Posted on 12/12/2006 8:52:13 AM PST by editor-surveyor
© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com
A historic judicial ruling against intelligent design theory hailed as a "broad, stinging rebuke" and a "masterpiece of wit, scholarship and clear thinking" actually was "cut and pasted" from a brief by ACLU lawyers and includes many of their provable errors, contends the Seattle-based Discovery Institute.
One year ago, U.S. District Judge John E. Jones' 139-page ruling in Kitzmiller v. Dover declared unconstitutional a school board policy that required students of a ninth-grade biology class in the Dover Area School District to hear a one-minute statement that said evolution is a theory and intelligent design "is an explanation of the origin of life that differs from Darwin's view."
University of Chicago geophysicist Raymond Pierrehumbert called Jones' ruling a "masterpiece of wit, scholarship and clear thinking" while lawyer Ed Darrell said the judge "wrote a masterful decision, a model for law students on how to decide a case based on the evidence presented." Time magazine said the ruling made Jones one of "the world's most influential people" in the category of "scientists and thinkers."
But an analysis by the Discovery Institute, the leading promoter of intelligent design, concludes about 90.9 percent – 5,458 words of his 6,004-word section on intelligent design as science – was taken virtually verbatim from the ACLU's proposed "Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law" submitted to Jones nearly a month before his ruling.
"Judge Jones's decision wasn't a masterpiece of scholarship. It was a masterpiece of cut-and-paste," said the Discovery Institute's John West in a phone conference with reporters yesterday.
West is vice president for public policy and legal affairs for the group's Center for Science and Culture, which issued a statement saying, "The finding that most of Judge Jones' analysis of intelligent design was apparently not the product of his own original deliberative activity seriously undercuts the credibility of Judge Jones' examination of the scientific validity of intelligent design."
(Excerpt)
Not really. That sticker is typical of the lying manipulations of all creationists. This Discovery Institute arguement about plagarizing plantiff legal briefs is another example. The DI is putting out propaganda red meat for their supporters who know nothing of standard operating procedures in the legal system. It's pure manipulation and you, as well as several others here, have fallen for it.
A fact told without its context can be spun into essentially being a lie. Imagine this headline a while back:
Roosevelt is a Murderer!That is all technically true, but it constitutes a huge lie unless one knows the context.Today, a large group of armed Americans were directed by President Roosevelt to cross into the sovereign nation of Germany and kill thousands of German citizens. One of the leaders of his group was even caught saying he personally wanted to kill the democratically elected head of the German government.
As is typical, the creationists were the ones caught lying under oath. The lies were refuted and a good legal opinion was had. As I said to RW, you have been suckered in by Discovery Institute spin. Another example of creationsist manipulations. The way of writing of this opinion is no different that what happens in all the courtrooms across this nation. With actions like this, how can anyone who is a creationsist ever have credibility?
Please show where this happened.
"You may choose which it is, based on how charitable you're feeling today."
False dichotomy but I guess we know how charitable you feel today. ;-)
Highball is right. This is a Jones is a conservative judge. You only believe otherwise because he ruled on the merits of a case in a way you disagree.
You can't run from that.
Well, Roosevelt may have been a murderer, but the text that followed didn't say that. DI didn't claim anything that they didn't prove.
You guys are just upset because the truth is being more widely disseminated than previously and that obviously must be the result of evil creationists.
"However, pretending that this is somehow unusual or unexpected is either gross ignorance of the law or an outright lie."
Please show where this happened.
Sigh. I really wish you'd read the article before posting.
"Judge Jones's decision wasn't a masterpiece of scholarship. It was a masterpiece of cut-and-paste," said the Discovery Institute's John West in a phone conference with reporters yesterday.
West is vice president for public policy and legal affairs for the group's Center for Science and Culture, which issued a statement saying, "The finding that most of Judge Jones' analysis of intelligent design was apparently not the product of his own original deliberative activity seriously undercuts the credibility of Judge Jones' examination of the scientific validity of intelligent design."
What Judge Jones did was standard legal practice, and West ought to know that. If Jones had ruled for the Dover school board, then the opinion would have been constructed out of the Dover lawyers' arguments.
DI is now claiming that there is something suspect in the judgment. That is a claim that they did not prove.
Like creating the Sun, Moon and stars after having created the plants and fruit trees?
Sigh. West never said that it wasn't.
He said that it (cut-past w/ errors) seriously undercuts the credibility of Jones' examination of the scientific validity of the intelligent-design argument and it does. If Jones couldn't recognize scientific error, how does that support his ability to make a judgement in that area?
I really wish you'd stop projecting your own personality onto others when posting.
A foolish statement from someeone known for foolish statements; I'm dazzled!
Get back to your garbage truck before it gets ripe.
Yes they did.
They showed that Judge Jones' posting of scientific error makes it apparent he was unqualified to understand the arguments.
Well, that's not what they claimed but I understand why you need to present it in that manner.
God bless Judge Jones and his sound decision to keep U.S. science education on solid footing!
God bless the Discovery Institute for their tireless efforts to publish the truth about the inability of the judicial 'process' to recognize what science is and what it is not.
In the law, if you direct someone to commit a murder, then you are yourself guilty of murder (also look up "felony murder doctrine" for how one can be a murderer without himself killing anyone). What I wrote in the paragraph text was exactly factual and would lead a reasonable person to conclude the headline was true, but it is in effect a huge lie that completely distorts what really happened. You could do the same with Bush and Iraq.
DI didn't claim anything that they didn't prove.
Completely out of context, as in my earlier example. The DI is lying by removing context and relying on the ignorance of its supporters not to catch it -- or even reject it when the proper context is shown, as is apparent here.
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