Sunday, November 20, 2005

Victory in Kansas for the bible thumpers, Kansas school board critical of evolution

In a move that was a surprise to exactly no one, the infallable Kansas Board of Education voted to implement a new set of science standards that would basically criticize evolution as a flawed theory and possibly offer creationism, also known as intelligent design, as a possible substitute. This whole process has basically made Kansas a laughing stock of the scientific community and in the long term could cost the state of Kansas dearly. Such a move will certainly make it harder for the state to attract good science teachers on every level from elementary through college.

To me the worst part of this, even more so than the religious zealots getting their way, is the fact that Kansas State Board of Education held hearing on the subject as if they were the foremost experts. To me that would be akin to a bunch of Bears fans sitting around a poker table in a smoke filled room debating on whether or not they had the best team ever (think back to the Ditka skits years ago on SNL and you will know what I mean). Of course, hardly anyone on the evolution side even bothered to show up to defend their position since they knew the fix was already in and that the board was only going to allow one outcome.

I myself don't have a problem with mentioning intellingent design briefly, as was done in my high school biology class, but to criticize evolution (with a real scientific basis) and instead to promote intellingent design (with a religious but not a scientific basis) in its place is reckless and dangerous. I learned about evolution in biology and science classes and learned about intellingent design in church and religious ed. classes, a mix that I thing was good for me overall. But lets keep the religious stuff out of the classroom.

If you want to read about it, here a couple of good links from the Lawrence Journal World:
http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2005/nov/08/evolution_timeline_events_related_kansas_controver/

http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2005/nov/11/kansas_decision_upsets_teachers/?evolution

Arnold comes up snake eyes

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger tried to make an end run around the legislature in California (who he has pretty strained relations with) by going to the people with four referendums for some of his ideas. All four of them failed. I am not sure if they failed becuase the ideas just sucked (remember, we are not really talking about a genius here to start with, on either side for that matter) or if people were pissed that Arnold was trying to change the rules of the game. But regardless of the reason, Arnie got an ass kicking at the polls. This defeat might spell trouble in the next governor's race in California, especially considering the promises that Arnold made in his campaign. I would not say he is any worse than his predecessor, Gov. Gray was, but that does not say much.

No word if Arnold will have to call himself a "girlie man" now or not. Read the story at the link below:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/ballot_measures;_ylt=Aop6il7SkVq3Xc9NfN1hd1us0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA2Z2szazkxBHNlYwN0bQ--

Supreme Court to decide fate of military tribunals.

The Supreme Court has recently decided to hear a case to determine the fate of the ongoing military tribunals for terrorists and alleged terrorists in the "War on Terror". The court's decision could be history in the making, especially if they shoot down or at least limit the military tribunals. I personally view the legal battle over these tribuanls to be one of the biggest failures of the war on terror. I say that becasue the Bush administration had absolutely no backup plan if the courts decided to hear appeals over this process, even though anyone could see that such a challenge was a certainly. Actually, let me rephrase that, the gov't may have forseen such a challenge, but not the fact that the courts might not side with them. I find that scary that there was no backup plan there.

Here is the link if you want to read the story:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051108/ap_on_go_su_co/scotus_guantanamo_trials;_ylt=AviqUeNn5ozmc1NCbj_yQXVvzwcF;_ylu=X3oDMTA5aHJvMDdwBHNlYwN5bmNhdA--

Is this the news or Penthouse Forum

In a story that sounds more like a letter from Penthouse Forum than a news story, 2 Carlolina Panthers decided to form their own team (and maybe switch teams in the process) and are alleged to have had sex in a restroom star at a bar in the Tampa area while they were in town for the Buccaneers and Panthers NFL football game recently. Both were arrested, their story was that one was comforting the other one. I guess you could say that, although I heard a story on the radio that one of the ladies had her foot up on the top of the stall. I guess that could be considered comforting.

Here is the story if you want to check it out (sorry fellas, not pics or video of their little party):
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051108/ap_on_sp_fo_ne/fbn_cheerleaders_arrested;_ylt=AgRWYaF0f_9t9ZakSgo74KYLMxIF;_ylu=X3oDMTA5aHJvMDdwBHNlYwN5bmNhdA--

Big Oil Hearings

Okay, the story at the link below is nothing earth shattering, but I wanted to link to at least one story on recent Congressional hearings on big oil and their huge profits. I think the big reason that Congress is even bothering with hearings is so they can show their constituents that they are trying to do something to help fight rising energy costs. I don't expect much to really result from these hearings though. There have been threats to impose a windfall profits tax on the oil companies, but that is not a good idea from an economic standpoint. Such a tax would stifle innovation and investment by the oil companies and in the long run it could even cause prices to go higher.

The link to a story from Yahoo is below. Watch for a little more in depth coverage of this on my in depth issues blog, you can find that at the second link below. I hope to have that posted soon.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20051108/bs_nm/energy_executives_dc;_ylt=Au3Uead2y.qLI3gnRz_1iaWyBhIF;_ylu=X3oDMTA5aHJvMDdwBHNlYwN5bmNhdA--

http://www.blogger.com/posts.g?blogID=11226257