FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) -- A federal appeals court has overturned a statute outlawing sex toy sales in Texas, one of the last states - all in the South - to retain such a ban.

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Texas law making it illegal to sell or promote obscene devices, punishable by as many as two years in jail, violated the right to privacy guaranteed by the 14th Amendment.

see also this video from the late Molly Ivins that shows how the people got around the law. Watch till the end for a nice punchline (might be nsfw due to dildos educational anatomical models):

Tennessee Code has some pretty high expectations of bike cops:

55-8-173 (a): A person propelling a bicycle shall not ride other than upon or astride a permanent and regular seat attached thereto, except for a certified police cyclist who is performing duties that require riding in a side dismounting position.

There's something I'd like to see, a bike cop tackling someone at speed! I think I saw that on TV once. But I guess it's too much to ask of police today, since tasing is so much more convenient. Of course, such optimism by our legislature is counterbalanced by the complete lack of confidence in regular cyclists:

55-8-176 (a): No person operating a bicycle shall carry any package, bundle or article which prevents the driver from keeping at least one (1) hand upon the handlebars.

What?! Not even if I let the car in front of me do the driving?

55-8-174 (a): No person riding upon any bicycle, roller skates, sled or toy vehicle shall attach such bicycle, roller skates, sled or toy vehicle, or such person's own body, to any streetcar or vehicle upon a roadway.

Those fascists!

It actually looks like we have fairly reasonable bike laws in Tennessee, at least compared to some places. In the UK cyclists have been fighting new traffic code updates that would basically classify them as second class citizens on the road.

The law professor blog Sentencing Law and Policy has been a great source of links to newspaper articles and law geek columns regarding the Libby commutation.

To me, the whole ordeal is just another entry in Bush's growing history of unjustifiable acts, but it's interesting to see the legal communitiy, with many staunch Republicans among them, collectively going WTF? over this latest move by The Decider. Prosecutors, judges, and other law experts mostly seem astounded by the commutation, while defense attorneys are giddy over the opportunity to cite President Bush himself—who, BTW, had 57 executions under his belt as governor of Texas—when asking for leniency at sentencing hearings. Bush has opened a huge can of legal worms, and there seem to be plenty of hungry lawyers ready to fish for new legal precedent and exploits.