Barack Obama, Rick Warren, and Invocations at Presidential Inaugurations

We've all been bombarded by the controversy over Barack Obama's unfortunate choice of pastor Rick Warren to give "the invocation" as part of the presidential inauguration ceremony. We needn't review the details of that controversy here.

A question the so-called mainstream media has utterly failed to raise is why in a secular government, constitutionally separated from religion, an "invocation" is allowed to be part of the inaugural festivities at all. While that same constitution guarantees freedom of religion for individual citizens (and by inference, freedom from religion for those who do not subscribe to ancient myth), whether or not serving in public office, conflating personal religous beliefs with official governmental functions, be it the inauguration of a new president, the opening and/or closing of governmental functions such as congress, or whatever, stands as an abject violation of the principle of separation of church and state; an endorsement of religion in general, and an at least tacit endorsement of the specific religious denomination of the participants, by official sanction.

By focusing on the controversial nature of the particular selection of the pastor, the mainstream press has once again missed the point and failed in its duty to keep the politicians in line. Even the chatter on much of the atheist blogosphere seems to miss the point but for a few of the comments.

Wake up, people. Notwithstanding protestations to the contrary by the christian "right", the United States of America is not a christian nation; it is a pluralistic society, populated with believers of every major religion and many minor ones, and with believers in reality as well. The atheist community's apparent willingness to accept the notion that some sort of religious invocation is a regular part of a presidential inauguration is disturbing. Granted, not every battle can be fought at once, but if we're going to concern ourselves with this issue at all, we should take it on as the affront it is to the separation of church and state, regardless of the particular pastor involved and his archaic social positions.

Small sect gives U.S. Supreme Court a lot to consider

From International Herald Tribune:

PLEASANT GROVE CITY, Utah: Across the street from the city hall here sits a small park with about a dozen donated buildings and objects - a wishing well, a millstone from the city's first flour mill and an imposing red granite monument inscribed with the Ten Commandments.

Thirty miles, or 48 kilometers, to the north, adherents of a religion called Summum gather in a wood-and-metal pyramid by Interstate 15 in Salt Lake City. Followers of Summum meditate on their Seven Aphorisms, fortified by an alcoholic sacramental nectar they produce and surrounded by mummified animals.

In 2003, the president of the Summum church wrote to the mayor here with a proposal: the church wanted to erect a monument inscribed with the Seven Aphorisms in the city park, "similar in size and nature" to the one devoted to the Ten Commandments.

(read full article)

Ex-Bear Sterns executive moves to Fed

From The Associated Press via money.cnn.com:

Former chief risk officer at the defunct brokerage is now overseeing U.S. banks for the Federal Reserve.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The former chief risk officer at investment bank Bear Stearns Cos., which nearly collapsed in March, is now a senior official of the Federal Reserve division that supervises U.S. banks.

Michael Alix, who worked at Bear Stearns for 12 years and was its senior risk manager since 2006, was named a senior vice president in the bank supervision group of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, according to an announcement by the Fed.

(full story)

God is Hate

From Living the Scientific Life:

Even if I was stupid enough to be religious, this one letter to the editor would challenge everything I held dear because it openly advocates hatred of anyone who doesn't believe in gawd -- in the name of gawd. I was always raught that "god is love" but after reading this letter, I realize I am not ready for this sort of love, nor for the other sorts of love that all you so-called "religious people" embrace, including pedophilia, female genital mutilation and genocide, just to name a few of the aacts you have engaged in. Even though I don't believe in gawd or any of the cruel and hateful actions that a "supreme being" represents, I will say this: I hope all you so-called religious wingnuts burn in hellfire for all eternity.

Florida lawmakers debate offering a Christian license plate

From The Associated Press:

MIAMI (AP) -- Florida drivers can order more than 100 specialty license plates celebrating everything from manatees to the Miami Heat, but one now under consideration would be the first in the nation to explicitly promote a specific religion.

The Florida Legislature is considering a specialty plate with a design that includes a Christian cross, a stained-glass window and the words "I Believe."

Rep. Edward Bullard, the plate's sponsor, said people who "believe in their college or university" or "believe in their football team" already have license plates they can buy. The new design is a chance for others to put a tag on their cars with "something they believe in," he said.

If the plate is approved, Florida would become the first state to have a license plate featuring a religious symbol that's not part of a college logo. Approval would almost certainly face a court challenge.

(read full article)

This clearly violates the separation of church and state. If drivers want to advertise to the world that they're brainwashed, they already have the freedom to place stickers and other emblems on their vehicles. There is nothing for lawmakers to debate. The state government has no role in the support and promotion of any religion for any reason. Period.

Bush: "$4 Gas? I hadn't heard that"

* Originally Posted Feb 28, 2008 - Updated Apr 22, 2008 *

From CNN.COM:

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- President Bush, saying he was unaware of predictions of $4-a-gallon gasoline in the coming months, told reporters Thursday that the best way to help Americans fend off high prices is for Congress to make his first-term tax cuts permanent.

"If you're out there wondering... what your life is going to be like, and you're looking at $4 a gallon, that's uncertain," Bush responded to a question posed at a White House news conference. "And when you couple that with the idea that... taxes may be going up in a couple years, that's double uncertainty."

Analysts have said that gasoline could reach $4 a gallon by this spring, due to strong demand and a change in formulation, among other reasons.

When taking the question about the $4 milestone, Bush told the reporter, "That's interesting. I hadn't heard that."

(more)

Teach Your Children Well

This is what they teach their children?

Court will examine profanity rules

From The Associated Press:

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court on Monday stepped into a legal fight over the use of curse words on the airwaves, the high court's first major case on broadcast indecency in 30 years.

The case concerns a Federal Communications Commission policy that allows for fines against broadcasters for so-called "fleeting expletives," one-time uses of the F-word or its close cousins.

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Solicitor General Paul Clement, representing the FCC and the Bush administration, argued that the decision "places the commission in an untenable position," powerless to stop the airing of expletives even when children are watching.

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(full article)

It seems to me that the Federal Communications Commission should concern itself with the practical matters of standardization and bandwidth allocation that are its primary charter and stay out of the business of trying to regulate "decency". It further seems to me that our government in general should not be trying to legislate in so subjective an area as "decency". If parents find it useful to selectively "protect" their children from a handfull of vocabulary words at which some people choose to take offense, they have the option to turn off the TV, or select channels oriented toward children.

The fact is that children always learn all available words and add them to their vocabulary, despite parental efforts to the contrary. And why not? Words are not inherently good or bad - they are just words.

Perhaps people should spend less of their time taking offense at things and more effort fixing our political system.

"Disproportionate" Force, UN Condemnations, and Decisive Action

From The United Nations:

Security Council, Secretary-General alarmed by deadly violence in Middle East

2 March 2008 – The Security Council and Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon have condemned the escalating violence in the Gaza Strip and southern Israel, which has claimed dozens of civilian lives in recent days.

Council members met in emergency session late last night and early today to discuss the situation in the Middle East, where the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) have launched air and land attacks on targets in Gaza and Palestinian militants have fired dozens of rockets at targets in southern Israel, including the city of Ashkelon.

The United Nations estimates that at least 59 Palestinians – including 39 civilians – were killed yesterday in Gaza, and hundreds more injured, while two Israeli soldiers are reported to have been killed in the fighting and an Israeli civilian was killed in Sderot following a rocket attack and at least five other civilians were injured in Ashkelon.

Following the meeting, Ambassador Vitaly Churkin of Russia, which currently holds the monthly rotating presidency of the Council, today read out a summary of the discussions that was agreed to by all 15 members of the panel.

Voicing deep concern about the loss of civilian life and the escalation of violence in the region, Council members called on all sides to respect their obligations under international law and to immediately cease all acts of violence.

“These acts must not be allowed to deter the political process between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, aimed at establishing two States – Israel and Palestine – living side by side in peace and security,” Mr. Churkin said.

Earlier, Mr. Ban told the Council meeting that he has contacted Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and League of Arab States Secretary-General Amr Moussa as part of UN efforts to push for a calming of the violence.

UN humanitarian agencies operating on the ground, especially the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), are also continuing their efforts to help people in distress.

Mr. Ban condemned and urged an end to the Palestinian rocket attacks, which he noted “serve no purpose, endanger Israeli civilians, and bring misery to the Palestinian people.”

The Secretary-General also said that while Israel has a right to defend itself, “I condemn the disproportionate and excessive use of force that has killed and injured so many civilians, including children. I call on Israel to cease such attacks. Israel must fully comply with international humanitarian law and exercise the utmost restraint. Incidents in which civilians have been killed or injured must be investigated and accountability must be ensured.”

All schools operated by UNRWA in Gaza have been closed and many families are trapped inside their homes because of the violence, and Mr. Ban called on Israel to facilitate full access to hospitals and medical centres for the injured.

The Secretary-General urged all parties to “step back from the brink of even deeper and more deadly clashes.”

In addition, he voiced extreme concern about the effect they are having on the Israeli-Palestinian negotiation process, and he called on members of the international community and other stakeholders to use their influence on the parties to both stop the violence and allow humanitarian relief to flow.

---

In reply to the above:

Mr. Ban Ki Moon, United Nations Secretary General:

Sir, in reference to your condemnatory statements above, where is the acknowledgment and condemnation of the now routine practice among the Palestinians, Hamas, and other such terrorist groups of deliberately placing offensive weaponry among civilians; women and children in particular, sacrificing them to the inevitable military response their rocket bombardments necessitate, all for the purpose of twisting the circumstances to appear to support their outrageous claim that Israel's efforts at self defense, after months of self-restraint, somehow make Israel the aggressor?

As for the notion of the "disproportionate and excessive use of force", in war a fair fight is not only undesirable, it is downright irresponsible. When a country, Israel or any other, is finally forced to respond militarily to a threat, it has the right and indeed the responsibility to effect nothing less than a decisive victory. Israel has far too often made the mistake of proportionate response. The only effect this has is to prolong and worsen the situation. In military defense, the object is to put a stop to the enemy attacks, decisively, and if at all possible, permanently. In the recent conflict in Lebanon, Israel's tragic mistake was not excessive use of force; it was insufficient use of force, poor planning, and poor execution. Let us all hope they do not repeat that error now or ever again.

One further note is that you can be sure Mr. Nasrallah is watching this conflict very carefully, probably waiting for an opportunity to resume hostilities in the north. The United Nations needs to recognize the predicament in which Israel repeatedly finds itself and render its full support to its efforts to decisively end these conflicts. Israel, given the opportunity, would be a strong and supportive friend to her neighbors. Can the reverse statement be truthfully made? When it can, there will be peace and prosperity in the region such as it has never seen certainly in recorded history.

I urge you and the UN to consider how any other nation would respond, faced with rockets flying into their land from hostile neighbors. Do not judge Israel by any standard to which you would not hold yourself. Israel correctly stated, before the onset if their response, that civilian casualties were the complete and total responsibility of Hamas. They freely choose to place offensive weaponry in among civilians so tightly that it is virtually impossible to avoid some civilian suffering and death. They knew precisely the effect this would have. If they fancy themselves the protectors of their people, they're stewardship of that role is pathetic.

Let not the UN be as part of the problem. Let the UN instead examine the real facts on the ground and intercede to the extent it is able, to help form a legitimate peace in the region; not one that comes 100% at the expense of Israel with only lip service from the other side.

Report: 1 Percent of U.S. Adult Population Behind Bars

An astonishing and alarming statistic

From The Associated Press:

NEW YORK (AP) -- For the first time in U.S. history, more than one of every 100 adults is in jail or prison, according to a new report documenting America's rank as the world's No. 1 incarcerator. It urges states to curtail corrections spending by placing fewer low-risk offenders behind bars.

Using state-by-state data, the report says 2,319,258 Americans were in jail or prison at the start of 2008 - one out of every 99.1 adults. Whether per capita or in raw numbers, it's more than any other nation.

The report, released Thursday by the Pew Center on the States, said the 50 states spent more than $49 billion on corrections last year, up from less than $11 billion 20 years earlier. The rate of increase for prison costs was six times greater than for higher education spending, the report said.

(more)

Did Ex-Alabama Governor Get A Raw Deal?

(CBS) Is Don Siegelman in prison because he’s a criminal or because he belonged to the wrong political party in Alabama? Siegelman is the former governor of Alabama, and he was the most successful Democrat in that Republican state. But while he was governor, the U.S. Justice Department launched multiple investigations that went on year after year until, finally, a jury convicted Siegelman of bribery.

Now, many Democrats and Republicans have become suspicious of the Justice Department’s motivations. As correspondent Scott Pelley reports, 52 former state attorneys-general have asked Congress to investigate whether the prosecution of Siegelman was pursued not because of a crime but because of politics.

Article and 60 minutes video.

Christians Pray for Death of Americans United Staff

From Atheist Revolution:

You can put this in your "and Christians accuse us of not being moral?" file. Americans United for Separation of Church and State complained to the IRS that California pastor Wiley Drake was violating federal law by using his church to campaign for Christian extremist candidate Mike Huckabee. Drake's response was to once again call for imprecatory prayers against Americans United staff. That's right - this Southern Baptist Pastor is asking his followers to pray for the deaths of AU's staff.

From the Americans United press release:

Wrote Drake, "In light of the recent attack from the enemies of God I ask the children of God to go into action with Imprecatory Prayer. Especially against Americans United for Separation of Church and State…. Specifically target Joe Conn or Jeremy Learing [sic] and their leader Rev. Barry Lynn. They are those who lead the attack."

(more)

Granted it's a little indirect, but would this constitute a death threat for legal purposes?

"Cunt" on Live TV - Why all the fuss?

Feb 14, 2008, NBC's Today Show. In reference to "The Vagina Monologues", Jane Fonda (presumably) accidentally uses the word "Cunt".

Frankly, this should be a non-issue, but for some reason our government, through the offices of the Federal Communications Commission, has taken it upon itself for years to choose which words may be spoken at least in the broadcast media. Frankly, this practice is disgusting and demeans the dignity of all of us. The notion of "protecting" our children from language they'll encounter soon enough in school anyway, is a poor excuse for imposing a largely Christian agenda on a government agency.



Bravo, Jane. Do not appologize. It's high time we grow up and break this ridiculous taboo.

The Thinking Man's Madrassa Smear

From Josh Marshall, Talking Points Memo:

If things continue on their current trajectory and Barack Obama is the Democratic nominee we should get used to much more of the still largely subterranean effort to scare Jews and broader portions of the electorate into believing that Obama is anti-Israel. The truth is that there's little apparent difference between Obama's position and Hillary's or, for that matter, anyone else in the mainstream of the Democratic party or most of the non-Taliban wing of Republican party. Here's a relatively mild example of the effort -- a story in the New York Sun about how Obama supporter Zbigniew Brzezinski (the article calls him an 'advisor' -- he's probably something between a supporter and advisor) is leading a delegation to Syria sponsored by the highly controversial left-wing Rand Corporation.

On another front, here is a recent post at The Politico about emails sent out by a member of Clinton's finance committee asking friends and acquaintances to "read the attached important and very disturbing article on Barack Obama." The enclosed article is this one by the neanderthal American Thinker blog by Ed Lasky.

There's much more of this going on than you realize. And it may be prepping to expand dramatically.

Islamic Justice?

Does this even remotely resemble justice to you? Is this a religion of peace?

From CNN.COM:

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- The images in the Basra police file are nauseating: Page after page of women killed in brutal fashion -- some strangled to death, their faces disfigured; others beheaded. All bear signs of torture.

The women are killed, police say, because they failed to wear a headscarf or because they ignored other "rules" that secretive fundamentalist groups want to enforce.

"Fear, fear is always there," says 30-year-old Safana, an artist and university professor. "We don't know who to be afraid of. Maybe it's a friend or a student you teach. There is no break, no security. I don't know who to be afraid of."

(full story)

Mark This Day

This is no bluff

From Talking Points Memo:

By David Kurtz

(tpm)

Attorney General Michael Mukasey is back on the Hill today, testifying to the House Judiciary Committee. Paul Kiel is covering it at TPMmuckraker.

So far, he's dropped two big bombshells. DOJ will not be investigating:

(1) whether the waterboarding, now admitted to by the White House, was a crime; or

(2) whether the Administration's warrantless wiretapping was illegal.

His rationale? Both programs had been signed off on in advance as legal by the Justice Department.

Cynics may argue that those aren't bombshells at all, that the Bush Administration would never investigate itself in these matters. Perhaps so. But this is a case where cynicism is itself dangerous.

We have now the Attorney General of the United States telling Congress that it's not against the law for the President to violate the law if his own Department of Justice says it's not.

It is as brazen a defense of the unitary executive as anything put forward by the Administration in the last seven years, and it comes from an attorney general who was supposed to be not just a more professional, but a more moderate, version of Alberto Gonzales (Thanks to Democrats like Dianne Feinstein and Chuck Schumer for caving on the Mukasey nomination.).

President Bush has now laid down his most aggressive challenge to the very constitutional authority of Congress. It is a naked assertion of executive power. The founders would have called it tyrannical. His cards are now all on the table. This is no bluff.

Late Update: TPM Reader RF:

David Kurtz's "Mark This Day" blurb misses the most important point -- it's not just that the Attorney General's position is that a DOJ Order makes the subject activity legal but that, as Nadler brought out, there is now no recourse to a judicial test, either criminal (through refusal to prosecute) or civil (through the state secrets privilege based solely on a DOJ affidavit). The DOJ is entitled to take whatever position it wants, however self-serving and unitary, but now there is no avenue for judicial review and so that is the end of the story. That is the important point here.

Circle gets the Square?

Well, this one's a little out of date but worthy of mention nevertheless - right up there with modern-day (did I say "modern?") ID morons.

From Wired:

1897: Egged on by an amateur mathematician, the Indiana General Assembly almost passes a bill adopting 3.2 as the exact value of pi (or π). Only the intervention of a Purdue University mathematician who happens to be visiting the legislature prevents the bill from becoming law, saving the most acute political embarrassment.

(full article)

Idaho Court Says You Can Copyright a Cease-And-Desist Letter

From Techdirt via Slashdot:

TechDirt has a follow up to a case they covered back in October where a law firm was trying to claim a copyright on the cease-and-desist letters they sent out. Public Citizen poked a number of holes in this claim and invited the lawyers to "try it." Well, unfortunately the lawyers decided to bite and what's more, they actually got a judge to buy it. The news was announced by the victorious lawyer who now claims he can sue anytime someone posts one of his cease-and-desist letters.

"The copyrighting of cease-and-desist letters is an easy way for law firms to bully small companies who have committed no wrong, but who have no real recourse to fight back against an attempt to shut them up via legal threat. Until today, many companies who were being unfairly attacked by companies and law firms misusing cease-and-desist letters to prevent opinions from being stated, had a reasonable recourse to such attacks, and could draw attention to law firms that used such bullying tactics to mute any criticism."

(slashdot post)
(techdirt post)
(related post - Dozier Internet Law)

False Pretenses

From The Center for Public Integrity:

Following 9/11, President Bush and seven top officials of his administration waged a carefully orchestrated campaign of misinformation about the threat posed by Saddam Hussein's Iraq.

By Charles Lewis and Mark Reading-Smith

President George W. Bush and seven of his administration's top officials, including Vice President Dick Cheney, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, made at least 935 false statements in the two years following September 11, 2001, about the national security threat posed by Saddam Hussein's Iraq. Nearly five years after the U.S. invasion of Iraq, an exhaustive examination of the record shows that the statements were part of an orchestrated campaign that effectively galvanized public opinion and, in the process, led the nation to war under decidedly false pretenses.

On at least 532 separate occasions (in speeches, briefings, interviews, testimony, and the like), Bush and these three key officials, along with Secretary of State Colin Powell, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, and White House press secretaries Ari Fleischer and Scott McClellan, stated unequivocally that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction (or was trying to produce or obtain them), links to Al Qaeda, or both. This concerted effort was the underpinning of the Bush administration's case for war.

(full article)

Naval Harassment in Straight of Hormuz Made Up in DC?

From InterPressService:

POLITICS-US: How the Pentagon Planted a False Hormuz Story
Analysis by Gareth Porter*

WASHINGTON, Jan 15 (IPS) - Senior Pentagon officials, evidently reflecting a broader administration policy decision, used an off-the-record Pentagon briefing to turn the Jan. 6 U.S.-Iranian incident in the Strait of Hormuz into a sensational story demonstrating Iran's military aggressiveness, a reconstruction of the events following the incident shows.

The initial press stories on the incident, all of which can be traced to a briefing by deputy assistant secretary of defence for public affairs in charge of media operations Bryan Whitman, contained similar information that has since been repudiated by the Navy itself.

Then the Navy disseminated a short video into which was spliced the audio of a phone call warning that U.S. warships would "explode" in "a few seconds". Although it was ostensibly a Navy production, IPS has learned that the ultimate decision on its content was made by top officials of the Defence Department.

(full story)

The Enemy Within

This Man Has No Business Being President

“I have opponents in this race who do not want to change the Constitution. But I believe it’s a lot easier to change the Constitution than it would be to change the word of the living God. And thats what we need to do is amend the Constitution so it’s in God’s standards rather than trying to change God’s standards so it lines up with some contemporary view of how we treat each other and how we treat the family.”
--Mike Huckabee

Hello so-called mainstream media? Are you listening? Why is the coverage of this story so sparse on the major networks? Granted, this guy will not likely be elected and granted changing the constitution is very difficult indeed - this is a good example of the reasons for that - but this is an indication of this guy's mindset.

Reactions:

Keith Olberman on MSNBC:

• CBSNews.com: Anybody Up For Matthew 6:1?
• MSNBC: HUCK, THE CONSTITUTION AND 'GOD'S STANDARDS'
• The Huffington Post: Huckabee: Amend Constitution To Be In 'God's Standards'
  
• Crooks and Liars: Huckabee Wants A “Faith-based” Constitution
• Daily Kos: Huckabee's Stealth Theocracy
• AlterNet: Huckabee Wants to Rewrite Constitution, Says It's Easier to Change Than "Word of Living God"
• NJDC Blog: NJDC CONDEMNS MIKE HUCKABEE FOR SAYING CONSTITUTION SHOULD BE AMMENDED TO REFLECT GOD'S STANDARDS
• The Carpetbagger Report: Huckabee wants the Constitution to match ‘God’s standards’
  
• NoGodBlog: Anti-American Huckabee wants to Change the Constitution
• God is for Suckers: “We the People of God, in order to form a more perfect theocracy”
• RichardDawkins.net: Huckabee Wants A 'Faith-based' Constitution
• Deep Thoughts: Some might find that statement very troubling
• Stardust: “We the People of God, in order to form a more perfect theocracy”
• Gentoo Forums: Lord save me from your followers...
• LeftWord: Huckabee Wants A Faith-based Constitution
• Think Progress: Huckabee: ‘amend the Constitution’ to ‘God’s standards.
• The Raw Story: Huckabee: Amend Constitution to be in 'God's standards'
• Free Market News Network: Huckabee: Amend Constitution for God
• Perrspective: Huckabee Calls for Faith-Based Constitution
• Hot Air: Huckabee: Let’s amend the Constitution to bring it in line with “God’s standards”
  

Related:

The single greatest threat to church-state separation in America is the movement known as the Religious Right. Organizations and leaders representing this religio-political crusade seek to impose a fundamentalist Christian viewpoint on all Americans through government action.
--Americans United for Separation of Church and State

The goal of undermining this foundational principle of our nation poses nothing less than an existential threat to our most basic rights and freedoms, and to the United States of America itself. Does this constitute treason?

The United States of America was founded for the very specific purpose of protecting its citizens at large from the religious leanings of a subset of society. To weaken or eliminate such separation quite literally destroys the very freedoms the United States stands for and the purpose for and meaning of its existence as a nation.

More Ignorance in Florida

From St. Petersburg Times:

Darwin's theory of evolution helped fuel the rise of Hitler and contributed to the school-shooting massacre at Columbine, a former St. Petersburg City Council member wrote in a letter urging the Pinellas County School Board to expose students to alternative theories.

"Evolution gives our kids an excuse to believe in natural selection and survival of the fittest, which leads to a belief that they are superior over the weak," Bill Foster wrote board members in a letter received this week. "This is a slippery slope."

He continued: "One of the Columbine shooters wrote on his Web site, 'You know what I love? Natural selection! It's the best thing that ever happened to the Earth. Getting rid of all the stupid and weak organisms.'"

Foster's letter comes in the midst of an increasingly emotional tug-of-war over the state's proposed new science standards, which embrace Charles Darwin's theory as the fundamental pillar of modern biology. The current standards, written in 1996, do not mention the word "evolution."

(full article)

Kids paying for holy war over evolution

From an Op-Ed piece on MiamiHerald.com, a few choice excerpts:

"We're opposed to teaching evolution as a fact", said Oscar Howard Jr., superintendent of the Taylor County, Florida School District.

According to Danny Lundy, vice chairman of the School Board, "'The 'good people' back home" would have "no choice" but to pull their kids out of school.

(full article)

Impositions on understanding the whole process, imposed by those not understanding the whole process.

It is shameful that this ignorant attitude still prevails in many parts of the same country I call home. It's long past time for the rest of our population to wake up, grow up, and give up their childish mythologies; yet exactly the opposite seems to be happening in these areas. These are decent, caring people, so misguided by religious ignorance as to "protect" their children from the very things that could finally wrest them from their abject ignorance and in many cases poverty. And they vote.

The Huckster’s Artful Dodging on Evolution

From insidehighered.com:

In a January 8 article, Inside Higher Ed profiled former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee’s record on issues important to education. While Andy Guess gave a sterling summary of his record on issues specifically related to higher education, professors need to take a closer look at Huckabee’s record on the teaching of evolution in the public schools — an issue that is not specific to higher education, but that ultimately can have a major impact on science education policy and the nature of intellectual debate in the United States.

(full article)

US House of Representatives Violating Separation of Church and State: STOP HOUSE RESOLUTION 888 !

From The Daily Kos:

House Resolution Promotes Fake "Christian Nation" Version Of American History

Is House Resolution 888 a big deal, meaning - does it have a chance ? Well, consider that, on December 11, 2007, the soft Christian nationalist "Christmas Resolution", House Resolution 847 passed on a vote of 372-9.

(more)