Not many legs have finger bones or thumbs.
Posted on 12/26/2005 8:37:06 AM PST by PatrickHenry
Questioned about the national debate over ''intelligent design,'' [Florida] Gov. Jeb Bush last week said he's more interested in seeing some evolution of the science standards that Florida public school students must meet.
He wants those standards to become more rigorous -- and raising the standards should take priority over discussing whether intelligent design has a place in the public schools' curriculum, he said.
Nationally, the discussion over whether to teach intelligent design -- a concept that says life is too complex to have occurred without the involvement of a higher force -- in public school classes heated up after U.S. District Judge John E. Jones ruled that it smacked of creationism and was a violation of church and state separation. (President Bush appointed Jones to the federal bench in 2004.)
Jones, in his decision, wrote that the concept of intelligent design ''cannot uncouple itself from its creationist, and thus religious, antecedents,'' according to a Knight Ridder News Service report published Wednesday in The Miami Herald. [PH here: For a more reliable source than the Herald, here's the judge's opinion (big pdf file).]
In Florida, education officials and science teachers will be reviewing the state's science curriculum in 2007 or 2008, after the governor has left office, and ''it is possible that people would make an effort to include [intelligent design] in the debate,'' Gov. Bush told The Watchdog Report on Wednesday. ''My personal belief is we ought to look at whether our standards are high first,'' he said.
SCIENCE FIRST
``The more important point is science itself and how important it is, and we right now have adequate standards that may need to be raised. But worse: Students are not given the course work necessary to do well with those standards.''
Bush, after meeting with Coral Gables Mayor Don Slesnick and city commissioners concerning the community's widespread power outages after hurricanes Katrina and Wilma, also noted that the federal ruling came in a case that involves Pennsylvania's Dover Area School District.
''It is one school district in Pennsylvania,'' he said.
POINT OF VIEW
The Watchdog Report asked a follow-up question: Does the governor believe in Darwin's theory of evolution?
Bush said: ``Yeah, but I don't think it should actually be part of the curriculum, to be honest with you. And people have different points of view and they can be discussed at school, but it does not need to be in the curriculum.''
You're new here, I see. Free Republic is a place where many things are discussed. There's often disagreement about some issues.
However, factual information is the currency here. Your statement that mutations equal birth defects is far from factual.
It's always a good idea to do a little research before posting. It will help you be taken for a serious debater.
Except that the bible does not classify bats as being four-legged flying things. It classifies them as being birds.
Since flying squirrels aren't specifically mentioned in the bible, those might qualify as four-legged flying things.
Patrick, I was just looking at your profile. You provide all kinds of information and links about evolution but you don't have any information about your background. What is your educational background in the fields of biology, biochemistry, and genetics?
"Except that the bible does not classify bats as being four-legged flying things. It classifies them as being birds.
Since flying squirrels aren't specifically mentioned in the bible, those might qualify as four-legged flying things."
You're right. Bats are birds. Sorry. Flying squirrels could be the answer, but I don't know if there any in that part of the world. Pretty good eating, though, as I understand it. Taste just like squirrel.
Dobzhansky
"Most of them are caused by radioactive bug bites."
Ok...now I'm confused. Is it the bugs or the bite that's radioactive? Maybe it's just the bug juice they put in the bite that's radioactive.
I remember when I was a kid that it was a well known fact that grasshopper juice was seriously poisonous. You didn't dare get it on you when you held the hopper.
Maybe that's where all the mutational birth defects come from...kids who don't hold their grasshopper properly. Man! This is a breakthrough! Kill all grasshoppers while we're still human. Stop mutations!
2. Is it complex? If No, then it is produced by chance. If Yes, go to 3.
3. Is it specified? If No, then it is produced by chance. If Yes, go to 4.
4. It is designed.
This is called testing a theory? Taking 3 nebulous characteristics and drawing a premature conclusion from their supposed presence?
I guess what you show is indeed an accurate portrayal of the scientific validity of intelligent design.
LOL! I'd forgotten about the dreaded grasshopper juice!
It's strange that these two groups are actually so alike.
Hope you had a Merry Christmas!!!
...and, no, endlessly arguing about evolution is pointless.
Someone else once pointed out the futility of doing such things......"Straining at gnats and swallowing camels"...or something like that.
redrock
"the alter of "Evolution"......"
OH! I like that. The alter of Evolution. Sounds like a good book title. Read closely, redrock.
Oh, I thought you meant Americans ate them. I wouldn't think so.
redrock
ID is just a silly waste of time. The real threat is not from the evolution crowd, but from the socialists who teach our children Marxist propaganda and homoeroticism masked as humanities.
Not many legs have finger bones or thumbs.
I don't think that America has fruit bats. Do we? I think that all we have are the bug-eating variety.
I do know that we have a lot of left wing moonbats though. Somehow I don't think that they'd be very good eating. The flesh is probably hallucinogenic.
Never trust a smiling bat.
Yeah, that was kinda scary.
Well, they do have those commercials about happy cows coming from California. Maybe this is a happy California bat.
If you use your hands to mask off the wings he looks like a very happy bear.
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