Dispatches from the Creation Wars
Archives for November, 2006
Priest Abuse Records Unsealed
Posted by Ed Brayton on November 30, 2006 A Federal judge in Dallas unsealed the records concerning a series of cases of sexual abuse by priests in a single diocese in Texas. The Dallas Morning News reports on what was in these records and it’s stunning. A couple of examples: 1. Rev. Philip Magaldi. Magaldi. In 1997, the church finds him guilty of…
Huge Victory on Gay Parenting
Posted by Ed Brayton on November 30, 2006 I’ve written before about the case of Lisa Miller and Janet Jenkins, aka Lisa and Janet Miller-Jenkins. They were a lesbian couple who lived first in Virginia for several years, then in Vermont, where civil unions are legal. They were joined in one legally, changed their names legally to symbolize that and then decided to…
Gingrich Runs on Anti-Free Speech Platform
Posted by Ed Brayton on November 30, 2006 Newt Gingrich is thinking of running for president in 2008. That means time spent in New Hampshire, where he recently spoke to 400 people at the Nackey S. Loeb First Amendment award dinner. And at a reception honoring those who fight for the first amendment, of all places, he announces that it’s time to reinterpret…
Serious Police Problem in Georgia
Posted by Ed Brayton on November 30, 2006 If you haven’t been following the Kathryn Johnston story, being publicized heavily by Radley Balko, wait till you hear this. On November 21st, the Atlanta PD busts into the house of an 88 year old woman. Since it’s a no knock warrant, she has no idea and grabs the old revolver her family had given…
The Subject of Caldwell’s Suit
Posted by Ed Brayton on November 29, 2006 For the edification of my readers, let me show you the sum total of the text on the Understanding Evolution website that Larry Caldwell claimed in the lawsuit that the court dismissed earlier this year was unconstitutional: Misconception: “Evolution and religion are incompatible.” Response: Religion and science (evolution) are very different things. In science, only…
Volokh and Bainbridge on Prager’s Nonsense
Posted by Ed Brayton on November 29, 2006 UCLA law profs Volokh and Bainbridge both come down on Prager for his ridiculous column about requiring Keith Ellison to swear his oath on the Bible rather than the Quran. They’re much nicer about it than I was, but both agree that his suggestion is unconstitutional and a very bad idea.
Follow Up on Preaching Teacher
Posted by Ed Brayton on November 29, 2006 JewsOnFirst has a follow up on the story of the teacher in New Jersey who regularly used class time to proselytize his students, telling them that if they didn’t believe in Jesus they were going to hell, that dinosaurs were on Noah’s Ark, and so forth. Predictably, the student who turned the teacher in for…
Luskin Retracts, Still Gets It Wrong
Posted by Ed Brayton on November 29, 2006 Casey Luskin has finally recognized that he completely misread my post about Rob Pennock’s speech at UCSD and retracted his post, but in the process he’s still making a mountain out of a molehill and inventing a controversy where there is none. He writes: It’s interesting that certain Darwinists seem obsessed to prove that the…
Farmer Responds to Caldwell
Posted by Ed Brayton on November 29, 2006 For those who haven’t noticed, the DI blog has a new contributor and it is none other than Larry Caldwell. Caldwell, if you are not familiar with him, is about equal parts ridiculous and litigious. He’s sued Genie Scott. He’s sued Berkeley over the Understanding Evolution website. He’s sued all sorts of people. Hell, he’ll…
Scalia the Civil Libertarian?
Posted by Ed Brayton on November 29, 2006 The novelist Scott Turow has an article in the New York Times magazine making the argument that Justice Scalia has moved toward a more civil libertarian position in recent years because of his originalism. I find his analysis rather shallow and ill-informed. He’s certainly right to point out that Scalia has, from time to time,…