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.
So, what is and is not science should be determined by same people who elected Bill Clinton twice and have made Survivor a top-rated show?
Gosh, thanks! Did you notice that I already wrote of current uses for leeches in medicine.
George Washington did not have a skin graft or a surgically-replaced extremity. The reason he was being bled by leeches had nothing to do with how they are being used (albeit rarely) today.
He was being treated by a doctor who BELIEVED that leeches would help him. The doctor had no reason to believe that, but he believed it ON FAITH. George Washington died from being leeched.
You probably believe in global warming, too.
"My eternal plans are none of your business. You may think yourself amusing making fun of people's beliefs. Too bad you don't have any."
LOL. I think we need some government research money to determine whether AIDS or pirates is the culprit. And yes, I'm aware that a certain type of 'pirate' has been known to contract AIDS.
Gravity is a theory.
That average temperatures have slightly increased in the last hundred years or so? Sure. That this all the fault of evil Republicans and will lead to an environmental catastrophe unless we renounce modern technology? Not so much.
"Durrrrrr . . . wonder what'll happen if we stick a leech on there." Speaking of leeches, did you hear about the judge who thought it was his constitutional duty to establish strictly atheistic science in public schools?
Reading before the College of Physicians in Philadelphia in 1932, Fielding O Lewis5 also entertained the diagnosis of "acute edema of the larynx, secondary to a septic sore throat of a probable streptococci variety." In 1936, Creighton Barker6 published an analysis offering a similar diagnosis: "a virulent streptococcal infection of the pharynx, with cellulitis in the walls of the hypopharynx and edema of the glottis." In 1942, Willius and Keys1 considered membranous croup, acute laryngitis, and Ludwig's angina and concluded: "The modern American physician in all probability would execute the certificate of death in the following manner: septic sore throat, probably of streptococcic origin, associated with acute edema of the larynx."
http://xnet.kp.org/permanentejournal/spring04/time.html
There isn't always a simple answer and to pretend otherwise is, what would you say - a lie?
Check again. Most scientists consider gravity a law. Science does have laws, you know.
""Durrrrrr . . . wonder what'll happen if we stick a leech on there." Speaking of leeches, did you hear about the judge who thought it was his constitutional duty to establish strictly atheistic science in public schools?"
An Oxy-Oxy-Oxy Moron if I ever saw one.. and since I never have, it might be the only Oxy-Oxy-Oxy Moron I ever noticed..
The Triune DuuH.. recognizing the/a creator but making him impotent(clipped).. like some do ID'ers do with their Poodles.. or Cats.. Fluffy, well groomed, but impotent.. Just the thing for an upper middle class 2nd reality..
But it is an alternate 2nd reality for normal scientific materialists, like "Evos"... maybe thats why they "protest too much".. My thought is they should care less.. They don't, they fight against ID as IF is was a vaid alternative to their own 2nd reality..
Good fight eh!..
OH give me a break.
Lots of parents can't afford private school.
On cross-examination, Professor Behe admitted that: "There are no peer reviewed articles by anyone advocating for intelligent design supported by pertinent experiments or calculations which provide detailed rigorous accounts of how intelligent design of any biological system occurred"(22:22-23 (Behe)). Additionally, Professor Behe conceded that there are no peer-reviewed papers supporting his claims that complex molecular systems, like the bacterial flagellum, the blood-clotting cascade, and the immune system, were intelligently designed. (21:61-62 (complex molecular systems), 23:4-5 (immune system), and 22:124-25 (blood-clotting cascade) (Behe)). In that regard, there are no peer-reviewed articles supporting Professor Behe's argument that certain complex molecular structures are "irreducibly complex."17 (21:62, 22:124-25 (Behe)). In addition to failing to produce papers in peer-reviewed journals, ID also features no scientific research or testing. (28:114-15 (Fuller); 18:22-23, 105-06 (Behe)).[emphasis added]
That's ID's score card, folks: NO peer-reviewed articles supporting it with positive evidence, NO articles supporting irreducuble complexity, and NO research or testing. Sure sounds like they desperately want to get to the "bottom" of things, doesn't it?
They should teach something honest and scientifically sound.
Like current stem cell research.
Washington died in 1799. His doctors had no knowledge whatever of streptococci. Later, much later, doctors speculate on what Washington might have had.
If he did have a streptococcal infection (strep throat to you), there would have been no treatment for it at the time, although one of the doctors apparently did suggest a tracheotomy, which actually might have saved his life.
Bleeding was not effective for his illness. It would have done no good whatsoever. However, the amount of blood removed from the President would have weakened him significantly, probably hastening his death.
Had he been alive after 1945, he would have received a penicillin shot and recovered quickly. Sadly, he lived in an essential pre-scientific period and died from being treated badly, even though no effective treatment was available to his physicians.
What later doctors have to say about what was probably wrong with Washington has no bearing on this discussion, though. He was bled by his doctors. He died. Science would have saved him, but he was born a bit too early for that.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.