The Baylor Lariat is running a silly poll in which they ask how Baylor ought to approach ID: encourage it, discourage it, prohibit it, or support it. The creationists have been having fun with it, and “encourage” is winning by a landslide. Let’s everyone head over there and skew it the Pharyngula way!
The good Lynch of Stranger Fruit was honored as the CASE/Carnegie Professor of the Year awardee for Arizona. Everyone go applaud!
It’s a measure of the DI’s intellectual bankruptcy that they are pleased to have recruited Michael Medved to their cause. He’s wingnut who loves Sasquatch; I don’t even care for his movie reviews, which seem to consist of nothing but sanctimonious assessments of movies in the light of his reactionary social agenda.
One thing he’s not, is any kind of scientist.
I guess it’s not surprising. They’ve got HIV denialists, climate change denialists, Bush boosters, war and torture fans, and of course, a whole mob of creationists…tossing Bigfoot believer in the nut mix at the DI is a perfect fit.
Hmmm. They’re arguing about teaching ID in Orange county and in Polk county. Both places have sensible people pointing out that Intelligent Design creationism is not science (and probably also sensibly have visions of $3 million court costs wafting through their heads), while a few clueless ignoramuses are whining that it isn’t fair, and that they need to give equal time to “the controversy”…the controversy that doesn’t really exist except in the pages of Discovery Institute press releases.
You know these people are reading the Discovery Institute’s propaganda — they’re using the same buzz phrases. In the next big creationism trial, I hope the creationist losers turn around afterwards and sue the DI for damages their bad advice is causing school districts.
Kentucky, you’re on notice.
The chairman of the joint Agricultural and Natural Resources Committee is holding hearings to promote ignorance and denialism. This is appalling.
Chairman Jim Gooch, D-Providence, a longtime ally of the coal industry, said he purposefully did not invite anyone who believes in global warming to testify.
“You can only hear that the sky is falling so many times,” said Gooch, whose post makes him the House Democrats’ chief environmental strategist. “We hear it every day from the news media, from the colleges, from Hollywood.”
Neither of Gooch’s invited panelists was a scientist.
What he is saying is idiotic enough, but look at the letter after his name: “D”. Isn’t it nice that we now have bipartisan inanity? How do these mouth-breathing ninnyhammers get elected into positions of power, anyway?
In weird medical news, researchers have discovered that an extract made from shellfish reduces scarring after certain medical procedures. It’s a gel-like polysaccharide called chitosan, and it’s injected up the nose after sinus operations.
I don’t know what this means for my daily fix of squid goo — either my supply is about to be commodified, or the price is going to go up.
If you’ve been wondering what to do in the aftermath of Cyclone Sidr, the people to watch Chris and Sheril and influential blogger Greg Laden. Some specific information is available here and here, but I’m sure more will be coming up.
It’s mid-November, so it’s time to suggest new inductees into the Order of the Molly. Leave comments in this thread naming your favorite commenters!
We do have a bunch of new people here, but please don’t even dream of nominating any from the influx of wacky denialists — it’ll make me grumpy.
Some people, after seeing the recent Dover documentary (now available online), have been wondering who the heck this Steve Fuller wanker is, and why he’s defending Intelligent Design. Here’s a philosopher to explain Fuller to you. You’ll wish you hadn’t asked.
Enjoy the nice criticism of medical woo.
Sid Schwab takes on the credulity of believers in alternative medicine, like chiropractic.
