HR 1955, how bad is it really?

I'm sorry, I posted in haste, and hadn't read the whole bill, let alone thought about it.

It does just establish a Commission to study domestic terrorism. It doesn't define crimes and punishments, and it's my impression that commissions usually get ignored anyway.

On the other hand, it's got this: (2) VIOLENT RADICALIZATION- The term `violent radicalization' means the process of adopting or promoting an extremist belief system for the purpose of facilitating ideologically based violence to advance political, religious, or social change., which strikes me as unnervingly vague--it's not saying beliefs that advocate violence, it's saying adopting a belief that facilitates violence, which leaves an awful lot of room for saying that a belief facilitates violence whether its promoters want violence or whether any violence occurs.

This isn't even about thought crime. This is about whether someone in power is guessing that some thoughts might be intended to lead towards crime.

Sloppy wording? A move towards total tyranny?

So I suppose that, at worst, the bill represents thought crime on the part of the government, and there are more important things to oppose.

HR 1955, how bad is it really?

I'm sorry, I posted in haste, and hadn't read the whole bill, let alone thought about it.

It does just establish a Commission to study domestic terrorism. It doesn't define crimes and punishments, and it's my impression that commissions usually get ignored anyway.

On the other hand, it's got this: (2) VIOLENT RADICALIZATION- The term `violent radicalization' means the process of adopting or promoting an extremist belief system for the purpose of facilitating ideologically based violence to advance political, religious, or social change., which strikes me as unnervingly vague--it's not saying beliefs that advocate violence, it's saying adopting a belief that facilitates violence, which leaves an awful lot of room for saying that a belief facilitates violence whether its promoters want violence or whether any violence occurs.

This isn't even about thought crime. This is about whether someone in power is guessing that some thoughts might be intended to lead towards crime.

Sloppy wording? A move towards total tyranny?

So I suppose that, at worst, the bill represents thought crime on the part of the government, and there are more important things to oppose.

This week at Studio 360

http://www.studio360.org/episodes/2007/10/26

Studio 360 is an NPR show about odd and interesting things related to art. Last week, I got a book* about physics and ballet which was mentioned there.

The week, one of the segments was a rare laugh-out-loud moment for NPR--Jack Handy (the Deep Thoughts guy) explains why and how to have a scary skeleton.

I usually don't think NPR is all that funny (though I did like the Prairie Home Companion bit about herding turtles), and I don't think Jack Handy is funny at all, but this week, a miracle happened. To be fair, my only previous exposure to Handy was his Deep Thoughts--maybe I just like him better when he has a little more room to spread out.

The show also had a mildly interesting bit about Annie Lennox, a New York theater group that did a non-satirical production of a fundamentalist Hell House kit (funny thing, those Hell Houses get a 30% conversion rate on their home turf, and 0% when done by non-believers), the Tom Savini school for Horror Special effects in Pennsylvania, astronauts playing music in space, and an account of fulfilling a childhood dream of being a naturalist in exotic places.

*the only $20 copy.

This week at Studio 360

http://www.studio360.org/episodes/2007/10/26

Studio 360 is an NPR show about odd and interesting things related to art. Last week, I got a book* about physics and ballet which was mentioned there.

The week, one of the segments was a rare laugh-out-loud moment for NPR--Jack Handy (the Deep Thoughts guy) explains why and how to have a scary skeleton.

I usually don't think NPR is all that funny (though I did like the Prairie Home Companion bit about herding turtles), and I don't think Jack Handy is funny at all, but this week, a miracle happened. To be fair, my only previous exposure to Handy was his Deep Thoughts--maybe I just like him better when he has a little more room to spread out.

The show also had a mildly interesting bit about Annie Lennox, a New York theater group that did a non-satirical production of a fundamentalist Hell House kit (funny thing, those Hell Houses get a 30% conversion rate on their home turf, and 0% when done by non-believers), the Tom Savini school for Horror Special effects in Pennsylvania, astronauts playing music in space, and an account of fulfilling a childhood dream of being a naturalist in exotic places.

*the only $20 copy.