The U.S. Constitution does not allow people to hurt others just to feel better. Or does it? As recently http://www.forbes.com/entrepreneurs/feeds/ap/2006/12/28/ap3285558.html|reported by Forbes], exotic dancers in Alabama are spraying on latex coverings to satisfy an Alabama law that dictates that any skin that would normally be covered by a modest bikini must be swathed in an opaque covering. The state, which already was defending against a lawsuit filed by strip clubs challenging the law, says it reluctantly went along with the clubs rather than having a federal judge follow through on his threat to throw out the entire statute as unconstitutional.

Fred Patterson, who works on the Birmingham's vice and narcotics squad, said: "You can get it that matches your skin color". "The only thing I hear from the girls is that it can be kind of irritating", he added.

So the state will go along with this farse because it only irritates the girls. If it harmed the profits of the clubs, a federal judge might rule it unconstitutional, but if it only makes girls sick or irritated, then it must be fine. After all, strip dancers can't pay for the lawyers it would take to get the judge to rule. Everyone knows it takes money to make money. Does it takes money to get the law to act, too?

The girls in strip clubs strip voluntarily. The attendants show up voluntarily with full knowledge that they will encounter strippers who, er, ehm, strip. Those who are offended by stripping can, well, not attend strip clubs. Yet, in Alabama at least, the law compels girls to get their skin irritated just so that someone who is not even in attendance can feel better about how the girls are dressed. Does something strike you wrong about this? Doesn't it bug you when people believe they have a right to tell others what to do when they are not harming anybody?

Does this remind you of assisted suicide? Of drug use? Of prostitution (a bad name for the voluntary exchange of sexual favors for money --the good one is called gift-giving to seduce)? Why is a rich woman allowed to reward a man with sex after receiving a gift and a poor woman is not allowed to do the same? Why is a woman allowed to have sex to get a roof over her head but not to receive the money to pay for a roof herself? When will we desist from playing Big Brother and realize that our rights end where other people's rights begin? And that as long as a person is not harming others, what to do should be her decision?