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 30, 2008
Category: Policy and Politics
I just flew back from Washington, and boy are my arms tired. Expect blogging to be intermittent for a little while. To fill the time, I suggest voting, and volunteering to get Obama elected and to defeat anti-family initiatives like Prop. 8 in California....
Posted by Josh Rosenau at 5:35 PM • 1 Comments •
October 29, 2008
Category: Policy and Politics
Politico reports (via Benen): Sen. Elizabeth Dole’s latest advertisement suggests her Democratic opponent, Kay Hagan, is a godless heathen. “A leader of the Godless Americans PAC recently held a secret fundraiser for Kay Hagan,” the 30-second spot says, showing footage of the group’s members talking about their atheist beliefs on cable news. “Godless Americans and Kay Hagan. She hid from cameras. Took godless money,” the ad concludes. “What did Kay Hagan promise in return?” At the very end of the ad, a voice sounding like Hagan's says: "There is no God."Kay Hagan teaches Sunday school. One of 40 people hosting...
Posted by Josh Rosenau at 2:52 PM • 7 Comments •
Category: Policy and Politics
Seed Magazine's editors come out for Barack Obama: Our world is more complex, dynamic, and interdependent than at any time in recent history. Financial markets are in turmoil, geopolitical conflicts abound, and our pale blue dot is in serious peril. Yet these are also times for great optimism — about what can be known and what can be accomplished, about our potential to discover and innovate. To navigate this new reality, to realize opportunity within this massive change, we need a new approach to governance and problem solving; we need a new way of looking at the world and a new set...
Posted by Josh Rosenau at 2:51 PM • 0 Comments •
Category: Policy and Politics
Senator Pat "Memory Pills" Roberts seems to have forgotten that ethics matter for a United States Senator. After his close friend, Sen. Ted "Effing Moron" Stevens was convicted of seven different corrupt acts, everyone from John McCain to the Senate Minority Leader have called on Stevens to resign his seat. Pat Roberts chose to buck his party, common sense, and basic ethics in standing by Stevens, saying he should not resign. His party's leader, Mitch McConnell, says that, if Stevens doesn't resign, "there is a 100 percent certainty that he would be expelled from the Senate." But Roberts sits on...
Posted by Josh Rosenau at 12:46 PM • 4 Comments •
October 28, 2008
Category: Policy and Politics
As I reported yesterday, Republican Representative Frank Wolf was being pestered by questions from volunteers with the Judy Feder campaign, and Wolf's staffers physically attacked the volunteers. Today, the Wolf campaign apologized, sort of: At one point in the video, as [volunteer] Kent asks [congressman] Wolf a question, the camera abruptly shakes and the videographer shouts, "Sir, please don't!" This is the moment at which both camps say [staffer Ben] Dutton struck Kent. Though you can't see it, both camps say it was with a cane. [Spokesman Dan] Scandling said Dutton, an 83-year-old former Winchester town councilman, felt that [wife]...
Posted by Josh Rosenau at 6:34 PM • 1 Comments •
Category: Creationism
Disco. DJ Rob Crowther is upset. A few days ago, I pointed out that his underling, Casey Luskin, has repeatedly misrepresented the Texas science standards revisions, in particular alleging conflicts of interest which do not exist while ignoring the profound conflicts of interest affecting expert reviewers Stephen Meyer (of the Discovery Institute) and Ralph Seelke. In response to my post, Crowther writes: Josh Rosenau has a post up yesterday attacking Casey Luskin that has a number of errors.After a bit of whining about how the evil MSM have treated him cruelly, Crowther contrasts my claim that At issue is a...
Posted by Josh Rosenau at 6:28 PM • 21 Comments •
October 27, 2008
Category: Policy and Politics
For President: Barack Obama. 'Nuff said. House: Barbara Lee. In Kansas, Boyda, Betts, and Moore. Senate: No race in California, Jim Slattery in Kansas. The Wichita Eagle, the KC Star, and just about every other serious observer of Kansas politics likes Slattery, and thinks Pat Roberts has lost touch with Kansas. It's time for a change. Local offices: Rebecca Kaplan is really the only interesting endorsement. Propositions: 1A: Yes. Supertrain! Kevin Drum is against it, but he's wrong. Wrong on the cost (which will be recovered through ticket sales, and given that that money would be spent on highways and...
Posted by Josh Rosenau at 1:32 PM • 1 Comments •
Category: Policy and Politics
Beating up people with questions: Raising Kaine explains that: On Friday, two [Democratic challenger Judy] Feder staffers approached Congressman Wolf in a public location to ask him some questions. Two different individuals who were accompanying Congressman Wolf (staffers? relatives? friends?) assaulted the Feder staffers, as you can see quite clearly in the video. The first Feder staffer was hit with a cane and then punched. The second staffer (as you will see on the video) was pinned to a wall and forcibly held there. All of this took place in the presence of Congressman Wolf, who stood by and did...
Posted by Josh Rosenau at 12:11 PM • 19 Comments •
October 24, 2008
Category: Policy and Politics
Wow: Charles Fried, a professor at Harvard Law School, has long been one of the most important conservative thinkers in the United States. Under President Reagan, he served, with great distinction, as Solicitor General of the United States. Since then, he has been prominently associated with several Republican leaders and candidates, most recently John McCain, for whom he expressed his enthusiastic support in January. This week, Fried announced that he has voted for Obama-Biden by absentee ballot. In his letter to Trevor Potter, the General Counsel to the McCain-Palin campaign, he asked that his name be removed from the several...
Posted by Josh Rosenau at 7:11 PM • 5 Comments •
October 23, 2008
Category: Culture Wars
I imagine Casey Luskin and Anika Smith sitting in a dark room together. The mirror ball spins as these Disco. titans take the floor for a podcast about the Texas science standards (aka TEKS: Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills). You'll recall that I tripped up some of Disco.'s fancy footwork last Friday, but these two sashay right past the evidence. At issue is a Disco.-inspired standard in the older TEKS which requires teachers to have students "analyze, review, and critique scientific explanations, including hypotheses and theories, as to their strengths and weaknesses using scientific evidence and information" (my emphasis). Disco....
Posted by Josh Rosenau at 8:37 PM • 21 Comments •
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