stcynic
Posts by this author
October 13, 2005
Given the proceedings in Dover, the timing of this could not be better. Matt Brauer, Barbara Forrest and Steven Gey have written what is probably the most thorough review of the question of ID and whether teaching it in schools violates the establishment clause. The resulting article, published in…
October 13, 2005
Here's a real gem from the Worldnutdaily, from someone named Jane Chastain:
President Bush has done more than any president in history to advance gay rights
I'll give you a couple minutes to pick your jaw up off the floor....okay, ready? Want her evidence for this? Get this:
"The Bush…
October 13, 2005
Hal Lindsey is back with his tried and true lie about the USGS and earthquakes. Writing in - where else? - the Worldnutdaily, he says:
My friend Tom Ambrose of WorldNetDaily did a little research on the subject on Monday. He found the three largest-magnitude earthquakes recorded in recent history…
October 13, 2005
I'm sure most of my regular readers remember the lawsuit filed against the University of California system (see here, here and here) because they won't give credit for certain classes used by some Christian schools in that state that don't meet their academic requirements. The San Jose Mercury News…
October 13, 2005
I was going to write about this, but Dave Thomas did such a good job I'll just refer you to his work. In the Dover trial, as you'll recall, Barbara Forrest testified that the book Of Pandas and People originally used the term "creation" to describe the idea that species appear abruptly with all…
October 13, 2005
New documents released by the Los Angeles Diocese of the Roman Catholic Church as part of a negotiated settlement show a 75 year pattern of priests accused of abuse being transferred from church to church and school to school:
The confidential records show that for more than 75 years the nation's…
October 12, 2005
Paul Phillips posted this parody of Rounders on his blog (not written by him) that, like the Aristocrats joke, you need a little knowledge to really get how funny it is. You need to have seen the movie Rounders and you need to understand how to play pot limit Omaha rather than the more popular Hold…
October 12, 2005
I find this story incredible. In the wake of a scandal at the Air Force Academy over recruits being pressured to convert to Christianity, the Air Force is reviewing a policy that set up a distinction between proselytizing believers and unbelievers (or at least those unaffiliated with a particular…
October 12, 2005
Some are probably wondering why there haven't been any updates on the Dover trial the last couple days. They took a short break from the trial and are resuming today. The plaintiff's case is wrapping up this week. Today, Bertha Spahr, chairman of the Dover science department, will finish her…
October 12, 2005
Remember the other day when I predicted that James Dobson would lie rather than give up what Karl Rove told him about the Miers nomination? Looks like I was right. Here's what Dobson says he was told:
The privileged information, Dobson said on the broadcast, was that "Harriet Miers is an…
October 11, 2005
Okay, this is only for those with a very dark sense of humor, and even among those, will probably only be funny either to those who've seen The Aristrocrats or know the joke that is the basis of that movie. If those things are true - and you have a strong stomach - go here. It even got Paul…
October 11, 2005
Jim Lindgren of the Volokh Conspiracy has an interesting post examining what sorts of nominees ultimately end up drifting to the left once they're on the court. He looks at Republican court appointees since Eisenhower, who famously nominated the men he called his two greatest mistakes, liberal…
October 11, 2005
Here is a great example, from the irreplacable Carl Zimmer, of how the theory of evolution helps to guide new research that may provide enormous benefit to us in understanding and combatting diseases that are based in genetic causes. Since I can't possibly express it any better than Zimmer, I'll…
October 11, 2005
Tara Smith, a fellow Panda's Thumb contributor who teaches at the University of Iowa, is forming a new Iowa Citizens for Science group, akin to my MIchigan organization. If I have any readers from Iowa, I strongly encourage you to get involved with them and help them battle the anti-evolution…
October 11, 2005
Casey Luskin, formerly of the IDEA club and now working for the Discovery Institute, has been busily blogging the Dover trial over the last couple weeks, posting responses to the testimony of the expert witnesses. Unfortunately for the DI, it's clear that he is just in way, way over his head here.…
October 11, 2005
Charles Darwin's Galapagos tortoise, Harriet, is turning 175 and Australia is throwing a party for her. This really is one of the most fascinating stories to me. When Darwin was aboard the Beagle as a naturalist in 1835, doing the study that formed the basis for his later theorizing on evolution,…
October 10, 2005
At a time when we have mandatory minimum laws putting people busted for drug possession in prison for 5-10 years or more, how about this story about a cop in San Diego - a cop who operated a website telling parents how to protect their kids against predation on the internet - who has been convicted…
October 10, 2005
Few strains run quite as deep in the American psyche as a pervasive anti-intellectualism that has somehow inverted the notion that all people are equal before the law and possessed of the same unalienable rights into the currently fashionable fake egalitarianism that lies at the heart of so much…
October 10, 2005
James Dobson is one of the few religious right leaders who has endorsed the nomination of Harriet Miers for the Supreme Court (Jay Sekulow of the ACLJ being the other notable one). But Dobson has been spouting off about his inside information. We know from reports that Karl Rove was dispatched to…
October 10, 2005
I got an email from a reader asking if the title of this blog was taken from Danny Goldberg's book of the same name. I've actually gotten this question before, but I don't think I ever answered it publicly. The answer is no. In fact, I'd never heard of Goldberg or this book until long after I'd…
October 10, 2005
My buddy Burt Humburg is featured in a story in the York Daily Record, which has been doing a great job of covering the Dover situation as it has developed over the last year and a half. I met Burt at a conference at Berkeley in 2003 and he was a riot. On leave from his medical residency at the…
October 9, 2005
I'm off to Lansing for an MCFS board meeting and my pre-winter trip to the big city for supplies (I'm out of gingham and rock candy). See ya'll tomorrow.
October 9, 2005
Robert Bork was interviewed by Tucker Carlson and didn't have good things to say about the Miers nomination:
TUCKER CARLSON, MSNBC HOST: Are you impressed by the president's choice of Harriet Miers?
JUDGE ROBERT BORK, FORMER SUPREME COURT NOMINEE: Not a bit. I think it's a disaster on every level…
October 8, 2005
Okay, I busted into the brisket that was included in the BBQ gift that my Texas reader sent me. I am not exaggerating when I say it was the best brisket I've ever had. I didn't put any of their vinegar-based sauce on it. Instead, I put slices of it on a kaiser roll with a horseradish mayonnaise and…
October 8, 2005
In reading Barbara Forrest's testimony, it quickly becomes clear why the defense has objected so vociferously to her being allowed to testify as an expert witness. On the issues that are really at the core of this case, she is the witness who does the most damage to the arguments of the defense.…
October 7, 2005
Thanks to Dave S for letting me know that the transcript of the first part of Barbara Forrest's testimony is now available. You can download it from this page, along with earlier transcripts. Want a good indication of how important her testimony is at this trial? On top of the major freakout going…
October 7, 2005
The Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Gonzales v Oregon a couple days ago, a case where the federal government is asserting that the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) - or at least this administration's interpretation of it - trumps the Oregon assisted suicide law, which was passed by popular…
October 7, 2005
I've noticed an interesting irony in the conservative backlash against the Miers nomination. Many of them are upset because they just don't know where Miers stands on issues like abortion, affirmative action, gay rights, and so forth. But weren't they telling us a few weeks ago that not only do…
October 6, 2005
The White House is clearly in scramble mode trying to get religious right leaders on board with the MIers nomination, so much so that they have sent envoys to meet with the leaders of various organizations in groups to attempt to calm their fears and get them on board. The Washington Post reports…
October 6, 2005
Mike Argento, a columnist for the York Daily Record, writes about the testimony of Barbara Forrest and it seems that he definitely got the point of the whole exercise, from the historical record she referenced to the shameful tactics of the TMLC attorneys. First, he writes of their attempts to…