Unclear on the concept

Speaking of people who can’t understand basic science, here’s Denyse O’Leary:

A couple of years ago, after I had been following the controversy for several years, I found myself listening to a long lecture by a Darwinist, replete with bafflegab and pretty lame examples. Finally, sensing (correctly) that I was unconvinced, he proclaimed to me, “You just don’t understand how natural selection works, do you?”

And suddenly, the penny dropped. What he meant was that I just don’t believe in magic. I can’t make myself believe in magic; I haven’t been able to since I was a child.

Natural selection is not magic; there are no miracles, no unexplained steps in the process, and once you grasp it, it’s simple and obvious. That O’Leary equates the two means the correct answer to the question was “yes”.

The real funny part, though, is that O’Leary is an intelligent design advocate and ardent Catholic. She does believe in magic!

The scientist in the white coat

I am genuinely amused at this caricature of scientists from a creationist site. How many of you believed these things?

i-6f43fc42a8741f8b42f9a414e8b6e293-sci_myths.jpeg

  • Everyone is biased. Scientists just happen to be biased in favor of reality, and have a set of tools that help them overcome predispositions that might lead them into error (Non-scientists have the same tools. Creationists just prefer not to use them.)

  • Again, they try to be objective.

  • Hah! Anyone who has done any science at all knows that a good part of the process is spent winnowing out sources of error.

  • He wears a…wait, what? In a list containing such grand and unattainable virtues as lack of bias, objectivity, and infallibility, this joker throws in choice of attire? Something doesn’t fit here.

    Need I add that the title is about “the scientist in the white coat,” so by definition he or she would be wearing a white coat?

Now watch as our creationist tries to correct these myths:

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Ping-pong with a creationist

Would you believe that Nick Lally has responded — well, reacted might be the better word — to our criticism of his silly letter? This is a reply to one of the editors to whom he had sent his original mail.

Dear “Yo”, for lack of a name….since you have not yet given me yours while you put me out there for others to read.

With the exception of a few bright guys who challenged my facts, the rest of the responses were lame, personal and disrespectful. So typical of you atheists.

But I must admit, I did get a laugh of myself for miss-typing “Louis Pasteur”.

But for now, allow me to explain my position on only one of the responses I read….and later I will respond to the other responses that are worthy:

Your writer wrote: “Actually, we do have transitions between single-celled and multi-cellular organisms. We do have transitions between invertebrates and vertebrates — look up protochordates sometime. Your ignorance of these basic facts is not evidence”

I tell you the following about Choanoflagellates: These one cellular animals are designed with a propulsion system that is similar to an outboard motor. They have a propeller (whip) shaft, etc, etc. Just look at this diagram and you would think you were looking at a motor. [he included a standard cartoon of the bacterial flagellum]

Now, just take away any one part of this motor and ask yourself: Could this machine work? The obvious answer is “no”. So my question to you atheists is simple: How could a one cellular animal that houses a complex design come into existence with all its parts working simultaneously through a natural process called mutation and natural selection?

Isn’t it clear to you that this machine was designed instantaneously by intelligence with a futuristic purpose…and a finished product in mind?

Yo, I tell you the truth: There is a designer. His name is God. I may not understand all there is to Him right now, but one day we all will understand.

Typical creationist, we should say. Note the usual evasion, focusing on the disrespect given to him rather than the content. Note also the goal-post shifting. He said there were no transitions between single-celled and multicellular organisms; I gave him one, the choanoflagellates, so what does he do? Ducks and runs and throws out a different claim, in this case falling back on the tired old ID claim that the bacterial flagellum could not have evolved (it certainly could have: it has homology to other organelles, and there are pathways by which it could have evolved).

Oh, wait…bacterial flagellum? Choanoflagellates do NOT have the rotary flagellum of bacteria. They have the eukaryotic flagellum (also called an undulopodium) which is completely different. Eukaryotic flagella do not rotate, instead consisting of a bundle of fibers that slide past one another to generate a bend in the whole structure.

He really doesn’t know what he’s talking about. And he was a science teacher?

I get email

A while back, I posted some email from Debra Rufini that had been forwarded to me — a long list of stupid arguments for creationism. Now, almost 6 months later, she has discovered my posting, and she is hoppin’ mad.

Hello there Mr. Myers,

I must say that I’m incredibly flattered that you’ve gone to all the trouble to ‘attempt’ to tackle my 50 points. One would assume that seeing as tehy were so ridiculously stupid, that you’d rather fob me off as yet just another ‘religious fool’. Had I written to you (Which I hadn’t even done), representing the Flat Earth Society, I could guarantee that you wouldn’t waste your time on a response. If you did, you’d look pretty stupid.

It’s obvious that you really loathe me without even knowing me, and to be honest with you, I reckon I’d be a pretty miserable, angry person with a chip on my shoulder if I also believed that I was no more than worm meat at the end of the day. I do find it interesting that almost all athiests tend to have this angry & patronising streak in them. If only you would find the love of Christ, and it would all be gone.

It’s not a very professional approach to call people rude names, simply because tehy don’t agree with you, is it?! Sounds like you were the sort of child who threw a tantrum whenerver he didn’t get his sweeties. I would have respected you far more, had you given an adult approach, and responded in a civil manner, in the process not making yourself look so immature.

This ‘thick as bricks’ author has the commpon sense to believe that a mind is responsible for the complexity of life, as opposed to a vast volume of mindless time. Unaided time alone cannot be the great magician that you seem to believe is the case.

It takes a fool to believe that a randomly chewed up piece of chewing gum plus a whole load of time – hey presto; da da – results in a fully functioning Porshe!

Jesus called us to love those who persecute us, so that’s exactly what

And it just kind of ends there.

If you look at my original post, you’ll notice that I didn’t waste any time on it — I just posted her list with little attempt to address the flamboyantly obvious inanity of her arguments. It was like a letter from the Flat Earth Society.

I am not surprised that atheists in the vicinity of Debra Rufini seem angry and patronizing. They’re probably also annoyed and exasperated.

Raise your hand if you think chewing gum for a long time will produce a fine German-engineered automobile…

Yes? You in the back? Oh, you were just scratching your nose.

Hmm. Guess there aren’t any fools here. OK, is there anyone here who thinks biologists believe in gum-to-car transmutation?

Debra! Of course! OK, there is one fool here. Maybe she’ll give us the joy of her commentary in the thread down below.

Hang on! I just got the remainder of her message!

Sorry, something happened there – don’t know what!

I was just saying that as Jesus taught us to love those who persecute us, I shall do the same. I pray for you, just as he did for those who crucified him.

Kind regards,

Debra.

P.s. This was typed in a rush, so should there be any spelling mistakes, it’s not because I have the intelligence of a flea. I would like to also point out to you that should this get put on your website, (as I’m sure you’d like to rip me to shreds even further), I shall be deleting any abusive or hate mail I receive either from yourself or any of your other bitter friends.

What a relief. It just wouldn’t be creationist hate mail without the “kind regards” signoff.

You may have seen this letter already

A newspaper editor sent me this bizarre little letter. Apparently, the writer, a Mr Nick Lally, was spamming it all over the place, and his copy was also sent to addresses at these domains (actual email addresses stripped to protect the already put-upon):

@ncnnow.com, @krcb.org, @krcb.org, @californiaconnected.org, @humboldt1.com, @ksee.com, @telemundo.com, @koce.org, @cbs.com, @nbc4.tv, @angnewspapers.com, @modocrecord.com, @arcataeye.com, @pulitzer.net, @goldcountrymedia.com, @bakersfield.com, @bakersfield.com, @berkeleydailyplanet.com, @eastbayexpress.com, @canyonnews.com, @bhweekly.com, @bigbeargrizzly.net, @paloverdevalleytimes.com, @carmelpinecone.com, @carmichaeltimes.com, @chicoer.com, @chicoer.com, @triplicate.com, @gte.net, @svcn.com, @svcn.com, @svcn.com, @svcn.com, @svcn.com, @davisenterprise.net, @independentvoice.com, @ivpressonline.com, @herburger.net, @nctimes.com, @eurekareporter.com, @timesstandard.com, @dailyrepublic.net, @pressbanner.com, @fontanaheraldnews.com, @goldcountrymedia.com, @mcn.org, @fresnobee.com, @herburger.net, @gilroydispatch.com, @theunion.com, @hmbreview.com, @pulitzer.net, @thevalleychronicle.com, @freelancenews.com, @pinnaclenews.com, @hb.quik.com, @pe.net, @pulitzer.net, @valleysun.net, @kvsun.com, @recordbee.com, @compuserve.com, @lodinews.com, @pulitzer.net, @gazettes.com, @jewishobserverla.com, @laopinion.com, @dailynews.com, @DowntownNews.com, @latimes.com, @losbanosenterprise.com, @paloaltodailynews.com, @maderatribune.net, @maderatribune.net, @malibutimes.com, @MammothTimes.com, @mantecabulletin.com, @mcn.org, @almanacnews.com, @modbee.com, @modbee.com, @montereyherald.com, @morganhilltimes.com, @mtshastanews.com, @ktsftv.com, @sainte.tv, @indiancountry.com, @napanews.com, @marinij.com, @sierrastar.com, @ojaivalleynews.com, @dailybulletin.com, @dailybulletin.com, @ocregister.com, @palipost.com, @hax.com, @avpress.com, @paradisepost.com, .wilson@sgvn.com, @arguscourier.com, @arguscourier.com, @mtdemocrat.net, @bizjournals.com, @angnewspapers.com, @ptreyeslight.com, @portervillerecorder.com, @busjournal.com, @redbluffdailynews.com

That looks like he had found a directory of California newspapers and was sending his important missive to all of them. Lally is not from California, which makes me wonder if he flooded all the other states in the same way…let me know if you see some garbage with his name in it in your local paper.

Anyway, you’d think that such a widely disseminated letter must contain very important information, but I doubt that the gang here will be surprised at all to learn that it is a poorly written collection of creationist crap. I’ve put it below the fold for your grisly appreciation.

By the way, the author claims to have been a science teacher. I wonder how many young minds were poisoned and how much inquiring curiousity was stifled by this ignorant know-nothing.

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True Confessions

As Wilkins notes, they’ve admitted it now: the producers of Expelled lied to make their movie.

The documentary links such scientists to Nazis. The reaction was what one would expect.

“We wanted to generate anger,” Ruloff said.

“We always knew we’d get extreme anger on the one side and extreme support on the other. We also think we got extreme interest in the middle.”

Nice guys. You know, it’s pretty easy to get people angry with you by lying about them, but that doesn’t mean it’s a productive strategy.

It did get an uninterested middle to pay attention, though, he’s right on that. Of course, what most of those people quickly learned was that Ruloff was a dishonest fraud. That probably wasn’t his intent.

It really sucks to be Casey Luskin

This is just sad. Lately, Casey Luskin has been quaveringly protesting that poor Michael Behe got a bad shake in the Dover trial, and that Ken Miller misrepresented him in his testimony. Alas, this little mouse didn’t just get caught in a mousetrap — he got blown away by an elephant gun. Ken Miller has a guest post at The Loom in which he demolishes Luskin. I almost feel sorry for him.

Poor Casey

Casey Luskin once again complains about the fact that the propagators of intelligent design creationism are not regarded kindly, and in fact, are frequently disparaged. He takes it very personally, even.

On a personal note, I am familiar with these kinds of attacks. In one single forum at Antievolution.org, created and owned by a former National Center for Science Education staff member, I have been called no less than “Bizarre ignoramus,” “retarded,” “suck-up,” “Pathetic Loser,” “attack mouse, gerbil, rat, or clockwork powered plush toy,” “an orc,” “Annoying,” “a miserable loser with no life,” “an idiot,” “dishonest,” “ignorant cheap poxied floozie,” “fanatic and lunatic,” “A proven liar,” “incompetent,” and many other far more colorful attacks which are probably best left unprinted here on Evolution News and Views.

Well, Casey, I will concede this: I don’t think you’re retarded at all. The rest…heh. Those are pretty darned accurate, especially “incompetent”. You might want to consider that when someone like you, who knows nothing at all about biology, stands up and makes ignorant comments about the subject and sends them out as press releases all over the country, you’re going to get noticed, and you are going to get assessed. And, Casey, I’m sorry to say — you fail.

I’ll note that I also stand up and say what I think (with rather better qualifications as a biologist than you), and I also get a lot of flak, including many exceptionally insulting characterizations from your side of the fence. Here’s another difference between us, though: I don’t keep a running tally of all the names, adjectives, and adverbs applied to me.

So, what have you got? A great big Oracle database with urls and citations and photographs and addresses, tracking everyone who insults you? It would have to consume a substantial chunk of the resources of the Discovery Institute to store them all.