Blog for One

According to MSNBC:

South Dakota legislature attacks Roe vs. Wade

State prepares to pass bill banning all abortions except to save mom’s life.

A direct attack on Roe v. Wade is coming from the South Dakota legislature. The new bill, which outlaws abortion, makes no exceptions, not for a pregnancy caused by incest or rape. It would only be legal—the only exception if it would save the pregnant woman’s life.

Doctors who perform abortions could face up to five years in prison. The bill passed the State Senate 23-12. It’s expected to pass the House again and then go to Governor Mike Rounds’ desk. The bill’s sponsor says he thinks the antiabortion movement has momentum on its side and a—quote—“change in national policy on abortion is going to come in the not-too-distant future.”

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I see this as yet another form of religious law trying to worm its way into secular law. No better or worse than if we were to implement Sahria into our legal system.

Both would be very bad ideas.

Globetechnology: Patently Absurd

A compelling writeup of the current patent dispute between RIM and NTP.

Although NTP has been portrayed as a ‘patent troll’ this may not be the case.

According to various stories in the mainstream media a Canadian flying from Toronto to Mexico lands in Mexican custody, then is returned to Canada because his name appears on the American ‘do not fly’ database.

Interestingly enough, msm coverage of this is a little sparse.

Some intersting quotes from the article:

Brian Doyle, a spokesman at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in Washington, said his office will have no further involvement once Mr. Kahil arrives home.

“He was of sufficient interest that we were concerned,” he said. Names are not put on the list “willy-nilly,” he added.

Seemingly, this may not really be the case since :

The U.S. no-fly list, designed to screen terrorists and protect continental borders, has thousands of names on it. It is not without problems. The likes of Senator Edward Kennedy, one of the most recognizable figures in U.S. politics, singer Cat Stevens and even Canada’s Defence Minister, Bill Graham, have had trouble boarding commercial flights, or been blocked altogether, because their names were accidentally included on the list.

I think this list is a huge problem. There seems to be no way of correcting errors unless one has the political power, there is no review process, and while I recognize the need to screen passengers, I think the list has grown so large as to be unmanageable.

Without any system of checks and balances the list is mushrooming out of control and affecting the lives of ordinary citizens who have no recourse.

“The people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country.” – Herrman Goering

From American Librairies Online:

Florida Librarian Suspended over Porn Incident
The director of the Valparaiso (Fla.) Community Library was suspended without pay in early August after city officials found that a registered sex offender had used library computers to access pornographic websites.

City Commissioner Robert Billingsley said in the August 12 Gainesville Sun that he would ask the commission to fire VCL Director Sue Martin, but he declined to explain why he thought she had not done enough to prevent the incident, which occurred July 25. Police charged Michael Bushee, 25, with possession of child pornography several days later. Billingsley said police also told him that three male minors had used the VCL computers to look at sites with adult content.

The Sun quoted a letter Martin had written to Billingsley in which she explained, “We continually enforce our policy by monitoring all computers. Any suspicious use is immediately checked by accessing the history of the patrons’ Web use. In addition, the staff monitors the patrons’ use by ‘walkthroughs’ of the computer areas.”

City Attorney Doug Wyckoff said Martin would receive a hearing within 60 days.
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Speechless.