Observing the ongoing collapse of civil liberties in Canada, Bill asked me,

As I recall, Judge Jones in his ruling used the word “disparage” in relation to Darwin and his theory, attempting to put pressure on those who might want to disparage Darwin in the public school context. How soon before it is illegal to disparage Darwin in the U.S.?

Re “disparage” as a cue word, Bill was thinking, of course, of a recent punishment handed out by the Alberta “human rights” commission – one of fourteen shadow tribunals – to a Christian pastor, who had spoken out against the gay lifestyle (more below).

The rapid advance of fascism with a “human” face in Canada only became common knowledge in the United States recently, when popular columnist Mark Steyn was dragged before the BC tribunal.

To bring you up to date swiftly on Canada’s tribunals, I will simply quote Rich Lowry’s “Mark Steyn: Enemy of the State” summary this morning:

The country is dotted with human-rights commissions. At first, they typically heard discrimination suits against businesses. But since that didn’t create much work, the commissions branched out into policing “hate” speech. Initially, they targeted neo-Nazis; then religious figures for their condemnations of homosexuality; and now Maclean’s and Steyn.

The new rallying cry is, “If I hate what you say, I’ll accuse you of hate.” The Canadian Islamic Council got the Human Rights Tribunal in British Columbia and the national Canadian Human Rights Commission (where proceedings are still pending) to agree to hear its complaint. It had to like its odds.

The national commission has never found anyone innocent in 31 years. It is set up for classic Alice-in-Wonderland “verdict first, trial later” justice. Canada’s Human Rights Act defines hate speech as speech “likely to expose a person or persons to hatred or contempt.” The language is so capacious and vague that to be accused is tantamount to being found guilty.

And the remedies can be bizarre, as in this Alberta decision, “the most revolting order I have ever seen in Canada”, according to civil rights lawyer Ezra Levant. Read More ›

Michael Behe responds on his Amazon.com blog to Richard Lenski’s latest piece in PNAS regarding the evolution of 40,000 generations of E. coli (go here). [[Patrick and I posted on this simultaneously; please post all comments regarding Behe/Lenski on his thread, which is the the one immediately preceding this one.]]

Multiple mutations needed for E. coli

An interesting paper has just appeared in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, “Historical contingency and the evolution of a key innovation in an experimental population of Escherichia coli”. (1) It is the “inaugural article” of Richard Lenski, who was recently elected to the National Academy. Lenski, of course, is well known for conducting the longest, most detailed “lab evolution” experiment in history, growing the bacterium E. coli continuously for about twenty years in his Michigan State lab. For the fast-growing bug, that’s over 40,000 generations!
Read More ›

Here’s an excerpt from the San Francisco Chronicle about Obama. Adjectives like “fawning,” “effusive,” and “unhinged” don’t quite capture this article, which is titled “Is Obama an Enlightened Being?” “Messianic” is more like it. Interestingly, the highest praise that this article heaps on Obama is that he will “help us evolve.” Many spiritually advanced people I know (not coweringly religious, mind you, but deeply spiritual) identify Obama as a Lightworker, that rare kind of attuned being who has the ability to lead us not merely to new foreign policies or health care plans or whatnot, but who can actually help usher in a new way of being on the planet, of relating and connecting and engaging with this bizarre earthly Read More ›

In evaluating whether or not Barack Obama, now pretty much confirmed as the US Democratic candidate for president, is indeed a “Messiah in our midst?”, commentator Jonah Goldberg comments:

Obama’s apostles are hard to dismiss. Oprah simply calls him “The One,” because “we need politicians who know how to be the truth.” (Jesus says in John 14:6 “I am the way, the truth …”) Oprah goes on to say Obama will help us “evolve to a higher plane,” which would put Obama in the role of our Intelligent Designer.

Intelligent Designer? Hold that thought. And hold your fork, Duke, there’s pie:

According to the New York Times, Obama’s volunteers are taught to eschew discussions of the issues and instead “testify” about how they “came to Obama.”

For many, he’s no retro-redeemer, but a 21st century savior, a Matrix-messiah and Neo for our modern-day Nineveh. Self-help guru Deepak Chopra dubs Obama “a quantum leap in American consciousness,” while prominent “leadership coach” Eve Konstantine assures us that, “He’s our product out of the all-knowing quantum field of intelligence.”

Obama willing, I will never be stuck next to these people on a plane.

Well, speaking for myself, Jonah, if I were stuck next to them on a plane, I would burst out singing, “If I had the wings of a … private jet!”

Yes indeed, a private jet, just like some American politicians*, who can insulate themselves from their goofy supporters, even if the rest of the travelling public can’t.

Goldberg warns that the Obamans will never leave you or forsake you as a mere one-celled, unquelled amoeba:

Those of you who thought we had a Second Amendment to keep government from fixing your soul are so 20th century. Evolve already.

Anyway, what I find fascinating is how the terminology of the debate finds its way into popular culture. Note especially: “Attention: Burgeoning post-Darwinists: Should we all sign up and get a tax number at this point?”

(*Disclaimer: Yes, yes, I am sure that the Republican contender has wingnut supporters too, but Do. Not. Ever. Mail. Me. Their. Literature.  I. Believe. You. Already. Yet.)

Meanwhile, just up at Overwhelming Evidence Read More ›

From Mike Gene’s book, The Design Matrix: A Consilience of Clues: Sometime around 1860, Asa Gray, a professor of botany from Harvard, apparently asked Darwin what it would take to convince him of design. Darwin replied: “Your question what would convince me of design is a poser. If I saw an angel come down to teach us good, and I was convinced from others seeing him that I was not mad, I should believe in design. If I could be convinced thoroughly that life and mind was in an unknown way a function of other imponderable force, I should be convinced. If man was made of brass or iron and no way connected with any other organism which had ever Read More ›

It’s open access: check it out.

Colorado Governor Bill Ritter’s signing of a transgender anti-discrimination bill points up the lunacy that ensues in a world without design (see here).

His attempt to tiptoe is better known as his book, Chance or Purpose? Creation, Evolution, and a Rational Faith (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2007). Tiptoeing won’t work, actually. The ID guys don’t really care what he says because Darwinism and materialism are toast so burnt that even a miracle couldn’t revive them, not that any miracle worker would bother, of course. But the Darwinists/materialists are accustomed to demanding total surrender from everyone for no particular reason, and I guess it becomes a habit or something. Anyway: Introduction Christoph Cardinal Schoenborn’s Chance or Purpose? Flickering light on the ID controversy at best Part One: Is the proposed distinction between evolution and “evolutionism” legitimate in today’s environment? (Of course not.) Part Two: Read More ›

Do self replicating systems arise from design or solely by materialistic processes? A self replicating system has just been designed by Adrian Bowyer and demonstrated a the University Of Bath.

Studying RepRap is likely to give further insights into the requirements for self replicating systems. Then those can be compared with self replicating biotic systems and evaluated as to whether those could have arisen by materialistic processes, or if that most probably would indicate intelligent causation. Read More ›

Here’s an interesting article in the NYTimes regarding science education in Texas. Laura Beil, the author, outlines the long-standing (pre-Dover) attempt by critics of evolutionary theory to teach the theory’s “strengths and weaknesses.” Although mandating that the weaknesses of evolutionary theory be taught falls well short of attempts to mandate the teaching of intelligent design, this too is unacceptable with hardcore evolutionists such as the National Center for Selling Evolution (NCSE). Their strategy to counter it? Treat any attempt to teach weaknesses of evolutionary theory as stealth creationism, therefore as religion, and therefore as unconstitutional. This approach, however, may backfire. The NCSE cannot simply deny that there are any known weaknesses to evolutionary theory, because laundry lists outlining failures of Read More ›

Well, Expelled, now back up and running legally, I guess, is still #5 in documentaries, and has grossed as of May. 29, 2008, $7,614,754. In theory, it can now be shown in Canada. There is much local punditry of the worthless “don’t see it!” variety – which is interesting in view of the show trial of commentator Mark Steyn currently in progress in Vancouver.

The unspeakables who would protect Canadians from anything that might upset or offend us are doing very nicely indeed with our “human rights” commissions. The picketers are carrying blank picket signs, of course. My comments are here. 

Here are some links from The Post-Darwinist on the Ono judgment: “Oh no, Ono! Judge rules, the film about the ID guys can still be shown”

Also, just up at Colliding Universes (and at The Mindful Hack, below):

Newton: Does every genius need a tincture of crackpot?

But then maybe the entire universe is just a wave function?

Multiverse theory: Replacing the Big Fix with the Sure Thing? Read More ›

Yoko Ono’s copyright infringement suit against the makers of Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed for using 15 seconds of the Lennon song Imagine was thrown out of court. Of course we all knew it was no more than a nuisance suit brought because Ono didn’t approve of the film’s negative view of the philosophy expressed in Imagine. Stanford Law School’s Fair Use Project: Yoko Ono’s Injunction Against “Expelled” Producers Denied The Fair Use Project of Stanford Law School’s Center for Internet and Society today announced that Yoko Ono’s attempt to enjoin Premise Media’s documentary, “Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed,” has been denied. The film, released in the United States last month on more than 1000 theater screens nationwide, explores whether proponents of Read More ›

Dr. DeWitt will appear on my radio talk show tomorrow to discuss his book, “Unraveling the Origins Controversy.”  The show begins at 6:00 Eastern and will stream live on KRKS.com.  Dr. DeWitt is the Director of the Center for Creation Studies and a professor of Biology at Liberty University.  He is a young earth creationist.   While I respect YEC’s, I do not count myself among them, so the give and take should be interesting.