned AND think said god gets pissy when
he hears his name heard in certain contexts. A law protecting said
God's feelings strikes me as unconstitutional EVEN WHEN current
anti-obscenity laws are considered acceptable.
John Payne|1.9.08 @ 12:48PM|#
I don't know of anyone who goes to Saint Charles to party, so I don't think this is going to have a big impact even if it passes. For those of you who don't know the Saint Louis area, this would be like saying that NYC was banning swearing, etc. because someone in Westchester had proposed it (except Saint Charles isn't nearly as rich).
|1.9.08 @ 12:53PM|#
what you cite certainly doesn't leave that "ick" impression
that he did on Spike O'Dell this morning (which might account for
part of the factor, of course). Interesting! Thanks!
Moose,
It could be that he was more cautious with Mark Brown. The story I
cited, I take with a grain of salt. Anyone who is proposing such a
law is suspect in my mind, and even more so when their defense of
the silliness is "well I wasn't aware of what I was copying".
I would imagine this guy is getting lots of negative press and he
decided to take a "everyone is just blowing this out of proportion"
position to make himself seem less douchey (douchetastic?).
|1.9.08 @ 1:32PM|#
In unrelated news, did you know that St. Louis was once the fourth-largest city in the U.S., and had as many as 856,000 residents in 1950? It's lost more than a half-million people since then.
Sounds almost exactly like Cincinnati. Is it therefore merely
coincidence that both cities rank in the top 5 of "most racially
segregated"?
|1.9.08 @ 1:53PM|#
de stijl,
I believe James Marsden is the guy who played Cyclops in the X-Men
movies. That is not a picture of James marsden.
I think you meant James Marsters who also played Dr. Milton Fine in
Smallville.
|1.9.08 @ 2:00PM|#
"and had as many as 856,000 residents in 1950?"
In regards to this statistic, St. Louis also has a 1% income tax
and it now has one of the high murder rates in the country. Maybe
they are just trying to scare everyone away, I mean why share The
Arch?
Regards,
TDL
mpp|1.9.08 @ 2:38PM|#
As a former resident of both cites, Detroit has St. Louis beat on several fronts. Its income tax for residents is 3% (1% if you just work in the city), it went from 2 million to 800,000, and they let their train station and skyscrapers rot.
|1.9.08 @ 2:50PM|#
According to wikipedia, the metro area is huge and contains at least a couple million people, so it's not like the population just up and left, so much as spread out.
|1.9.08 @ 2:58PM|#
Yeah I'm from a St. Louis suburb in Illinois. The metro area is
a little over 2 million people. The key thing when talking about
St. Louis is that unlike Detroit and several other cities is this.
When referencing St. Louis you are literally talking about the
city. Long ago, because of politics of course, St. Louis city
seceded from St. Louis county. So as bad as St. Louis crime stats
are its technically never as bad as the other crime contenders
because more often than not those cities' statistics also factor in
those cities' counties. If St. Louis was recognizes as all of St.
Louis county, its placement on crime stats would be totally
unremarkable.
That said, Laclede's landing is hardly "roudy". It did get a brand
new nice casino though... and Washington Ave is getting better by
the month.
Paul|1.9.08 @ 3:13PM|#
I seem to remember an anti-tobacco activist denying that any of
this tobacco regulation wouldn't ever extend into areas such as
food, or other lifestyle choices.
Fuck 'em. And everyone who looks like 'em.
|1.9.08 @ 4:12PM|#
Tyler, Detroit is part of Wayne County. When you read Detroit stats, it's the city only. Wayne county stats look much rosier.
Nate|1.9.08 @ 9:11PM|#
Great. If I ever rob a bank, I'll be sure to do so in St. Charles, MO. The authorities will be patrolling for shits, fucks and motherfucks while I clean house.
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