"No Rule Against Flatulence"

I can't resist posting this story, from today's Boston Globe:

LAKELAND, Fla.—An eighth-grader was suspended from riding the school bus for three days after being accused of passing gas. The bus driver wrote on a misbehavior form that a 15-year-old teen passing gas on the bus Monday to make the other children laugh, creating a stench so bad that it was difficult to breathe. The bus driver handed the teen the suspension form the next day.

Polk County school officials said there's no rule against flatulence, but there are rules against causing a disturbance on the bus.

The teen said he wasn't the one passing gas.

Whether he did it or not, he might have gotten off easy. A 13-year-old student at a Stuart school was arrested in November after authorities said he broke wind in class.

I love these "slow news day" stories.

Wow, you can't break wind and make people laugh any more without getting into trouble? What kind of police state is this country turning into?