Nice to see that LA lawmakers have their priorities straight

[Asst. Asst. Lt. Cmdr. Smi]

In case you were wondering, that title was sarcastic

DALLAS - Memo to Britney Spears: Make sure to forget those low-rise jeans next time you fly home to Louisiana.

And Ludacris, why don’t you pull up your pants and cinch them with a belt before you take the stage in Baton Rouge.

Otherwise, you might both get a ticket.

That’s what the Louisiana House Criminal Justice Committee approved last week. The new proposed bill would crack down on anyone who wears low-slinging, pants-sagging, belly-baring, underwear-peeking pants. It faces the full State House sometime within the next two months.

"Baggy Pants Bill"
House Bill 1626, also known as the “Baggy Pants Bill” states: “It shall be unlawful for any person to appear in public wearing his pants below his waist and thereby exposing his skin or intimate clothing.”

State Representative Derrick Shepherd’s bill would make any violator subject to three eight-hour days of community service and up to a fine of $175.

That means the local teens on the basketball court are going to have to keep their pants up, too.

Shepherd told the New Orleans Times-Picayune, "There's a way to shoot hoops professionally. You don't have to shoot hoops with your pants below your waist."

He thinks the waistline location might even improve their behavior.

"Hopefully, if we pull up their pants," he said, "we can lift their minds while we're at it."

Local councilman Glenn Green said, “It’s getting to the point where these young men and women are just getting offensive with their underwear showing, the cracks between their buttocks showing…their g-strings showing. It’s hard to legislate morality; you can’t really do that. It just comes to a point of plain old bad taste and it’s just gotta stop.”

Executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union's Louisiana chapter, Joe Cook, does not think the bill will likely pass the full House floor. He said the Supreme Court doesn’t usually prohibit obscene behavior under the First Amendment.

“It infringes on young people’s freedom of expression and their privacy rights. The zone of privacy they have and the right to be left alone,” Cook said.

So, what about your local plumber?

"What about a woman who is wearing a bathing suit under her garment or she has something like a sarong wrapped around her and it's below her waist?" Cook said. "I can think of a lot of workers, plumbers, who are working and expose their buttocks and the beginning of the crack of their anus."

The Times-Picayune notes that this is the fourth effort in five years to legislate jeans-wearing etiquette state-wide in Louisiana.

$500 penalty in one small town
But, one small town has been mandating it locally for years.

In the town of Opelousas, wearing saggy pants is considered a misdemeanor and carries a maximum penalty of a $500 fine and up to 6 months in prison.

Captain Ronnie Trahan with the Opelousas Police Department said, “The problem that we’re having is not with individuals exposing their underwear. We had a problem with individuals exposing more than their underwear.”

And down the bayou in the town of Westwego, a city councilman in 2002 attempted to bar low-riding jeans from public buildings. (The city attorney warned the city would interfere with freedom of speech and would not meet federal standards, so the councilman later ditched the proposal.)

As for Britney and Ludacris, they may be safe to hang in Louisiana for a few more days. The full Louisiana State House hasn’t passed the bill yet. They plan to take it up sometime before the end of session on June 21.

Bethany Thomas is the NBC News Dallas Bureau coordinator.

I'm wondering when such people will realize that the earth revolves around the sun and not their Puritan mindset, and stop pulling stuff like this.

[Frank Hipper]

Stupidest fucking thing I've heard in a fucking while, contempt and disbelief don't even convey a miniscule fraction of what I felt on reading that.

[HemlockGrey]

Fuck, does anything like this ever happen north of the Mason-Dixon line?

[Admiral Valdemar]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

I'm amused somewhat that when WWIII eventually turns up, the mighty resources of the US will be otherwise directed from destroying the evil hordes of sexy streetwear and not commies or undead Nazi armies.

[Captain tycho]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

I'm amused somewhat that when WWIII eventually turns up, the mighty resources of the US will be otherwise directed from destroying the evil hordes of sexy streetwear and not commies or undead Nazi armies.

FUQ!

[RogueIce]

Well, I can't say I wouldn't mind banning stuff that shows your underwear in normal view.

Not that I would ever make it a law, but I am amused by it.

[GySgt. Hartman]

"Hopefully, if we pull up their pants," he said, "we can lift their minds while we're at it."

Forgive me for saying this, but this kind of stupidity is typical for the religious right in the US.

In the town of Opelousas, wearing saggy pants is considered a misdemeanor and carries a maximum penalty of a $500 fine and up to 6 months in prison.

6 months in prison for wearing your pants too low? But wait - this is Louisiana:

In what the American Civil Liberties Union is calling a "disappointing setback," the Louisiana Supreme Court upheld the state's 195-year-old sodomy law in a 5-2 decision July 6, which threatens consenting adults with five-year prison terms for engaging in oral or anal sex in the privacy of their own homes.

The state, where visible underwear is as bad as handgun possession by a minor:

A. It is unlawful for any person who has not attained the age of seventeen years knowingly to possess any handgun on his person. Any person possessing any handgun in violation of this Section commits the offense of illegal possession of a handgun by a juvenile.

B.(1) On a first conviction, the offender shall be fined not more than one hundred dollars and imprisoned for not less than ninety days and not more than six months.

[Durandal]

I'm sure that this new ordnance will help solve many social problems that exist in Louisiana.

[Keevan_Colton]

The louisiana thing is from 2000.

[Admiral Valdemar]

I'm sure that this new ordnance will help solve many social problems that exist in Louisiana.

I think birth control would solve more.

[Einhander Sn0m4n]

I'm sure that this new ordnance will help solve many social problems that exist in Louisiana.

I think birth control would solve more.

Or a really big Hurricane...

[Admiral Valdemar]

I'm sure that this new ordnance will help solve many social problems that exist in Louisiana.

I think birth control would solve more.

Or a really big Hurricane...

Why not both? A hurricane of condoms and IUDs!

[Tribun]

Thank the gos that the lawmakers here in Europe have better things to do than things like that.....

[Lord Poe]

I think its the most idiotic, goddamned thing I've ever seen when I see these idiots walk around with their pants just above their knees. Literally. I don't care if they want to do it, but its pretty stupid.

[The Third Man]

Thank the gos that the lawmakers here in Europe have better things to do than things like that.....

Not necessarily. On the day that the last major British motor car manufacturer dissappeared, Mr Blair was busy at Downing Street with a group of experts discussing the matter of what exact thin-ness of fashion model the UK public should be protected from seeing.

That same year (IIRC), the House of Commons (however many hundreds of them on however many tens of thousands they get paid per year) discussed legislating the maximum permissible high-ness of high-heeled shoes, after some Japanese girl (tragically) toppled off her excessively (arguably) high items and died.

[RogueIce]

I think its the most idiotic, goddamned thing I've ever seen when I see these idiots walk around with their pants just above their knees. Literally. I don't care if they want to do it, but its pretty stupid.

Ditto. Still, making a law about it? Sounds kinda harsh. Amsuing as Hell, but harsh.

Maybe they just want to send a message? Though, in typical teen fashion, that only means more kids are liekly to do it now. *sigh*