stcynic
Posts by this author
Jordan Lorence, the ADF attorney who wrote the post on judicial activism that I replied to the other day has responded. He doesn't link to the response or mention me at all, but I assume it's my post he's responding to because my post was titled "ADF's Double Talk on Judicial Activism" and his…
Nick Matzke highlights a quote from a new book by Benjamin Wiker and Jonathan Witt of the Discovery Institute that is simply stunning in its absurdity. According to them, not only did Darwin undermine morality and cause every evil thing imaginable, he also undermined our ability to count:
Strange…
The Michigan House of Representatives passed a bill that allows adoption agencies to refuse to place children in any situation that violates their "written religious or moral convictions or policies." A second bill passed at the same time forbids the state from considering any such policies when…
A case in Iowa where a man is accused of desecrating an American flag has been allowed to go forward by the trial judge:
Scott Wayne Roe, 40, of Ottumwa is accused of desecrating the United States flag June 4 when he displayed the flag upside down at his residence and wrote "Corruption of Blood," a…
The ADF has filed suit in state court in New York over the state's public employee pension fund recognizing gay marriages performed elsewhere.
In 2004, NY Attorney General Elliot Spitzer issued a legal opinion stating that the New York is obligated to recognize same-sex marriages performed in…
After stalling earlier this year, proponents of HR 2679, the bill that would eliminate fee shifting in establishment clause cases, have managed to get it out of the judiciary committee and on to the full House. I like this take on it from one of the diarists at DailyKos:
So - to take a real example…
Looks like even some Republicans are breaking ranks:
The Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday voted 15-9 to recommend a bill -- over the objections of the Bush administration -- that would authorize tribunals for terror suspects in a way that it says would protect suspects' rights.
The bill…
I have posted an update on the ongoing battle over new science standards in Michigan on the Michigan Citizens for Science webpage. The Detroit Free Press weighed in with an editorial slamming the legislature for interfering with the Board of Education's job, which I fully agree with. I also give a…
As Wesley and I work on our book on the history of the Dover trial, one of the things we will have to incorporate and comment on is the absolutely frantic attempts by the DI to rewrite that history after the ruling came down. Watching their reaction evolve has been a source of great amusement to me…
But not from the Federal government. The Nevada state government decided that they have control of a state military cemetary, not the Department of Veterans Affairs, and they approved the symbol. The DVA has been dragging their feet not only in this case, but in many others, for nearly a decade now…
This post contains spoilers. Read at your own risk.
And it's pretty funny. The guy who won the main event this year, Jamie Gold, is making quite an ass of himself in the aftermath of his win. Paul Phillips links to this interview with him where he seems to think that he invented a whole new way of…
Reed Cartwright has a follow up post on the Texas Freedom Network study about elective Bible courses at use in Texas and around the country. He goes into more detail than I did, particularly about creationism and how such Bible courses often endorse the most absurd creationist views. Several of the…
According to my friends from Ohio Citizens for Science, Steve Rissing and Patricia Princehouse, in this article in the Akron newspaper.
Patricia Princehouse, evolution advocate and professor at Case Western Reserve University, said the achievement committee didn't run behind schedule by accident.…
I didn't realize that Michael Binger, who recently finished 3rd in the WSOP main event and won $4.1 million, is a PhD physicist. Seed Magazine did, however, and they've got an interview with him online. Very cool. I know that Sean Carroll, cosmologist from the University of Chicago, plays poker as…
After reading this, I wish I was in Texas so I could vote for Kinky Friedman for Governor:
Independent gubernatorial candidate Kinky Friedman called Wednesday for the decriminalization of marijuana to avoid further clogging state prisons with nonviolent offenders...
"We've got to clear some of the…
I didn't think i could get any angrier about the Republicans' zeal to ban internet gambling; I was wrong. Now Bill Frist is trying to get that ban passed as part of a defense authorization bill so that it can't be voted against:
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist is trying use a bill authorizing U.S…
I know, it's not really sound sport to agitate someone this stupid, but I guess I'm just feeding my inner sadist. Here's his latest bit of nonsense, wherein he makes claims that are either false or completely unknowable about the NSA wiretapping program. He is reacting to an ACLU spokeswoman for…
The Alliance Defense Fund now has a blog called Constitutionally Correct. A couple of recent posts on that blog serve to demonstrate how completely meaningless the phrase "judicial activism" is when it's used by social conservatives. In this post, they take the New York Times to task over this op-…
Raw Story has acquired a set of talking points that the NSA gave to members of the Senate Intelligence Committee to guide them in their press interactions.
Some of the talking points urge Senators to imply that they have personal knowledge of plots foiled by the wiretap program, or that the…
As Josh Rosenau reported yesterday, the latest attempt by the ID crowd to get their ideas into science classrooms in Ohio by hook or by crook was tabled at a state Board of Education subcommittee hearing. The meeting ran out of time before a measure sponsored by Deborah Owens Fink, which would…
I don't know why I find this woman so fascinating. She's a living train wreck and I just can't stop watching. In her latest crazy move, she's once again claiming the support of prominent politicians that don't support her. Last week, Jeb Bush did a "unity tour" with Republican office seekers in…
David Bernstein quoted this at Volokh and it cracks me up. It's a fashion editor complaining about not being able to take makeup on airplanes:
"Everybody is bummed because it's a really long flight and looking good is part of the industry," says Jane beauty director Erin Flaherty. "you're seeing…
This should surprise no one who has been paying attention. My friends at the Texas Freedom Network are releasing a study today that shows that most of the elective Bible classes in Texas are not taught objectively as history or literature, but are primarily devotional in nature. The study, authored…
I told the story yesterday of one of the other sciencebloggers whose son was forced to say the pledge of allegiance by a teacher in North Carolina. I also told of how he and his parents went to the principal and the principal was very sympathetic and said she would talk to the teacher and make sure…
Volokh linked to a PDF file with the actual text of the flyer that the minister they arrested was handing out at a gay event in Wales. I agree with Eugene that it's about as non-offensive as a flyer expressing those opinions could possibly be. It doesn't rant and rave at gay people, it just lays…
Pam Spaulding highlights an ad that the Pentagon took out in the Washington Post that said the Army is seeking linguists with a specialty in Arabic. Well what a coincidence, you dolts. Maybe if you hadn't booted out every gay Arab-speaking linguist the Army has - and lied to the public to cover up…
Orin Kerr has an interesting post at Volokh about changes in the law after 9/11. While I think he downplays the significance of some of the legal changes in the Patriot Act (while others vastly overplay them), I think he's right that the key legal question at this point concerns the Bush…
The group that was organizing the World Pride event in Jerusalem is asking the High Court of Justice there to force the police to issue a permit. They already had to cancel the event once because of the outbreak of hostilities with Lebanon a few weeks ago. They had applied for a date of September…
For those who still want to peddle the "why doesn't the media tell the truth about all the good things going on in Iraq" line, check out this story. Remember last month when the Pentagon claimed that the number of deaths in the Baghdad area had dropped dramatically since they launched a security…
I had a long phone conversation the other day with a friend who is a devout Christian. I remarked that it's always difficult for me to strike a balance in my writing in terms of justifiably criticizing the Christian right while not sounding as though I am generally anti-Christian (which I'm not). I…