Kentucky Derby Jockeys Can Wear Advertising

I know very little about horse racing, other than that the horses go around the track. But I was interested to learn that Kentucky Derby jockeys had to sue to win the right to wear advertising.
I had thought the Kentucky Derby was a private, rather than a public enterprise. So I’m not sure why the state is regulating jockey attire in the first place. But I was a bit amused by a legal argument made by state regulators:

Attorneys for the Kentucky Horse Racing Authority, the state agency that regulates the sport, argued during a two-day hearing that letting jockeys wear ads could lead to corruption. They also argued that the presence of ads or other patches could hamper racing officials’ ability to determine a winner in a tight finish, or whether a foul was committed.

Advertising patches would make it difficult to determine who won the race? Does that pass the straight face test? Don’t they have cameras to figure out who won if there’s a tight finish?
It’s not too surprising that the state lost.

Martian Birth Control

Hasn’t NASA already joined the crowd by adopting its own abstinence-only educational program?

Dr. Rachel Armstrong, speaking yesterday at a British Interplanetary Society symposium on the Human Future and Space, said the US space agency Nasa was considering how to deal with the natural urges of astronauts travelling on long journeys such as a three-year trip to Mars, where the six-strong crew would be likely to include two women.
“Nasa is talking about the chemical sterilisation of astronauts on longer journeys,” Dr Armstrong said, in a talk discussing the problems humanity may face in trying to reach the planets and, eventually, the stars.
Nasa was nonplussed by the suggestion yesterday. “I haven’t heard anything about that,” said a spokesman at Nasa’s Johnson Space Centre, where the long-range trips announced by President George Bush in January are being planned.
But that denial may hide a reluctance, in a nation where the showing of a nipple on national television provokes a religious outcry, to discuss the rather delicate subject of sex in space.

Keeping Criminals off the Streets

Police in Highland Park, TX follow the letter of the law:

When they found that 97-year-old Harriette “Dolly” Kelton had an outstanding warrant for failing to pay a traffic ticket, they handcuffed her, put her in the squad car and hauled her to jail.
Officers stopped Ms. Kelton, who has lived in Highland Park for at least 60 years, for having an expired inspection sticker and registration last week. When checking her name and license, they discovered an arrest warrant for failure to pay a prior ticket for no registration.
Drivers who don’t have their license or have an outstanding warrant go to jail if they’re stopped in Highland Park. No exceptions.

TalkLeft’s TChris observes that this is another illustration of how zero tolerance statutes often make zero sense in allocating government resources.

American Idol Racism

Elton John says the voting on a recent American Idol was “incredibly racist” because three black female performers received low scores.
I’ve only watched a few minutes of American Idol ever, and I haven’t see any of these performers. So I can’t comment on this issue other than to note that I thought this was a subjective contest. At any rate, I’m somewhat confused by this graf in the article:

The New York Post reported it was deluged with calls complaining that the voting was racially motivated. (The Post is owned by News Corp., which also owns Fox TV.)

Why are viewers calling the Post to complain about a TV program? Is the Post involved in the production or promotion of the program? Even though the two entities are both part of the same corporate body, it strikes me as odd that people would think to call a newspaper to complain about the results in a reality TV series.