stcynic
Posts by this author
December 22, 2005
This is a guest post from Allen Macneill, an evolutionary biologist and writer. He currently teaches an introductory evolution course for non-majors at Cornell, and is writing an introductory evolution textbook, also for non-majors. HIs most recent article, "The capacity for religious experience is…
December 22, 2005
Truth is stranger than fiction:
David Letterman has been temporarily restrained by a woman who believes that he torments her over the airwaves using a secret code.
New Mexico resident Colleen Nestler filed court documents late last week, alleging that Letterman has been using code words, gestures…
December 22, 2005
Nick Matzke has a really well written post at PT about the reactions of ID advocates to the judge's ruling. It's good enough that I would say if you only read one article on the Dover outcome from our side, this is the one you should read. The conclusion is absolutely perfect:
In fact, if the ID…
December 22, 2005
Sandefur has an excellent post up about the Dover ruling and the hollowness of the charge that the judge was engaging in "judicial activism" in his ruling.
December 22, 2005
The Federal prosecutor in Pennsylvania is investigating possible perjury charges against various members of the school board in Dover after Judge Jones bluntly declared that they had lied in their depositions in the case:
U.S. Middle District Attorney Thomas A. Marino said yesterday that decision…
December 22, 2005
This is frightening. While we're dealing with reports of NSA spying on Americans without warrants (while simultaneously claiming that Congress authorized such spying and that they didn't go to Congress for authorization because they wouldn't give it) and the Pentagon spying on peaceful…
December 22, 2005
I don't smoke. Not only do I not smoke, but my mother died because she smoked and I had to watch her struggle with 22% total lung capacity and later a lung transplant. If anyone should be anti-smoking, it should be me, right? And I am anti-smoking in the sense that I don't smoke and I don't think…
December 22, 2005
Odessa, Texas, you're the next contestant on the Federal court, establishment clause game show:
Trustees of the Ector County Independent School District here decided, 4 to 2, on Tuesday night that high school students would use a course published by the National Council on Bible Curriculum in…
December 22, 2005
This is a guest post from Allen Macneill, an evolutionary biologist and writer. He currently teaches an introductory evolution course for non-majors at Cornell, and is writing an introductory evolution textbook, also for non-majors. HIs most recent article, "The capacity for religious experience is…
December 21, 2005
In looking for reactions to yesterday's ruling from legal scholars, I found this post on a Federalist Society blog by someone named P.A. Madison. The arguments, which run the gamut from the false to the downright silly, would make a great exam answer for my buddy Dan Ray to grade. I can almost see…
December 21, 2005
The Detroit Free Press has a report on the Dover decision that includes this tidbit:
The next court test on whether public schoolchildren can be taught that some intelligent force set the universe in motion could move to Michigan now that a federal judge has barred a Pennsylvania district from…
December 21, 2005
I thought I'd post what some legal scholars are saying about yesterday's ruling, since a good many of them have blogs and have responded. First, Timothy Sandefur writes at the Panda's Thumb:
Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District is a major victory for science and a major blow to those who have…
December 21, 2005
Friend and fellow Panda lover Wes Elsberry has an interesting post on the Dover ruling on his personal blog where he points out two fascinating items. First, that Dembski may owe someone a bottle of good scotch:
I'll wager a bottle of single-malt scotch, should it ever go to trial whether ID may…
December 21, 2005
Mike Dunford has done us all a favor and put together a huge list of links concerning yesterday's Dover ruling. Good place to start if you're looking for information and opinions on it. And thanks, Mike, for the kind words about our Skeptic article.
December 21, 2005
Law.com has an interesting article about the Dover ruling that makes me wish the case would be appealed:
The declaratory judgment is unlikely to be appealed by the new school board elected last month to replace those who instituted the divisive policy, the board president said Tuesday.
If it is…
December 21, 2005
I got into a conversation the other day with someone who doesn't understand what the big deal is when it comes to the NSA spying on Americans. He gave what I'm sure is a common response from Americans, which is essentially that he trusts the government not to abuse such power. He said, "Do you…
December 20, 2005
The article that Burt Humburg and I wrote will be in the next issue of Skeptic, but in light of today's ruling, they decided to post it online today. You can see it here.
December 20, 2005
In the wake of Judge John Jones' ruling against ID in public school science classrooms, Pat Robertson released the following statement:
I'd like to say to Judge Jones, the activist liberal judge in this case, that if there is a disaster in your life, don't turn to God because you just threw him out…
December 20, 2005
I'm sure this will come as a bit of a shock to you all, but the Discovery Institute isn't happy with the ruling. In fact, they're slamming it as the decision of an "activist judge who has delusions of grandeur." Those damn Bush-appointed activist judges! This furious response is just the icing on…
December 20, 2005
Before we go any further in analyzing and celebrating today's ruling in the Dover trial, I think it's really important to give out some attaboys to the people who made this happen. Burt Humburg and I just finished an article for Skeptic magazine where we went into a lot of detail on the behind-the-…
December 20, 2005
The conclusion of the ruling is stunning in its clarity and pointedness:
The proper application of both the endorsement and Lemon tests to the facts of this case makes it abundantly clear that the Board's ID Policy violates the Establishment Clause. In making this determination, we have addressed…
December 20, 2005
We pretty much knew we were going to win, the only question was whether we would win little or win big. Folks, we won really, really big. This decision could not be any better for us or any worse for ID. I'll post some excerpts from the ruling here. First, the judge applied both the Lemon test and…
December 20, 2005
I don't have any details yet, and the decision is not yet available, but I was just informed a moment ago by one of the witnesses at the trial that he has been told by the ACLU attorneys that the ruling is a win for the good guys. More details to follow.
Update: The decision is out. You can…
December 20, 2005
Russ Douthat of The Atlantic is guest blogging at Andrew Sullivan's place and has an interesting post about the "War on Christmas". He writes:
the only thing more annoying than the killjoys who want to keep creches off town greens is listening to Bill O'Reilly or John Gibson rant about how it's all…
December 20, 2005
Nick Matzke has added an addendum to the bottom of Gary Hurd's post about Mirecki at the Panda's Thumb. I didn't know he was going to do this, but I'm glad he did and it only reinforces the enormous respect I already had for him. While I'm slightly more inclined to be skeptical than Nick is, I don'…
December 20, 2005
The Economist has an article on the UC lawsuit available on their website. They tie tha suit together with Dover and Cupertino:
So far the UC case has had less publicity than the argument about whether high schools can teach "intelligent design" as an alternative to evolution (currently being…
December 20, 2005
The Houston Chronicle has a terrific editorial on the War on Christmas, cutting right to the chase and calling it what it is - "a marketing ploy as plain as a mall full of Xboxes." Ain't that the truth.
December 19, 2005
Some scientists from this blog attended the annual meeting of the American Society of Cell Biology recently and came across a poster by none other than Jonathan Wells of the Discovery Institute. For those who have not attended a scientific conference, a poster is a sort of second-level way of…
December 19, 2005
I just got word from Glenn Branch of the NCSE that Judge Jones will hand down his ruling in the Dover case tomorrow. No idea what time. But rest assured it'll be posted the moment it's available.
December 19, 2005
This was prompted by a thread I saw on a Duke message board. With the conference pre-season schedules winding down and conference play about to begin around the country, who are the all-Americans at this point in the season? Interesting question, perhaps particularly interesting to me because at…