Indiana legislature is defining when life begins

[lindajdunn]

In 1897, Indiana had the Pi Bill, which stated: The ratio of the diameter and circumference is as five-fourths to four, which means pi is 3.2.
It passed the house February 5th, 1897 with a vote of 67-0. The Senate reported favorably upon it and then someone who knew something about mathematics stopped them before they defined pi to be 3.2

Indiana is now attempting to define science again. They're reintroducing a bill that failed last year that requires doctors to tell their pregnant patients that
1. Life begins at conception
and
2. Fetuses feel pain.

Last year, a delegation of Jewish physicians spoke to the legislature and noted that the law would require them to state a religious belief that did not coincide with their own religious beliefs and practices. They were being compelled to say something that they did not believe. Legislators then modified the bill to allow exemptions to some doctors whose religious beliefs would be compromised.

I am embarassed to admit I live in Indiana.

[Inquartata]

Well, who better to decide these things than a bunch of politicians?

[fences_like_a_lemur]

Who better NOT to decide anything than a room full of politicians. I mean a room full of lemurs would be more productive...

As for you living in Indiana; Please accept my most sincere condolences.

As for Pi, those politicans should be burned at the stake for such a blasphemous coment as that...I mean everyone knows that pi is 3.1415926, right?

[Slim]

Who better NOT to decide anything than a room full of politicians. I mean a room full of lemurs would be more productive...

As for you living in Indiana; Please accept my most sincere condolences.

As for Pi, those politicans should be burned at the stake for such a blasphemous coment as that...I mean everyone knows that pi is 3.1415926, right?

I'm sure they figured 3.2 was close enough for government work.

[fences_like_a_lemur]

I'm sure they figured 3.2 was close enough for government work.

Then God save our country because I don't think the government is capable of doing anything other than turning their coffee makers on if that is true...*checks for any CIA people sneaking up behind me*

Imagine the calculation errors that they would have..."Now plug the coordinates into the the nuclear missile, you did use 3.2 instead on 3.1415926 right? ... Hey what went wrong? Why did that crash into Moscow? "

[Inquartata]

You see? Plausible deniability. "Sorry, Puty-poo, completely unintentional, heh heh heh. Them wacky Democrats decreed that we had to round pi to 3.2, heh heh."

[jeff]

Sheesh! It's not exactly rocket science! Oh, wait...

[fences_like_a_lemur]

Poor Indiana, Poor Democrats, Poor US... When the government trys and make new laws in math, you know it is just looking to get into trouble. Will the government be trying to say that THEY came up with Calculus next?

[Slim]

Poor Indiana, Poor Democrats, Poor US... When the government trys and make new laws in math, you know it is just looking to get into trouble. Will the government be trying to say that THEY came up with Calculus next?

Calculus? That was Al Gore, right before he invented the internet.

[fences_like_a_lemur]

Calculus? That was Al Gore, right before he invented the internet.

And that is a good reason why Democrats should be exiled from this country just like the epeeists.

[lefty_monster]

HEY! Epeeists aren't that bad!

Um, trust a bunch of politicians to come up with 3.2. Which is not even remotely close to pi, not even rounded. And what the heck were they doing writing a law about pi?????? They had so much other stuff to do, like women's suffrage and black rights, but instead they go "let's define pah!" and so it was. like it needed defining in the first place? it's a freaking number.

lindajdunn, i extend my condolences.

[fences_like_a_lemur]

HEY! Epeeists aren't that bad!

Um, trust a bunch of politicians to come up with 3.2. Which is not even remotely close to pi, not even rounded. And what the heck were they doing writing a law about pi?????? They had so much other stuff to do, like women's suffrage and black rights, but instead they go "let's define pah!" and so it was. like it needed defining in the first place? it's a freaking number.

lindajdunn, i extend my condolences.

Actually, yes epeeists are that bad. Do you even know the difference between pi and pie -other than spelling-?

[OROD]

I am embarassed to admit I live in Indiana.

I'm embarassed to admit I'm a part of the human race.

.

[OROD]

And yes, epeeists are that bad.


.

[fences_like_a_lemur]

I think we should evacuate anyone worth saving from Indiana and then quarantine the state once we put all of the epeeists into concentration camps -nice ones with padded walls and straitjackets-. Then the politicans can do whatever they want and nobody important will really care!

[introspective]

I too once resided in Indiana. However, I really enjoyed my time there - I was a graduate student. I never heard about the Pi thing, it's like tampering with photosynthesis. I tried weakly to check into fencing again while I was there, but never connected with them, even though I had already fenced. They are rabid on the conception thing, one of my instructors brought in a film called 'The Silent Scream" which was terrible and I didn't watch it. I don't like the idea of abortion myself, but in some instances, there must be a reason why a person would pursue this avenue, reasons that are too awful to discuss on a fencing board. Allez! - I can remember some of our more vocal street preachers screaming at young women about their manner of dress, but they were out-voted by the guys on campus. But as we enjoy freedom of speech, we didn't throw them off campus. I thought it was 3.141414...

[jeff]

No, it's about 3.14159 26535 89793 23846 26433 83279 50288 41971 69399 37510 (and keep going). If you want a lot more digits, go to http://zenwerx.com/pi.php for the first 4 million or so digits. Give or take...

[fences_like_a_lemur]

Did any of you hear about that guy several years ago who memorized a lot of those numbers? I'm not sure how many he memorized but I know it was a very big number...sometimes I wish I had photographic memory, and other times I'm glad that I don't.

[Have At You]

In 1897, Indiana had the Pi Bill, which stated: The ratio of the diameter and circumference is as five-fourths to four, which means pi is 3.2.
It passed the house February 5th, 1897 with a vote of 67-0. The Senate reported favorably upon it and then someone who knew something about mathematics stopped them before they defined pi to be 3.2

Indiana is now attempting to define science again. They're reintroducing a bill that failed last year that requires doctors to tell their pregnant patients that
1. Life begins at conception
and
2. Fetuses feel pain.

Last year, a delegation of Jewish physicians spoke to the legislature and noted that the law would require them to state a religious belief that did not coincide with their own religious beliefs and practices. They were being compelled to say something that they did not believe. Legislators then modified the bill to allow exemptions to some doctors whose religious beliefs would be compromised.

I am embarassed to admit I live in Indiana.

I'm confused here.

I'm fine with abortion being legal, first of all. But I totally fail to see the problem with leaving this kind of thing up to the legislature.

Would you rather have the Bush-appointed Supreme Court dictate this area of law, or would you rather let the people decide for themselves? Are you saying the people aren't smart enough to make these kinds of decisions through their elected representatives?

I say, leave the creation of law to the legislatures. If the Supreme Court had let that happen back in the 70s, I guarantee you abortion wouldn't be the polarizing issue it became after they got involved. Everyone would have had their say, the states would have come up with a workable set of laws that satisfy most of their citizens, and we'd all have moved on to more critical issues.

Sure, the Supreme Court has had to step in and make things right here and there. But whenever they try to make up what the law ought to be, as opposed to dealing with what it is, they get it wrong as often as not -- and sometimes with devastating results (Dred Scott, anyone?).

I think there's nothing wrong with letting the Indiana legislature pass its own laws. If the citizens of Indiana don't think they're just laws, the laws won't last long, and neither will the legislators.

[fences_like_a_lemur]

I'm confused here.

I'm fine with abortion being legal, first of all. But I totally fail to see the problem with leaving this kind of thing up to the legislature.

Would you rather have the Bush-appointed Supreme Court dictate this area of law, or would you rather let the people decide for themselves? Are you saying the people aren't smart enough to make these kinds of decisions through their elected representatives?

I say, leave the creation of law to the legislatures. If the Supreme Court had let that happen back in the 70s, I guarantee you abortion wouldn't be the polarizing issue it became after they got involved. Everyone would have had their say, the states would have come up with a workable set of laws that satisfy most of their citizens, and we'd all have moved on to more critical issues.

Sure, the Supreme Court has had to step in and make things right here and there. But whenever they try to make up what the law ought to be, as opposed to dealing with what it is, they get it wrong as often as not -- and sometimes with devastating results (Dred Scott, anyone?).

I think there's nothing wrong with letting the Indiana legislature pass its own laws. If the citizens of Indiana don't think they're just laws, the laws won't last long, and neither will the legislators.

But if each and every state had it's own laws about the same issue; then there wouldn't be any point in having the laws in the first place. I mean if Indiana said that abortion was legal, and Ohio said that abortion was illegeal; then people in Ohio who wanted an abortion would just cross the state line and get it done. It would also mean that if somebody broke the law in one state, they could go to another state and unless they had broken a federal law; they might be able to get away with it.

I personally think that a law about abortion should be made at the federal level and then applied to the entire nation, no matter what what individual states stay.