May 10, 2008
Tape up your face to keep from smiling too broadly, schadenfreude being a sin or close to it.
Turkish creationist, bully and general gluteal carbuncle Adnan Oktar got sentenced to three years in prison yesterday, for the crime of creating an illegal organization for personal gain.
You remember Oktar: He’s the guy who publishes all those nasty anti-evolution and anti-science books, steals photos for his high-cost, low-information “atlas” of creationism, and successfully sued to shut down this blog’s availability in Turkey (Well, this blog and two million others on WordPress).
Reuters has a story on the affair:
A spokeswoman for his Science Research Foundation (BAV) confirmed to Reuters that Oktar had been sentenced but said the judge was influenced by political and religious pressure groups.
Oktar had been tried with 17 other defendants in an Istanbul court. The verdict and sentence came after a previous trial that began in 2000 after Oktar, along with 50 members of his foundation, was arrested in 1999.
In that court case, Oktar had been charged with using threats for personal benefit and creating an organization with the intent to commit a crime. The charges were dropped but another court picked them up resulting in the latest case.
Oktar planned to appeal the sentence, a BAV spokeswoman said. No further details were immediately available.
Oh, yeah — those political and religious pressure groups. And Oktar’s high dollar bullying of government authorities — what is that?
European, and Turkey, laws against political views may trouble one, justly. In a perfect world, there would be no need for such things, with good and true ideas having a good shot at winning in a fair fight. Oktar specializes in the sort of thuggery that makes a fight for ideas unfair. We might hope this latest action will simply help keep the playing field even, level and fair.
Resources:
The news is oddly silent about this otherwise.
Tip of the old scrub brush to The Sensuous Curmudgeon.
Spread the word; friends don't allow friends to repeat history.
3 Comments | 
Academic freedom, Adnan Oktar, Biology, Bogus history, Books, Censorship, Charles Darwin, Creationism, Darwin, Justice, Law, Science | Tagged: Adnan Oktar, Creationism, Freedom of Speech, Islam, Politics, Religion, Science, Turkey | 
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Posted by Ed Darrell
May 6, 2008
One of the affairs Ben Stein’s mockumentary covers is the Sternberg affair, in which a creationist bent the rules of the biology society whose journal he was editing to sneak into publication an article purporting to promote intelligent design. Stein claims the guy suffered persecution, though under cross examination in the Dover trial, no ID advocate could remember just what that persecution might be (creationists go quiet under oath . . . hmmm).
The mackarel by moonlight in that story (both shining and stinking at the same time) was a letter from the Office of Special Counsel which, while claiming to have found unspecified evidence of wrongdoing, said that OSC was the wrong agency to prosecute wrong-doers (OSC had an obligation to turn over any evidence of wrongdoing to the right agency, but Stein doesn’t mention that; there never was any evidence turned over to anyone).
Um, don’t look now, but the FBI raided the office of the OSC today, looking for evidence of wrongdoing. FBI and inspector general investigators appear to be looking into charges that the head of the office, Scott Bloch, retaliated against certain employees who, he suspected, had leaked information about political moves he had made in the legally non-political agency.
- Jim Mitchell, communications director for the Office of the Special Counsel, in Washington on Tuesday. (New York Times caption). AP Photo by J. Scott Applewhite
Will Ben Stein do an update?
Resources:
Spread the word; friends don't allow friends to repeat history.
1 Comment | Charles Darwin, Creationism, Darwin, Evolution, Intelligent Design, Jurisprudence, Justice, Law, Research, Voodoo science, War on Science | Tagged: Ben Stein, Corruption, Creationism, Politics, Science, Sternberg, War on Science | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
May 6, 2008
Living through the Watergate scandals and the Constitutional crises they produced — and spending part of that time in Washington, D.C., working for the Senate — I got a wonderful view of how constitutional government works, why it is important that good people step up to make it work, and a glimpse of what happens when good people lay back and let the hooligans run amock.
Over the last three months it occurs to me that we may be living in a similar time, when great but latent threats to our Constitution and the rule of law may be halted or rolled back by one John Dean-like character who will stand up before a group of elected officials, swear to tell the truth, and then, in fact, tell the whole truth.
Teachers, are you taking advantages of these lessons in civics that come into our newspapers every day?
We live in interesting times, exciting times — we live in educational times.
You should be clipping news stories on these events, and you should be using them in your classrooms today, and saving them for the fall elections, for the January inauguration, for the new Congress . . . and for your future classes.
What other opportunities for great civics lessons come to our doorsteps every day?
Spread the word; friends don't allow friends to repeat history.
Leave a Comment » | Accuracy, Checks and Balances, Government, Heroes, Journalism, Justice, Law, Leadership, Lessons of history, Scandals, U.S. Constitution, U.S. House of Representatives, Watergate scandal | Tagged: Checks and Balances, civics, Constitution, Current Events, Government, Newspapers, Politics, Teaching, U.S. Congress | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
May 5, 2008
We learned today that Mildred Loving died Friday in Milford, Virginia. She was 68.
2007 was the 40th anniversary of the Supreme Court Decision in which she played a key role, Loving vs. Virginia. In that decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that state laws against interracial marriage are unconstitutional.
The romance and marriage of Mildred and Richard Loving demonstrate the real human reasons behind advances in civil rights laws. They left Virginia to avoid facing prosecution for having gotten married; but when they wanted to be closer to family, they wrote to then-Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy. He referred them to the American Civil Liberties Union, who financed the case to get the law changed.
Richard and Mildred Loving, screen capture photo from HBO documentary, “The Loving Story.”
See the post from last year on the anniversary of the decision. The Associated Press wrote today:
Peggy Fortune [daughter] said Loving, 68, died Friday at her home in rural Milford. She did not disclose the cause of death.
“I want (people) to remember her as being strong and brave yet humble — and believed in love,” Fortune told The Associated Press.
Loving and her white husband, Richard, changed history in 1967 when the U.S. Supreme Court upheld their right to marry. The ruling struck down laws banning racially mixed marriages in at least 17 states.
“There can be no doubt that restricting the freedom to marry solely because of racial classifications violates the central meaning of the equal protection clause,” the court ruled in a unanimous decision.
Her husband died in 1975. Shy and soft-spoken, Loving shunned publicity and in a rare interview with The Associated Press last June, insisted she never wanted to be a hero — just a bride.
“It wasn’t my doing,” Loving said. “It was God’s work.”
Mildred Jeter was 11 when she and 17-year-old Richard began courting, according to Phyl Newbeck, a Vermont author who detailed the case in the 2004 book, “Virginia Hasn’t Always Been for Lovers.”
Richard died in 1975.
History loses another hero.
Update: Just as one more showing of how things have changed, this is the headline of the story of Mrs. Loving’s death in the Fredericksburg, Virginia, Free Lance-Star, the local newspaper in Mrs. Loving’s home county, Caroline County: “CAROLINE HEROINE DIES”
I’ll wager the Virginia headlines were quite not so glowing in 1967.
Spread the word; friends don't allow friends to repeat history.
4 Comments | Bill of Rights, Biography, Citizenship, Civil Rights, Current History, Desegregation, Family, Famous trials, Freedom - Political, Good Deeds, History, Human Rights, Jurisprudence, Justice, Law, Politics, Racism | Tagged: Biography, Civil Rights, Famous trials, History, Human Rights, interracial marriage, Mildred Loving, Miscegination, Racism, Supreme Court | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
April 26, 2008
How much do you really know about the Underground Railroad, how it worked, and what it meant to slaves in the Americas?
Do you know who Thornton and Ruthie Blackburn were? Did you know Canada played a key role in the life of the Underground Railroad?
The book is a year old now, and well worth a look: I’VE GOT A HOME IN GLORY LAND, A Lost Tale of the Underground Railroad; Karolyn Smardz Frost, (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2007).
Clear review from the New York Times, and the first chapter of the book so you can test drive it before you buy.
Two-fer: The author is both an archaeologist (the one who did the dig at the Thorntons’ home in Toronto) and a historian.
This book would be a good one for an honors history course or AP history course for which students are required to read a book.
Spread the word; friends don't allow friends to repeat history.
1 Comment | Archaeology, Biography, Freedom - Political, History, Jurisprudence, Justice, Law, Slavery | Tagged: Archaeology, Biography, Book, freedom, History, Slavery, Underground Railroad | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
March 12, 2008
March 14 beckons from the near horizon. A group of scientists and policy wonks will gather at Alma College, in Alma, Michigan, to look at the issues of DDT and health. This is the first major conference of its kind since the POPs Treaty, at least.
Controversy again swirls around DDT, with a large industry campaign again after the reputation of Rachel Carson just the same as in 1963 — though Ms. Carson has been dead since 1964. The disinformation campaign also impugns environmentalists, health care workers (especially if they’ve ever worked for the World Health Organization), Al Gore (there is no rationale), and when the minions think they can get away with it, it impugns bed nets and stagnant pool draining.
This public relations campaign against Rachel Carson enjoys a great deal of success. Oklahoma’s Sen. Tom Coburn, who seems never to have met an insult to a scientist he couldn’t use, successfully stopped the U.S. Senate from passing a bill naming a post office in honor of Rachel Carson, one of Coburn’s greatest legislative achievements. Several people in Congress, including Utah’s Rep. Rob Bishop, were similarly hornswoggled.
This conference could put real, accurate information in front of the public.
Are my expectations way too high? I hope reporting from this conference might inject sanity, comity, humility and courtesy back into the discussions of how to treat malaria, and whether DDT should ever be used.
Associated Press? Reuters? New York Times? Chicago Tribune? Detroit News, or Detroit Free Press? Lansing State Journal?
Who will report from the conference?
I hope major news outlets will have reporters there.
Resources:
Spread the word; friends don't allow friends to repeat history.
5 Comments | DDT, Environmental justice, Junk science, Justice, Malaria, News, Newspapers, Public education, Public health, Rachel Carson, War on Science | Tagged: DDT, environment, Environmental justice, Junk science, Malaria, Media, Rachel Carson, Science, War on Science | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
February 17, 2008
I always loved school carnivals. The elementary school versions always featured silly games and activities to appeal to kids of third grade mentality — right up my alley! Then I joined the PTA board at our kids’ elementary, and saw the numbers. The annual carnival took in several tens of thousands of dollars. A lot of that money bought new library books, some bought new science programs, all of it went for better education.
I really like a well-run carnival now. Here are a few well-run carnival events.
Carnival of the Liberals #58 flew to England, at Liberal England. Double the posts, ten from England, ten from the Americas. Geography and history teachers might be particularly interested in a post at Pickled Politics on whether Australia’s government will follow up with real action following their official apology to the continent’s aboriginals, for past mistreatment.
Will I ever catch up with the Carnival of Education? Teachers ought to browse this weekly — I haven’t looked at it weekly in the past month. Let’s go back to #155: Bluebird’s Classroom has a post about a teachable moment, involving her unit on weather, and the tornado warning that popped up during class. Pay particular attention to her use of the LCD projector and live television link. Odds are that your classroom can’t support such teaching, as mine cannot right now.
The rest of Carnival of Education #155 plays out at Median Sib. But I’m much farther behind. #156 resides at Creating Lifelong Learners. #157 can be found at Colossus of Rhodey. #158 moves in at Instructify. That one features this post (from Creating Lifelong Learners) about using your iPod in class to high purpose. I’ll wager there is not a school of education in the U.S. that teaches iPod use as a tool of classroom control and educational excellence. This is why we need to read these on-line collections. (“Hot 4 Teacher” graphic borrowed from Instructify.)
Spread the word; friends don't allow friends to repeat history.
2 Comments | Anthropology, Education, Education blogs, Education quality, History, Justice, Politics, Teaching, Technology in the classroom, War on Education, Weblogs | Tagged: Education, Edumacation, Politics, Technology | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
February 12, 2008
Rereading the Gettysburg Address and the Cooper Union speech of Lincoln, I wondered for a few moments whether there are others with similar gifts for words who might be on film or tape. It got me thinking about the vast gulf between religion on the one hand, and faith and justice on the other hand.
Then I got a notice of a link from this post about Barbara Jordan, at Firedoglake.
It’s a nice collection of links, a Barbara Jordan tribute all bundled up ready to unwrap. Sometimes truth does go marching on.
Who since Jordan?
(Thanks to Phoenix Woman at Firedoglake for the post, and for the link here.)
The Cooper Union speech of Lincoln was 148 years ago, on February 27.
Spread the word; friends don't allow friends to repeat history.
4 Comments | Abraham Lincoln, Accuracy, DBQ sources, Famous quotes, Fly your flag today, Freedom - Political, Great Speeches, Heroes, Historic documents, History, History audio sources, History video sources, Justice, Reason, Religion | Tagged: Barbara Jordan, Black history, Great Speeches, Heroes, Justice, Religion | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
January 2, 2008
I tell students to go to the source; if they read the original documents, that puts them ahead of 99% of the people who claim to know what they are doing, especially in history.
Do you know what is a “grave breach” under the Geneva Conventions? Below the fold, material from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), with links to more original document material. DBQ, anyone?
Read the rest of this entry »
Spread the word; friends don't allow friends to repeat history.
3 Comments | DBQ sources, Ethics, Government, International law, Iraq, Justice, Peace, Politics, War | Tagged: Geneva Conventions, Justice, Politics, torture | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
January 2, 2008
Some of us were still digesting the heart- and conscience-rending story of the Navy Judge Advocate General (JAG) who resigned rather than continue to work in an organization that unethically endorsed torture, when we also became aware of the Bush administration’s plan to politicize the justice operations of the U.S. military. (See Geneva Conventions, here.)
Jurist, a news organ from the University of Pittsburgh Law School, with the short version here (with a recounting of other political troubles in JAG); the Boston Globe has the longer version here.
It’s the sort of move one expects from Pakistan’s President Pervez Musharaf; it’s the sort of move one would expect President Hugo Chavez to try in Venezuela, before the college students and military shout him down. It’s a banana republic-style action. It’s a move beneath a U.S. politician. Or, it should be.
If Orrin Hatch and Arlen Specter were alive today, you can bet this proposal would be dead.
For high school history and government teachers, these are exciting times. Abuses of the Constitution and potential crises cross the headlines every day. Each of these stories tells students the importance of knowing government and where the levers of power are.
Jan Carlzon at SAS Airline used to say people armed with knowledge cannot help but act. We must be missing the boat — where is the action?
Tip of the old scrub brush to Ed Brayton at Dispatches from the Culture Wars.
Spread the word; friends don't allow friends to repeat history.
2 Comments | Government, Justice, Law, Politics, Presidents, U.S. Constitution | Tagged: Government, Justice, Politics, U.S. Constitution | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
December 31, 2007
A note today from the Legal Information Institute (LII) at Cornell University’s Law Library notes that a big death penalty case is set for argument on Monday, January 7.
The issue in Baze v. Rees is whether lethal injection is cruel and unusual punishment, and therefore prohibited under the 8th Amendment to the Constitution. Plaintiffs Thomas Baze and Thomas K. Bowling argue that there is an impermissible chance of pain from the execution process.
Two lower courts ruled against the plaintiffs. In a rather surprise move, the Supreme Court granted a writ of certiorari on September 25 to hear the case, which some interpret as the Court’s willingness to review the cruel and unusual argument in the light of a majority of the states now refusing to use the death penalty, while others think it means the more conservative Roberts Court is willing to quash death penalty appeals with a ruling that injection is not cruel and unusual.
This highlights the 8th Amendment. Discussion of this topic may help students cement their knowledge of the amendment and Bill of Rights. News on this case generally highlights court procedures, procedures, legal and constitutional principles that students in government classes need to understand.
News on the arguments in this case should go into teacher scrapbooks for later classroom exercises. Teachers may want to note that the decision will come down before the Court adjourns in June, but it may come down before the end of the school year. Teachers may want to have students review information about the case and make predictions, which predictions can be checked with the decision issues.
Below the fold I copy LII’s introduction to the case in their Oral Argument Previews, with the links to the full discussion, which you may use in your classes.
LII operates off of contributions. I usually give $10 or so when I think of it — these resources are provided free. You should be using at least $10 worth of stuff in your classrooms — look for the donation link, and feel free to use it in the support of excellent legal library materials provided free of cost to teachers and students.
Read the rest of this entry »
Spread the word; friends don't allow friends to repeat history.
7 Comments | Bill of Rights, History, Jurisprudence, Justice, Law, Lesson plans, Politics, U.S. Constitution, U.S. Supreme Court | Tagged: Bill of Rights, death penalty, History, Law, Politics, Supreme Court | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
October 4, 2007
Tom Coburn.
Is this man fit to bring water to a dying Rachel Carson? Then why do we tolerate his snide remarks and blocking of a bill to honor her memory? Why do we allow him to defend racist murderers by blocking the Emmett Till law?
100 holds? The man has some obsession syndrome. Can he see a doctor?*
Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, profile at left, working a crossword puzzle at the hearing on the nomination of John Roberts to be Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.
Perhaps Coburn could blame it all on his crossword addiction. Caught doing a crossword puzzle while presiding over the Senate, he came back to get caught doing a crossword at the nomination hearing for the Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, in 2005.
Tip of the old scrub brush to Leesburg Tomorrow. And thanks to Atrios for the Coburn photo.
* Yes, of course I know Coburn’s an M.D. That doesn’t make him immune to disorders, and especially it doesn’t mean he should eschew the advice of trained professionals and people who know. It’s time he stop stopping up the Senate.
Spread the word; friends don't allow friends to repeat history.
Leave a Comment » | Civil Rights, Justice, Rachel Carson, U.S. Senate | Tagged: Congress inaction, constipation, Rachel Carson, Sen. Tom Coburn | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
September 30, 2007
Trial simulations put students into the middle of tough topics in government, economics and history — or can do, depending on how well the simulations work. In the middle of the fight is a great place to learn.
Scholastic.com features a series of lesson plans suitable for government and civics. Looking for Constitution Day lesson plans I stumbled into a trial-by-jury simulation, with the mock trial script all prepared for you, for grades 5 through 8.
It looks to me to be a good way to study the jury system (see Amendments 6 and 7 of the Constitution). The lesson plans and materials were designed, and their dissemination supported by the American Board of Trial Advocates. Yes, that’s a group with a view; no, the bias doesn’t show up in the classroom materials, really.
Here’s a graphic on amending the Constitution, from the same site. This could be reproduced for student journals, printed for small posters, or, check with your high school drafting classes to see whether they won’t print this out for you in a poster size, in color. Scholastic.com features nine graphic pages like that one.
Trial by jury provides the foundation for some of our greatest drama: On television with Perry Mason, Matlock, Law & Order, Boston Legal, or L.A. Law; on the stage with Inherit the Wind and Ayn Rand’s The Night of January 16th; in opera with Gilbert and Sullivan’s Trial by Jury (okay, in operetta). This is the sort of thing students enjoy, and probably will remember.
How and why to show up for jury duty is one of the most important understandings our students can take away.
Spread the word; friends don't allow friends to repeat history.
Leave a Comment » | 6th Amendment, 7th Amendment, Bill of Rights, Government, Jurisprudence, Justice, Law, Lesson plans, U.S. Constitution | Tagged: 6th Amendment, Bill of Rights, Constitution, Lesson plans, Trial by jury | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
September 7, 2007
Jack Goldsmith. This book, when you read it, will explain why he is a hero. Goldsmith is the guy who pulled back the memorandum from the U.S. Justice Department that authorized illegal torture.
There is hope for America so long as good men will do the right thing, quietly, out of the spotlight, and then move on without seeking credit. Watch Moyers’ interview with Goldsmith.
It’s revealing that his pictorial muse, guardian, taunter and inspiration was Elliot Richardson.
Spread the word; friends don't allow friends to repeat history.
Leave a Comment » | Government, Heroes, International law, Iraq, Justice, Law, Patriotism, War on Terrorism | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
September 5, 2007
Anti-science and anti-evolution groups’ desperation erupts in odd ways. When scientists get together and discussion turns to the political movement known as intelligent design (ID), they express frustration at the sheer volume of supercilious ideas and claims that surge out of ID advocates. At its heart, this frustration has an almost-humorous puzzle: Scientists cannot tell what is a real claim from ID advocates, or what is a parody of those claims.
Neither can anyone else.
I stumbled into a mackerel-in-the-moonlight* example to show the problem: Jonathan Wells, a minister in the Unification Church of Rev. Sun Myung Moon, wrote a slap-dash screed against evolution published by right-wing cudgel publishing house Regnery, called The Politically Incorrect Guide to Darwinism and Intelligent Design.
Amazon.com invites authors to set up blogs, and Jonathan Wells has one. The only post there is reproduced in full below the fold — a list of . . . um, well . . . a top ten list of something (Wells just calls it a “top ten list”). It consists of amazing flights of fancy surrounding the issue of teaching science in public schools. I promise, I am not making any of this up — when I quote Wells, it will be his words entirely, completely, in context, uncut and unedited. If I didn’t tell you this was not parody, and if you have half your wits, you’d think either I was making it up, or somebody at Amazon was.
Point by point criticism, in brief, below the fold. I promise, I am not making this up.
__________________________________
* John Randolph is reputed to have said of Henry Clay: “Like a rotten mackerel by moonlight, he shines and stinks.” Read the rest of this entry »
Spread the word; friends don't allow friends to repeat history.
2 Comments | Biology, Bogus history, Charles Darwin, Creationism, Hoaxes, Intelligent Design, Justice, Natural history, Religion, Voodoo history, Voodoo science | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Millard Fillmore's Bathtub 