Here comes another silly law suit...

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Spielberg series sued for haircut   A family from the Mescalero Apache tribe is suing the producers of a Steven Spielberg TV series for cutting their daughter's hair for the show.

The family said the hair of Christina Ponce, aged eight, was cut without regard for their tribal customs.

"It's part of our culture not to cut a girl's hair until her Coming of Age ceremony," her father Danny Ponce said...

...His legal papers, which seek $250,000 (£142,000) for emotional distress and $75,000 (£43,000) in damages, named Turner Films Inc and the unknown stylist as defendants...

...According to legal papers filed by Mr Ponce, Christina responded through her parents last March to an open casting call for work on Into the West...

...She attended a three-day shoot near Carrizozo, New Mexico.

Her hair was cut by a stylist to "make her look more 'Indian' and like a male Indian child because the movie casting call failed to produce sufficient young male extras of Indian heritage", the papers state.

The Mescalero tradition forbids cutting a girl's hair as she approaches puberty, in preparation for a sacred Coming of Age ceremony that requires her hair to reach her waist...

...Mr Ponce said that... film-makers from outside the state should try to be more culturally sensitive.

"Just because you're wealthy, you don't do something without checking first," he said.

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Hmm.

So... irony aside, what they seem to be saying here is that it's the film-maker's fault that the kid's parents put her up for a part that required a hair cut.

Ho hum...

And in other news...

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Judge rapped over boy's race case

A judge who said a legal case against a 10-year-old boy over alleged racism was "political correctness gone mad" has been criticised by a teaching union.

The National Union of Teachers (NUT) said Judge Jonathan Finestein was "out of date" in his attitude.

The boy from Irlam, Greater Manchester, appeared at Salford Youth Court accused of racially abusing a fellow pupil.

But Judge Finestein adjourned the case, saying the boys would have got "a good clouting" in his day.

On adjourning the case until 20 April, he asked prosecutors to reconsider whether the case was in the public interest.

However Judith Elderkin, NUT National Executive member, said the judge should have taken the allegation of racism more seriously.

She added that she thought he was "out of date" with the way issues are dealt with in schools today.

The boy is accused of abusing an 11-year-old pupil in a school playground between 1 July 2005 and 30 January 2006.

He is accused of calling the pupil names including "Paki, nigger and Bin Laden".

During the preliminary hearing the court was told the boys are now friends and play football with each other.

But Judge Finestein said he thought the decision to prosecute the youngster was "crazy" and urged the Crown Prosecution Service to reconsider its decision.

The judge said when he was at school he was repeatedly called "fat", but in those days the headmaster would have just given the children a "good clouting" and sent them on their way.

"Have we really got to the stage where we are prosecuting 10-year-old boys because of political correctness?" he said in court.

"Nobody is more against racist abuse than me but these are boys in a playground; this is nonsense. I think somebody should consider reversing the decision to prosecute."

A spokeswoman for Greater Manchester Police said the force took all crimes seriously and was totally opposed to any racism.

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While it seems to me that, as the judge says, the kid need a good hard slap for being a little sh*t, taking him to court is pretty bloody dumb.  What's it going to achieve?  As the good judge himself says:

"Have we really got to the stage where we are prosecuting 10-year-old boys because of political correctness...these are boys in a playground; this is nonsense."

Theres more about this'n right here!