Brickbats.

• Author: Oliver, Charles
• Position: Citings

In London, England, the Ealing Council is spending $285,000 a year for plainclothes police officers to hunt down people who put their trash out too early.

Starting July 1, anyone wishing to buy beer in a Tennessee convenience store or supermarket has to show photo ID. In an effort to stamp out underage drinking, lawmakers have required that everyone--no matter how gray, bald, or wrinkled--must prove they are over 21. They say it will get clerks into the habit of routinely asking for ID.

One afternoon in Tangerang, an Indonesian state that has adopted Islamic law, a woman named Lilis was waiting for a taxi on her way home from work. That was enough for the Islamic police to stop her. When they couldn't reach her husband, they charged her with prostitution.

Evan Herzoff videotaped some Denver police officers as they were arresting someone else. A cop asked for Herzoff's ID. He produced his ID and asked Officer Jeffrey Morgan for his business card. "Let's take you to jail instead," Morgan responded. Police handcuffed Herzoff and tookhim to a cell, where he spent the night. A charge of trespass against Herzoff was later dismissed, and the city paid him $8,500 to settle a lawsuit.

Officials from Malaysia's Islamic Religious Department raided the home of truck driver Magendran Sababathy and seized his wife Najeera Farvinli Mohamed Jalali. Magendran is a Hindu and his wife a Muslim. They were married in a Hindu ceremony. But under Malaysia's Islamic law, anyone who marries a Muslim must convert to Islam and no Muslim may convert to...