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Attention, parents: The state of Virginia understands that you lead busy lives, but lawmakers are confident that you will be only too happy to tack just one more task onto your morning routine — a quick pants check as the kids head out the door.

The House of Delegates voted 60 to 34 Tuesday to impose a $50 fine on anyone found wearing pants low enough that a substantial portion of undergarments is showing. Note the vote: It wasn’t even close.

Sure, it will be difficult to guarantee that your kids’ pants stay secured around the waist all day, but there are ways to protect your offspring from exposure to police action and resulting fines. I suggest duct tape or, in extreme cases, super glue.

There’s an easier way around this: simply stop wearing any underwear at all.

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Producers of a reality TV show claim to have recreated torture techniques used at US detention camp Guantanamo Bay.

The Guantanamo Guidebook was made by Channel 4 using declassified documents about the US camp, producers said.

The methods used on seven volunteers in the show included religious and sexual humiliation, forced nudity, sleep deprivation and extreme temperatures.

The US government has denied using torture at the camp in Cuba, where many detainees are held without charge.

The show’s volunteers – who were told what they would go through – were locked in a warehouse with cages, interrogation rooms and surveillance equipment for 48 hours.

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The Bush administration has blocked the public release of the full, classified version of the report for more than five months, officials said, much to the frustration of former commission members who say it provides a critical understanding of the failures of the civil aviation system. The administration provided both the classified report and a declassified, 120-page version to the National Archives two weeks ago and, even with heavy redactions in some areas, the declassified version provides the firmest evidence to date about the warnings that aviation officials received concerning the threat of an attack on airliners and the failure to take steps to deter it.

Among other things, the report says that leaders of the F.A.A. received 52 intelligence reports from their security branch that mentioned Mr. bin Laden or Al Qaeda from April to Sept. 10, 2001. That represented half of all the intelligence summaries in that time.

Five of the intelligence reports specifically mentioned Al Qaeda’s training or capability to conduct hijackings, the report said. Two mentioned suicide operations, although not connected to aviation, the report said.

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On February 2nd, the Legal Affairs Committee of the European Parliament (JURI) decided with a large majority to ask the Commission for a renewed referral of the Software Patent Directive. However, the Commission is not obliged to comply to the Parliament’s request and the Presidency may still schedule the vote on the Directive on one of the next Council meetings.

And still they claim the EU is a democracy.

The goal of all electronic devices is to eventually become a choking hazard.

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Lexus cars may be vulnerable to viruses that infect them via mobile phones. Landcruiser 100 models LX470 and LS430 have been discovered with infected operating systems that transfer within a range of 15 feet.

“If infected mobile devices are scary, just thinking about an infected onboard computer..,” said Eugene Kaspersky, head of anti-virus research at Russian firm Kaspersky. “We do know that car manufacturers are integrating existing operating systems into their onboard computers (take the Fiat and Microsoft deal, for instance).”

It is understood the virus could affect the navigation system of the Lexus models, it transfers onto them via a Bluetooth mobile phone connection. It is still unclear which operating system the cars in question use.

[Quote...]

Teachers in the science department researched and recommended to the Administration the science textbook Biology (Prentice Hall) for its high school Biology class. The District adopted and purchased 220 copies of this teacher-and administration-recommended book.

The District also received a donation of 60 copies of Of Pandas and People (Haughton Publishing Company) and that book now is listed as a reference book in the curriculum. It is not a required text, but, in an effort to present a balanced curriculum, the book is made available to all students who wish to review it and the ideas that are presented in the text.

The Biology curriculum also was updated to include the following preliminary statement:

Students will be made aware of gaps/problems in Darwin�s Theory and of other theories of evolution including, but not limited to, Intelligent Design. The Origins of Life is not taught.

In coordination with the science department teachers, the District solicitor, and the School Board, Mr. Michael Baksa, the Assistant Superintendent in charge of curriculum, developed the following procedural statement that will be read to all students as the new Biology curriculum is implemented beginning in January 2005:

The Pennsylvania Academic Standards require students to learn about Darwin�s Theory of Evolution and eventually to take a standardized test of which evolution is a part.

Because Darwin�s Theory is a theory, it continues to be tested as new evidence is discovered. The Theory is not a fact. Gaps in the Theory exist for which there is no evidence. A theory is defined as a well-tested explanation that unifies a broad range of observations.

Intelligent Design is an explanation of the origin of life that differs from Darwin�s view. The reference book, Of Pandas and People, is available for students who might be interested in gaining an understanding of what Intelligent Design actually involves.

With respect to any theory, students are encouraged to keep an open mind. The school leaves the discussion of the Origins of Life to individual students and their families. As a Standards-driven district, class instruction focuses upon preparing students to achieve proficiency on Standards-based assessments.

I wonder who “donated” the 60 copies of Pandas and People ? Probably not biologists….
Have a look here and see if you can see the hidden hand behind “Intelligent Design Theory”

Neither the authors nor the “academic editor” of Pandas can be found in the current edition of American Men & Women of Science. One author, Dean H. Kenyon, is a veteran promoter of “creation-science” who wrote an affidavit supporting the Louisiana law that the Supreme Court voided in 1987.

As for the “critical reviewers” listed in Pandas: Some of them, as far as I can tell, have not been conspicuously linked to “creation-science” heretofore; on the other hand, the list includes such luminaries as Norman L. Geisler. Geisler is a creationist minister from the Dallas Theological Seminary. He gained brief fame in 1981, when he testified in favor of a “creation-science” law that had been adopted in Arkansas. Under cross-examination he admitted that he not only liked “creation-science” but also believed that unidentified flying objects were “a satanic manifestation in the world for purposes of deception.”

The National Center for Science Education has been ringing alarm bells about Pandas and People since 1991…

The American Civil Liberties Union are working with parents at the Dover area schools to get this nonsense thrown off the school curriculum.