You will notice that it lacks definiteness; that it lacks purpose; that it lacks coherence; that it lacks a subject to talk about; that it is loose and wabbly; that it wanders around; that it loses itself early and does not find itself any more. --Mark Twain
Joshua Rosenau spends his days defending the teaching of evolution at the National Center for Science Education. He is also a graduate student at the University of Kansas, completing a doctorate in the department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. When not modeling species distributions or battling creationists, he writes about developments in progressive politics and the sciences.
The opinions expressed here are his own, do not reflect the official position of the NCSE. Indeed, older posts may no longer reflect his own official position.
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The Birth of Intelligent Falling
A failure of Intelligent Design
Why it's called Intelligent Design Creationism
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October 26, 2007
Category: Policy and Politics
The Kansas Democratic Party is curious to learn: "Why are you leaving the GOP?" The Kansas AG, Lieutenant Governor, a Kansas member of Congress and several Kansas state legislators all did it. What made you Flee the GOP?...
Posted by Josh Rosenau at 5:10 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
October 21, 2007
Category: Culture Wars
Reposted from the old TfK because it's fun. In KU's introductory biology lab about evolution, the students are asked (not my phrasing): In the vertebrate animal clade, jaws have evolved from cartilage-like rods associated with gills. In jawless ancestral vertebrates, as well as extant jawless species such as hagfish and lampreys, the function of these skeletal rods was/is to support the gills. Jaws function to grasp and chew, their success is notable, as jaws are still present in most extant vertebrates. If an engineer were put to the task of designing "jaws," would the outcome be the same as the...
Posted by Josh Rosenau at 1:10 PM • 5 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
October 19, 2007
Category: Culture Wars
Chuck Colson has had an interesting life. During his years as a Nixon goon/lawyer, he wrote the infamous Enemies List, proposed firebombing the Brookings Institution and stealing documents while firefighters put out the fire, and headed up the plan to steal psychiatric files about the Pentagon Papers' leaker. He is on tape joining in Nixon's anti-Semitic tirades. For his role in covering up the Watergate scandal, he did 7 months in federal prison. Shortly before being indicted, he found God, and how runs a prison ministry. Given his experience with the depths to which humanity can sink, I'm intrigued by...
Posted by Josh Rosenau at 2:54 PM • 6 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Culture Wars
The gang at Billy D's blog really seem to like a website called Science made Stupid. I'm sure you join me in my astonishment that they aren't suing for trademark infringement....
Posted by Josh Rosenau at 11:45 AM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
October 18, 2007
Category: Policy and Politics
The Kansas Department of Health and Environment denied a permit to Sunflower Electric Power, blocking construction of a massive power plant. "I believe it would be irresponsible to ignore emerging information about the contribution of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases to climate change and the potential harm to our environment and health if we do nothing," DHE Secretary Rod Bremby said. From its position in western Kansas, the plant's mercury, particulate and carbon emissions would have directly influenced air quality throughout the state, while the power itself would have been sold to Colorado, Oklahoma and Texas. The annual 11...
Posted by Josh Rosenau at 9:35 PM • 6 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Culture Wars
Thanks to all your efforts, Senator Vitter asked that the $100,000 he earmarked for the creationist Lousiana Family Forum be given to someone else. Thank you for your calls and emails to your Senators. If you have time, you might want to call your congresscritters back and offer your heartfelt thanks for helping do the right thing. Folks on the Hill don't get a lot of happy phone call, and would appreciate your thoughtfulness. Vitter's remarks are below the fold....
Posted by Josh Rosenau at 3:18 PM • 5 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
October 15, 2007
Category: Policy and Politics
Last month, papers in Louisiana spotted an interesting earmark tacked onto the Senate version of the appropriations bill for the Departments of Labor, HHS, and Education. Senator David Vitter (R-LA brothels) had allocated $100,000 for a Dobson-derived group – Lousiana Family Forum. The money was meant to let them "promote better science education." Who could oppose better science education? It all depends on what, exactly, you mean by "better" and "science." LFF has a long history of pushing creationism in public schools, including drafting a controversial policy in the Ouachita school district which is widely regarded as a stalking-horse for...
Posted by Josh Rosenau at 5:39 PM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Chatter
Just as I was leaving Kansas, I managed to convince the excellent Chris Mooney to head out and give a talk in Hays. He's arrived safely, and will be talking about climate change out there tonight....
Posted by Josh Rosenau at 5:26 PM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
October 14, 2007
Category: Culture Wars
Last year, then-attorney general Phill (the extra 'l' is for "lascivious") Kline was sued over his interpretation of a state law. He claimed that a law requiring doctors and other counselors to report sexual abuse required them to inform his office of any sexual contact with a minor child, even if it were just two kids making out. This led to much amusement over his attempts to clarify what, exactly, constituted sex. On the stand, he allowed that french kissing would probably be OK, but had to think very hard about french kissing "while lying on top of each other."...
Posted by Josh Rosenau at 1:09 AM • 5 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
October 12, 2007
Category: Chatter
Many of us here at Scienceblogs are participating in this effort to raise funds for teachers who have good ideas about how to improve education. The projects I'm promoting (in the sidebar), aim to get kids out into nature and nature into the classroom. I hope you'll help these teachers out by giving what you can. To encourage donations, I've gotten the NCSE to donate a bunch of lovely bumper stickers to the first 20 donors, and now our corporate overlords at Seed are offering an added incentive. Not only have they matched the first $15,000 that our readers donate,...
Posted by Josh Rosenau at 2:05 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
