Intelligent Design vs. Evolution – Get ready to laugh

I’ve tried to avoid blogging about this, but I just can’t bite my tongue any more. It’s too sore as it is. This whole “intelligent design” thing is just too funny. The Dover PA school district doesn’t think so, but maybe they’ve just lost their sense of humor.

Let me start out my saying that I am a person of faith. I believe in God, and most people would consider me a Christian. I’m also studying biology in college. While I don’t think that evolutionary theory is complete and correct, I’m not above talking about in a science class because it’s one of the core themes of biology. It’s only uniformed religious bigots that like to try and use it to prove that God doesn’t exist. In fact, there are a lot of biologists who don’t see a conflict between evolution and their faith in God.

I also don’t support the idea of teaching intelligent design in schools. It’s not science; it’s metaphysics. Save that for the philosophy and religion classes, please.

These quote from the Dover PA trial just made me shake my head, though. The star witness for the defense is Kenneth Miller, a Brown University biologist. Get a load of this:

The statement read to Dover students states in part, "Because Darwin's theory is a theory, it continues to be tested as new evidence is discovered." Miller said the words are "tremendously damaging," falsely undermining the scientific status of evolution.
"What that tells students is that science can't be relied upon and certainly is not the kind of profession you want to go into," he said.
"There is no controversy within science over the core proposition of evolutionary theory," he added.

Cough . . . choke . . . sputter. What? Since when? First off, it may be damaging to Darwin’s theory, but it’s not damaging to kids thinking about biological sciences as a career choice. And since when is there no controversy in biology over evolution? Saying there’s no controversy is like saying Swiss cheese doesn’t have holes.
The double talk gets thicker, though.

During his cross-examination of Miller, Robert Muise, another attorney for the law center, repeatedly asked whether he questioned the completeness of Darwin's theory.
"Would you agree that Darwin's theory is not the absolute truth?" Muise said.
"We don't regard any scientific theory as the absolute truth," Miller responded.

Okay. Let me get this straight. We want to teach science, but we don’t regard science as truth? We don’t want to question the validity of evolutionary theory, even though science is all about questioning what we know, and don’t know? That sounds like religious dogma to me. Don’t question Darwin, but go ahead and question God? Isn’t that a double standard? I think Mr. Miller is just having a tough time explaining it because for him, and may others proponents of evolutionary theory (whether they wants to admit it or not), evolution is a matter of faith.
Go put that in your pipe and smoke it for a while.

Liars Fighting Liars

Whenever the ACLU does something, I have to raise my eyebrows. In this case, I think I’m may to have to put aside my animosity towards them, and give the devil his due. According to this KSL story they’ve joined the fight against the Utah County Sheriff’s Office for wrongfully raiding two dance parties in Spanish Fork Canyon.

Now, I’m all over the Utah County Sheriff’s office on this one. They blew it, and then they lied about it.

. . . county officers say they were justified in breaking up the August concert because organizers lacked necessary permits. Officials also say undercover officers at the concerts spotted the sale and use of illegal drugs.

The Utah County Sheriff is a lying bastard. I know some people who were involved, including one of the DJs. The organizers had the permits, but were threatened at gun point and told to shut up when they offered to show them to the raiding officers. There were no undercover officers. The police showed up in full military grade riot gear carrying M-16’s. The illegal drugs they supposedly seized were those confiscated by the private security force the people throwing the party had hired.

And now the ACLU has gotten involved. I’ve always considered the ACLU to be a bunch of bigoted (anti-religion) lying sacks of shit for what they’ve tried to do (and in some cases succeeded) in Salt Lake City. Now they’ve decided to go after another bunch of bigoted (anti-dance scene) lying sacks of shit. Go figure.

Rocky Anderson Overstepping Mayoral Bounds

There’s one thing I can say for Rocky Anderson: he’s certainly given me a lot to blog about.

This latest escapade involves him acting like a dictator instead of an elected official. According to this KSL article, he’s going to sign an executive order offering benefits to non-married, domestic partners of Salt Lake City employees.

Now, I’ve blogged about something similar before. No matter which side of the aisle you are on when it comes to gay marriage, I really think health insurance should be dealt with by the household and financial need, not by whether you’re married and what age your kids are. I’m a capitalist to be sure, but when it comes to health care I’ve got a real socialist streak.

The issue for me is not whether Salt Lake City should offer these benefits, but whether it’s up to Rocky Anderson to do it. Isn’t this an issue better left for the city council? There’s also a question of legality. This kind of action may very well conflict with the Utah State Constitution.

Personally, I don’t think even Rocky believes that this will stick, no matter how it’s created. It’s just a way for him to get his name in media, and in the face of the people he believes are his constituents. In other words, it’s just a publicity stunt. He’s only got a 36% approval rating, and he thinks that this will appeal to the democrats in Salt Lake City that elected him.

It’s a re-election strategy that is going to cost Rocky, nothing. It will cost the people of Salt Lake City between 38 and 113 thousand dollars, whether he can keep it in effect or not.

What a bizarre way to get a campaign contribution.

NRC Okays Nuclear Waste in Spite of Opposition

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has shown their bias and stupidity once again, by approving the storage of spent nuclear fuel rods at a proposed above ground site on the Goshute Indian’s Skull Valley reservation in western Utah. In spite of the fact that the tribal members don’t want it there, and the danger posed by the nearby Dugway Proving Grounds and the munitions training and testing area (where fighter pilots learn how to bomb the spit our of ground targets), the NRC feels that it’s a “safe site.”

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. How is putting a bunch of radioactive waste in concrete containers very close to a place where the military drops live bombs safe?

The only people I know of in the Goshute tribe that are even mildly interested in having it there is the tribal leadership. The Goshutes are in the middle of a trying to establish new leadership over the tribe because of this very issue. I saw a lawyer for the Goshutes commenting on this issue on a local news channel. She said that because the Goshutes are looking for new leadership, allowing this deal to come through anyway is illegal according to tribal law. I don’t like “playing the race card,” but this lawyer said that if the PFS continues to force the issue, and the Federal Government allows it to happen, it will be just another example of continued racial prejudice against American Indians.

Fortunately for Utah, Governor Huntsman and our senators and congressmen are taking up the fight. Even the LDS Church is taking a stand.

I have to admit, my hope for this stuff staying out of Utah is waning. The eastern constituents just have too much influence with this issue, and I suspect that there is some money changing hands under differing tables as well. I can’t be sure about that, of course, but it wouldn’t surprise me at all. I fear that no matter what we do as native Utahns, just like other issues in the past (such as the creation of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument), our states rights and desires are going to be overrun by uncaring people at the federal level.