It should drive us all bananas that in this day and age of high-tech everything from cars to computers to dildos, that we should be assailed by the reality that some people want to impose thier medieval views on future children.
Here's another monkey trial, this time where parents are having to sue a distrct board for teling Biology teachers they must teach 'Intelligent (LOL) Design" as well as Evolution.
HARRISBURG, PA. — Tammy Kitzmiller testified yesterday that she is a firm believer in the separation of church and state, a stand that has made her a reluctant soldier in the battle raging across the United States over the teaching of evolution in high-school biology classes.
An office manager for a landscaping company and the mother of two teenage daughters, Ms. Kitzmiller is also the lead plaintiff in Kitzmiller et al v. the Dover District Board of Education, a case that opens a new chapter in the century-old struggle over the teaching of evolution that reached an early climax with the Scopes Monkey trial in 1925.
She and 10 other Dover parents have sued their school district, arguing that the board imposed a religious view on public-school students after board directors demanded that biology teachers present a one-minute statement promoting the intelligent-design concept as an alternative to Charles Darwin's theory of evolution, which it describes as flawed.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1987 that creationism -- the belief that Earth and its beings were created by God and not by natural selection -- could not be taught in public schools since it violated the separation of church and state
And as if that is not enough, there's the rest of it with this:
More than 30 U.S. states are considering measures to teach alternatives to evolution, Reuters reported. The Harrisburg case is the first to challenge such initiatives in court and is widely expected to end up at the Supreme Court of the United States, regardless of the outcome.
The parents and their supporters in the scientific community and at the American Civil Liberties Union argue that the intelligent-design concept is simply a retooled effort to introduce the God of Genesis into biology class.
The board and its supporters among Christian conservatives insist the intelligent-design concept is a valid scientific theory that makes up for fatal flaws in evolutionary theory.
Advocates on both sides of the divide are watching the case closely. President George W. Bush waded into the controversy recently by suggesting that schoolchildren should be taught both views.
The Dover parents are being represented pro bono by the ACLU and backed by the Americans United for Separation of Church and State and the National Center for Science Education.
The school district is being represented, also free of charge, by the Thomas More Law Center, a non-profit legal firm dedicated to the defence and promotion of the religious freedom of Christians; it litigates key church-and-state issues including school prayer, abortion and, now, intelligent design.
In testimony before Federal Court Judge John Jones yesterday, parents said that key school board members had initially wanted creationism introduced into the biology class, despite the fact that U.S. courts have rejected such attempts.
After advice from their lawyers, the directors settled on requiring a statement about intelligent design before the evolution lessons, which suggested students read a book on the concept, Of Pandas and People, which had been purchased and placed in the school library.
Ms. Kitzmiller, whose daughter, Jessica, opted out when the intelligent-design statement was delivered to her Grade 9 biology class last year, said the board's policy has devalued science education in Dover District High School, and subjected her daughter to ridicule for protesting against the move.
"I feel they brought a religious idea into the classroom, and I object to that," she said.
Bryan Rehm taught science at Dover High but transferred last year. He also has a daughter in Grade 9 who will have to decide whether to stay in the classroom or opt out when the intelligent-design statement is presented prior to the class taking up evolution in January.
Mr. Rehm said he attended several board meetings and met with board members who made it clear they considered evolutionary theory to be anti-Christian, even un-American. For several years, he said, teachers resisted pressure to "balance" their teaching of evolution and natural selection with the creationist notion that God created the Earth no earlier than 10,000 years ago with all species as they now exist.
"You're not going to tell me I come from apes," he recalled one angry board member, Jim Buckingham, demanding of him.
In fact, he said, the Grade 9 biology curriculum does not deal with the origin of the human species but focuses on evolutionary changes within organisms, changes that can lead to superbugs in humans and plants that are resistant to antibiotics and pesticides.
Yeah, buddy, you don't come from apes. You come from Harrisburg PA. While we're at it, the Earth is flat too; that's how we fly spaceshuttles in this day and age... not!
The thing is, it's not even that I object to organised religion (which is a different thing altogether); it's the sort of brazeen ignorance parading itsself as akind of pride, when in fact it'ss just a naked ego dance. And there's nothign to distinguish that kind of pride from say, Gay Pride or Feminism or any old crappy chauvinism or reverse-chauvinism. It still doesn't meaan what you believe in is scientific. Sort of like the stupid rantings of the Angry Fat Man, really.
There's also the ugly notion that every kid has to sit there and listen to this crappy piece of fiction when indeed there might be kids from non-Christian backgrounds to start with. Or as Chris once famously encountered while talking about Evolution in class to his students, a Muslim girl piped up and said, "Sir, I don't think you should be pushing your Christian views on to us".
The Blame game
There's not much to make folks laugh in the aftermath of hurricane Katrinaa, but you might like this for a laugh:
A combative Michael Brown blamed the Louisiana governor, the New Orleans mayor and even the Bush White House that appointed him for the dismal response to Hurricane Katrina in a fiery appearance Tuesday before Congress. In response, lawmakers alternately lambasted and mocked the former FEMA director.
House members' scorching treatment of Brown, in a hearing stretching nearly 6 1/2 hours, underscored how he has become an emblem of the deaths, lingering floods and stranded survivors after the Aug. 29 storm. Brown resigned Sept. 12 after being relieved of his FEMA onsite command of the Federal Emergency Management Agency's response effort three days earlier.
"I'm happy you left," said Rep. Christopher Shays (news, bio, voting record), R-Conn. "Because that kind of, you know, look in the lights like a deer tells me that you weren't capable to do the job."
"You get an F-minus in my book," said Rep. Gene Taylor (news, bio, voting record), D-Miss.
At several points, Brown turned red in the face and slapped the table in front of him.
"So I guess you want me to be the superhero, to step in there and take everyone out of New Orleans," Brown said.
"What I wanted you to do is do your job and coordinate," Shays retorted.
Talk about people sinking really low.
This is the government, people. Isn't it clear by now that the inmates definitely run the asylum?
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