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Nevada proposal raises evolution questions [constitutional amendment!]
Fort Worth Star-Telegram ^ | 28 February 2006 | BRENDAN RILEY

Posted on 02/28/2006 7:05:48 PM PST by PatrickHenry

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To: PatrickHenry
I'm delighted that this idiot is a democrat. Let's give that party some of the joy.

Let's hope the Dem doesn't attract some Reps to the party. Political competition can bring out some fence sitters.

21 posted on 02/28/2006 8:01:38 PM PST by narby (Evolution is the new "third rail" in American politics)
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To: PatrickHenry
Las Vegas masonry contractor Steve Brown

It appears the Las Vegas masonry contractor has a vested interest in keeping the next generation of Nevadians ignorant. The question is are there 83,184 all ready in Nevada stupid enough to go along with him. Even if the dozen or so anti-evo's infesting the FR forum all move to Nevada, I somehow doubt it.

22 posted on 02/28/2006 8:14:24 PM PST by shuckmaster (An oak tree is an acorns way of making more acorns)
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To: PatrickHenry

Gravity is a theory, too.


23 posted on 02/28/2006 8:23:33 PM PST by mysterio
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To: mysterio

I don't believe in gravity.

;-)


24 posted on 02/28/2006 8:28:34 PM PST by TitansAFC ("'C' is for 'cookie,' that's good enough for me" -- C. Monster)
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To: PatrickHenry
The plan says several "areas of disagreement" would have to be covered by teachers, including the view by some scientists that "it is mathematically impossible for the first cell to have evolved by itself."

The plan should also require that teachers cover "areas of disagreement" in the atomic theory of gases, including the view by some scientists that "it is mathematically impossible for a bumblebee to fly".

Oh, but wait, that theory doesn't run afoul of any witch doctor's superstition, so there's no need to intelligently redesign every state constitution to whinge about it.

25 posted on 02/28/2006 8:32:46 PM PST by Physicist
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To: Virginia-American
IMO this kind of stuff is over-specific for a statute, and he wants to put it in the constitution!

Well, to be fair, state constitutions tend to be a lot more specific than the federal constitution. The California constitution specifies how fruit and nut orchards are to be taxed (can't tax them until four years after they've been planted) and how overtime for mechanics and others on public works is governed (no work longer than eight hours "except in wartime or extraordinary emergencies that endanger life or property"). And so forth. By those lights, it's not an especially crazy provision, until you get to the part about it being completely wrongheaded, of course ;)

26 posted on 02/28/2006 9:33:00 PM PST by Senator Bedfellow
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To: Virginia-American
The D*m*cr*t party is a surprisingly big tent.

Hmmm... LaRouche's writings on the subject are so convoluted, I think only David Berlinski could understand them.

27 posted on 03/01/2006 12:06:27 AM PST by jennyp (WHAT I'M READING NOW: The Chicago Manual of Style, 14th ed.)
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To: PatrickHenry

good, it is about time that common sense ruled in this, the false religion of evolution should never be taught as fact.


28 posted on 03/01/2006 2:59:50 AM PST by RaceBannon ((Prov 28:1 KJV) The wicked flee when no man pursueth: but the righteous are bold as a lion.)
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To: Doctor Stochastic; PatrickHenry
Cpeak for the number four.

Is it still four?

Henry Morris passed on you know.

29 posted on 03/01/2006 3:22:33 AM PST by RadioAstronomer (Senior member of Darwin Central)
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To: Alter Kaker

Masonary Contractors!? What's next patent clerks? Gardening monks? Painters and sculptors? Oh, the humanity of it all!


30 posted on 03/01/2006 3:30:55 AM PST by bvw
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To: RadioAstronomer

A giant has fallen.


31 posted on 03/01/2006 3:59:34 AM PST by PatrickHenry (Virtual Ignore for trolls, lunatics, dotards, scolds, & incurable ignoramuses.)
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"Stays in Vegas" placemark


32 posted on 03/01/2006 4:47:19 AM PST by dread78645 (Intelligent Design. It causes people to misspeak)
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To: Coyoteman
What's based on your definitions? Only your assertions.

You set no terms. Maybe you want to, but terminology will have to be negotiated unless you have some means of enforcing your will.

33 posted on 03/01/2006 5:17:35 AM PST by Mamzelle
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To: Coyoteman
Thanks for posting this.

It always amases me how IDers and YEC always seem to close their minds to these definitions.

I think you should post these at the start of every thread dealing with this subject similar to the way Patrick H. posts his Ticket comments.

34 posted on 03/01/2006 5:29:52 AM PST by hawkaw
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To: hawkaw
Indeed, he should post them--every time an evo thead appears. You'll be amazed how quickly readers will learn to just glance by in impatience, "same ole spam" like the red-lined list of links.

There's effectiveness, for you.

35 posted on 03/01/2006 5:40:13 AM PST by Mamzelle
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To: Mamzelle
I disagree. Many in society do not have a clue what these definitions are all about and a lot are shocked to learn what law and theory mean in the science.

The more they are stated the better as more people will learn. Of course there are the IDers and YEC who have to close their minds at all costs to what science has to offer to hold onto their Book of Genesis beliefs.

36 posted on 03/01/2006 5:46:14 AM PST by hawkaw
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To: hawkaw
Establishing a definition for an abstraction is a worthwhile endeavor--but won't be achieved through rhetorical bludgeoning or spamlisting. There will always be competing defintions--words like "theory" both denote and connote many things.

If the list is an offering for discussion, wonderful. Is it? This list is not an authority, in other words. And attempts to insist upon its authority will be regularly challenged.

You know, all this "close-minded" stuff and "free enquiry" and all in the halls of science...I noticed that there was no squawking about the stunning thing that happened to the prez of Harvard these past few weeks, all for posing a non-pc question concerning women in the sciences and math.

Free enquiry met an irrational threat, and fell down dead.

But, since radical feminists are not the religious, not a squawk, squeak or fuss from the Keepers of the Holy Altar of Science who regularly inhabit the evo threads.

Makes you wonder if the agenda is pro-science, or just anti-religious.

37 posted on 03/01/2006 5:55:00 AM PST by Mamzelle
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To: All
The plan says several "areas of disagreement" would have to be covered by teachers, including the view by some scientists that "it is mathematically impossible for the first cell to have evolved by itself."

Students also would have to be told some scientists argue "that nowhere in the fossil record is there an indisputable skeleton of a transitional species, or a 'missing link,'" the proposal says.

Also, the proposal says students "must be informed that the origin of sex, or sex drive, is one of biology's mysteries".

To be fair, it is true that there have been some scientists (only very rarely those with any expertise in the specific field) who sadly have demonstrated misunderstandings of this sort about evolution. This is the entire reason a peer review system exists: to prevent discredited concepts like these from surfacing in journals (and subsequently, educational material).

If I was a science teacher in Nevada, and this ridiculous amendment passed, I would be glad to tell my students the honest truth within the bounds of the law (that a few scientists like these exist, but are wrong and that bad ideas like these are weeded out in the first steps of peer review), and then explain why the consensus of experts points to overwhelmingly evolutionary theory, and why people who say these things are wrong.

38 posted on 03/01/2006 6:20:47 AM PST by Quark2005 (Confidence follows from consilience.)
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To: Quark2005
re: but are wrong and that bad ideas like these are weeded out in the first steps of peer review)))

In CA, there is a hugely expensive upheaval over this very thing, only it concerns bogus claims about embryonic stem-cell research. The South Korean "scientist" has been shown to have fabricated the research which directly led to CA allocating Three BBBBillion Dollars to promote and "capitalize". Now the research has been debunked, but the allocation lives on. The taxpayers are being forced to sue to prevent the money being spent.

The stem-cell research that has since been debunked directly gained its prominence from Science Magazine, which was peer reviewed.

Maybe all the teachers in Nevada ought to say is "Science has a long history of overcoming its own errors, hopefully to our ultimate advantage." "Scientists are human beings, and profoundly fallible like all human beings." "Science Magazine's Peer Review System is Unreliable."

39 posted on 03/01/2006 6:28:03 AM PST by Mamzelle
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To: TitansAFC

"I don't believe in gravity."

Me neither, I believe in Intelligent Falling.

Once, I was distracted, not paying attention at the critical moment (should I go up? Or down?), and flew instead of falling.

/With credit to Dent Arthur Dent, my favorite hairless ape/


40 posted on 03/01/2006 7:01:04 AM PST by MeanWestTexan (Many at FR would respond to Christ "Darn right, I'll cast the first stone!")
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