re: Bush Signs Tech Censorship Bill page 2

Wait a minute I just read this again:

The bill gives legal protections to the fledgling filteringtechnology that helps parents (emphasis mine) automatically skip or mutesections of commercial movie DVDs.

Note:

In a nod to the studios, the legislation contains crackdowns on copyright infringement by explicitly providing no legal protectionsfor those companies that sell copies of the edited movies (emphasismine)

You guys have it wrong. This IS a device for home use, and does not allow independent companies to sell edited versions of copyrighted material.
Lois

You guys have it wrong. This IS a device for home use, and does not allow independent companies to sell edited versions of copyrighted material.

I suspect the Christianists would be horrified if I published a bowdlerized Bible with stuff like, "The wages of sin is a slap on the wrist," or depicted sinners cast into a lake of sparkly cool water instead of flaming brimstone.
There's a - probably apocryphal - story about a rich guy who, years ago, bribed the actors so that Juliet woke up before Romeo takes the poison, so they lived happily ever after. Is society ruined by not getting the original tragic ending? Probably not. But the whole point of Shakespeare's work is lost. And that should count for something.

I'm reminded of a case a while back I think it may have involved Baylor University, the Baptist school in Waco. Some twice-born Christianist sued a professor for flunking her "because she didn't believe in evolution."

Sorry, but if you don't believe in evolution perhaps biology isn't your field.
And if you object to sex or violence or harsh language, maybe movies with sex or violence or naughty words aren't an entertainment option.

Joe Myers
"See what happens when you
find a stranger in the Alps?"

And if you object to sex or violence or harsh language, maybe movies with sex or violence or naughty words aren't an entertainment option.

And people should stay away from the holy bible too. That book has so much violence and depravity that it should be banned from every public library in America. (Fratricide, jealous angry vindictive gods, crucifiction, people turning into pillars of salt, daemons, people burning in eternal damnation.) They say movies have lowered the moral standard in America. That's nothing compared to the evil that Christians have wreaked by following their bible.

There's a - probably apocryphal - story about a rich guy who, years ago, bribed the actors so that Juliet ... original tragic ending? Probably not. But the whole point of Shakespeare's work is lost. And that should count for something.

Not apocraphal at all. A few hundred years after the Bard (or whoever) wrote his plays, it was very common for them to be rewritten by hacks to give them happy endings. Lear lives, Hamlet and Ophelia ride off into the sunset, etc. Those were the popular versions of the day.
Ken

You guys have it wrong. This IS a device for home use, and does not allow independent companies to sell edited versions of copyrighted material.

No, Lois. You have it wrong. This device is programmed by someone other than the copyright holder, and it creates a version of the material that's no way different from an independently edited dvd. The fact that the programmed editing takes place in someone's home doesn't change what it really is.
Ken

I'm reminded of a case a while back I think it may have involved Baylor University, the Baptist school ... her "because she didn't believe in evolution." Sorry, but if you don't believe in evolution perhaps biology isn't your field.

Actually I think it was Texas Tech and the biology professor, Michael Dini, had to back down. Michael Dini required* an affirmation of belief in evolution as one of his criteria before he would give a student a medical school recommendation. A complaint was filed with the Department of Justice, claiming that Dini had discriminated, based on religion. Michael Dini "saw the light" and changed his policy. Now students are only required to "explain the theory of evolution", and are not required to *affirm a belief in it.
Isn't Professor Dini's original policy the same kind of tyranny that people like to accuse Christians of? "Do you believe brother, I mean do you really believe in evolution because if you don't believe me, brother, you ain't gettin' no recommendation from me."

http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2003/April/03 crt 247.htm

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
TUESDAY, APRIL 22, 2003
WWW.USDOJ.GOV
CRT
(202) 616-2777
TDD (202) 514-1888
JUSTICE DEPARTMENT CLOSES RELIGIOUS DISCRIMINATION INQUIRY AT TEXAS TECH UNIVERSITY
Requirement That Students Affirm Personal Belief In Evolution Dropped In Revised Policy
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Justice Department today announced that it was closing its inquiry into complaints by Texas Tech students that a biology professor's medical school recommendation policy, which required affirmation of a personal belief in evolution, constituted religious discrimination. The decision was based on the professor's replacement of the affirmation requirement with a requirement that students simply be able to explain the scientific theory of evolution.

The Justice Department received complaints alleging that Professor Michael Dini had discriminated, based on religion, against several students through his written recommendation policy. The policy, set forth on a Texas Tech website, stated that to receive a medical school recommendation, the student had to meet three criteria. These were to get an "A" grade in one of Professor Dini's courses, get to know him personally through working as a teaching assistant or extracurricular activities, and "truthfully and forthrightly affirm a scientific answer" to the question: "How do you think the human species originated?"

In response to complaints by students, the Justice Department requested information about the school's policies regarding letters of recommendation. Professor Dini subsequently changed the third criteria on the website, dropping the requirement that students affirm a personal belief in evolution. Instead, he now requires them to be able to explain the scientific theory of evolution. In light of this change, the Department of Justice has closed its inquiry into the matter.

"The new policy rightly recognizes that students don't have to give up their religious beliefs to be good doctors or good scientists," said Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Ralph F. Boyd, Jr. "A biology student may need to understand the theory of evolution and be able to explain it. But a state-run university has no business telling students what they should or should not believe in. If the separation of church and state is to mean anything, it must surely mean that such matters of conscience are beyond the reach of government inquiry."

###
03-247

Paulo Joe Jingy
Sometimes some things just ain't right.
www.PauloJoeJingyIsWithoutADoubtTheOneAndOnlyDivineScreenwritingGod.com

And if you object to sex or violence or harsh language, maybe movies with sex or violence or naughty words aren't an entertainment option.

And people should stay away from the holy bible too. That book has so much violence and depravity that it ... lowered the moral standard in America. That's nothing compared to the evil that Christians have wreaked by following their bible.

Yeah, but they're pikers compared to the "evil that's been wreaked" in the name of Atheistic Communism.
Or did you think those millions people in the Soviet Union and Red China all died from tickle fits?

Paulo Joe Jingy
Sometimes some things just ain't right.
www.PauloJoeJingyIsWithoutADoubtTheOneAndOnlyDivineScreenwritingGod.com

I'm reminded of a case a while back I ... you don't believe in evolution perhaps biology isn't your field.

Actually I think it was Texas Tech and the biology professor, Michael Dini, had to back down. Michael Dini required* ... *really believe in evolution because if you don't believe me, brother, you ain't gettin' no recommendation from me."

Sorry. If you believe the earth is flat, geography isn't a career choice.

If you believe you can flap your arms and fly to France, aeronautical engineering may not be your career path.
You're entitled to believe you're a faith healer, if you like. But I don't want you for an EMT if I need to call an ambulance.

The science of biology *is* evolution.
Unless you believe saber-tooth poodles were scampering around to avoid being stomped upon by brontosauruses, evolution is a fact, not a theory. Evolution wasn't invented by Darwin any more than gravity was invented by Sir Isaac Newton. Evolution, like gravity, is fact and always has been. What Newton did was try to explain gravity. What Darwin did was try to explain evolution. Both scientists did a pretty good job but both scientists' observations and deductions were flawed.

"A body in motion tends to stay in motion and a body at rest tends to stay at rest." That's Newton's work, and pretty nifty in its elegant simplicity. Except, of course, others have followed along in Newton's footsteps and noticed, among other things, that there is no such thing as a body "at rest." We live on a spinning planet that orbits a sun that migrates through a galaxy that wafts through an ever-expanding universe.

Darwinism is not synonymous with evolution.
As for the Texas Tech (thanks for the correction) case. It's probably logical as a class requirement to"explain the theory," rather than affirm a belief. But if the student tried and failed to disprove the truth of evolution, sounds like the kid failed the course.
Joe Myers
"And, of course, fundamentalist Christian students are always smarter than biology professors."

And people should stay away from the holy bible too. ... the evil that Christians have wreaked by following their bible.

Yeah, but they're pikers compared to the "evil that's been wreaked" in the name of Atheistic Communism. Or did you ... Union and Red China all died from tickle fits? Paulo Joe Jingy Sometimes some things just ain't right. www.PauloJoeJingyIsWithoutADoubtTheOneAndOnlyDivineScreenwritingGod.com

communism and christianity are the same thing: Both worship dead human crackpots as gods. Humanity would be better off if people worshipped god as a god, and aspired to follow principles, not people.