stcynic
Posts by this author
April 18, 2006
Holy cow, someone posted a link to this video in a comment and you just have to see it. It's Kirk Cameron and Ray Comfort "debunking" evolution in the most hilariously ridiculous thing you may have ever seen. Funniest of all is that they start it out by saying that they're going to be interviewing…
April 18, 2006
Those folks at Worldview Weekend have given us a perfect example of why ID advocates are so successful at winning over followers - because so many of those followers are A) ignorant and B) uninterested in what is actually true. As long as some unnamed scientist who says he's defending God says…
April 18, 2006
Leave it to the Worldnutdaily to report things like this:
Amid the aftermath of the Palestinian suicide attack today that killed nine comes news of a miracle as a rabbi's life reportedly was spared when a book of Psalms held in a pocket next to his heart was ripped in two by a piece of shrapnel.…
April 18, 2006
Totally by accident, I came across this report of a recent show by Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers, one of my favorite bands in the world. I've seen this band several times and they're basically the ultimate bar band. Roger Clyne is a great troubadour songwriter in the tradition of Warren Zevon or…
April 17, 2006
Via Pharyngula comes this article debunking the latest insanity to come from the fevered mind of Paul Cameron. It seems that Cameron's latest claim is that being gay is contagious. It's based on his typically ridiculous attempts at designing studies, which generally rank up there with the "I asked…
April 17, 2006
Nat Hentoff has an interesting column at the Village Voice about the Jose Padilla case and the Supreme Court. A little background on the case: in 2002, Jose Padilla was arrested at O'hare airport. John Ashcroft announced the arrest and said that Padilla was planning to set off a radioactive "dirty…
April 17, 2006
With President Bush's approval ratings below 40%, and the Congress' approval ratings in that neighborhood as well, Congressional Republicans are going back to the well they're always going to - pushing the emotional buttons of their followers over irrelevant issues that don't have any effect on…
April 17, 2006
In addition to AIG, Reasons to Believe and all the other DI folks falling all over themselves to say nonsensical things about Tiktaalik roseae, Casey Luskin has now jumped into the fray with this silly post at the DI's blog. His argument can be summed up thusly: even though this find fills in a gap…
April 16, 2006
Wow, this English professor who destroyed the anti-abortion display with a bunch of her students is quite a piece of work. In addition to her ridiculous statement that destroying the display was an exercise in free speech, how about this statement:
"Any violence perpetrated against that silly…
April 16, 2006
Joseph Farah's ignorant ravings about Tiktaalik roseae weren't the only ridiculous anti-evolution arguments in the Worldnutdaily yesterday. Ted Byfield may actually have topped Farah for sheer imbecility in this article called, with great delusion, Rebutting Darwinists. It was a response to readers…
April 15, 2006
If the ID and traditional creationist responses to Tiktaalik roseae aren't quite ignorant and badly reasoned enough for you, might I suggest you look at the response from Joseph Farah, founder of the Worldnutdaily? It's delightfully wacky and full of nonsense. The ignorance begins to accumulate in…
April 15, 2006
PZ Myers thinks that Comedy Central and South Park cooked up this fake censorship story to get media attention. Is that possible? Certainly. But he doesn't have any actual evidence for this claim, which doesn't stop him from bluntly declaring, "If you think this episode is significant, you've been…
April 15, 2006
I'm off to Lansing to have lunch with by buddy Dan and do some shopping. Hope everyone has a good day.
April 14, 2006
Thanks to Nick Matzke for finding this story about the situation at Northern Kentucky University, where an English professor led a group of students in destroying a perfectly legal anti-abortion display on the campus there. The story includes a picture of the professor tearing apart the display's…
April 14, 2006
I reported the other day that William Dembski is leaving the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville to take a position closer to his home in Waco, Texas. Now comes word that he is being replaced at SBTS by Kurt Wise, a young earth creationist geologist. It's certainly interesting that…
April 14, 2006
Via David Bernstein at the Volokh Conspiracy comes this story about a college president who really gets it when it comes to free speech. A student group at Northern Kentucky University put up a display of hundreds of crosses on campus as a way to protest abortion, which they oppose. A professor at…
April 14, 2006
Is this ad illegal?
According to the trial court in Saskatchewan, it was. When Hugh Owens paid to take out the ad in the Saskatoon StarPhoenix in 1997, both he and the newspaper were brought up on charges of violating the province's Human Rights Code. Owens was ordered to pay $1500 to each of 3…
April 14, 2006
We've already documented the profoundly silly response of the Discovery Institute and ID advocates to the recent announcement of the finding of Tiktaalik roseae; now let's look at the response of more traditional creationists. Two creationist groups, the young earth Answers in Genesis and the old…
April 14, 2006
Jon Rowe has a really, really good post on the subject of "gay studies" programs and currricula. As many of you may know, the religious right is up in arms at the moment about a bill in the California legislature that would require schools to teach "the contributions of people who are lesbian, gay…
April 13, 2006
Last night's South Park episode, as usual, contained a premise that was brilliant satire on multiple levels at the same time. First of all, they actually helped promote a show on another network, by having Kyle convince the head of the FOX network that he should show an episode of the Family Guy…
April 13, 2006
I and several other ScienceBloggers were recently interviewed for an article in the Online Journalism Review, a project associated with the Annenberg Center at USC. That article is now available on their website to read for those who are interested. I didn't ask the author of the article, Steve…
April 13, 2006
The latest Skeptic's Circle is up at Pooflingers, containing lots of skeptical bloggy goodness.
April 13, 2006
I was sent a link to this article in Slate, along with a one paragraph excerpt, and my first thought was, "I should send this to Radley Balko, he's been all over this issue of SWAT teams and the problems they cause." Then I followed the link and found that the article was written by Balko. Guess I…
April 13, 2006
The American School Board Journal has a thorough and informative article explaining what the law says about evolution, ID and public schools. This should be mandatory reading for school boards and administrators who are confronted with teachers who want to introduce creationism into the science…
April 13, 2006
I'm going to try and remember every day to post a few links to posts by some of the other ScienceBloggers, mostly because if you're just reading my blog and not visiting the other blogs here, you're really missing out on some great writing. From yesterday:
Afarensis has an article about and a link…
April 12, 2006
Okay, so it's really only one DaveScot speaking out of both sides of his mouth, but I thought it would be fun to compare a couple of his comments, one from before the Dover ruling and one after. Comment #1, from September 31st:
Judge John E. Jones on the other hand is a good old boy brought up…
April 12, 2006
The AP has an article about emails that have been entered into evidence in the Jack Abramoff proceedings, emails that reveal with enormous clarity the bribery at the center of our political system. The emails show what amounts to bribery, plain and simple - if you don't vote the way we want you to…
April 12, 2006
I doubt I'm the only one who can't wait to see this movie. I may actually go to the theaters to see it, which I very rarely do. You gotta love a movie with lines like this:
Kid #3: My Mommy say smoking is bad for you
Nick Naylor: Oh, is your Mommy a doctor?
Kid #3: No.
Nick Naylor: A scientific…
April 12, 2006
My father is not the only Republican who has lost his ability to be anything but contemptuous of the President. Here's George Conway writing in the National Review:
I voted for President Bush twice, and contributed to his campaign twice, but held my nose when I did it the second time. I don't…
April 12, 2006
I just realized I've neglected to discuss last week's stunning statement from Attorney General Alberto Gonzales that he could not rule out President Bush authorizing the warranteless wiretapping of purely domestic calls in the US. This shouldn't really be a shock to anyone, as it is the logical…