Chad’s Morning Brief for 01.18.13
Here is your Morning Brief for the morning of January 18, 2013. Give Chad your feedback below and tune in to The Chad Hasty Show for these and many more topics from 8:30 to 11 am.
1. Texas Lawmakers File Bills on Social Media (link)
Obviously, technology and how we communicate is changing. Social media plays a big role in that. Younger generations live their life on social media and the laws in Texas need to catch up to the changing technology. Lawmakers intend to do just that in this session. According to the Texas Tribune:
With the emergence of new technology, legislators have filed a bevy of bills that could change the way some Texans use social media. The measures largely stem from lawmakers' concerns about privacy and safety for Texans who spend an increasingly large portion of their lives online.
“This whole social media phenomenon is so new that as we go along we have to set up these new guidelines to guide us into territories that, up to this point, have been uncharted,” said Giddings.
While social media regulations are becoming more commonplace as states take on questions of online privacy, some experts sound a note of caution to lawmakers attempting to regulate technology that is ever evolving. And a note of caution to social media users: “Everything you do is public, and perhaps forever," said Robert Quigley, a social media expert and senior lecturer in the School of Journalism at the University of Texas at Austin.
Giddings' proposal, HB 318, would “prohibit employers from requiring or requesting access to personal accounts of employees or job applicants through electronic communication devices.” Her proposal would include personal cell phones, computers and social media accounts, such as Facebook or Twitter.
At least one lawmaker said he wants to make the virtual world a little safer. State Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer filed HB 23, which would require registered sex offenders to make information about their offense visible on social networking sites, including the type of offense and the address at which they plan to reside. They would also have to include physical indicators, such as height, age, sex, race, weight, eye color and hair color. Failing to document their status online could result in probation revocation.
“We want to make sure that we are protecting our young and vulnerable,” said Martinez Fischer, adding that sex offender registration should carry over into the “digital sphere.”
All states are having to go through this right now. As for everyone out there, here is my advice on social media and the workplace or when applying for jobs. Keep your Facebook private if you are worried and even then, don't post stupid things.
2. Group Alleges Bias in Bible Courses (link)
A watchdog group has found what they deem as bias in some Texas high school Bible courses. According to the Dallas Morning News:
The Texas Freedom Network, which compiled information on the courses from school districts, concludes that the courses have weak foundations, sectarian bias favoring conservative Protestantism, problematic treatment of Judaism, and “pseudo-scholarship” that “reflects ideological biases such as the belief in an America founded as a Christian nation based on biblical Christian principles.”
“If everybody is allowed to ignore those guidelines, they have no teeth,” said Kathy Miller, president of the Texas Freedom Network Education Fund. “And if the state isn’t going to enforce its own guidelines and fund even basic teacher training, maybe we should leave instruction about the Bible to religious congregations who will treat it with the respect it deserves.”
Three Dallas-area school districts — Grapevine-Colleyville, Lovejoy and Plano — offered the most successful courses, according to the report. The last two, the report noted, include analytical exercises, such as one that asks students to demonstrate how biblical imagery influenced Western literature and art.
Duncanville and Prosper made the list of those offering the most problematic courses.
“Academically, many of these classes lack rigor and substance, and some seem less interested in cultivating religious literacy than in promoting religious beliefs,” said Southern Methodist University professor Mark Chancey, whom the group hired to write the report. “Their approach puts their school districts in legal jeopardy and their taxpayers in financial jeopardy.”
Am I missing something here? Are the Bible courses not supposed to teach the Bible? How does that work? Are parents complaining? If not, what is the problem? It's an elective class, no one has to take it.
3. Obama High on Power (link)
Does President Obama think he has more power than he actually has? Senator Ted Cruz seems to think so. According to the Weekly Standard:
Republican senator Ted Cruz of Texas said Thursday that Barack Obama is "high on his own power" with regard to the president's announced efforts on gun control. Speaking on Laura Ingraham's radio talk show, Cruz, who was just elected to the Senate last November, said "this is a president who has drunk the Kool-Aid."
"He is feeling right now high on his own power, and he is pushing on every front, on guns," Cruz said. "And I think it's really sad to see the president of the United States exploiting the murder of children and using it to push his own extreme, anti-gun agenda. I think what the president is proposing and the gun control proposals that are coming from Democrats in the Senate are, number one, unconstitutional, and number two, they don't work. They're bad policy."
Until Republicans can beat Obama at his own game, there is a reason why he thinks he can get away with anything. He can! Republicans need to step-up.
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These and many more topics coming up on today’s edition of The Chad Hasty Show. Tune in mornings 8:30-11am on News/Talk 790 KFYO, streaming online at kfyo.com, and now on your iPhone and Android device with the radioPup App. All guest interviews can be heard online in our podcast section after the show at kfyo.com.
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