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Darwinners And Darlosers: Stupidity Is 1 Thing That Just Keeps Evolving
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Published: May 11, 2008
It would seem there were plenty of readers who had the same reaction I experienced to discovering an academic expert on genetics and human evolution had been disinvited to speak by Pinellas County officials on, of alllllllll dates, Charles Darwin Day.
University of South Florida anthropology Professor Lorena Madrigal had been invited to speak before a gathering of the Friends of Brooker Creek Preserve when her remarks were canceled by Pinellas County environmental services officials because they feared that a speech about evolution on the birthday of the founder of evolution might be deemed too controversial.
There's a phrase for this, but this is a family newspaper, so "Huh?" will have to do.
"Well thank you Pinellas County for proving to the world that Hillsborough and state Sen. Ronda Storms an evolution opponent haven't cornered the market on ignorance," wrote MikeF.
It was also probably not a good idea for bobblink to ask cheekily: "I've been looking on the Internet and maybe you can help me, but I cannot find a museum or anywhere else that there is a place I can go to see evidence of evolution or evidence humans have evolved."
Ooooops. This is apparently the problem when you have all the research skills of a bag of anvils.
Almost immediately bobblink was responded to by readers citing numerous Web sites and locales dedicated to the study of human evolution, including the University of California at Berkeley, the Hall of Human Origins at the American Museum of Natural History in New York and the University of Pennsylvania. Glad to help out.
Department Of Homeland Insecurity
And we'll let Gary Jones, who wrote an e-mail, have the last word on the freedom of speech flap.
"What's all this crap about free speech," Jones, getting right to the point, asked. "I thought Bush put an end to all of that with his Department of Homeland Security. I mean the warmonger, not the former banana-republic type governor. Nor do I refer to their one-term father, who was Reagan's sidekick. And by banana republic, I don't mean the clothing store chain."
Thanks for clearing up any confusion, Gary.
Cattle Calls And Derailed Deals
Bull testicles still seem to be on some of your minds, which would suggest to me, at least, I'd rather not have dinner at your house.
Responding to the effort this past session by the Florida Legislature to ban faux bull testicles from the rear bumpers of the state's "Deliverance" crowd, Vulcanized wrote: "We should take the fake testicles and give them to our politicians in Tallahassee.
"Tell them to glue them on and maybe they'll be able to differentiate between something that needs attention, or is just a waste of time."
The suggestion is welcomed, but I'm having difficulty with the imagery.
Speaking of the lotion boys in the Legislature, some readers are still smarting over the failed effort to fork over nearly $700 million in taxpayer money to the CSX choo-choo company in a secret deal to buy 61 miles of rail line.
The out-of-the-sunshine deal was hatched during the Jeb Bush junta years, which prompted donm to muse: "Jeb, FDOT Florida Department of Transportation and CSX knew this deal smelled like a dead mullet, which is why it was hatched in secret meetings.
"Which is also why the funding was attached to a transportation bill without mentioning CSX," donm wrote, adding, "The costs and liabilities put on the taxpayers were too great in this time of economic troubles. Heck they would be too great in times of a healthy economy."
To be sure, the CSX deal died this session. But that hasn't stopped the company from wishing.
In a letter last week to Gov. Charlie Crist and other political hotsy-tots, CSX President Michael Ward wrote: "CSX remains agreeable to working with State, Federal and local officials to provide a cost effective solution to commuter rail in Orlando."
Translation: We could still be toast next legislative session.
Does anyone have a mirror, some garlic and a wooden stake?
Keyword: Book of Ruth,
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Reader Comments
Posted by ( Clyde ) on May 11, 2008 at 12:20 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
Dan, we're missing a huge opportunity here to fix the state budget. Why don't we arrange to put these folks on a pay-for-view channel. With the number of native free-range yahoos available to entertain the rest of the country we'd be in clover in no time. Imagine the really nice prisons we could build with some real money.
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