creationism
gregladen | February 13, 2008Paul Abramson founded and runs "creationism.org" ... a creation science web site. It is one of those sites that provides parents and students material to use in harassing their life science teachers and generally making an obnoxious nuisance of themselves.
Paul is now seeking the Republican Party's nominiation for congress, with which he hopes to challenge sitting congressman Brad Ellsworth (Democrat).
[source]
tfk | February 13, 2008At the blog for Expelled: No Intelligence, featuring Ben Stein, the producers insist "We’ll take Lincoln Day over Darwin Day…any day." The whole thing is a pack of lies, ably dissected by PZ Myers. I couldn't get past the first sentence before giving up on the rest:
Until the late 1980’s when the generic “President’s Day” became the official holiday that subsumed them, America used to celebrate the birthdays of both George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.
This sentence is grammatically, historically and factually wrong, as is everything else written by the movie's producers or narrator.…
laelaps | February 13, 2008Intelligent design has to be one of the most boring concepts I've ever had the displeasure to be acquainted with. When I first heard about it I thought it was nuts, but at least it was interesting. Two years later I've tired of hearing shrill arguments about how "Big Science" and the "Darwinian orthodoxy" are persecuting the poor creationists, killing puppies, making Jesus cry, etc. Indeed, William Paley argued for design much more eloquently and coherently in Natural Theology, a book that if often referenced but has seldom been read (especially by the intelligent design camp. Paley's book is…
pharyngula | February 13, 2008
The gang of prevaricators behind Ben Stein's Expelled movie had their own way of celebrating Darwin Day: they wrote a blog post that was a solid wall of lies and nonsense. In a way, I'm impressed; I'd have to really struggle to write something that was such a dense array of concentrated stupid, but for them, it seems to be a natural talent, allowing them to blithely and effortlessly rattle off a succession of falsehoods without blushing.
Let's begin with the beginning. You don't even have to be a biologist to be embarrassed by these wankers.
Until the late 1980's when the generic "President…
pharyngula | February 12, 2008I'm busy, and I don't want to deal with a nause-inducing interview with Casey Luskin, Guillermo Gonzalez, and Mark Mathis. Somebody else yak up over it, and let me link to it.
I'm still shying away from listening to this abomination, so get with it and tell me what's on it. First up: Jyunri Kankei.
mikethemadbiologist | February 11, 2008I really wasn't going to bash Kristof over his recent apologia for evangelicals. I've done so before, and I didn't really see the point in doing so again. But, by way of ScienceBlogling James Hrynyshyn, I came across Kristof's response to some of the criticism he has received (in bold is his synopsis of a particular criticism; italics mine):
It's okay to deride evangelicals because they're Neanderthals on science and other issues. If people don't believe in evolution, they invite mockery. If we call them nuts, it's because we have good evidence that they are nuts.
I agree that the…
tfk | February 11, 2008Disco. Inst. frontman Rob Crowther wonders: Why isn't anyone talking about the 2/3 of teachers who aren't hassled for teaching basic science?
You doubt that anyone could be so silly? Gaze in wonder:
the results are cleverly communicated with misplaced emphasis to imply that teachers are under overwhelming pressure to not teach evolution. It just isn't so. Here they report that, according to the poll, 31% feel pressured to avoid teaching evolution or to include other theories. What they don’t report is that the vast majority, more than 2-to-1, 69% don't feel pressured to teach other theories…
laelaps | February 11, 2008If Huckabee shows up for Science Debate 2008, maybe he should spend a little time at the Academy of Natural Sciences (just a stone's throw away from the Franklin Institute); he might just learn something about paleontology & evolution. Then again, he might be inspired to engage in some revisionist history... [see the middle panel]
[Hat-tip to RedMolly]
gregladen | February 10, 2008
Michael Behe made a guest appearance in Beaver County the other day to engage in a debate on intelligent Design vs. Real Science. He got interviewed by a local reporter, who posed questions to both Behe and his antagonist. Here I provide a few excerpts for your amusement.
First, you may be wondering where Beaver County is. The Beaver County Times Online, like most local newspaper, does not mention where it is. Do you know how much time we bloggers have to spend figuring out where these dumbass local stories come from? You have to use odd clues and make guesses. For instance, the…
gregladen | February 10, 2008What?! Is Florida totally full of morons, or what?
The Bay District School Board will vote on Wednesday on a resolution that waters down the proposed state standards for life science education. Please go to the Channel 7 web site where this story is posted and add your comments along side some guy from New York who is the first to chime in (in favor of rational thinking). If you are from one of these states mainly known for slack-jawed yokels who prefer to marry their siblings but will take a cousin in a pinch, and are NOT one of these morons, please, it is especially important that you…
gregladen | February 10, 2008The provocative title of this post is the title of a new book, by Ken Ham (founder of the absurd Creation Museum, in the woeful state of Kentucky) . Charles ware is co-author.
The book came out in November, 2007, but is receiving beefed up publicity, presumably to coincide with Darwin Month and Darwin's upcoming birthday.
This is a little like publicizing a book denying that Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation on Lincoln's Birthday (which, by the way, is the same as Darwin's Birthday).
This issue has been addressed before, but since the publishers of the book have chosen to…
tfk | February 10, 2008Disguised as a middle-manager with the American Milk Solids Council, Sadly, No!'s intrepid correspondent suffered through the horror that results when American conservatives gather. Along hte way, there was a screening of Expelled: No Intelligence…, and it sucks:
At some point I sneak into a screening of Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, a Michael Mooreian abortion by Watergate apologist/novelty actor Ben Stein. An exciting tour through a number of major logical fallacies, Expelled features the wooden-souled Stein attempting to illustrate how the Stalinist mandarins of academia have…
gregladen | February 9, 2008After the Sunday service in Westminster Chapel, where worshippers were exhorted to wage "the culture war" in the Second World World War spirit of Sir Winston Churchill, cabbie James McLean delivered his verdict on Charles Darwin's theory of evolution.
"Evolution is a lie, and it's being taught in schools as fact, and it's leading our kids in the wrong direction," said McLean, chatting outside the chapel. "But now people like Ken Ham are tearing evolution to pieces."
This is a short piece in the Barrie Examiner updating the growing American-like trend of creationism in Britain.
pharyngula | February 9, 2008The culture wars are proceeding as expected, and Ben Stein's reputation is following a predictable trajectory.
Popular character actor and mendacious old fool Ben Stein has a little movie coming out about how "BIG SCIENCE" doesn't want you to know the truth about evolution. Stein salutes the scientists who are bad enough to question Darwinism in his upcoming documentary Expelled, about an unscrupulous Nixonite hack who parlays his unlikely pop cultural fame into an inexplicable career as an entertainer/propaganist. Rex Sorgatz asks, "do you remember when Ben Stein wasn't bat shit crazy?"…
gregladen | February 9, 2008Marshall Helberger writes an interesting editorial in the Timberjay, a northern Minnesota newspaper, about creationist tactics.
As editor of the Timberjay's editorial pages, there are few things that have been more frustrating over the years than determining how to handle this perennial debate over evolution, prompted for the most part by a single, local proponent of creationism.
While I inherently believe in the free exchange of ideas, the purpose of the editorial pages is to discuss ideas and viewpoints that can affect the world in which we live. To a large degree, the debate over…
gregladen | February 8, 2008The Texas Acadamy of Science has come out with a statement about creationism in Texas schools science classes, called "Texas Academy of Science Position Against the Inclusion of Creationism and Design Concepts in the Science Curricula in Texas Schools"
You can get the PDF here.
Among other things, the document states:
Texas science teachers have a finite amount of class time and textbook space in which to teach the many valid and foundational scientific concepts that enable students to become knowledgeable consumers, decision makers and voters. Inclusion of creationist or intelligent design…
gregladen | February 8, 2008Last night, the Campus Atheists, Skeptics and Humanists club (C.A.S.H.) presented a debate between PZ Myers and Loyal Rue on the question: Can religion and science co-exist? I witnessed this event and would like to tell you what happened.
I want to begin with a message to PZ Myers: Thank you, PZ, for your service! There are a lot of people in the twin cities who could engage in an interesting debate on religion, atheism, evolution, creationism, etc. and do an OK job, but none others have the experience and intellectual preparation (to do an excellent job) and the draw (to guarantee lots…
gregladen | February 7, 2008Whenever I've reviewed a paper for publication, I always remind myself that I don't want to be the guy who reads only the good 75% of the paper, and skips over the 25% that contains some egregious error or insane reasoning. Apparently not everyone thinks that.
A paper recently published in the journal Proteomics may have been read by such individuals. It addresses endosymbiosis, and apparently contains a lot of seemingly appropriate and "correct" text (though it turns out much of this is plagiarized), but it also contains brief passages asserting the idea that the origin and role of…
laelaps | February 7, 2008Even though they'll never admit it, I imagine the creationists allied with the Disco institute are hurting pretty bad right now. Other bloggers have already covered the carnage so I'll just put up some links rather than write up a summary of what's already been said, but the beating ID has received over the past few days has been nearly painful to watch;
Casey Luskin stole the BPR3 icon and is now crying discrimination by evil Darwinistas even though he clearly didn't pay attention to the requirements of using the icon. I smell a bit of a fake-out (Luskin creating a trap for himself by…
pharyngula | February 7, 2008Fresh from his recent reappearance on KKMS, where he debated me with a new strategy which gave him a slight chance of winning (i.e., one in which I was not present), Geoffrey Simmons is now crowing victory. It's very strange. Why would anyone with any sense think that demanding a 'debate' in which one is unopposed and has a sympathetic moderator and which suppresses audience input is in any way anything but an act of cowardice and intellectual bankruptcy?
This is posted on Evolution News and Views, the Discovery Institute's version of Pravda, but since they don't bother to link to any of my…