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One last thing, genius. Any time you want to put your scientific skills and bona fides up against my nameless relative, say the word.
We'll put up a thousand bucks each, and we'll compare notes...the winner choses the charity that gets the dough.
Let's see...mine has state and national awards and recognition, served in the Reagan administration (actually I think it might have been Nixon, come to think of it) and retired a wealthy man on his strength as a scientist.
And you?
ANYTIME, BIG SHOT. Just write the check.

I'm a little confused here. What exactly is it that you're challenging Thatcherite to? Is this a debate on the merits of ID between Thatcherite and your really smart uncle, or is it a numeric comparison of your really smart uncle's awards & diplomas against Thatcherite's, or... what?

I want in on this too; I also have a nameless uncle who has many outstanding awards in science. He has 3 Ph D's and even worked at NASA (he invented the space shuttle). He served under BOTH Nixon and Reagan. He won the Nobel Prize 2 times and would have won it a third if the committee hadn't figured out all his aliases. My uncle became independently wealthy at the age of 15, the year he graduated head of his class(s) from both Harvard AND Cambridge. I think he can handle the other various nameless uncles and fairy godparents we have assembled here. We can have a general first round to eliminate the stragglers and then weed the field down to an all or nothing elimination round. So, is it a go?

Actually, Jenny, the uncle issue is a little less gray than the ID issue and WAY more annoying, so I thought I would start there.

In the meantime I've been becoming more educated on the ID/Neo-Darwinism debate, and while it is mildly interesting, I continually get both bored and overwhelmed, because it would be great to find a magic bullet that would put one theory above the other. I participated in a debate on another forum which I enjoyed, and I've been trading emails with a lot of intelligent people who make compelling arguments.

It is blatantly obvious that there is an amazing degree of scientific elitism on the evolution side of this issue. There is way more here on FR than anywhere else, and while I asked for, received and discussed facts and refutations, I have no interest in posting them here. It was definitely interesting and educational, but it would be wasted here.

So ID/evolution goes on the same trash heap with fiscal responsibility, CFR, Federalism and all the other stuff that I get tired of discussing on this board.