Tag Archives: Legislation

News

State legislatures aim to pass bills to guarantee academic freedom

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Story here from Evolution News.

Excerpt:

The recent front page New York Times article on academic freedom legislation offers a stark reminder that the intelligentsia is very worried about the prospect of teachers gaining academic freedom, as a bill presently in the Kentucky legislature would allow, “to help students understand, analyze, critique, and review scientific theories in an objective manner, including but not limited to the study of evolution, the origins of life, global warming, and human cloning.”

From 2008-2009, 12 academic freedom bills were submitted into state legislatures, including Florida, Alabama (2), South Carolina (2), Missouri (2), Michigan, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Iowa, and New Mexico. Now in 2010, there are 3 bills already, including bills in Kentucky, Missouri, and Mississippi.

Here are a couple of examples:

The Kentucky bill encourages teachers to “promote critical thinking skills, logical analysis, and open and objective discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of scientific theories being studied.”

The Missouri bill allows teachers “to help students understand, analyze, critique, and review in an objective manner the scientific strengths and scientific weaknesses of the theory of biological and hypotheses of chemical evolution.”

Details on the language used in each bill is provided in the post.

News

Nebraska legislature introduces bill to ban abortion after 20 weeks

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Article from the American Thinker. (H/T ECM)

Excerpt:

Nebraska has a nonpartisan, unicameral legislature, so many of the shenanigans which can cause legislative bills to fall into a maelstrom of confusion are absent there. This is not a “partisan” issue, and no conference committee reports can swallow the bill and then regurgitate it as unrecognizable vomit.

Moreover, Legislative Bill 1103 will get a hearing: Its sponsor is Mike Flood, Speaker of Nebraska’s legislature.

Note that Mike Flood is a Republican. Republicans are pro-life.

More:

The Nebraska bill carefully accounts for those sorts of concerns that all decent people have always had about abortion: Might the mother die if the child is born? Could a live birth cause permanent damage to the mother’s health? (Legislative Bill 1103, though, makes a point of requiring physical and not “psychic” harm to the mother.) Amendments may include those other tricky areas — children born of rape or incest.

[…]The Nebraska bill will put fans of unrestricted abortion right where they belong — supporting all sorts of evil, as long as it is committed out of sight.

It’s a brilliant move. It’s a wonder that the pro-life movement hasn’t adopted a more incremental approach before, because it works. Make the Democrats publicly defend infanticide as a woman’s right to choose.

I hope you’ve all practiced your pro-life arguments. If not, then just read this, and you’re good to go.

If you know about pro-life arguments already, then why not try guessing who is more pro-life: men or women? Those links go to charts from the latest Gallup poll. Isn’t it surprising? I’m surprised.

News

Government of Canada moves to monitor Internet users

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Story from the Western Standard.

Excerpt:

In the spring, the Government of Canada introduced two pieces of legislation that would greatly expand the power of the state to monitor its citizens online activity. The legislation, known as the Investigative Powers for the 21st Century (IP21C) Act, would force Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to install costly surveillance systems on their networks and give police wide ranging new powers that do away with judicial oversight.

…First, ISPs will be required to install costly surveillance equipment on their networks. …Second, the legislation would require that all ISPs give personal information to the government, including the names of their customers, as well as their IP, e-mail, and mailing addresses—on demand and without any judicial oversight.

Police will also gain expanded powers under this legislation. First, they will be able to obtain information about Internet-based messaging, including tracking what sites people are visiting and who they are communicating with. This information will be subject to a judicial order. Second, police will be able to order ISPs to preserve data on their customers. Third, police will be able to obtain a warrant to remotely activate tracking devices in technologies such as cellular telephones.

Surprising, because the Conservatives are in power in Canada.