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POPSOne More Time for the Learning Impaired It always helps to reiterate for the scientific challanged among us (and in the US that's a majority of the population) the difference between law, theory, guess and wishful thinking. Pay attention people, my patience is running out. And yes, you'll have to read the whole article to reap it's rewards. Learning does have it's costs so ante up! Don't let ignorance keep you sounding like a complete idiot.
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POPSMore Ignorant Comments About Creationism Jindal, like Bush himself, must have dozed off in basic science class when they were discussing what science is. It's no mistake that Americans are woefully ignorant when it comes to science. This wouldn't be a problem but for the fact that they want to spread their ignorance to school children too. ID is the pig with lipstick. It's Creationism dressed in a lab coat. It's not science. Period.
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POPSChristian Zealot Faces Firing Once again we're witness to an attempt by a Christian fundamentalist to indoctrinate school children into his cult. The interesting point was made that 1) for eleven years people have complained about his classroom behavior and 2) other science teachers have testified that they had to reteach students that took this loon's class. Now the school board is finally looking into sacking this "teacher".
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POPSBranding for Christ A "science" teacher in Ohio is under scrutiny for mixing religion and science. This miscreant not only is a fundy nut but a liar too. I'm sure the kids in his class are getting the latest in science education (if they lived in the bronze age, that is).
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POPSScientific Framing - Do We Need It? Recently there's been a controversy in the scientific community concerning scientific framing. That's framing in the sense of presenting views and facts in such a way that they appeal to a larger percentage of the population. We hear this mostly in the political realm but it applies equally in the scientific realm particularly where science and politics intersect. Is it the right thing to do? Is it too Orwellian?
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POPSCreationist Science Teachers Would administrators sanction teaching alchemy in place of chemistry? How about palmistry in lieu of statistics. How about replacing basic meteorology with the Thor hypothesis? These people have no business in a science class teaching science. Either move them so they do no harm or fire them.
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POPSReality Intrudes Most rational people will see through Ben Stein's false argument as portrayed in his failed "documentary" Expelled. For those poor souls that still buy into his Intelligent Design BS, here's a bit of a reminder that the entire basis of the ID movement is founded on lies, half-truths, and religious dogma.
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POPSThis Sold Me! Ironclad logic and indisputable facts. How could I refuse to admit I've been wrong. Intelligent Design is indeed at the forefront of the evilution controversy.
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POPSIDers Bilk Public If it weren't for the special consideration given to Evangelical groups to attend this love fest for the uninformed this propaganda film would have been a total flop.
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POPSA Rational Review One can hope that Ben Stein can now be laid to rest as a fraud, a liar, and a snake oil salesman. One would also hope that the mental health profession would lend their services and have counselors on hand after viewing this drivel to reintroduce the viewers gently back to reality.
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POPSBen Steiin - Hate Monger Sometimes the worst case scenario occurs. Here's an example of just that. If you're not aware, Stein's movie, Expelled, conflates evolution with Nazi's and death camps. Of course, by doing so he demonstrates his utter lack of understanding of both subjects but this doesn't seem to matter to him one way or the other. Pretty despicable.
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POPSReligious Fantasy Contrary to what you might hear, the Ben Stein movie Expelled is not based on science. It is a propaganda film promoting the fake controversy over evolution. Admittedly, the majority of people in the US actually believe this nonsense. It seems that they are also willing to contribute to this BS so they can justify their creationist dogma. I'm beginning to hear the banjo track from "Deliverance" being hummed by the masses. Looks like the importation of scientists is going to be the new growth industry in the US soon.
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POPSSexpelled: No Intercourse Allowed Funny little video mocking the "documentary" by the self-proclaimed intellectual Ben Stein. Don't waste you money on the Stein movie. Sit back and enjoy the short clip here instead. They both hold the same weight.
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POPSCracker Jacks and Crackpots I've already clipped about this "documentary". I've offered this additional clip because of the wonderful analogy the author used between the faith healer and medical school. Sums it up perfectly I though.
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POPS"Repelled" Opens Soon While this "documentary" has been widely panned by many people it will have to be the misinformed and scientifically ignorant that save it. Considering the gullibility of the American public and their abysmal understanding of science and evolution I wouldn't be too surprised if this hatchet job did better than expected. Though, I would be extremely disappointed in the level of intelligence and lack of judgment in the movie going public.
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POPSFlorida Creationist Shows Off Of course not all Floridians are this abjectly stupid. Although recent polls indicate that close to 50% prefer creationism over evolution. Take a peek at what a lack of science education can accomplish.
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POPSMuslim Bullying How absurd for any religious group to expect for persons of differing faiths or no faith at all to adhere to their quaint religious practices. It reminds me of the resistance to teach evolution in public schools or the attempts to force religion into the public arena. Both spheres have a similar lack of credibility and rationale. Kudos to Wikipedia for not kowtowing to religious fanatics.
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POPSScience Illiteracy in Fla The first paragraph pretty much sums up the lack of science literacy that exists across the country. The second paragraph points to the lies used by creationists to worm their religious views into science classes. These bible thumpers are clueless when it comes to what science is. They want a one to one comparison between science and religion and go so far as to claim that science changing its views as new evidence is discovered is a fault. They evidently want science to adopt a dogmatic approach to knowledge. How pathetic. Reading the comments of the religionists one is left with the impression that they are genuinely afraid for their faith. They seem to view science as a threat and therefore are justified to sidestep, lie, and misrepresent what science is and what their agenda is in attempting to water down the impact that science could have on their religion. Not only is this cowardly but extremely dishonest. As I said earlier, pathetic.
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POPSIs Huckabee Really This Ignorant? Apparently, the Huckster is pig-stupid (oops, I just insulted pigs, sorry) when it comes to science and in particular biology. Hasn't the nation already suffered through almost 2 terms of an administration that denied global warming, believes in creationism and tailors science to fit into corporate profits . I don't think we need any more of this 12th century ignorance.
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POPSTexans for Education - 12th Century Style How embarrassing it must be to live in Texas these days. Will we be witness the next time Houston has a problem with the Space Shuttle of their hurriedly convening a prayer circle to fix it?
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POPSSouth Carolina Steps Up Did a light bulb light up somewhere? Are there some people that really care about education? Apparently so. Except for six holdouts a S. Carolina board of education actually voted to retain a biology textbook that did not include references to myth and fables. Let's hear it for sanity in the South.
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POPSIowa Helps Democratic Party When I discovered that Iowa had chosen Mike Huckabee as the Republican nominee my little heart took a leap with joy. Who better than a Bible-thumping, evolution denying , anti-choice, far right priest/candidate for the Dems to be running against. In many ways he is a caricature of Bush although he does appear to be more articulate.
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POPSHmm, Astrology or Astronomy? I seem to recall a certain president mouthing these same sentiments. I suspect history may show him to be at least one of the most ignorant people to hold such important office.
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POPSFloridians See the Light? I just clipped another article concerning this topic and then came across this article. Well, that was a short lived controversy. It seems the Florida creationists sipped from the reality cup just in time. Good news.
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POPSFlorida Religionists Cling to Myth As in Texas, Florida is also debating whether or not to include Intelligent Design in its science curriculum. Following the Dover Pennsylvania trial you'd think these yahoos would have gotten the word. ID is not science. We'll have to wait and see if they cling to their Bronze Age myths or join the rest of us who live in a reality based world.
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POPSEducation Cowards Another "educational" institution bothered by the Christian Evolution Police. They claim they don't want to offend anyone's sensitive religious feelings. What a bunch of crap.
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POPSIs a Nobel Next? A more fitting honor for this valued museum can't be imagined. Perhaps this puts them into contention for the coveted Most Ignorant Concept in the World Award?
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POPSCreationism Liars in Texas Anyone who buys the crap these Texas Education Agency members put out get exactly what they deserve. Their repeated denial that they are not anxious to sneak their creationist dogma into Texas biology classes is so patently absurd to be laughable. In fact, one is tempted to propose that their purpose is to guarantee that Texas school children turn out to be as abjectly stupid as they are themselves.
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POPSHouston, We Have A Problem... A majority of Americans cling to a fairy tale to describe the origins of man (and women). To have their fantasies threatened evidently scares them to death. Because of this threat to their faith they lie without blinking an eye. Using their twisted logic that religion is not their motivation for squeezing Intelligent Design into science class falls apart when applied to other disciplines. There is no national push to teach astrology as an alternative to astronomy. There is no push to teach alchemy alongside chemistry. The only push is to teach Creationism (in the thin guise of ID) alongside evolution. And the drumbeat of lies from the IDers continues. Their discredited "science" (see Dover Penn trial) continues to be their best hope of getting god into the classroom and they won't stop until this is accomplished.
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POPSReligion/Science - Oil/Water No matter what mental rationalization you've thought up the bottom line is that science and religion are at odds with one another. Ask anyone who has waded through the tortured reasoning of theists to reconcile their beliefs with scientific facts knows that believing in talking snakes, burning bushes, Jewish zombies, or virgin births has to forgo reality and enter a world of myth and fairy tales. Ordinarily this could be viewed as simply a character quirk. But unfortunately it has wider reaching consequences. We are dumbing down our children because of irrational belief in a bronze age culture's view of the world. In our society, ignorance is thought charming while intelligence is "elitism". How ass backwards is this?
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POPSLatest from the World Nut Daily Have a new article by the World Nut Daily pop up in my news aggregator is like getting an unexpected present. This scree for the godly is always a ripe target for derision and ridicule. I was somewhat unimpressed by their lackluster defense of Nathaniel Abraham and his dismissal from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute because of his creationist views. What the article fails to mention is that this has already been addressed by the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination. They said: "The Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination dismissed the case this year, saying Abraham's request not to work on evolutionary aspects of research would be difficult for Woods Hole because its work is based on evolutionary theories." Think of an astronomer hired by the Mauna Kea Observatory and then revealing he wanted to base his research upon astrology.
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POPSWhoa! Sanity from the RCC? While we are worlds apart in certain respects, Brother Consolmagno seems the type of person that I'd enjoy spending an afternoon with.
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POPSThe Fight's Far From Over Dover was just one case. Look to Texas for the next slugfest between legitimate science and the bible thumpers at the Discovery Institute. Should prove to be interesting. My personal hope is that the DI receives the same thrashing in Texas as they did in Dover. Safe to say this group is not in the slightest interested in science, truth or integrity.
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POPSQuestion Faith It's time for us to grow up as a culture and trash the inhibition of questioning religion. Why should this area of thought get a free pass? The only answer I can come up with is that it would not survive public doubt and criticism. As we've seen in the Bush administration, religious dogma does have consequences that can negatively affect millions of people. To allow these areas to go unquestioned is ridiculous.