Sign of the times
In June, a North Dakota man fought his state for the right to exercise religious freedom. However this Constitutional battle wasn’t waged in court—it happened at the DMV.
It all started when Brian Magee, co-host of “The Amplified Atheist” radio show out of Fargo, got fed up with all the religious-themed vanity plates like “ILOVGOD” and “PRZZGOD” around town.
This sort of expression shouldn’t come as a surprise in North Dakota, home to the most churches per capita of any state in the country. But for Magee it all came down to a simple Constitutional principle: the separation of church and plate.
In order to make his point, Magee ordered new vanity plates for his Grand Cherokee that read “ISNOGOD.” After all, he reasoned, if the state issues plates with pro-God messages, it should also allow for differing sentiments. Initially Magee’s request was rejected by the North Dakota Department of Transportation. Magee then appealed to the DOT director on the grounds that their policies were inconsistent. Magee argued that the fair thing to do would be to either recall all plates with any sort of religious content (including his) or approve his plate along with any other future requests containing similar anti-God messages.
After consulting with the attorney general’s office, the DOT director replied with a letter overturning the decision, stating, “Our attorneys have advised us that under the law you are entitled to the license plate you requested.”
When asked about the landmark decision for atheists everywhere, Magee replied, “I won’t believe it until I see further empirical evidence.”
Loud and clear
You can hear Alex Hansen’s truck coming and, fortunately for him, going. This past spring, thieves attempted to steal Hansen’s 1996 Toyota T-100 pickup truck in the middle of the night from right outside his Washington home. Since Hansen hadn’t gotten around to fixing his muffler, the sound of the thieves starting his truck’s engine woke him up.
Hansen ran outside to see what was happening, but his truck was already out of sight. Thanks to his lousy muffler, though, he could still hear his truck, so he hopped into his girlfriend’s car and followed the noise. Hansen eventually caught up to his truck and followed it for 10 minutes until the culprits panicked and took off running.
They made off with Hansen’s wallet, camera and tools, but Hansen still has his truck and, unfortunately for his neighbors, even less motivation to fix his muffler.
It’s all in a name
Everyone seems to be excited about the new Renault Zoe electric minicar—everyone except Zoe Renault.
The French automaker has announced that in 2012 it will release an all-electric, zero-emission car dubbed the Renault Zoe ZE.
However this past spring, a 23-year-old French woman named Zoe Renault (who has no apparent family link to the company) hired lawyers to try and force Renault to come up with a new name for the vehicle.
As she explained to Le Parisien newspaper, “I could not bear to hear: ‘Zoe’s broken down’ or ‘We need to get Zoe overhauled’.”
Ms. Renault’s lawyer, who also is representing other distraught Zoes, sent a letter to Renault’s chief executive threatening legal action if the car’s name wasn’t changed on the grounds that the rights of his clients were being attacked.
Unfortunately, history is not on the Zoes’ side. Who can forget the failed legal battles that resulted in decades of humiliation for stripper Fiesta Ford and circus performer Cooper Mini?
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