The Sternberg/Discovery Institute/Intelligent Design hoax on the Smithsonian

February 17, 2007

The hoax is that Richard von Sternberg is an innocent who is unfairly maligned, to the point he fears for his job as Jack Cashill writes at right-wing fluff WorldNet Daily. Ed Brayton is at his best (“WorldNut Daily Flogs Dead Sternberg Horse), and there’s very little I could add — but it’s a good read, and important to know in the world of hoax-busting and pseudo-science bashing.

Read the full Brayton piece at Dispatches from the Culture Wars.

Sidenote 1: Sternberg as Galileo? Dembski as Newton? IDists are nothing if not full of themselves, and hubris.

Sidenote 2: A very funny novel by Robert Klane carries the title, The Horse is Dead. For some unfathomable reason, it is out of print. I have not found a copy in the past year for less than $150 (which suggests the TrashFiction site’s opinion of the book may be incorrect). Couldn’t some enterprising publisher bring it back, to more fully, and fictionally, fill in the details for what “beating a dead horse” means?

Leave a Comment » | Accuracy, Creationism, Ethics, Hoaxes, Intelligent Design, Science, Voodoo science | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

Text of the “Fixed Earth” memorandum

February 16, 2007

Fixed Earth? I didn’t know it was broken.

Steve Schafersman, the dogged scientist at the root of Texas Citizens for Science (TCS), snagged a copy of the “evolution is religion” memorandum from Texas Rep. Warren Chisum, R-Pampa, and posted it to the TCS website.  Also available from the Houston Chronicle’s SciGuy blog (transmission memorandum, the offending memorandum).

Holy mother of pearl! Voodoo science — you couldn’t make this stuff up.

4 Comments | Charles Darwin, Creationism, Darwin, Education, Ethics, Evolution, Politics, Religious Freedom, Science, Science and faith, Texas Freedom Network, Voodoo science | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

Greater lunacy: Georgia legislator denies writing or sending creationism support letter

February 15, 2007

First they deny science, then all of reality, then they deny that they denied. Or something like that.

Georgia State Rep. Ben Bridges denies having written or sent the memorandum that was circulated in his name to Texas state legislators earlier this week. The Atlanta Constitution provides the incredible details in this morning’s edition:

“I did not put it out nor did I know it was going out,” Bridges said. “I’m not defending it or taking up for it.”

The memo directs supporters to call Marshall Hall, president of the Fair Education Foundation Inc., a Cornelia, Ga.-based organization that seeks to show evolution is a myth. Hall said he showed Bridges the text of the memo and got his permission to distribute it.

“I gave him a copy of it months ago,” said Hall, a retired high school teacher. “I had already written this up as an idea to present to him so he could see what it was and what we were thinking.”

Hall said his wife Bonnie has served as Bridges’ campaign manager since 1996.

Bridges acknowledged that he talked to Hall about filing legislation this year that would end the teaching of evolution in Georgia’s public schools. Bridges said the views in the memo belong to Hall, though Bridges said he doesn’t necessarily disagree with them.

It’s getting so creationists no only can’t do science straight, can’t do religion straight — they can’t even tell whoppers straight. Read the rest of this entry »

1 Comment | Accuracy, Charles Darwin, Creationism, Darwin, Education, Evolution, Freedom - Political, Hoaxes, Public education, Religious Freedom, Science, Voodoo science | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

Texas legislator apologizes for creationism letter, but . . .

February 15, 2007

Texas State Rep. Warren Chisum said he’s sorry if anyone took offense over his circulating a letter from a Georgia legislator, Ben Bridges, railing at science, and promoting creationism.  He’s right to apologize, but the apology stops short of where it needs to go.

This morning’s Dallas Morning News followed up on yesterday’s report of the letter (see preceding post).  The letter referred to a bizarre website that argues that the Earth is fixed in space, and other crazy things, including offensive material about Jewish kabals.  The Anti-Defamation League complained.

The stuff that causes conflicts between religious beliefs, you know, I’d never be a party to that,” Mr. Chisum said. “I’m willing to apologize if I’ve offended anyone.”

Mr. Chisum’s comments came after he learned that the Anti-Defamation League, which works against anti-Semitism and other forms of hate, was demanding “a repudiation and apology” in a letter to his office. He said he hadn’t seen the letter late Wednesday.

The wild rants against science, knowledge, civilization and bizarre twisting of Christianity?  He doesn’t apologize for that stuff.

One might think that Chisum believes stupid and mean is fine, so long as a powerful lobby group does not complain.

The greater danger in the letter is the appeal to ignorance and crank science.  Chisum needs to do a lot more apologizing, starting with several million Texas students, and tens of thousands of science teachers.

As if to answer some of Chisum’s religious questions, there is no comment from Molly Ivins.  Whoever names the successor to Molly needs to do it fast.  The Texas Lege is running wild.

2 Comments | Accuracy, Charles Darwin, Creationism, Darwin, Education, Ethics, Evolution, Intelligent Design, Public education, Texas Lege, Voodoo science | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

Georgia legislator tries end run around evolution — in Texas legislature

February 14, 2007

Be sure to see update here, next post.  Worse, even more, here.

Don’t you just love the Texas lege?

And could you make this stuff up if you were writing a novel? Nobody would believe it.

Warren Chisum is a good ol’ boy from Pampa, Texas, and the second most powerful man in the Texas House of Representatives. So when his friend, Georgia State Rep. Ben Bridges, asked him to — well, what was it he asked? — Chisum agreed to circulate a petition that calls evolution a plot of the Pharisees, Albert Einstein and Carl Sagan members of a Kabbalistic plot, and Big Bang ancient religion.

The Associated Press report in this morning’s Dallas Morning News (free subscription required eventually):

The memo assails what it calls “the evolution monopoly in the schools.”

Mr. Bridges’ memo claims that teaching evolution amounts to indoctrinating students in an ancient Jewish sect’s beliefs.

“Indisputable evidence – long hidden but now available to everyone – demonstrates conclusively that so-called ‘secular evolution science’ is the Big Bang, 15-billion-year, alternate ‘creation scenario’ of the Pharisee Religion,” writes Mr. Bridges, a Republican from Cleveland, Ga. He has argued against teaching of evolution in Georgia schools for several years. Read the rest of this entry »

5 Comments | Accuracy, Charles Darwin, Creationism, Education, Evolution, Intelligent Design, Science, Science and faith, State school boards, TEKS, Texas Lege, Textbook Selection, Voodoo science | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

Intelligent design – a pig that doesn’t fly

October 9, 2006

We’re talking past each other now over at Right Reason[*], on a thread that started out lamenting Baylor’s initial decision to deny Dr. Francis Beckwith tenure last year, but quickly changed once news got out that Beckwith’s appeal of the decision was successful.

I noted that Beckwith’s getting tenure denies ID advocates of an argument that Beckwith is being persecuted for his ID views (wholly apart from the fact that there is zero indication his views on this issue had anything to do with his tenure discussions). Of course, I was wrong there — ID advocates have since continued to claim persecution where none exists. Never let the facts get in the way of a creationism rant, is the first rule of creationism.

Steve Sack cartoon in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune

Steve Sack cartoon in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune

Discussion has since turned to the legality of teaching intelligent design in a public school science class. This is well settled law — it’s not legal, not so long as there remains no undisproven science to back ID or any other form of creationism.

Read the rest of this entry »

10 Comments | Accuracy, Charles Darwin, Creationism, denialism, Evolution, Intelligent Design, Junk science, Law, Voodoo history, Voodoo science | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

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