Friday, September 29, 2006
not exactly a surprise…
Associated Baptist Press: Texas study finds many state schools violating laws on teaching religion
And the original study: Texas Freedom Network: Teaching the Bible in Public Schools
AUSTIN, Texas (ABP)—The vast majority of Texas school districts offering courses on the Bible are doing so in an inadequate and unconstitutional manner, and districts in other states are probably no better, according to a study from a progressive watchdog group.
I can’t say I’m surprised by that…
“Reading, Writing and Religion: Teaching the Bible in Texas Public Schools,” released Sept. 13 by the Austin-based Texas Freedom Network, was the first study of its kind. Researchers requested information, citing the Texas Public Information Act, on any Bible courses taught over the past few years from each of 1,031 Texas school districts. Its findings focused on the 25 districts that offered elective classes on the Bible in the 2005-2006 academic year.
At least they’re elective classes.
The 92-page report detailed significant problems with the academic value and legality of the way the courses were taught in all but three of those districts.
“[M]ost public-school Bible classes inappropriately and unconstitutionally present sectarian views as fact and adopt an overall approach that explicitly or implicitly encourages adoption of religious beliefs, typically those held within certain branches of Protestant Christianity,” wrote Mark Chancey, who is the report’s chief author and a religion professor at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.
“Further, by explicitly or implicitly encouraging commitment to those particular beliefs, these classes can be construed as disparaging other religious views,” Chancey continued.
The report found three main problems with the state’s public-school Bible courses:
—Many of the courses “fail to meet even minimal standards for teacher qualifications and academic rigor” and many “have teachers with no academic training in biblical, religious or theological studies.”
Chancey noted that many of the courses use the Bible as their only textbook or use supplementary materials such as cartoons, videotapes and workbooks of questionable academic value.
—The report also found that many of the courses “are taught as religious and devotional classes that promote one faith perspective over all others” and that they “reflect an almost exclusively Christian perspective of the Bible” and “assume that students are Christians, that Christian theological claims are true, and that the Bible itself is divinely inspired.”
Sigh. Another thing to watch out for.
Thursday, September 28, 2006
refugee memorial
Expatica: Merkel backs memorial in Berlin for refugees
Chancellor Angela Merkel called Monday for a memorial in the German capital Berlin to the expulsion of millions of ethnic Germans from eastern Europe after the Second World War.
She said it was important to commemorate the refugee experience, but this would only work if the causes were kept in mind. If it had not been for the crimes of the Nazis, the expulsion of the Germans would not have followed.
Fully agree. Nobody could have a problem with this, or could they?
Poland has fiercely criticised plans by a federation representing the descendants of 14 million expelled Germans to build a museum in Berlin. A temporary exhibition that demonstrates the concept with images of 1940s refugee treks is currently taking place in Berlin.
Poles have voiced concern that sympathy for the refugees will reduce German contrition for Nazi crimes.
The war’s been over for 60 years and I don’t believe anybody can fault Germany for a lack of contrition. Poland, on the other hand, apparently does not like to have their own lack of contrition being highlighted.
Wednesday, September 27, 2006
anti-Catholic hackers
Over the past little while I’ve gotten a couple of e-mails from a Catholic forum where I hung out briefly (and met a certain ‘wolpertinger’) many moons ago .
Mostly it’s asking for money. I guess the typically Catholic fundraising strategy (bingo) doesn’t work for forums.
But this time they are playing up the ‘we have to defend ourselves from anti-Catholic hackers’ card.
OK, they’ve been hacked a few times and suffered denial-of-service attacks. But I don’t see any evidence, aside from some vague circumstantial stuff, from what they write that there was any specific anti-Catholic motive in any of the attacks.
I guess I’m mostly ticked off because they seem to be just fear-mongering ... and because the costs that they cite to remedy their problems include lots of costs that have nothing to do with security enhancements (just ordinary operating costs).
End of rant.
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
on getting ticked off
We all have our experiences with wankers.
Given from where I come from, it’s not hard to understand why the religious wankers tick me off. There’s not an original thought in their heads and even if there were, they’d work hard to bury it because it lacks doctrinal sanction. Oddly or not so oddly enough, atheist wankers tick me off even faster. It’s perhaps harder to articulate why that is so. In the composite case, they’re simply too full of themselves and just because we share a dislike of organized religion is not enough to install a sense of community that would allow me to gloss over the rough spots. The enemy of my enemy is not necessarily my friend…
I can deal with the personal blogs of some individual atheists and theists, but that’s about it. I simply don’t have the time and patience that I used to have a year or two or three ago and I’ve learned to cut my losses early.
Is there a point to this? No. I’m just having a lousy day with too many little things going the wrong way, like the umpteenth mosquito bite in three days.
Well, well, well
Reading up on Church and State over there is sure interesting. I have to admit that I’m badly out of touch with Germany and what I learned does not help my disposition. It’s a good thing I don’t have time to vent, though.
Friday, September 22, 2006
Why would there be a draft?
I’ve read DS post several times about how we are heading for a draft. This is presumably because of past missed recruiting goals.
In an Associated Press interview, Harvey said the Army will enlist its 80,000th soldier on Friday, reaching its goal for the year with eight days to spare. That is a considerable turnaround from last year when the Army missed its target for the first time since 1999 and by the widest margin in more than two decades.
At the start of this recruiting year, which began Oct. 1, 2005, many questioned whether the Army would reach 80,000, given the many alternative career options available to young people and the growing unpopularity of the Iraq war. But a package of new financial incentives, new recruiting approaches and a bigger recruiting corps did the trick.
It would seem that in terms of simply number of feet filling the boots on the ground that the goals are being met without need for involuntary recruitment.
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
serving Kool-Aid
The Guardian: Cheney Says Hopes of World Rest on U.S.
Vice President Dick Cheney cast the global war on terror on Tuesday as a “war of nerves,” borrowing a phrase Harry Truman used to describe the Cold War. Cheney asserted that the hopes of the civilized world depend on a U.S. victory.
``We are not going to let down our guard,’’ Cheney told a convention of automobile dealers. He said President Bush “will not relent in the effort to track the enemies of the United States with every legitimate tool at his command.”
About those tools that are of questionable legitimacy, to put it very mildly?
“The war on terror is a test of our strength, a test of our capabilities, and above all a test of our character,” Cheney said.
Our strength and capabilities, as witnessed in Afghanistan and Iraq. Our character, as witnessed in Abu Ghraid, Guantanamo, warrentless wiretapping, and legislation to remove habeas corpus. Looks like we’re failing the test across the board, eh.
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
a disturbing test run of a process
Plan gains to publicly identify accused
An Ohio legislative panel yesterday rubber-stamped an unprecedented process that would allow sex offenders to be publicly identified and tracked even if they’ve never been charged with a crime.
I’m not keen on protecting sex offenders, but how does this differ from abandoning any pretense of due process? There’s almost certainly a good reason why such a process was unprecedented.
The committee’s decision not to interfere with the rules puts Ohio in a position to become the first state to test a “civil registry.”
The concept was offered by Roman Catholic bishops as an alternative to opening a one-time window for the filing of civil lawsuits alleging child sexual abuse that occurred as long as 35 years ago.
Great. In other words, for some Catholic bishops it’s more important to protect the Church’s coffers than to respect some profound aspects of legal practice.
A recently enacted law allows county prosecutors, the state attorney general, or, as a last resort, alleged victims to ask judges to civilly declare someone to be a sex offender even when there has been no criminal verdict or successful lawsuit.
The rules spell out how the untried process would work. It would largely treat a person placed on the civil registry the same way a convicted sex offender is treated under Ohio’s so-called Megan’s Law.
The person’s name, address, and photograph would be placed on a new Internet database and the person would be subjected to the same registration and community notification requirements and restrictions on where he could live.
A civilly declared offender, however, could petition the court to have the person’s name removed from the new list after six years if there have been no new problems and the judge believes the person is unlikely to abuse again.
The attorney general’s office said it continues to hold discussions with a group representing day care operators about one of the rules pertaining to what such facilities would do with information they might receive pertaining to someone on the registry if that person is living nearby.
It would be interesting to check the actual letter of the law, but the qualifier “as a last resort” does not inspire confidence. It sounds suspiciously like if the State’s prosecutors can’t put a case together or fail to win a conviction, they can still pillory the suspect.
Whether or not I personally agree with each and every ramification, the courts become a farce if the law doesn’t err on the side of innocence and protecting the assets of the Catholic Church is insufficient groups to turn in dubio pro reo upside down or bypassing it. We all know that guilty people have walked free and will continue to do so. It’s not a pleasant thought, but I’d rather have bunches of guilty people walk free than a single innocent wrongfully convicted.
This law and process are deeply troubling, because the rightfully or wrongfully accused does not appear to be able to appeal in a timely manner. Why stop with such a registry, anyway, and not just vanish them in an out-out-territory prison?
Sunday, September 17, 2006
I Love Carnivals
Had to link to this very special Carnival, because Elwed we may disagree on many things, I’m sure we agree that a Carnival of Boobies is a good thing.
http://www.brendanloy.com/2006/09/carnival-of-the-boobies.html
So long and thanks for the rivers
US federal judge declares boating illegal in all US navigable waters
In a rather bizarre ruling that has marine industry officials worried, Judge Robert G. James of the United States District Court, Western Division of Louisiana, has said that it is criminal trespass for the American boating public to boat, fish, or hunt on the Mississippi River and other navigable waters in the US.
In the case of Normal Parm v. Sheriff Mark Shumate, James ruled that federal law grants exclusive and private control over the waters of the river, outside the main shipping channel, to riparian landowners. The shallows of the navigable waters are no longer open to the public. That, in effect, makes boating illegal across most of the country.
“Even though this action seems like a horrible pre-April fools joke, it is very serious,” said Phil Keeter, MRAA president, in a statement. “Because essentially all the waters and waterways of our country are considered navigable in the US law, this ruling declares recreational boating, water skiing, fishing, waterfowl hunting, and fishing tournaments to be illegal and the public subject to jail sentences for recreating with their families.”
Damn those activist judges.
I had to look up riparian, by the way.
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