Posted on 05/25/2006 7:02:37 PM PDT by Hoodat
The federal appeals court in Atlanta on Thursday declined to rule on the constitutionality of controversial Cobb County evolution disclaimers because the court said it did not have enough information to make the decision.
The ruling was the latest twist in a nationally watched case that has raised questions of local authority over schools and whether Cobb's sticker -- which called evolution "a theory, not a fact" -- runs afoul of the First Amendment.
The ruling means more arguments from lawyers and, perhaps, a new trial.
-snip-
The 11th Circuit noted that all parties in the case agree that some evidence presented to Cooper during a four-day trial is now missing. "The problems presented by a record containing significant evidentiary gaps are compounded because at least some key findings of the district court are not supported by the evidence that is contained in the record," Judge Ed Carnes wrote.
(Excerpt) Read more at ajc.com ...
I'm actually not all that sure that evolution has taken place in Savannah, Georgia.
And these are the guys who are making decisions for us in our best interest because they know better than the rest of us? No thanks.
Thanks. I'll check it out tomorrow,...er... later today.
Then why haven't the rest of the animals lost their fur?
Actually, America rose to prominence in the world of science before the Supreme Court imposed the Lemon Test. The idea that we'll fall behind the Chinese, Indians, etc., because of failure to teach evolution as fact, as opposed to theory, seems rather silly.
The Chinese & Indians may be laughing at our educational system, but it's because our system is obsessed with egalitarianism, political correctness, diversity, and other such nonsense, which is mostly brought to us by the same people (ACLU, People for the American Way) who went to court to get those stickers thrown out.
There's a politically incorrect saying among academics in science these days that's whispered at symposiums and alike. It is: American universities exist to transfer scientific knowledge from old Jewish men to young Asians.
At present time we're tearing every level of our educational institutions apart with meaningless debate. This ranges from calls to eliminate public education and/or starve it of funds to idiocy like the sticker controversy and teaching kids about gay guys.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the globe, there are just a whole lot of people who aren't distracted. Americans take their scientific supremacy for granted, just like their took their car manufacturing supremacy for granted.
Science will march on, with or without America in the lead.
You stated that 99% of biologists think the theory of evolution is correct. I'm willing to accept your word on that. But how many of those biologists believe evolution is God's method of creation? That is, how many believe in theistic evolution (evolution guided by God) as opposed to purely naturalistic evolution (evolution which God has nothing whatsoever to do with)? Do you know of any surveys of biologists which show those numbers?
Nixon visited China in 1972. 34 years later they are our third largest creditor and we're running a massive trade surplus. These guys aren't fooling around and they know exactly where the future is to be found...
I don't see any problem at all with that sticker. Constitutionally it's absurd to find any problem with it. Scientifically, do you really think anyone's GPA or SAT score will suffer any loss because of that sticker?
America rose to world prominence in science BEFORE we had all these ludicrous federal court rulings secularizing the public schools, or ordering schools to teach evolution as a fact while barring alternatives from being discussed.
Our educational system is collapsing largely because of the activities of the very people who want those stickers removed. Teacher's unions, federal judges, the ACLU, People for the American Way, and the whole liberal crowd.
Read between the lines of this press release issued by the chinese gubmint...
Govt to increase investment for scientific research(12/22/05)
China plans to increase the proportion of funds for scientific and technological research and development from 1.44 percent of its GDP in 2004 to 2.5 percent in2020, said a white paper released in Beijing on Dec.22.
"China must rely on itself to solve the problems in its development," and "it is an important principle that guarantees that China will follow the road of peaceful development," said the white paper, titled "China's Peaceful Development Road" and published by the Information Office of the State Council, China's cabinet.
In promoting scientific and technological progress and strengthening the ability of independent innovation, China has made medium and long-term plans, setting forth the objectives and tasks for the next 15 years, the white paper said.
Meanwhile, the paper said China will unswervingly push forward reform in all aspects, enhance marketization of its national economy and establish institutions and mechanisms conducive to an overall, coordinated and sustainable economic and social development.
China keeps up its driving force to maintain sustained economic development through its huge domestic demand and domestic market, which has "determined that China should, and most likely, rely mainly on domestic demand for its development," said the white paper.
As for strengthening the human resources, the paper said, from 2006 to 2010, the secondary vocational schools will train 25 million graduates, and the higher vocational schools, 11 million. The enrollment rate of China's institutions of higher learning will reach 40 percent by 2020.
"China is not only a big energy consuming country, but also a big energy producing one," said the paper. Since the 1990s, China has obtained 90 percent or more of its energy from domestic sources.
In its environmental protection efforts, China persists in putting precautionary measures first in its development, the papersaid.
teacher unions have been around for a long time. So has the ACLU.
The thing that's collapsing the schools is an unwillingness to pay for them for whatever reason.
China's indeed a threat to us, but not because their Communist government believes in evolution. Every Communist regime believes in evolution (yes, Stalin was an evolutionist, though he believed in a variant form of evolution that didn't rely on natural selection), but most of them go belly-up financially and lag behind scientifically. China's leadership is changing all that by dumping socialism for capitalism. That's why they're now a threat to us in the worlds of finance, business, science, and technology.
It has nothing at all to do with any desire in America to allow alternatives to evolution to be discussed in science class. In fact, the courts haven't allowed that to happen in decades (Dover being a recent reaffirmation of the Lemon policy) and it's been during those very decades that the Chinese have gained ground on us.
I'm not saying we lost ground to the Chinese because of the Lemon test. Just that dumping Lemon and allowing alternatives to evolution to be discussed wouldn't have any negative impact whatsoever on our scientific standing in the world.
Thanks!
How radical were teacher's unions fifty years ago? How much influence did the ACLU have on our public schools fifty years ago?
As much as some people around here might desire to blame our educational system's decline on "Bible-thumping fundies", it's hard to think of a single harmful thing they've ever done to our schools.
However, entire books could be written on the damage the left has done to our schools.
I apologize, I haven't made myself clear. Let me very clearly state my position on the stickers, fundies, liberals, etc.
I don't care. I really don't. Remember the scene in The Fugitive where Tommy Lee Jones says, "I don't care..."? That's me when it comes to this stuff.
What I do care about (passionately) is the U.S. losing its edge because of all this nonsense. This stuff drains time and diminishes the credibility of these institutions.
Some have, others haven't. Compare elephants with wooly mammoths. It depends on what's best in their niche.
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