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The status quo of the forensic labs working for a law enforcement agency needs to change. Law enforcement agencies will hire people with a law enforcement mindset. They collect and process material looking for probative evidence while not seeking exculpatory evidence. Management can pressure them to provide a desired result. Independent forensic labs could solve part of this problem. Not necessarily private labs, but not part of a law enforcement agency.

Here is a case study in how not to collect and store a sample. While not a law enforcement action the effect ruined a life:
http://digitalcommons.pepperdine.edu/drlj/vol10/iss1/5/ Download the pdf.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederic_Whitehurst#FBI_career and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Bureau_of_Investigation_Laboratory offer some useful background on the topic.

http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2009/10/why_i_hate_star_trek.html "Fill in the tech" applies to CSI shows as well. That's how we get infinitely sharp magnification and instant DNA results.

Depends on how you define freedom I guess... Are these examples of free speech? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morse_v._Frederick http://graphic.pepperdine.edu/perspectives/2007/2007-09-27-Leonard.htm http://www.hecklerspray.com/sally-field-bleeped-for-saying-goddamn-at-the-emmys/200610097.php Would a country that truly had freedom of assembly have "free speech zones"? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_speech_zone http://baltimorechronicle.com/052704FreeSpeechZones.shtml http://www.cnn.com/2004/LAW/08/04/hilden.freespeech/ Are these signs of a government respecting the freedom of religion? http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2005/09/15/wiretap_mosques_romney_suggests/ http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/state/20070918-1624-ca-mosquesurveillance.html All of these are a lot milder than being run over by tanks, but in the U.S. things are definately moving in the wrong direction.

For those who can't hack the left-of-center politics at UCLA, I have two local suggestions for alternatives:

Alternative 1, for those wanting to study Political Science, Business or Law: Pepperdine, Malibu, CA.

Yes, you can study at a law school where Kenneth Starr is the Dean! And that's just the beginning. Pepperdine was founded by Southern Baptists and is almost thoroughly Conservative-run. Only the school of Education and Psychology (why am I not surprised?) harbors liberal rebel scum. If you avoid that bastion of hippie-dom, you are good to go. And besides, it's in Malibu. Righteous waves and babes in bikinis. You know you want it.

Alternative 2 for those wanting to get their Divinity degree: Biola, La Mirada, southern Los Angeles County, CA.

The Bible Institute Of Los Angeles has been known as the province of fire-breathing Fundamentalist Christians for about a century. You don't have to go to the Southeast and the Bible Belt to get that old time religious education, it's right there. Perhaps the only place more hardcore than Biola is Bob Jones University.

Both of these places are realistic alternatives for those who would rather not go to UCLA. I guarantee you, you will not have your precious Right-Wing political preferences challenged either place. You might have to pay more, because both of these are private institutions, but that wonderful feeling of not having to listen to grubby liberal eggheads spouting off with opinions that Rush and O'Reilly and Hannity tell you are "just plain wrong" is priceless, right? Right?

For those who can't hack the left-of-center politics at UCLA, I have two local suggestions for alternatives:

Alternative 1, for those wanting to study Political Science, Business or Law: Pepperdine, Malibu, CA.

Yes, you can study at a law school where Kenneth Starr is the Dean! And that's just the beginning. Pepperdine was founded by Southern Baptists and is almost thoroughly Conservative-run. Only the school of Education and Psychology (why am I not surprised?) harbors liberal rebel scum. If you avoid that bastion of hippie-dom, you are good to go. And besides, it's in Malibu. Righteous waves and babes in bikinis. You know you want it.

Alternative 2 for those wanting to get their Divinity degree: Biola, La Mirada, southern Los Angeles County, CA.

The Bible Institute Of Los Angeles has been known as the province of fire-breathing Fundamentalist Christians for about a century. You don't have to go to the Southeast and the Bible Belt to get that old time religious education, it's right there. Perhaps the only place more hardcore than Biola is Bob Jones University.

Both of these places are realistic alternatives for those who would rather not go to UCLA. I guarantee you, you will not have your precious Right-Wing political preferences challenged either place. You might have to pay more, because both of these are private institutions, but that wonderful feeling of not having to listen to grubby liberal eggheads spouting off with opinions that Rush and O'Reilly and Hannity tell you are "just plain wrong" is priceless, right? Right?

I got a Masters in Educational Technology from Pepperdine. You can check it out here.

Here's a list of the sites that were blocked by default that I had to unblock manually:

• Florida Gulf Coast University www.fgcu.edu
• NoodleTools.com www.noodletools.com (I can understand this one a little, though in this case "noodle" means "brain")
• Access Atlanta www.accessatlanta.com
• Inclusive Scouting www.inclusivescouting.com
• Yale University's Law Web www.yale.edu/lawweb
• Scentiments.com www.scentiments.com
• Pasadena Public Library LibraryTeens LibraryTeens
• Pepperdine's Graduate school faculty pages gsep.pepperdine.edu
• Scouting for all www.scoutingforall.com

People who back such laws as this and oppose the recent ruling concerning the "under God" portion of the "Pledge of Allegience" are at odds with America's diverse morality and (non)spirituality. To include a reference to God in the Pledge begs the question "Which God?" or "Whose?". Likewise when legislating morality the question becomes "Whose morals?".

Because nearly every commercial filtering system is protected by "trade secrets" it becomes impossible to expect and answer to the above questions, and illegal to discover them on your own.

Are expected to purchase software that controls our childrens access to information without knowing what it's really doing? Absolutely, and if this law is upheld it'd be illegal to choose otherwise.

Don't entirely know what it blocks and doesn't. Don't know why. Blocking software companies won't tell us. Illegal to find out. Illegal to not install. Likely illegal to circumvent.

Orwellian. Yep.

As an aside:

"Protecting children" is a convenient way to get government to move, and it's a red herring. No American politician is going to come out and say "I'm anti-children" or "I think children should look at porn and the taxpayers should foot the bill.". Evoking "protecting children" is just a carrot (or whip if you'd rather) for people who have an agenda to wave in front of legislators.

"Protecting children" also sells tires, and Volvos, and antibacterial soap, and milk, and private schools, and cell phones, and guns...

-dameron

My personal experience echoes what others have said - you'd think that Ed. Tech programs would be paragons of technical literacy themselves, but alas. (My alma mater UW is a case in point.)

For my masters' degree, I chose a long-running distance program at GWU; sort of putting my money where my mouth is, so to speak. I'm looking forward to starting next week, and hope the dialogs are up-to-date and up to my expectations. Other programs I considered were Pepperdine, MU, and Boise State

Another resource to check out of course is ISTE, and I'm sure there are others like it.

C'mon, if it was blatant, why is it so debated?

Ender parallels Hitler

Absolutely. Intentionally. If anything, Card was shocked by so many people's problem with this parallel. It illustrates perfectly his point: the people of Ender's future can't see anything about Ender but the act. Genocide has obscured anything else important about Wiggin's humanity. But being critized for daring to draw parallels to ol' Adolph...well, that just reminds me of the kind of criticism that resulted in no new Salinger masterpieces.

***Disclaimer: I'm not at all saying Hitler wasn't the most evil SOB in history***

But I am saying that our culture has made it impossible to even explore, even as just an excercise, any other possibility. This is scarier than anything else, IMHO.

A good analysis of the book can be found at this link. In it, Collings discusses the obvious Christ parallels in Ender's Game. The twelve 'apostles' following Ender in the end battle. His descent into the 'underworld' (the bugger world) after he saves humanity. His sacrifice for Man, etc. Now, as I see it, Hitler had about as big a Christ complex as anyone. Any surprise that there might be some parallels between Hitler and any messianic tale? Could work just as easily for Dune...