“...with an overwhelming absence of transitional forms between virtually all major taxa. It is quite obvious that the historical record of life does not provide the needed evidence for gradual evolutionary change.”
Ping to that.
oh contraire, the evos say there are tons of transitionals...NOT BECAUSE THEY EXIST, but because their religion requires it, so they name them transitionals, self fullfilling prophecy at its best.
To be kind I have to say that your conclusion is overly simplistic for several reasons:
1) If fossil examples of a pre-macro change parent and a post-macro change offspring were discovered next to one another the relationship would be denied because of a lack of a transitional example.
2) Mutations are not all parametrically uniform, nor are mutation rates linear. They run the gambit from minor and insignificant, to incrementally beneficial, to catastrophic and to significantly beneficial. The distribution between the categories isn't Gaussian and the beneficial nature not always equal within a dynamic environment.
If you would like to see a few of the many transitional fossils all you need to do is take a trip to a museum and look at Australopithecus, Homo habilis, Homo erectus, and Homo sapiens. This is a beautiful series of transitional fossils.
Why do the creationist/i.d crowed keep asking for the evidence whe it is here. All you have to do is go to a museum and see it for yourself.