Wednesday, December 2, 2009

New IJ Video Released & Posted at Reason.TV!

I'm proud to announce that the next Institute for Justice video in my continuing of pro-liberty film scores is available for viewing at Reason.TV and on YouTube.

Damon Root writes:
"And check out this great video on the case from IJ:"
(I agree... Check it out!)



The video has helped the Institute for Justice get more media coverage on this issue. For instance, in yesterday's Richmond Times-Dispatch, reporter A. Barton Hinkle writes:

"Pity the poor state officials stuck with the task of justifying the regulations. In a letter to Del. David Bulova in late October, Daniel LaVista, head of the State Council on Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV), graciously agreed to postpone the implementation of the new certification requirements until after the end of the next General Assembly session. Nevertheless, he wrote, "there is an emerging national consensus that inadequately trained yoga instructors are a source of serious potential harm to students."

Sure there is. You can hardly cross the street these days without bumping into someone whose life is a shambles because some yoga teacher said Parsva Bakasana when she meant Purvottanasana.

In fact, The Washington Post reports, "yoga teacher training first hit the state's radar late last year after a state employee conducting school audits happened upon an advertisement, [according to] Linda Woodley, [SCHEV's] director of private and out-of-state postsecondary education . . . .Woodley says it's about ensuring that students who plunk down cash for training programs that can run a few thousand dollars are getting their money's worth."

Really? How will the state decide that? Will it delve into judgments about the comparative merits of Kundalini versus Sivaneda yoga? Will it weigh in on whether yoga disciplines are discreet enough to merit copyright protection, as Bikram Choudhury has claimed? In September, Forbes reported that although a court case over that question was settled, "no clear decision emerged as to whether Choudhury's copyright was worth the paper it was printed on." That may be because, as a UCLA law professor told the LA Times four years ago, the question "depends on an issue that isn't covered in the law: What is the nature of yoga?" Do we really want state regulators deciding that question?"

I certainly don't.

Mp3 version of just the music I wrote available on my website: www.sean-malone.com - check it out there too... And you know... Hire me for your projects ;)

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