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Science! Science? Hahahaha!!!
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Published: March 8, 2008
There are moments, especially whenever state Sen. Ronda Storms, the Tammy Faye Bakker of Tallahassee, starts flap-jawing, that I begin to think maybe this whole evolution thing is indeed suspect.
Geez, the Earth is estimated to be 4.5 billion years old and all we have to show for it are the likes of Ronda Storms, R-Paula White-Lite, a woman who would send even the hosts of "What Not To Wear" screaming into the night?
The Vicarette of Valrico got her hoop skirt in a wad this week introducing a bill, which might best be described as "The Denial of Reality Act."
Last month the state Board of Education, in a crazy, wacky, cuckoo kind of move, took the bold, unheard of step of acknowledging academic advancement when it voted to allow science teachers to actually teach science, including Darwin's science of evolution.
Wait! Was that the sound of the Board of Education turning into pillars of salt?
Science Experts
The board took its action after engaging in the rather unorthodox approach of consulting science teachers and other experts in the scientific community and asking their thoughts on the science of evolution. Imagine that.
Up next - gravity! Tides! And perhaps the ultimate scientific heresy - the sun rising in the east!
As you can imagine, the Board of Education voting to enter the 21st century didn't sit well with the Bible-thumper crowd and their Mother Superior, Ronda Storms, R-Archbishop of Amway.
This week the Tugboat Annie of End Times filed a bill, disingenuously titled the Academic Freedom Act, which would allow science teachers to ignore established science, such as evolution, and instead introduce contradictory information to students.
By this measure, a teacher, perhaps one who belongs to the Church of the Parallel Universe, could insist two plus two equals five, simply because his or her version of God says so.
Wizard In The Sky
In a gesture of faux sincerity rivaling a smiling Miss America runner-up, Storms insisted she was merely trying to encourage intellectual curiosity, not impose any religious belief or the teaching of creationism or its phony permutation - the Wizard In The Sky Intelligent Design.
Phooey - more or less.
More accurately, the propaganda masquerading as a piece of legislation being proposed by the Ma Kettle of Genesis would be more properly labeled the "Fundamentalist Tyranny Of The Classroom Act."
Of course Storms and her legislative Taliban are attempting to undermine the Board of Education's established science standards to finagle religious concepts like creationism and/or the Wizard In The Sky theology into the teaching of biology - of SCIENCE.
This is slouching to illiteracy. This is a state senator arguing - let's make our students less educated. Say, there's an economic development incentive for you: "Come To Florida - Where Our Youth Are Dumber Than A Sack Of Maybelline Eye Liners."
Dear Lord, forgive the Torquemada of Tallahassee for she knows exactly what she is doing. And she doesn't care.
Keyword: Book of Ruth, to read and comment on Daniel Ruth's blog.
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Reader Comments
Posted by ( thetrump ) on March 8, 2008 at 7:19 a.m. ( Suggest removal )
10/10.
Christian Taliban, I love it!
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Posted by ( tampaguy69 ) on March 8, 2008 at 12:04 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
Mr Ruth: When referring to this character please use "little r, little s". After all, she has a small, closed mind. Thanks.
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Posted by ( Shauna ) on March 8, 2008 at 12:47 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
Valrico, whatever it was that we did to you, we're sorry and we won't do it again.
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Posted by ( ukycat ) on March 8, 2008 at 2:59 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
Mr Ruth, you have gone too far. You may disagree with Ms Storms but this article isn't fit for the bottom of the bird cage. I understand satire, but the name calling shouldn't be in this paper. Without the name calling, the article would be much shorter. Make your point without showing your total dislike for Ms Storms. It made me sick.
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Posted by ( hiskeys ) on March 8, 2008 at 3:03 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
I certainly expect as much from Daniel Ruth, the Don Rickles of Tribunia (any coincidence they have the same initials?), who gets paid to take pot shots at just about every news event. However, the primarily ad hominem comments do little to advance understanding, especially when covering an issue so commonly misrepresented as origin of life.
Darwinian evolution may at first seem plausable, but upon closer examination, natural selection and mutation are not sufficient engines to drive the levels of change required. Neither do they explain the complexity and interaction uncovered by recent cellular biology.
And then there's that pesky "origin of life from non-living material" issue which Darwinists loath to deal with, not to mention the disappointing fossil record, trying to explain the origin of photosynthesis, metamorphosis, and the dizzying array of reproductive methods in both animal and plant life.
Yes, evolution has quite a long way to go to be a believable and dependable framework for origins.
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Posted by ( Shauna ) on March 8, 2008 at 4:01 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
You're right, hiskeys. The only plausible explanation is an old guy with a wand going "poof!" If your "closer examination" was undertaken with an open mind, I'd take it more seriously, but it's just the same old warmed-over ID chestnuts, this time with an intellectual patina. Exactly in line with the new Discovery Institute strategy. At least you haven't stooped so low as to deny the existence of transitional fossils. Many of your fellow travelers still do!
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Posted by ( Terrill ) on March 8, 2008 at 6:12 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
In his column about science, Daniel Ruth's expressed ire over Rhonda Storms' proposed "Academic Freedom Act" should be directed at his own unwillingness to learn. If he sought truth he would be enlightened, but it’s easier for Ruth to spew sarcastic hyperbole and poke fun at anything or anyone he disagrees with than to actually research the facts. Sarcasm is easy, but it’s time Ruth released his narrow-minded fear and got serious about science. His religious perspective or disdain for Storms does not matter. This issue is about science and the right to explore all scientific evidence regarding the origin of species so students are truly educated.
Of course, if he were reading this, Ruth’s mind would shut down faster than a strip club in Storms-town because the ‘Spinster of Sarcasm’ probably doesn’t have the ability to be objective or the willingness to learn something new.
Unfortunately, fear and ignorance leads people like the Tribune’s ‘Chief of Chimps’ to sell the public a bill of goods as he clings desperately to his ‘Book of Ruth’. Personally, I’d rather read from a book of Truth!
Even Darwin understood his theory was just a theory. Yet, here we are in 2008 listening to the ‘Peon of Punsters’ ruthlessly trying to convince us that a theory from 1859 should be taught as law without reviewing scientific evidence to the contrary. Isn’t it time our children were presented with modern-day science, or should we continue to believe the world is flat, too?
Don’t be fooled by pundits like the ‘Baby Ruth of Babble’ who would rather hide behind a cloak of sarcasm and fear than seek truth. This is not about religion; it’s about science! If you can handle the truth and wish to learn the facts about Darwin’s theory, Google “Unlocking the Mystery of Life” or “Icons of Evolution” or go to http://www.allaboutscience.org/darwins-theory-of-evolution-video.htm and let the scientific truth set you free. Winston Churchill said “The truth is incontrovertible, malice may attack it, ignorance may deride it, but in the end; there it is.”
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Posted by ( redboy1 ) on March 9, 2008 at 9:16 a.m. ( Suggest removal )
Have I been asleep the last 40 years or has something been discovered that changes "Darwin's Theory of Evolution" to the "SCIENCE" of evolution. We were taught that it was a theory...but still made a lot of sense...but it still a theory. In science, if I remember correctly, there is a big difference between a theory and law. Scientists ALWAYS begin with a THEORY until it can be proven to be a law or fact. Maybe I dozed off but I still cannot find any evidence that this Theory has become a Law. I'm an evangelical preacher and I have no problem with evolution and the Bible. Those that believe the earth was literally created in 6 days are woefully unlearned in Biblical Theology. But until such time as startling new evidence is discovered concerning Darwin's THEORY of evolution let's just call it like it is: A THEORY. It doesn't make it any less valid...it just isn't the final word on the subject.
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Posted by ( drdneast ) on March 9, 2008 at 11:37 a.m. ( Suggest removal )
I believe the equation should read Evangelical Christians=Taliban. If Rhonda Storms had been in charge of this country when the revolution took place, she would have burned our founding fathers because they were mostly Freemasons.
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Posted by ( JoeU ) on March 9, 2008 at 12:13 p.m.
(This comment was removed by the site staff.)
Posted by ( Shauna ) on March 9, 2008 at 2:20 p.m.
(This comment was removed by the site staff.)
Posted by ( abb3w ) on March 9, 2008 at 4:04 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
JoeU: the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics only applies to closed systems. Local increases in order are possible when the system is not closed, and there is an energy input from outside; EG: the sun.
Your statement of the "Law of Biogenesis" is sloppy. What was shown by Pasteur was simply the falsification of Spontaneous Generation, not Abiogenesis; that is, life in its present advanced forms (EG: maggots) does not spontaneously arise from non-living material under present conditions on the timescale observed-- EG, days or weeks. Pasteur's experiments say nothing about events on megayear timescales. Throwing eight orders of magnitude at an experiment often shifts the end result a bit.
Those interested in Abiogenesis may wish to look up "Minimal Self-Replicating Systems" (Robertson et alia, Chemical Society Review, 2000, 29, pp141-152) for some information on roughly where the present state-of-the-art is. Google Scholar can provide a link to where it may be downloaded as a PDF.
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Posted by ( abb3w ) on March 9, 2008 at 4:24 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
redboy1: Your science education is not quite up to present-day Standards-- specifically Florida Science Content Standards Benchmark SC.912.N.3.1: "Explain that a scientific theory is the culmination of many scientific investigations drawing together all the current evidence concerning a substantial range of phenomena; thus, a scientific theory represents the most powerful explanation scientists have to offer."
Those interested in seeing the science standards as accepted can find them online at...
http://www.fldoestem.org
/FLDOE_STEM/Review_FL_Science_Standards.aspx
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Posted by ( Tom_in_Tampa ) on March 9, 2008 at 7:38 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
Terrill
The web site allaboutscience.org is registered to:
All About God Ministries, Inc.
7150 Campus Drive, Ste. 320
Colorado Springs, CO 80920
From their About Us: We write compelling websites that reach out to skeptics, seekers, believers, and a hurting world with powerful evidence for God and the Good News of Jesus.
From Wikipedia:
All About God Ministries Inc. is a non-profit organization based in Colorado Springs, Colorado that produces and maintains evangelical websites. All About God Ministries has written approximately 14,000 pages of information and maintains 77 internet sites about creationism, science, the occult, other faiths, business practices, Jesus, prayer, religion, God, the Bible, popular issues, life challenges, and similar subjects.
All About God states that faiths such as Christian Science, Mormonism, Jehovah's Witnesses and others are cults. All About God subscribes to biblical literalism and biblical inerrancy. All About God Ministries is a proponent of Young Earth Creationism, believing that the earth is approximately six thousand years old. All About God ministries makes additional claims about science, including casting doubt over the certainty of Einstein's theory of relativity.
Need I say more?
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Posted by ( Tom_in_Tampa ) on March 9, 2008 at 8:24 p.m.
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Posted by ( JustDontLikeIt ) on March 9, 2008 at 9:07 p.m.
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Posted by ( abb3w ) on March 9, 2008 at 10:18 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
JustDontLikeIt: see my 4:24 PM post about "theory".
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Posted by ( BobCu ) on March 10, 2008 at 2:04 a.m. ( Suggest removal )
Daniel Ruth, that was excellent. Thank you.
The incredibly ugly and stupid Sen. Ronda Storms is nothing less than a traitor and she should be treated like a traitor. Ignorant subhumans like Storms who attack science education belong in prison.
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Posted by ( BobCu ) on March 10, 2008 at 2:08 a.m.
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Posted by ( BobCu ) on March 10, 2008 at 2:11 a.m. ( Suggest removal )
"All About God Ministries is a proponent of Young Earth Creationism, believing that the earth is approximately six thousand years old."
Lunatics. Totally insane.
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Posted by ( BobCu ) on March 10, 2008 at 2:21 a.m.
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Posted by ( freelunch ) on March 10, 2008 at 11:24 a.m. ( Suggest removal )
It is unfortunate that there are so many Americans who are so poorly educated in science that they don't understand what a scientific theory is or what evidence shows that evolution happened. I have no idea how many of them have chosen to be ignorant because some of their religious teachers and preachers taught them that it was important to remain ignorant and to believe doctrines that were contrary to actual evidence.
It certainly doesn't bother me that people believe things that are not supported by any evidence -- that is inherent in any religion. Sadly, there are people who teach religious doctrines that are demonstrably false. Young earth creationism is one such false teaching. The doctrine that evolution did not happen and that humans do not share a common ancestry with other organisms on earth is another. I would expect all honest Christians to stand up against such doctrines of ignorance and condemn those who tell lies to children about science.
Evolution happened and is happening. Those who deny it are bearing false witness. They, like the bad servant in the Parable of the Talents, have refused to use what was given to them.
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Posted by ( drdneast ) on March 11, 2008 at 5:38 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
I don't care what you believe in, but if it is based on religioous doctrine or belief, keep it out of the public school system and teach it in Sunday School were you can also teach that that "Jesus Is Magic."
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Posted by ( timk ) on March 21, 2008 at 2:13 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
Like some of the people who decry evolution here without benefit of any understanding of it (a theory from 1859 - jeez) Ronda Storms is an idiot. It just kills me that people like her get elected. Stop electing stupid people!
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Posted by ( david33511 ) on March 31, 2008 at 4:25 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
Mr. Ruth,
This following joke was made just for you....
The evolutionist/scientist dies, and to his surprise goes to heaven, where he encounters God. Even then, his stubborness excudes, and he informs God that God is no longer needed, as man can now make life as God did, from a handful of dirt. God replied, "Go ahead, show me." As the scientist reached down and obtained a handful of dirt, God stated, "Not so fast, get your own dirt".
You are obviously an intelligent man with a dispositon to the printed word, however your ability to "sell" yourself would be greatly enhanced with a shred less cynacism and sarcasim.
You are still mildly entertaining, as much as someone who is a legend in their own mind can be. You still bring a smile to my lips, the same way old reruns of the Smother Brothers do. Please do yourself a favor (no one has to know!), and purchase a copy of Mere Christianity, by C.S. Lewis. Be forwarned, though, if you indeed read the book cover to cover,..well, you have been warned.
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Posted by ( frungi40 ) on April 13, 2008 at 12:01 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
I just read another article about Storm and her Christian Republicans pushing for legislation to have our schools teach creation. I think it’s a good idea for it will teach the truth about the Christian teachings. Starting with Adam & Eve, the writings tell only about two sons, this would mean to produce the people of the world the sons would have had intercourse with their mother, and then their wives would have been their sisters, there fore we have sons having sex with their mother and the father having sex with his daughters and sons having sex with their sisters.
Now lets move on to Noah and the great flood, with only Noah and his family the survivors. This means that under Christian teachings we have a second time of family incest to create the people of today.
Add all of the above and maybe we have a reason for all of the sexual debauchery of sex scandals we hear about involving Christian prognosticators. This is indeed a good way to teach our students the truth about Religious Creation. Maybe after this style of teaching we can start teaching our students a deeper truth about evolution and science.
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