Intelligent design/creationism
tsmith | June 23, 2006On my old blog, I professed my undying love for York Daily Record columnist, Mike Argento. During the Dover trial last winter, his columns were hilarious and right on target. (See, for example, here, here, and here for snippets, though the full-text articles are no longer available). He's now taken on Ann Coulter's characterization of the trial in her new book, "Godless." More after the jump...
There is an irony buried deep under the vitriol, idiocy, slander, vileness, ignorance, stupidity and simply breathtaking inanity that passes for the contribution to the public discourse of an…
oracknows | June 21, 2006Via Evolving Thoughts, this article about Ann Coulter's misrepresentation of the Dover case is just too good for me not to link to also. Best excerpt:
One part of her latest book that's getting little notice is the part that deals with Dover and what is purported to be the "debate" over evolution.
She begins her screed by saying that liberals have contempt for science.
What?
She offers as proof that liberals support stem-cell research.
Yes, I know, I don't get it either.
Lots of conservatives also support stem-cell research. Nancy Reagan, for one. Arnold Schwarzenegger, for another. Gov.…
oracknows | June 12, 2006A few days ago, given that light of the "intelligent design" creationism movement, William Dembski, had bragged about how much he had helped Ann Coulter write the chapters in her latest screed (Godless: The Church of Liberalism) attacking evolution, I had wondered what he might think now of being associated with her, given some of what we now know to be also in her book, such as her vicious attacks on liberals in general and certain 9/11 widows in particular ("I have never seen people enjoying their husband's death so much" and "now that their shelf life is dwindling, they'd better hurry up…
tsmith | June 8, 2006Busy today, so I've just now had a chance to glance through the blog carnivals I mentioned earlier. Via The Skeptics' Circle comes A Creationist FAQ from the Science Creative Quarterly. Too funny:
Q: What about the fossil evidence?
A: The real fossils are university professors writing papers for each other.
***
Q: What is a kind?
A: A kind is cards of the same rank. Thus 4 aces and a king are four of a kind, but four spades and a heart are not.
I think this was highlighted somewhere previously (they note it's republished from Aug. 2005), but it's still funny.
oracknows | June 8, 2006A couple of days ago, on the Day of the Beast (6/6/06), Ann Coulter took the opportunity to unleash yet another spray of spittle-drenched attacks on liberals (Godless: The Church of Liberalism) into bookstores across the nation. As is her schtick, she's made quite the stir over the airwaves by making very inflammatory and offensive statements. This time, it was about the 9/11 widows during an interview with Matt Lauer Tuesday morning (video here) about what she wrote in her book:
These self-obsessed women seem genuinely unaware that 9-11 was an attack on our nation and acted like as if the…
tsmith | June 7, 2006For the Iowa folks, the Iowa Secularists will be featuring a discussion of intelligent design (""The Wedge Strategy: How Intelligent Design threatens secularism") at their Annual Conference. The conference will be held July 15 in Johnston, Iowa; more information at the link.
(For those unfamiliar with the "Wedge Strategy" of the Discovery Institute, the document can be found here).
tsmith | May 23, 2006NBC's science and health correspondent, Robert Bazell, has an opinion piece today on MSNBC: Stop whining about intelligent design.
Scientists should stop whining about threats to the teaching of evolution and spend more time discussing values.
I should note here that most of the piece is strongly supportive of teaching evolution. Bazell presents a very brief overview of the history of anti-evolutionism in America, and notes that "serious efforts in biology and medicine can no more ignore evolution than airplane designers can ignore gravity." So, he's not messing around or giving any…
oracknows | May 22, 2006Yikes.
Grant crunch time or no grant crunch time, I couldn't let this pass.
This week's host of the Skeptics' Circle, Skeptico, has been one of my favorite skeptical bloggers for a long time now. As a measure of how good he is, he now has a doppleganger blog.
Damn, I'm a bit envious. No one's seen fit to try that with me, other than J. B. Handley's rather pitiful attempt at cybersquatting the domain oracknows.com.
On the other hand, it's a creationist using Skeptico's name. Besides, spouting bogus "critiques" of Darwin (just how tiresome, bogus, and unoriginal, Bronze Dog shows here) this…
tsmith | May 22, 2006In the comments to my post on archaea/eukaryote/prokaryote evolution, John asked:
Is this issue likely to fuel the ID crowd?
Never fear...they're on it. (Via Panda's Thumb; more after the jump).
For those of you who hate to click on anything from Uncommon Descent, here's the meat:
[From a colleague:] Hot on the heels of Embley and Martin (Nature 440, 623-630, 30 March 2006), Kurland and colleagues take the plunge and sever the link between eukaryotes and prokaryotes.
I must have missed where Kurland et al. "severed" this link. Indeed, the way I read it, they were suggesting a different…
oracknows | May 22, 2006Geez, who could have seen this one coming?
Straight from the Discovery Institute's blog regarding atheist and Holocaust denier Larry Darby in reference to his activities against ID in Alabama, Casey Luskin bloviates:
An outspoken opponent of the bill has been activist Larry Darby. Mr. Darby's vehement opposition to the Alabama Academic Freedom Bill was on full display at a House Education hearing back on April 29, 2004. According to reports I have received, committee chair, Rep. Yvonne Kennedy (D), did not allow citizens to testify for the bill. But for some reason she let Mr. Darby alone…
tsmith | May 19, 2006 So, archaea are apparently the topic of the week. While I wrote here about the pathogenic potential of some species of these organisms, a new essay in Nature and a new review in Science focus more on their evolution (and the evolution of the other two domains of life) than any health application.
In the essay mentioned, Norman Pace discusses the eukaryote/prokaryote dichotomy. Currently the archaea are classified as prokaryotes since they, like bacteria, lack a true nucleus. However, molecular sequence analysis has shown that the archaea and eukaryotes are actually more closely related…
oracknows | May 18, 2006Enough, already!
Over the last couple of days, we've had Signs You Might Be an Intelligent Design Critic.
Next, we had You May Be an Intelligent Design Supporter If...
Just remember who got the ball rolling with these silly Jeff Foxworthy-inspired lists way back in January 2005 and updated it shortly after landing here at ScienceBlogs.
Alright, I'm a little envious. I wish I had thought of this list. I guess, though, I'll console myself with the fact that I do have one "You might be an X if..." sort of list to my credit.
And, I have to confess, I found a couple of these amusing, such as, "…
tsmith | May 13, 2006More topics I'd have liked to discuss, given the time...
The Vigil after Dover. A free public forum, May 17, 2006 8 PM EST at The Florida State University College of Medicine Auditorium. Featuring Eugenie Scott, Michael Ruse, John Haught, Robert Pennock, and others, it will apparently be broadcast live as well.
An article on "Europe's unknown viral nasties", discussing the importance of surveillance (especially at the animal-human interface) to help detect emerging infectious agents.
Discussion of a new study that chipmunks and acorns hold the key to forecasting Lyme disease:
The…
tsmith | May 8, 2006He's been trying so hard to defend his profession, but it just keeps getting worse. Just unveiled is a brand new "dissenters from Darwinism" list: Physicians and Surgeons for Scientific Integrity.
As medical doctors we are skeptical of the claims for the ability of random mutation and natural selection to account for the origination and complexity of life and we therefore dissent from Darwinian macroevolution as a viable theory. This does not imply the endorsement of any alternative theory.
(Continued...)
Compare this to the Discovery Institute's document:
We are skeptical of claims for…
oracknows | May 5, 2006Lately, I've been frequently lamenting how easily physicians can be seduced by the pseudoscience known as "intelligent design" (ID) creationism (or even old-fashioned young earth creationism). Yesterday, I even hung my head in shame after learning of a particularly clueless creationist surgeon, to the point of speculating that I might not be able to show my face in ScienceBlogs for a few days.
Then, just as I was getting set to show my face in ScienceBlogs again after only a one day absence (having decided not to let one clueless surgeon deter me), I see this on Bill Dembski's blog.…
tsmith | May 5, 2006I didn't have enough energy or stamina to do it yesterday, but John and PZ both have ripped it to shreds. Thank you, gentlemen, for your sacrifice.
tsmith | May 4, 2006Intelligent design supporters tout merits of concept
Author Dr. Geoffrey Simmons, attorney Tom Alderman and chemistry professor Jim Long presented the case for intelligent design as part of the Mars Hill forum, sponsored by the University Christian Fellowship.
***
Alderman said scientists believe humans are complex machines without free will.
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Scientists' prejudice leads them to deny hearing anyone who disagrees with evolution, which is an example of "intellectual totalitarianism," Alderman said.
***
Simmons gave a list of living beings that he deemed too complex to have evolved. He said…
oracknows | May 4, 2006Damn you, PZ!
I know I spent three whole posts discussing the problem of credulity towards creationism among physicians. I spent a lot of time in those posts explaining potential reasons why physicians might be susceptible to the blandishments of creationists and even used the example of a medical student who is a proud young earth creationist as an example of the perils to medicine of not taking a stand regarding this sort of pseudoscience.
Leave it to PZ to one-up me.
Sadly, PZ has found an example of a physician who makes Alice (our blogging young earth creationist medical student) look…
tsmith | May 3, 2006Andrea over at Pandas Thumb highlights a new JCI article with a call to action for scientists.
The Journal of Clinical Investigation is a top-notch journal, and their editors seem to "get it." They wrote an editorial last year which I discussed here (moved over from the old blog) discussing intelligent design, and why more scientists should pay attention to it. Good that they're continuing the effort by publishing this new paper.
tsmith | May 2, 2006In line with the Jesus door, Ocellated brings you a giant fire-breathing rabbit.