The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Photo credti: dcwriterdawn on Flickr

NYS Senate bill 06779

AN ACT to amend the civil rights law, in relation to protecting a person’s right to know who is behind an anonymous internet posting

The Senate sponsor is Republican Thomas O’Mara, 53rd Senate district. The Assembly sponsor is Republican James Conte, 10th Assembly district.

As Wired reports

Proposed legislation in both chambers would require New York-based websites, such as blogs and newspapers, to “remove any comments posted on his or her website by an anonymous poster unless such anonymous poster agrees to attach his or her name to the post.” … Oddly, the bill has no identification requirement for those who request the takedown of anonymous content.

There are a lot of idiots in the world, and some of them are unfortunately Republican. O’Mara’s Senate district includes Ithaca, Elmira, Corning and my birthplace of Arkport. Conte’s district is a chunk of Suffolk County gerrymandered to include a winding piece of Nassau County. I suspect the voters of both districts may wish to choose another representative in the next election, based solely on the sheer stupidity of their current state Senator and Assemblyman.

A public health nurse gives an immunization injection.

As reported here on May 16, schools across Pennsylvania were forced to ban students from attending as part of an effort to catch up on required immunizations and record keeping. Reports suggest that the effort payed off in many school districts. It took eight months plus two weeks, and the exclusion of hundreds of students to reach that end.
(more…)

Here is a link to our coverage of the tornado that tore through Joplin Missouri just one year ago.

Joplin Missouri

The Minnesota Department of Health reports 670 cases of whooping cough in the state for the year through May 15. The cases are largely centered in and around the Minneapolis / St. Paul metro area.

Counties in Minnesota reporting pertussis cases in 2012 through May 15. Click for a larger image.

A public health nurse gives an immunization injection.

When the school year began last September, large numbers of Pennsylvania school children lacked immunizations or the proof that they had received those immunizations. The Pennsylvania Department of Health notified families that they would have eight months to obtain immunizations, file the correct paperwork or provide the paperwork giving their student an exemption for medical, religious or philosophical reasons. The deadline passed and was extended for two weeks. Yesterday was it.
(more…)