Tuesday, May 01, 2007

Crusaders Shut Down Psychics In Philadelphia

The days of the witch hunts have returned.

Jason @ The Wild Hunt reports:

An obscure and unused law against professional fortune-telling in Philadelphia has been revived, and as a result several businesses have already been shut down.

It seems the Department of Licenses and Inspections was alerted to the law by the local police department, but it remains to be known why this law was suddenly enforced now and not in the past thirty years. Quotas? Disgruntled customer(s) who looked up the law and complained to the police? Christian crusaders on and off the police force? What is clear is that the Deputy L&I Commissioner Dominic E. Verdi has a very clear idea of who he is shutting down.

"Inspectors are not imposing fines, and police are not making arrests, Verdi said, "but they will if these people try to return to work."

Battles over psychic bans are very much a part of our history, from Z. Budapest's historic arrest in California, to the recent victory in overturning North Carolina's fortune-telling laws. Such laws against fortune-telling are often a warning sign that the "moral" local government is wanting to crack down on the "occult element" (and have been fought for just that reason). Anti-psychic laws, while popular with moral crusaders in some areas blatantly violate our Constitutional rights.

Read the full article here.

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