Posted on 01/03/2006 12:12:37 PM PST by PatrickHenry
Also today, Dover's board might revoke the controversial intelligent design decision.
Now that the issue of teaching "intelligent design" in Dover schools appears to be played out, the doings of the Dover Area School Board might hold little interest for the rest of the world.
But the people who happen to live in that district find them to be of great consequence. Or so board member James Cashman is finding in his final days of campaigning before Tuesday's special election, during which he will try to retain his seat on the board.
Even though the issue that put the Dover Area School District in the international spotlight is off the table, Cashman found that most of the people who are eligible to vote in the election still intend to vote. And it pleases him to see that they're interested enough in their community to do so, he said.
"People want some finality to this," Cashman said.
Cashman will be running against challenger Bryan Rehm, who originally appeared to have won on Nov. 8. But a judge subsequently ruled that a malfunctioning election machine in one location obliges the school district to do the election over in that particular voting precinct.
Only people who voted at the Friendship Community Church in Dover Township in November are eligible to vote there today.
Rehm didn't return phone calls for comment.
But Bernadette Reinking, the new school board president, said she did some campaigning with Rehm recently. The people who voted originally told her that they intend to do so again, she said. And they don't seem to be interested in talking about issues, she said. Reinking said it's because they already voted once, already know where the candidates stand and already have their minds made up.
Like Cashman, she said she was pleased to see how serious they are about civic participation.
Another event significant to the district is likely to take place today, Reinking said. Although she hadn't yet seen a copy of the school board meeting's agenda, she said that she and her fellow members might officially vote to remove the mention of intelligent design from the school district's science curriculum.
Intelligent design is the idea that life is too complex for random evolution and must have a creator. Supporters of the idea, such as the Discovery Institute in Seattle, insist that it's a legitimate scientific theory.
Opponents argue that it's a pseudo-science designed solely to get around a 1987 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that biblical creationism can't be taught in public schools.
In October 2004, the Dover Area School District became the first in the country to include intelligent design in science class. Board members voted to require ninth-grade biology students to hear a four-paragraph statement about intelligent design.
That decision led 11 district parents to file a lawsuit trying to get the mention of intelligent design removed from the science classroom. U.S. Middle District Court Judge John E. Jones III issued a ruling earlier this month siding with the plaintiffs. [Kitzmiller et al. v Dover Area School District et al..]
While the district was awaiting Jones' decision, the school board election took place at the beginning of November, pitting eight incumbents against a group of eight candidates opposed to the mention of intelligent design in science class.
At first, every challenger appeared to have won. But Cashman filed a complaint about a voting machine that tallied between 96 to 121 votes for all of the other candidates but registered only one vote for him.
If he does end up winning, Cashman said, he's looking forward to doing what he had in mind when he originally ran for school board - looking out for students. And though they might be of no interest to news consumers in other states and countries, Cashman said, the district has plenty of other issues to face besides intelligent design. Among them are scholastic scores and improving the curriculum for younger grades.
And though he would share the duties with former opponents, he said, he is certain they would be able to work together.
"I believe deep down inside, we all have the interest and goal to benefit the kids," he said.
Regardless of the turnout of today's election, Reinking said, new board members have their work cut out for them. It's unusual for a board to have so many new members starting at the same time, she said.
"We can get to all those things that school boards usually do," she said.
Well, it is kind of my job to know that stuff. I would be remiss if I didn't find it an easy read.
"Light of the World", "Lord of Heavenly Light" -- Mithras
"Bringer of light", "Lord of the Light", "The bread of life, the son of man, the Word" -- Horus
"the Light of the world", "the Lost Light" -- Krishna
"the Way, the Truth, the Life", "the Prince of Peace, the Good Shepherd", "the Light of the World" -- Buddha
Interesting indeed.
Care to take a guess which of these were born to a virgin, near the winter solstice, for the salvation of mankind?
And the worst estimate today is . . . because . . . .
humble hemorrhoid-free placemarker
All the court did in this case is to say that Pandas represents speech that can be censored. I am sincerely unclear on what grounds. It's not like the book's authors are soliciting perjury, or sanctioning the right to cry "Fire!" in a crowded building. Jeepers, nude dancing has "free speech" protections these days. Do you mean to say that a scholarly work does not, if an interest group rises up to protest it, and an interested, sympathetic judge is willing to accede to their demands against the interests of all other parties to the dispute? What kind of America does that make?
We are supposed to be a system organized under a rule of law, not a rule of men -- be they judges, or just a braying mob....
Personally, I think that "live and let live" -- toleration -- is the American way.
And who are these government officials? They are school board members, who presumably hold their offices so long as the electorate (that is, parents in this case) agree to their tenure. There is some confusion at the moment on that subject; but it'll all come out in the wash.
Are you suggesting that the rights of judges in America are superior to the the rights of free men, to the will of the people as expressed through the franchise? If so, please go take another look at the Preamble of the Constitution of the United States.
I can't stop laughing.
"And the worst estimate today is . . . because . . . ."
If you don't like science just say so. You want ID (creationism) to be science yet you have nothing for disdain for science.
BTW, the best estimate has not been close to 7 billion years for decades.
So do I, BB. Who doesn't? But that's not what the case was all about. Have you made a serious attempt to read the judge's opinion? Kitzmiller et al. v Dover Area School District et al..
Thanks.
Of course they did -- once they had sufficient reason to do so. Scientific progress was of great help in this regard.
There is no "Great Wall of China" between faith and reason.
In case everybody missed this webcast, they have posted archival copies. These are pointers to streaming video of Ken Miller's talk about ID and his experiences at the Dover trial.
The video is nearly two hours long. There are two links, one for Windows Media Player and one for Real Player. They process at 384k bps, so don't bother if you have dial-up.
Windows Media: mms://mv-helix1.cwru.edu/a/2006/biology/intelligent_design_384kbps_01_03_2006_1.wmv
Real Player: rtsp://mv-helix1.cwru.edu/a/2006/biology/intelligent_design_384kbps_01_03_2006_1.rm
You: Of course they did -- once they had sufficient reason to do so. Scientific progress was of great help in this regard.
Huh?! I think I'm not getting something here.
Try this: A Gentle Introduction to the Universal Algorithmic Agent AIXI. I found it after a similar discussion with tortoise a while back, and was able to get the general idea (at least I think so) without having the ideal prerequisites. Algorithmic information theory is a fascinating field.
The judge's opinion is just that -- an opinion. In the sense of the ancient Greek term, doxa, which must be contrasted with another Greek term, episteme. The latter refers to truthful knowledge. The former, to whatever the spirit of the age thinks "the truth" is.
Regarding the opinion itself, I think Judge Jones should have spent a little more time analyzing the constitutional requirements before rendering it.
But I gather he was just too busy imagining himself as the great presider over the Second Coming of the Scopes trial. FWIW.
Again, Patrick -- do you want a rule of law that is equal for all, or do you prefer a rule of men -- provided they think like you do?
For the benefit of the bandwidth-challenged, can you give us a Reader's Digest summary of the high points?
"Any judge will tell you that they welcome the opportunity to have important cases on their dockets," he said in an interview. "That's why they take these jobs."
Spoken like a true defender of science and proponent of Constitutional law.
Even better, the reference bibliographies in his papers are nearly ideal reading lists for the foundational mathematics, including some key topics that he does not write about. The idea of predictive error complexity actually comes from some seminal work by Feder, Merhav, and Gutman in the mid-90s.
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