dunelin - Slashdot User

Gov't Database Errors Leading To Unconstitutional Searches? 272

Posted by Soulskill on Sunday October 05, 2008 @11:30AM from the you-can-trust-us dept.

Wired is running a story about a case the Supreme Court will be hearing on Tuesday that relates to searches based on erroneous information in government databases. In the case of Herring vs. US 07-513, the defendant was followed and pulled over based on a records indicating he had a warrant out for his arrest. Upon further review, the local county clerk found the records were in error, and the warrant notification should have been removed months prior. Unfortunately for Herring, he had already been arrested and his car searched. Police found a small amount of drugs and a firearm, for which Herring was subsequently prosecuted. Several friend-of-the-court briefs have been filed to argue this case, some calling for "an accuracy obligation on law enforcement agents [PDF] who rely on criminal justice information systems," and others defending such searches as good-faith exceptions [PDF].

Submission + - A New Perspective on Evolution and Creationism

Submitted by dunelin on Wednesday December 12, 2007 @04:22PM

dunelin writes: Creationists have been trying to present intelligent design as science for the last few years. A new 5 minute digitally animated movie online tries a new tact: present the creationism story with God as a very scientific engineer and evolution using religious symbolism. It's a bit like a Monty Python movie. The side to side mash-up presentation is thought-provoking. This makes a great artistic follow-up to Nova's story last month of Intelligent Design on Trial.

Submission + - Texas & Florida to Revise Evolution Textbooks (wired.com)

Submitted by

eldavojohn

on Monday December 10, 2007 @05:41PM

eldavojohn writes: "Texas, the second biggest textbook market among the states, & Florida plan to revise their textbooks & education standards to make room for creationism. The bulk of this article looks at whether or not this is a cunning move by The Discovery Institute (Creationism's proponent in the scientific realm) to eventually move these ideas to a national level. From a letter from the National Center for Science Education, "The DI has a long history of involvement with the Texas standards process and with textbook adoption in Texas.... Because of the size of the Texas textbook market, and because many other states follow their lead, publishers generally follow whatever direction Texas points them in." This could be a step back to teaching evolution as merely a 'theory' and thereby allowing teachers to expound upon other possibilities like intelligent design, Beelzebub, Zoroaster or even The Flying Spaghetti Monster's Noodly appendage."

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