Our new governor may not know when committees meet, but
thankfully KET does.
I’ve been watching a lot of its excellent coverage, and
recommend it to you.
From just 2 sessions last week:
An earnest lady lawyer-legislator extolled the virtues of
her bill to teach the Bible as world literature (which it is, as is the Quran) in a high school elective course. She said her bill was drafted
carefully to avoid any small problems with the U.S. Constitution, and said her
experience guaranteed that. The state Civil Liberties Union issued a statement
that such courses almost always involved problems with the Constitution
but the committee adopted it, nearly unanimously.
Surprise.
A second committee hearing found a former prosecutor telling
the members why he had changed his mind on the death penalty. Among other
arguments was one that there is never any guarantee we will not convict, and
put to death, an innocent person...and as long as that is true (and it is)
it is better we go with life in prison rather than have the state, on our
behalf, kill someone. (There are lots of other compelling arguments against
capital punishment, which I support, but his experience lent new credibility to
this one.) BTW, after years on the other side, the Herald-Leader
editorialized in favor of ending the death penalty, too. The committee
disagreed, although the vote against the bill to end capital punishment failed
by only one vote---the closest margin yet.
Surprise....I'm just sayin'...
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