Revote today [Dover, PA school board]

York Daily Record [Penna] ^ | 03 January 2006 | TOM JOYCE

[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.

[highball]

You see "socialist" as a slur?

Of course I do. Do you expect me to believe that you meant it as a compliment?

[Fester Chugabrew]

I specifically asked how/whether this esoteric math, which supposedly defines intelligence more eloquently than a dictionary, is capable of assessing the type or amount of intelligence needed to, for example, build a car. Or is this math simply an attempt at measuring the intelligence that resides within any given entity? Are you too smart to answer these questions in layman's terms?

[PatrickHenry]

Excellent report. Thank you.

[hosepipe]

[ Of course I do. Do you expect me to believe that you meant it as a compliment? ]

Of course not, merely as an attempt at truth..
Which socialists HATE.. And since communism IS socialism little wonder.. they do..
Did I mention Saul Alinsky?.. Oh! yeah I did..

[highball]

Whatever, pal.

Don't post to me again until you're ready to leave the insults behind. We're trying to have a grown-up discussion, and name calling isn't welcome.

[Fester Chugabrew]

There is most likely no phenomenon, however normal or abnormal it may appear, that cannot be described by math or in human terms. How does this in any way render that phenomenon "natural" or "supernatural," and by extension scientifically accessible or not?

[hosepipe]

[ Don't post to me again until you're ready to leave the insults behind. We're trying to have a grown-up discussion, and name calling isn't welcome. ]

I post mainly to lurkers. You are just a foil.. a canard..
ALL socialists are teenagers.. they never developed..
Very usefull too.. Socialists may be allowed on free republic however they are graded..
i.e. Saul Alinsky eat yer heart out..

Thanks..

[hosepipe]

[ Don't post to me again until you're ready to leave the insults behind. We're trying to have a grown-up discussion, and name calling isn't welcome. ]

I post mainly to lurkers. You are just a foil.. a canard..
ALL socialists are teenagers.. they never developed..
Very usefull too.. Socialists may be allowed on free republic however they are graded..
i.e. Saul Alinsky eat yer heart out..

Thanks..

[Fester Chugabrew]

Thing is that science is more than just observation. It is a precise system for forming hypotheses based on information, then testing those hypotheses.

Science is "the observation, identification, description, experimental investigation, and theoretical explanation of phenomena." It began with the first humans. It is not as if a certain amount of precision is needed and then *VOILA* it's real science.

[YHAOS]

”The Constitution must never again be treated as an etch a sketch by the Supremes.”

Sadly, we can’t count on this not happening again. Assuming Alito’s confirmation, and assuming that both Roberts and Alito are, in fact, exactly what we expect, The Supreme Court remains anything but Conservative. At best, the count is 4 - 1 - 4, with Kennedy being the swing vote. Kennedy, who listens far more to the DC cocktail circuit than he does The Constitution, is about as reliable as a Yugo. We might as well assume a 5 - 4 count against us.

[tortoise]

I specifically asked how/whether this esoteric math, which supposedly defines intelligence more eloquently than a dictionary, is capable of assessing the type or amount of intelligence needed to, for example, build a car.

And I've repeatedly stated that it is most certainly mathematically possible to assess the amount of intelligence needed to build a car. You merely do not like the answer that the amount of intelligence required to build a car is approximately zero. You keep asking the question and then dancing around the answer.

Or is this math simply an attempt at measuring the intelligence that resides within any given entity?

That you keep trying to make a distinction here betrays your ignorance of mathematics.

Are you too smart to answer these questions in layman's terms?

You are not even understanding the basics, which can be couched in layman's terms with modest effort. Given this, I find it unlikely that you would understand more advanced constructions that are built from and require thorough understanding of the basics.

Hell, I've spent a dozen posts trying to get you to accept that the Invariance Theorem and its consequences are valid, and that is elementary information theory. If you cannot handle the Chapter 1 of undergraduate information theory, you are definitely not ready for post-grad level information theory. There is no requirement that everything in the universe to be understandable by you in two hundred words or less.

[Fester Chugabrew]

Hell, I've spent a dozen posts trying to get you to accept that the Invariance Theorem . . .

Shall we try counting them, o thou of great mathematical reason? Spare me the hyperbole and hyperventilation. It is apparent enough that I am corresponding with someone who resides in a world of their own when they think it is somewhat uncertain whether a staute arises of its own accord or out of intelligent efforts.

[YHAOS]

"As the founders provided for, and recommended I might add.."

Yeah:

If the representatives of the people betray their constituents, there is then no recourse left but in the exertion of that original right of self-defense...

.....Alexander Hamilton, The Federalist 28

[Lurking Libertarian]

I am corresponding with someone who resides in a world of their own when they think it is somewhat uncertain whether a staute arises of its own accord or out of intelligent efforts.

How about the Old Man of the Mountain?

[hosepipe]

[ Assuming Alito’s confirmation, and assuming that both Roberts and Alito are, in fact, exactly what we expect, ]

Of course they are NOT.. If they were, they would not have been selected, let alone confirmed.. The lobbing scandal hanging now in D.C., is the tip of the iceberg.. The shredders are running on overload currently.. count on it.. And we have the best giverment money can buy.. Its not a new thing either..

It got much worse after Goldwater got "Borked".. by the American people.. Yes, the American people.. We have identified the enemy, and the enemy is "US".. If God gets deported, currently God being reviewed for deportment from mainstream America.. then it will get even worse..

I know, not a happy prospect.. But even here on Free republic the spiritual INS Agents.. have already revoked Gods green card.. They have no clue that "inalienable rights" are inalienable because of God.. it was his idea and God is the authority secureing them.. They(the spiritual INS Agents) think the federal giverment secures them.. Could be many think God is a joke and inalienable rights are also a joke.. <<- the last thing they would say publically.. would not want to git, the masses all lighting their "torches" and burning down the socialist frankenstein.. As the TV pundits all gush, "ITS ALIVE, ITS ALIVE"... And Hillary Clinton preens for display as the Queen of Mean..

Monte Python eat yer heart out.. Washington D.C. is as mid-evil a forest as any skit of your invention and design.. The Sandy Burgular affair was just comedy relief..

[hosepipe]

[ If the representatives of the people betray their constituents, there is then no recourse left but in the exertion of that original right of self-defense -Alexander Hamilton, The Federalist 28 ]

(( IF? ))... where'd that come from.. Hopefully you are not an optimist on a utopian quest.. Marx was the pied piper of utopian sheep.. Surely you have read Marx... LoL..

"How do you tell a Socialist:- It's someone who reads Marx and Lenin. And how do you tell an Anti-Socialist someone who understands Marx and Lenin" -Ronald Reagan

[tortoise]

I'm still waiting for you to demonstrate that you have faintest clue what you are talking about.

Drool on, brother.

[VadeRetro]

Miller was lead witness for the plaintiffs at the Dover trial. He presented his testimony, and was then cross-examined by the defense lawyers for two days. There were NO questions about his testimony. The defense lawyers did nothing but quote-mine his textbooks, bringing up statements and phrases that could possibly be construed to support the concept of ID. He said that this was a surprise, and that he had prepared to be challenged on his testimony, but that they never asked about that -- only his early writings. He had no problems at all with the cross-examination.

Hah! Never be surprised to get argumentum ad quote-salad-um from creationists!

[VadeRetro]

On the book, "Of Panda's And People," Miller recounted the discovery process where the plaintiff's lawyers found the original documents where all cognates of the word "Creation" were replaced with the equivalent "Design" words, and nothing else was changed. He asked, "Didn't they learn anything from the Nixon Administration? Why didn't they burn this stuff?"

IIRC, they couldn't. The earliest published editions contained "creation" and "creationism" where they now have "design" and "intelligent design," etc.

[Fester Chugabrew]

Before or after God knocked his 4.5 billion-year-old chin and nose off? Either way, all rocks give evidence of intelligent design whether acted upon by man with implements or not. I tend to think this physical feature is not a product of human intervention, though there are some who want to build the rock back up. A little duct tape and some super glue.