Assault on Science: Hall of Fame
We honor journalists, editors, publishers,
museum directors, school boards, politicians, academics and corporations
that help us promote Intelligent Design and the
Design Movement. This prestigious international award was first
given in 1901 for the reduction of biology to
wreckage and rubble. More recently the award recognizes the reduction of chemistry and physics - and rational thought in
general - to wreckage and rubble. The collective accomplishments of Hall of Fame
members help to confound and confuse the public about
important scientific and technical issues. New members
receive their awards (a prize amount, a gold medal and a
diploma) at a dignified ceremony in Tacoma, Washington.
Located on Main Street in the heart of picturesque
Tacoma, Washington, the Assault on Science: Hall of Fame and
Museum is one of Pierce County's most popular destinations
and is surely among the best-known science shrines in
Tacoma. The Hall of Fame stands proudly as a permanent and
definitive repository of wreckage and rubble, that which was once science. The Hall of Fame is a "Field of
Dreams", recording and maintaining stories, legends, and magic
of profound disgrace, as it is passed from generation to
generation.
Assault on Science: Hall of Fame
Click on the names to learn out how each esteemed winner earned his/her award.
Contact Dr. Mazur to nominate someone for this award.
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Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal is a shooting Republican star. Ron Paul has recruited Jindal into the Association of Biologists Opposed to Biology (ABOB). Jindal and Paul both have BAs in Biology.
Jindal's genetics professor at Brown, Dr Arthur Landy, wrote, "Without evolution, modern biology, including medicine and biotechnology, wouldn't make sense...I hope he [Jindal] doesn't do anything that would hold back the next generation of Louisiana's doctors."
You lose Dr. Landy, you over-educated atheistic Darwinian menace. Jindal happily supported and signed the Louisiana Science Education Act (LSEA), allowing school boards to impose classroom materials that "critique" various scientific theories. Good ol'boy school board members in Louisiana are encouraged to mess with the theories of evolution, origin of life, global warming, and human cloning. Is human cloning a theory? Only in Louisiana.
Mama don't let your biology majors grow up to be Republicans
They seem OK at Duke or Brown, then their IQs go down
Even with something they learn
Republican Biologists happily turn and wingnut votes they hastily earn
The reDiscovery Institute welcomes Bobby Jindal to the Assault on Science: Hall of Fame.
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Ron Paul, when asked about evolution, said,
"I thought it was a very inappropriate question [for presidential candidates]...I think it's a theory, the theory of evolution, and I don't accept it as a theory."
We tolerate certain behaviors by Bush, Brownback, Tancredo, and Huckabee by reason of their supreme ignorance and modest intellectual capabilities. But Ron Paul has a degree in Biology (!) from Gettysburg College and an M.D. from Duke University. All those years studying biology and somehow Ron Paul never understood or accepted the central organizing theory of biology. Or maybe to become a Republican politician he had to unlearn biology. But that's OK, Dr. Azo Mazur has a Ph.D. in Chemistry and he has never understood or accepted the central organizing theory of chemistry (Chemical Periodicity). Ron Paul and Azo Mazur should team up. Paul and Azo for America in 2008 or 2012 or maybe 2016.
Tom DeRosa, President of the Creation Studies Institute, asked, "Will your office support and encourage a more open approach to education in the presentation of scientific facts that contradict the theory of evolution?" [That's double secret code for "Will you teach the controversy? Will you force creation science/intelligent design on defenseless children?"]
Ron Paul's answer? "Yes."
The reDiscovery Institute welcomes Ron Paul to the Assault on Science: Hall of Fame.
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Ben Stein made a movie, called Expelled. The premise of Expelled is that Intelligent Design is cool, edgy and rebellious while real science is boring, conservative and tyrannical.
In Ben's movie dull scientists persecute hip intelligent designers. Ben's movie does not show affirmative action for right-wing religious zealots.
Ben's movie does not show fake science institutes with fake scientists.
In Ben's movie a devout Roman Catholic Scientist like Kenneth Miller must have been driven from academia, and could not be a tenured Professor at Brown University.
Ben Stein
reveals that, "
Darwinists have no theory whatsoever about the origin of life, none whatsoever, except the most hazy, the kind of preposterous, New Age hypothesis." Yes, the cult is exposed. Drs. Nick Hud (Georgia Tech), Shelley Copley (Colorado), Jack Szostak (Harvard), Leslie Orgel (deceased) and the rest are granola munching mystics, who chant under pyramids, offering incense and fruit to icons of Darwin and Mendeleev.
Ben thinks the big question in biology is, "Were we designed or are we simply the end result of an ancient mud puddle struck by lightning?" The High Wattage Mud Puddle, an attractive alternative to the RNA World hypothesis.
Ben says that scientists prevent
"even mention the possibility that - as Newton or Galileo believed - [scientific] laws were created by God or a higher being. They could get fired, lose tenure, have their grants cut off. This can happen. It has happened."
Ben believes that there is
"widespread suppression and entrenched discrimination that is spreading in our institutions, laboratories and most importantly, in our classrooms, and that is doing irreparable harm to some of the world's top scientists, educators, and thinkers."
It is so true. Students who discuss intelligent design are ridiculed and condemned at universities. Everyone knows the infamous story of Jesse Warts, a sophomore at the University of Georgia. The intelligent designer reduced Jesse's reaction yields, deleted sections of her laboratory notebook, and caused her to sleep through her final exams. Tyrannical Mendeleevists claim that it was poor laboratory technique and excessive partying. Jesse's D-minus in organic chemistry is just another example of persecution by secular academics.
Like many card-carrying members of the right-wing noise machine, Ben Stein was born to privilege. He inherited his politics, his employment and his home (in Malibu). Ben's poppa Herbert Stein was well-connected. Poppa Stein was a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a member of the board of contributors of the Wall Street Journal, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers under President Nixon and President Ford, and life-long Nixon apologist.
Ben, with a leg up from Poppa, got jobs as a speech writer and lawyer for Richard Nixon, then Gerald Ford. Poppa's connections got Ben a job writing editorials for the Wall Street Journal. Ben even inherited a slot as a writer at Slate. What does Ben think about his father? "When I think about it, I want to cry" - "it" being the federal estate tax.
Ben Stein, like other members of the right-wing noise machine loves and admires our leader.
According to Ben, George W. Bush is
"going to go down in history as one of the great peacemakers...".
Ben was an active cheerleader for the war in Iraq. He thinks
"the media plays up endlessly frat-boy mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison..."
Ben is troubled by the
"horrible, Stalinesque persecution -- not prosecution, persecution -- of Scooter Libby."
Ben is probably the only sentient being in the galaxy who
believes
that Nixon
"ended the war in Vietnam."
You are a star, Ben Stein. The reDiscovery Institute wants you. We welcome you to the Assault on Science: Hall of Fame.
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We honor New York Times science writer William J. Broad with our special "Fabricate a Scientific Controversy" award. Mr. Broad's brand of fabricated-controversy journalism is critical to the success of the ID movement and to idiocy in general. With his latest masterpiece of fabricated scientific controversy, William Broad has reduced Science to - you guessed it - Wreckage and Rubble!
Like William Broad, we at the reDiscovery Institute promote controversies. Teach the Global Warming Controversy! Teach the Evolution Controversy! Teach the Chemical Periodicity Controversy! Teach the AIDS Controversy! Teach the Bigfoot Controversy! Teach all the controversies, each and every one. Here, to celebrate the genius of William Broad, we provide a little context on theory and application of fabricated scientific controversy.
AIDS meets Journalism. The scope and breadth of journalism-spawned Fabricated Scientific Controversies about AIDs is truly minding boggling. Journalists use Peter Duesberg (a Professor at UC, Berkeley), Kary Mullis (who has a Nobel Prize, after all) and other fringe scientists to trick readers into believing there are scientific controversies about AIDS and the HIV theory, and methods of transmission and prevention. In fact there is strong scientific consensus about HIV/AIDS. The vast majority of scientists reject Duesberg and Mullis and other denialists. But so what? What's the problem with a little public confusion if it pushes up sales of Harpers Magazine, the Boston Globe, and the New York Observer and promotes the careers of editors and journalists?
OK, maybe a few dead people. That's right, there was that HIV-positive woman, Christine Maggiore, who bought in to the controversy and avoided antivirals during pregnancy. She refused HIV testing for her children. Her daughter Eliza lived for three short years - just a bit of collateral damage in the exercise of modern journalism. We give special mention to Rian Malan (Rolling Stone) who argued that AIDS in South Africa is exaggerated, and that funding for AIDs prevention should be curtailed. Go Rian!
Global Warming meets NYT Journalist William Broad. William Broad has penned a stunning article for us. In a March 13, 2007 article on the front page of the science section of the New York Times, "From a Rapt Audience, a Call to Cool the Hype," William Broad trashes "An Inconvenient Truth". Mr Broad cites scientists (such as Richard Lindzen, Roy Spencer, Bjorn Lomborg, Roy Spencer, Benny Peiser, Don Easterbrook) who criticize Al Gore's documentary.
He implies these are "rank-and-file scientists" who "...appear to occupy a middle ground in the climate debate, seeing human activity as a serious threat but challenging what they call the extremism of both skeptics and zealots."
In truth these are fringe scientists who have publicly disputed the consensus theory of anthropomorphic global warming (IPCC report here) or reasonable mainstream remedies.
Roy Spencer is a joke (ha ha) who made algebraic and sign errors in his analysis of satellite date - to indicate (incorrectly) that the atmosphere is not warming. Bjorn Lomborg? Please, no, Please, no. Don Easterbrook? Is anyone else predicting that the earth will
cool
over the next century? No. Richard Lindzen? We will be kind, and describe him merely as way way way outside the scientific mainstream (here, here). Richard Lindzen is the Peter Duesberg of global warming.
In William Broad's fabrication, this band of lunatics is the "middle ground."
Turning the world inside out is our best weapon in journalism's assault on science. In this proven and effective method for fabricating scientific controversy, Journalist William Broad misleads his readers about these fringe scientists.
Journalist William Broad pretends fringe scientists are mainstream scientists and that real mainstream scientists are "alarmist".
Broad's band of lunatics harbor and promote theories that are far outside a strong scientific consensus - which is that global warming and climate change are real, are largely anthropogenic, and are likely to cause deleterious changes in the environment.
The vast majority of scientists reject Lindzen, Spencer, Lomborg, Spencer, Peiser, and Easterbrook on global warming.
To learn what real climatologists think about Al Gore's movie, go here or here.
You, silly reader, are kept in the dark about all that by Journalist William Broad, who has
a sorry history of hackery on global warming.
Further reduction of science to wreckage and rubble springs forth spontaneously, as Broad's misleading premise is propagated and amplified by our noise machine here, here, here and here.
Wow. A journalist at the NYT, in a few hours with Google, can overthrow millions of person-hours of research by well-trained scientists. What fun. William Broad will merit special mention in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, USA - Fabrication of Controversy Supplement. We welcome William Broad to the Assault on Science: Hall of Fame.
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We thank Starbucks Coffee for helping to promote the Design Movement. Some Starbucks Coffee cups state, "Darwinism's impact on traditional social values has not been as benign as its advocates would like us to believe. Despite the efforts of its modern defenders to distance themselves from its baleful social consequences, Darwinism's connection with eugenics, abortion and racism is a matter of historical record, and the record is not pretty." That is a quote from Discovery Fellow Dr. Jonathan Wells.
Starbucks has adorned coffee cups with equally insightful comments by Wesley Smith, another Discovery Institute Fellow. "The morality of the 21st century will depend on how we respond to this simple but profound question: Does every human life have equal moral value simply and merely because it is human? Answer yes, and we have a chance of achieving universal human rights. Answer no, and it means that we are merely another animal in the forest." Humans can never accept such indignity. Deny evolution. Kill wildlife. Log the forests. We must escape this existential cul-de-sac.
Starbucks thinks that promoting Intelligent Design is a way of "sparking conversation" and promoting "good healthy discussion." Welcome to the Hall of Fame, Starbucks.
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Gregg Easterbroook is a true pundit "who sees around corners". He writes about science and sports, for Slate, the Atlantic Monthly, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, Newsweek, US News and World Report, Wired, and ESPN.com. Scratch ESPN.com; they fired him. But Slate countered with a big promotion. In 2000, Gregg Easterbrook wrote
(in The
Wall Street Journal, August 8),
"Intelligent design is a sophisticated theory now being argued
out in the nation's top universities.
[snip]
The intelligent design theory may or may not be correct, but it's a rich, absorbing
hypothesis--the sort of thing that is fascinating to debate, and might get students
excited about biology class to boot."
Six years later, Gregg Easterbrook might tell us how the rich debate at our nation's top
universities turned out. Why no real peer-reviewed papers about Intelligent Design? Why no posters at ASBMB meetings? Why no NIH or NSF grants? Why no field expeditions? Why
no graduate students or post docs working feverishly into the night? Why no research
centers? Why no patents? Why no start-up companies? Why no Gordon Conferences? Even
polywater had a Gordon Conference. Let's have an accounting Mr. Easterbrook. How did that debate in biology class turn out? Have you ever been in a biology class?
Gregg Easterbrook also "believes
(NFL Network, Dec. 9, 2003)
that human beings were made by a God who loves us.
[snip]
In Darwinian terms, there would be no 'selection pressure' favoring the peaceful death
over the horrible death. Yet there appear to be biological mechanisms that help most
people die peacefully. Why are such mechanisms in our physiologies? Maybe because
somebody loves us."
Someone loves us. So our deaths are peaceful. What sweet death it was for those taken
- by Tsunamis in Indonesia, by bombings in Iraq, by AIDs in Africa, by diarrhea in
Bangladesh, by the great biblical flood, and by brimstone and fire that rained down on
Sodom and Gomorrah. We now understand why snakes, despised by God and condemned to
slither on their bellies, show terror as death approaches, while blessed humans accept
and embrace death. Someone loves us.
More recently Gregg Easterbrook made the observation
(Slate, Sept. 14, 2006)
that, "Today if a professor at Princeton claims there are 11 unobservable dimensions
about which he can speak with great confidence despite an utter lack of supporting
evidence, that professor is praised for incredible sophistication. If another person
in the same place asserted there exists one unobservable dimension, the plane of the
spirit, he would be hooted down as a superstitious crank."
Those hooting physics professors at Princeton should be required to attend the
Easterbrook Program for Advanced Studies. There they can learn how the
Easterbrook ONE dimensional "plane of the spirit" is a plane and not a
line, even though it is only one dimensional. They can learn about points,
lines, planes, and spaces of the spirit. Once those professors at
Princeton understand Easterbrook mathematics, they can learn Easterbrook
physics. They can learn how an Easterbrook spirit wave function is
formed by a linear combination of ghost and goblin wave functions. And
then, finally, those professors will be ready to understand the Garden
of Eden, Noah's Ark, the Virgin Birth, the Resurrection, the
brimstone and fire that the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah, and the invasion of Iraq.
Gregg Easterbrook asks
(The New Republic July 26, 2004), "What came before the Big Bang?
[snip]
... purported explanations of how entire galaxies could emanate from nowhere don't do
especially well on the common-sense test [accent added]. Maybe there was a Big Bang, but until
cosmologists can offer some depiction of the prior condition, the line of thought is
suspect."
Just because they studied physics for years and years and work on physics day in and day out, those
cosmologist snobs with abnormal IQs think they are better at physics than Gregg
Easterbrook. Well sorry, the Big Bang theory fails the common-sense test, and
fails miserably. The big bang is incomprehensible to common-sense common-man Gregg
Easterbrook. And the same applies to quantum mechanics, and the wave-particle duality
of light, and general relativity, and oh yes, to chemical periodicity. Which godless blue state liberals came up with all these failures of Gregg's common-sense test? Dimwitted
Princeton Professors!!! The reDiscovery Institute proposes:
The Gregg Easterbrook Hypothesis Test
What Gregg Easterbrook can't understand is False
We at the reDiscovery Institute honor Gregg Easterbrook. He is a
concern troll on global warming
and a
character assassin
of biologists. Easterbrook thinks Al Gore is factually
"imprecise and morally careless" about global warming,"
while George W. Bush
in his second term,
"will be the president who imposes global-warming controls"
(oops). Easterbrook has not found time or space to comment on the precision and morality of George Bush.
But hey, Jack Shafer at Slate likes Gregg Easterbrook.
Jack
says
Gregg is
"a thoughtful, deliberate, and precise journalist... [snip] a polymath and a quick
study. [snip] His career has been about rigor, originality, and sincerity."
In his own words
Here are some examples of Gregg Easterbrook summarizing and advertising his publications.
"The surprising drop in teen pregnancy may mean Dan Quayle was right all along."
[Translation: Dan Quayle is OK but Al Gore is "imprecise"]
"Why superstring theory and theology are close cousins." [Translation: science = religion]
"The religious convictions of Jefferson, Lincoln, and Washington were far more controversial than George W. Bush's beliefs."
[One of those names should never be in proximity with the other three]
"A new Dutch study makes it harder to dismiss the phenomenon of 'near death experience'."
[Translation: science proves religion]
"Science and Religion: The New Convergence." [Translation: science proves religion]
"Scientific discoveries deepen suspicions that Bible stories are as much history as legend."
[Translation: science proves religion]
"A strident anti-creationist's churlish rhetoric debases what could be fascinating conversation about what made us and why." [The smearing of Richard Dawkins]
"Why Ashcroft is a legitimate choice for Bush's attorney general."
[Because Gonzales is worse?]
"The notion of life as a vacuous accident is an opinion, not an objective induction'."
[Translation: I shill for the Discovery Institute]
"Science can't find 90% of the cosmos. This "missing mass" problem may hold clues to the Big Bang and to the plane of the spirit."
[Translation: science proves religion]
"Perhaps intergalactic distance is simply the result of physics, or perhaps it reflects preternatural logic." [Translation: science proves religion]
Gregg
Easterbrook is living breathing proof that one can simultaneously be (i) a pundit, deeply respected by the likes of Jack Shafer and widely published in the popular press, (ii) so arrogant as to lecture physicists on physics, and (iii) a blithering idiot with a congenital absence of cognitive ability.
We welcome Mr. Gregg Easterbrook to the Assault on Science: Hall of Fame. His boy Jack Shafer will serve Tea at the Induction Ceremony and clear up afterwards.
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Ann Coulter has said so much about science and evolution that we can only sample a small portion of it here.
In her 2006 Book
(here),
which was ranked number one on the NYT best sellers list (the NYT considers it to be nonfiction), Ann invents a new term
"Darwiniac",
and she writes,
"...biologists are barely even scientists anymore. They're
classifiers, list-makers, like librarians with their Dewey decimal system. Except
librarians don't claim the Dewey decimal system holds the Rosetta Stone to the
universe. There were once great biologists, but the morally vacuous ones began to
promote their own at the universities."
Let's get specific Ann Coulter. Let's talk about MIT. At MIT, the Department of Biology (Course 7!) is the home of 4 Nobel Laureates, 22 National Academy of Sciences members, 12 Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigators. Fancy titles, yes, but we know those are not real scientists. Those are morally vacuous atheists pushing the evolution hoax on defenseless undergraduates. These professors like biology because it disconnects sex from the Bible.
"Darwinism never disappoints the liberals. They never say 'Well, I'd like to have cheap
meaningless sex tonight, but that would violate Darwinism.' (snip)
If you have an instinct to do it, it must be evolved adaptation. Liberals
subscribe to Darwinism not because it's science, which they hate, but out of some
wishful thinking. Darwinism lets them off the hook morally."
MIT professors having cheap meaningless sex... Gobind Khorana? Alex Rich?
And the science behind it all?
"There is no evidence that it is true. The fossil record contradicts it, and it is a
theory that cannot be disproved. Whatever happens is said to "prove" evolution. This
is the very definition of a pseudoscience, like astrology."
(here)
Yes, we do have evidence that MIT is a den of astrological inequity. Bob Horvitz is a Virgo (seeking perfection and purification of the self), Phil Sharp is Aquarius (eccentricity and radical individuality seeking freedom of the soul), and Susumu Tonegawa is Leo (seeking confidence, ease, and honor in the social world).
"...evolution is the official state religion.... it's
very important for the liberal clergy to force small school children to believe in a
discredited mystery religion from the 19th century -- evolution -- in order to prepare
them to believe in the nonexistence of God, one of the main goals of the American
public education system."
(here)
The best we can say about Ann Coulter is that she may not be significantly less intelligent than Gregg Easterbrook. Where did Ann learn so much about science? Not at MIT obviously. She had help from Little Willie Demski. Willie says
(here),
"I'm happy to report that I was in constant correspondence with Ann regarding her
chapters on Darwinism - indeed, I take all responsibility for any errors in those
chapters."
Welcome to the Hall of Fame, Ann Coulter.
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Tom Delay read a letter from the floor of the US House of Representatives and into the Congressional Record,
in response to the Columbine High School shootings
(here):
"... our school systems teach the children that they are nothing but glorified apes who have evolutionized out of some primordial soup of mud."
In addition to promoting the new verb evolutionize, Tom correctly
identified Darwinism as one cause of social breakdown. But mysteriously he neglected
Medeleevism. The implications of Mendeleevism are worse than those of Darwinism. If
humans are truly composed of atheistic molecules interacting in directionless brownian
motion, lacking moral compass, then high school students can, will and must shoot each other.
Why not? The teaching of the Bohr Theory of
the atom has led inexorably to the development and proliferation of nuclear weapons in
non-Christian nations. Welcome to the Hall of Fame, Tom Delay.
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Patrick Buchanan put to final rest the Dover opinion of Judge John E. Jones III
(December 27, 2005, here).
Pat noted that, "Like Marxism and Freudianism, Darwinism appears destined for
the graveyard of discredited ideas..."
Yes, the Graveyard of Discredited Ideas (GDI), we know it well and pass it by quickly on
dark wintery nights, with a sense of dread and foreboding.
Once Darwinism is dead, gone and buried in the GDI, Mendeleevism will quickly follow. We will bury that Periodic Table.
Coincidentally (or not), the imminent demise of Mendeleevism was announced by Pat
in an exclusive interview with Dr. Azo Mazur of the reDiscovery Institute.
Wakes for Darwinism and Mendeleevism are in the pre-planning stages at
the GDI Funeral Home (exit 92, Interstate 5, just south of Tacoma, valet parking available).
With relief, we prepare to kiss these twin towers of secularism goodbye forever.
Adieu Darwin. Adieu Mendeleev. We shall think back fondly, but with embarrassment, on
romantic notions such detailed mechanisms of development of antibiotic resistance in
bacteria, and the idea that carbon forms four bonds, nitrogen forms three bonds and
oxygen forms two bonds. Magnesium and calcium in the same Alkaline Earth column, that silly thought
brings a small tear.
But science cannot be nostalgic or backward-looking. We agree with Pat, that Darwinism
"contains dogmas men may believe, but cannot stand the burden of proof, the acid of
attack or the demands of science." Strong acid is eating away Darwinism. Strong base is eating away Mendeleevism.
Pat Buchanan offers creative and important new interpretations of Darwin. He says
"Darwinism claims, for example, that matter evolved from non-matter --
i.e., something from nothing -- that life evolved from non-life; that, through natural selection,
rudimentary forms evolved into more complex forms; and that men are descended from animals or apes."
Matter from non-matter? We know that just can't happen or the world would have a matter surplus.
Life from non-life? We know that just can't happen. A rock, no matter how long we wait, is not going to write music.
Humans descended from apes? We know that just can't happen because apes are still around.
The Institute and its Fellows agree with Pat Buchanan, that
"Darwinism... makes claims that are beyond the capacity of science to prove."
We welcome Patrick Buchanan to the Assault on Science: Hall of Fame.
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Senator John McCain (Senator Straight Talk, aka The Maverick) can be a rigid and unyielding character.
Senator Straight Talk opposes your right to decide whether or not you smoke dope, have
an abortion, or download pornography. Senator Straight Talk believes high school
students with knowledge of human sexual biology will use it inappropriately (to have
sex), and therefore should be denied that knowledge.
But sometimes Senator Straight Talk morphs into Johnny McFuzz, a character who is
soft, warm, cuddly and fuzzy.
On Feb 23, 2007 Johnny McFuzz found time in his busy schedule help out the Discovery Institute, by speaking at one of their events in Seattle.
Johnny McFuzz was on MTV promoting his
presidential bid and his book, entitled
Character Is Destiny: Inspiring Stories Every Young Person Should Know and Every
Adult Should Remember. For his Discovery Institute and MTV gigs, John McCain stuffed Senator Straight Talk in a box
in the closet.
On December 12, 2005, MTV asked Johnny McFuzz if Intelligent Design should be included in high school science curricula. Senator Straight Talk
would have answered, "Leave that to the experts who know more than you do." But for
a flexible, live-and-let-live guy like Johnny McFuzz, the answer was different.
"Let the student decide," Johnny McFuzz replied
(here),
demonstrating the warmness and fuzziness of his character, putting aside for just a while the rigidity and
tyranny of his Senator Straight Talk character.
"...when I stand on the rim of the Grand Canyon and look at that grandeur, I detect the hand of God there in the time before
time. I see no reason why students should not be exposed to all theories, recognizing that Darwin's theory's certainly one
that is generally accepted in most of the scientific community. I think it's not inappropriate to say there are also people who
believe this. Let the student decide."
Intelligent Design is "a theory, just like evolution is a theory..." says Johnny McFuzz
(December 19, 2005, Kentucky Author Forum at the Kentucky Center, here).
When it comes to a cancer patient's's right to smoke a joint to relieve nausea,
we side with the Senator Straight Talk character: deny the cancer patient the choice, because we know best.
When it comes to high school science,
we side with the warm and fuzzy Johnny McFuzz character: allow students choices from a lavish
smorgasbord of possible realities. Evolution is just a theory. Chemical Periodicity is just a theory. What kind of geek would chose to learn about the
periodic table? Teacher don't you mess me up with your rules, everybody
knows that chemical periodicity ain't needed in school.
We have a prediction for the title of Senator Straight Talk's and Johnny McFuzz's next book:
Characters a Plenty: Pandering Techniques Every Young Republican Should Know and Every Slimy Politician Uses before November.
We welcome both Johnny McFuzz and Senator McCain to the Assault on Science: Hall of Fame.
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Dr. Steve William Fuller,
of the Department of Sociology, University of Warwick. Dr. Fuller offered himself as an
Expert Witness in Kitzmiller et al. versus Dover Area School District (one of the most
significant courtroom clashes on evolution since Scopes). He attacked Evolution and
Darwinism with clarity, insight and poetry reflected in his publications, such as (no we
are not making any of this up, check out his c.v. at the end of
this document):
(1) Talking Metaphysical Turkey about Epistemological Chicken, and the Poop on Pidgins
(2) Will Sociology find some New Concepts before the US finds Osama bin Laden?
(3) Is Science Policy Superstitious? The View from Mars
(4) User-Friendliness: Friend or Foe?
(5) They Shoot Dead Horses, Don't They? Philosophical Fear and Sociological Loathing in St. Louis
(6) Simon Says 'Put Your Foot in Your Mouth'
(7) A Plague on Both Your Houses: Beyond Recidivism in the Sociological Theory Debate
(8) The Psychopathology of an Everyday Sociologist: Why Bryant Should Buy His Philosophy of Science by
Prescription Rather than Off the Shelf
(9) The Social Epistemologist in Search of a Position from Which to Argue
(10) Does Science Put an End to History, or History to Science?
(11) The University as a Creative Destroyer of Social Capital
(12) Some Steps towards the Recovery of Technical Writing as a Democratic Art: An Historicist Plea for Rhetoric
Describing Dr. Fuller's soaring accomplishments in the language he
abuses so well, we say he salted the turkey soup of
Intelligent Design with the pepper of post-modernism. He concocted a souffle of stupidity
in the domicile of Design d'Intelligence. He sat on the stool of science and soiled the
seat with psychic hocus-pocus, mumbo-jumbo, and namby-pamby. Informative portions of Dr.
Fuller's Cloaca Maxima (Dover Testimony) are presented here (link broken, unfortunately our
reDiscovery Institute's expert panel was able to identify
letters, words, punctuation and gammer, but nothing that can be interpreted as meaningful or significant).
Dr. Fuller is unsurpassed in
his ability to maximize incomprehensible jargon and minimize information and logic.
In honoring Dr. Fuller, the Institute notes he is a promising TV Biologist. Dr.
Fuller has obviously been inspired by the famous TV Biologist Gimmick the Jerk to never do an experiment or learn any biology.
Dr. Fuller has reached adulthood without comprehending
the difference between protein and DNA (seriously). In addition, Dr. Fuller has expanded the boundaries of
the theory, application and practice of "Resume Enlargement and Augmentation". He
increased the girth of his CV up to 3-4 full inches without drugs, painful surgery or
honest accomplishment. He satisfied his tenure and promotion committee for a long
weekend. With such an able advocate, one wonders why the judge ruled against the Dover
Area School Board, concluding that they violated the Constitution in forcing Intelligent
Design into the biology curriculum. Why did the judge write that some individuals "lie(d)
to cover their tracks and disguise the real purpose behind the ID Policy." Hmmm. Maybe
the judge did not comprehend the deep deep meaning of Dr. Fuller's testimony. Anyway, the
reDiscovery Institute celebrates the induction of Dr. Steve
William Fuller into the Hall of Fame.
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Assault on Science: Hall of Fame Member!
Sally Jenkins, columnist for the Washington Post. Ms. Jenkins wrote a column called
"Just Check the ID" (Monday August 29, 2005, here). She offers stern advice to
Darwinists. "First, let's get rid of the idea that ID (intelligent design) is a form of
sly creationism. It isn't. ID is unfairly confused with the movement to teach creationism
in public schools." The Institute agrees that it not constructive to conflate ID with creationism,
even though the link with creationism is irrefutable.
It is time for Darwinists to stop frightening the public with facts.
Ms. Jenkins presents ID as a real theory
supported by legitimate scientists. "The most serious ID proponents are complexity
theorists, legitimate scientists among them, who believe that strict Darwinism and
especially neo-Darwinism (the notion that all of our qualities are the product of random
mutation) is inadequate to explain the high level of organization at work in the world."
Ms. Jenkins is forgiven her totally ridiculous and uninformed description of evolutionary
mechanism, she is, after all, a journalist writing for an audience of millions, not some
techno-bio-geeko-neo-dar-wino-loser with a PhD. Concepts like natural selection, adaptation,
'survival of the fittest', gene duplication, and serial endosymbiosis are fine for arcane textbooks,
but not for the Washington Post. 'Random mutation' is all the Post needs to know,
or say about evolution.
Ms. Jenkins introduces us to a Dr. Jeffrey M. Schwartz who is affiliated
with UCLA. She quotes him extensively, but does not mention that
Dr. Schwartz has made all kinds of outlandish claims. He
believes
that he has provided "hard evidence
that the mind can control the brain's chemistry, and that it can do so through
the classic Buddhist idea of mindfulness." According the Ms. Jenkins, "Jeffrey M.
Schwartz, a neuroscientist and research professor of psychiatry at the UCLA School of
Medicine, is a believer in ID... He finds Darwinism... to be problematic."
Ms. Jenkins does not disclose that Dr. Schwartz, along with
Drs. Behe and Dembski, is a Fellow of the
International Society for Complexity,
Information and Design. Dr. Schwartz claims to be
"responsible for some of the most significant scientific work and practice in the field of
OCD (Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder". He also claims to be "the author of almost 100
scientific publications in the fields of neuroscience and psychiatry" (claims made
here
and here).
Oops. Although Dr. Schwartz certainly writes books for popular consumption, and does well by
it, a simple Medline Search (results here)
reveals he has 12 authentic scientific publications, in peer-reviewed journals. Is 12 nearly 100?
Even worse, four of those are
in journal supplements, suggesting they are meeting abstracts rather than full peer-reviewed articles.
Three are reviews, rather
than descriptions of novel research.
Dr. Schwartz is principle (and sole) author of only a single publication, a
review in a supplement to the British Journal of Psychiatry. His claims to be solely
"responsible for
some of the most significant scientific work and practice in the field of OCD
(Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder" and author of "almost 100 scientific publications"
are gross exaggerations.
And of course he has no publications at all and no expertise in the field
of evolutionary theory or experiment, the subject of Ms. Jenkin's column.
So we thank you Sally Jenkins for a really bang up job. The Institute honors you.
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Larry King,
very rich and
famous CNN Journalist, on August 23, 2005, after
a rivetting discussion of the mysterious disappearance of Olivia Newton-John's boyfriend, earned our highest honor by fearlessly asking
Darwinist Barbara Forrest, "All right, hold on. Dr. Forrest, (explain) your concept of how can
you out-and-out turn down creationism, since if evolution is true, why are there
still monkeys?" (transcript)
Larry King, in that short, garbled sentence, exposed the soft intellectual underbelly of that beast they call evolution. Since ape-like creatures evolved into humans, all ape-like creatures should be gone!
Dr. Forrest was flummoxed.
Can she deny recent observations of live monkeys?
There is more: Dr. Mazur and his cousin Little Willie Dembski seem to both be living, at least breathing,
yet they have common ancestors, just like humans and monkeys. Can Dr. Forrest deny
evidence of cousins?
Not being a scientist, Larry is probably unaware of additional evidence against evolution. There are still lots of bacteria around, too.
Does evolution not claim common ancestry of humans and bacteria? They should be dead, no? Yes Dr. Forrest,
the jig is up,
please spare us your far-fetched story about how evolution can be true even if there are residual monkeys, and residual bacteria, too.
Explain fish, who also share ancestery with humans, Dr. Forrest, should they all be dead if your theory were correct. Welcome Larry King, to the Assault on Science: Hall of Fame.
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Mr. Tony Snow was host of the
'Tony Snow Show' on Fox News Radio and "Weekend Live with Tony Snow" on the FOX
News Channel before he was appointed press secretary to
George W. Bush. On August 12, 2005, Mr. Snow showed how qualified he is to
teach his viewers about evolutionary
theory (transcript).
He says, "...some species... transformed themselves
into higher species." Yes, evolution works by an act of will,
like in the movies. Clark
Kent ducks into a phone booth and evolves himself into superman.
Then Mr. Snow
gives his view of how the scientific process works.
"Evolutionary theory, like ID, isn't verifiable or
testable." Why the fossil record (here or here),
comparative anatomy and molecular biology (here), Darwin's Finches (here), real time observation of evolutionary change (here), etc (here, here, and here) do
not constitute tests of evolutionary theory, um well, Mr. Snow will make time
for that on another day. Mr. Snow provides deep insights into the scientific
process. "Sure, science involves trial and error.
Scientists refine theories each day." But he doesn't have time to tell us
that really important theories, like Intelligent Design, require much
much more. Intelligent Design requires promotion by shoddy journalists. It is
pushed forward by lawsuits, and school boards in Kansas and Georgia, and state
legislatures everywhere. It thrives on funding from religious lunatics and
pronouncements by Senators and even the President. Think of what Einstein could
have accomplished with Tony Snow, the Kansas Board of Education and the
reDiscovery Institute at his side.
Welcome to the Hall of Fame, Tony.
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Elisabeth Bumiller reports that
"Intelligent design, advanced by a group of academics and
intellectuals and some biblical creationists, disputes the idea that natural
selection - the force Charles Darwin suggested drove evolution - fully explains
the complexity of life." Academics and intellectuals? She is refering to Fellows
of the reDiscovery Institute along with Fellows of some affiliated institutes.
The reDiscovery Institute is very appreciative that Ms. Bumiller and her colleagues at the Newspaper of Record,
do not describe Intelligent Design advocates as devote Christians. "Academics and Intellectuals" sounds
much more impressive than "Devote Christians". Ms. Bumiller has
conned her audience into believing that a significant number of real biologists take Intelligent
Design seriously, when that is not true.
Later in the same article she writes, "Invigorated by a recent push by conservatives, the theory [ID]
has been gaining support in school districts in 20 states, with Kansas in the
lead."
Theory? The Institute is also appreciative of Ms. Bumiller and her colleagues at the Newspaper of Record
for telling Americans that Intelligent Design is a 'theory', when in reality it is not testable, nor is it falsifiable,
nor does it meet any criteria used to define a scientific theory.
It is obvious from her deep and insightful
article that Ms. Bumiller is strongly motivated and well-qualified to write about science and science education.
She clearly did her homework on this one, interviewing all
those great ID thinkers. She stayed up to the wee hours, discussing the
differences between theories, observations, facts and hypotheses and religion,
faith and blind stupidity. And don't forget Biology. She learned about DNA, gene
duplication, cytosine deamination and error-prone replication.
We urge Liz to stay the course, to do it for chemistry, too! We ask her to pen
some incomprehensible gibberish about Dr.
Mazur, the intellectual god-father of the Chemical Design Movement. We welcome Elisabeth Bumiller to the
Assault on Science: Hall of Fame.
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(7)
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Assault on Science: Hall of Fame Member!
CNN host Lou
Dobbs. On the May 12, 2005 edition of Lou Dobbs Tonight
(transcript),
Lou hosted
what he called a "distinguished panel", that included Jonathan Wells, a senior
fellow at the Discovery Institute and John Morris, president of the Institute
for Creation Research. On the show, Lou said that, "faith
is required in all views regarding the beginning of life, whether scientific,
so-called, or whether religious."
Go Lou! The Institute thanks Lou for telling millions of Americans that evolution is a religion.
In the same interview, Lou goes on to say, "The fact is, that evolution, Darwinism, is not a fully explained
or completely rigorous and defined science that has testable results within
it."
Of course the fossil record (here or here),
comparative anatomy and molecular biology (here), Darwin's Finches (here), real time observation of evolutionary change (here), etc (here, here, and here) might be
considered tests of evolutionary theory, but Lou is a BIG PICTURE GUY.
Those are just details, not worthy of the time or effort of a big time journalist.
With his declaration, that evolution is a religion, Lou has met or exceeded all the standards that we
expect of our most highly paid journalists.
We hope Lou will do for chemistry what he has done for biology. Lou should host a panel to discredit
chemical periodicity, then he can do gravity.
Welcome to the Hall of Fame, Lou Dobbs.
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(6)
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Assault on Science: Hall of Fame Member!
John Hanna
of the Associated Press shows the dopes (you and me, his
readers) "the big Darwinian picture", as explained by Dr. John West.
The erudite Dr. West is a Senior Fellow at the Discovery Institute. Mr.
Hanna writes that Senior Fellow Dr. West is puzzled by the "Cambrian Explosion -
a sudden appearance of diverse, multicelled life... Where fossils for ancestors
of Cambrian life should exist, [Mr West] said, they are lacking...turning
Darwin's theory on its head". Yes, poor senior Fellow Dr. West is puzzled. Mr.
Hanna didn't let on to us dopes that poor puzzled Mr. West is a religious
eccentric with a BA in communications, a PhD in Government, a big budget, and
no training in biology at all. None!!! Mr. Hanna did not think it
was important to tell his readers that Dr. West does not know the Cambrian
Explosion from his elbow.
Welcome to the Hall of Fame, John Hanna.
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Dr. Joseph Newton
,
Dean of the College of Sciences of Texas A & M University, who awarded the
2005 "Trotter Prize" to Design Theorist William Dembski. TAMU
believes that William Dembski and Stuart Kauffman are
"...two of the nation's top scientists ."
Dr.Newton, we at the reDiscovery Institute appreciate your willingness to leverage the reputation of TAMU
for promoting the Intelligent Design Movement. Please do for chemistry what you
have done for biology. Award next year's Trotter Prize to a proponent of
Chemical Design. Encourage your biology and chemistry professors to teach the controversies, all of them, each and every one. We thank TAMU, a Research-1 University, for providing important
leadership for K-12 teachers all across America.
(4)
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Jay Mathews
, Journalist, Washington Post. On March 22, 2005, the illustrious Washington Post published Jay's
"Who's Afraid of Intelligent
Design?" Jay's day job is to impart knowledge about schools and education to
us ignorant masses. In his article Mr. Matthews tells us that in high school he
"slogged joylessly through all the phyla and the principles of Darwinism... It
never occurred to (him) that (biology) could have been as interesting as history
until (he) recently started to read about 'intelligent design.'"
Mr Mathews thinks,
"critiques of modern biology ...could be one of the best things to
happen to high school science."
He thinks high school biology teachers should Teach the Controversy.
Mr. Mathews, Obviously your painful experiences in high school science drove you into journalism. You are in a
perfect position to exact revenge by promoting the Design Movement. Please do for chemistry what you have done for biology. In your next article for the Washington Post why not suggest that educators give equal time to Chemical
Periodicity and Chemical Design? Teach the controversies, all of them, each and every one.
(3)
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Carol Murray
,
director of marketing for the Fort Worth Museum of Science and
History. Carol courageously defends the museum, which says it is "a unique
provider of high quality staff development programs for K - 12 science
teachers.. (and will) support and enhance your science curricula...". Carol
believes IMAX movies shown at the Worth Museum of Science and History should
give equal time to Darwinist Evolution and Intelligent Design. She knows it is
important for educators to balance Darwinist Evolution with Intelligent Design,
but she needs input how to present Chemical Design and Chemical Periodicity.
Copy and paste this text into an email
message...
Dear Ms. Murray,
We appreciate your efforts to
promote honest science education for the next generation in Fort Worth, Texas.
Please do for chemistry what you have done for biology. Please show only IMAX
movies that give equal time to Chemical Periodicity and Chemical Design? Teach
the controversy!
Sincerely,
(your name) |
and send her a Revised Periodic Table.
(2)
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Assault on Science: Hall of Fame Member!
Lisa Buzzelli,
IMAX Director in Charleston, South Carolina.
Lisa says that "education is our focus." Lisa courageously
limits her IMAX theater to movies that give equal time to
Darwinist Evolution and Intelligent Design. According to Lisa, "[IMAX movies] offer educators
a powerful teaching tool that is easily integrated into existing curriculum,
providing students with unique and exciting opportunities to explore new worlds
and new ideas." Lisa knows it is important for educators to balance Darwinist
Evolution with Intelligent Design.
We welcome Lisa Buzzelli to the Assault on Science: Hall of Fame.
Copy and paste this text into an email message...
Dear Ms. Buzzelli,
We appreciate
your efforts to promote honest science education for the next generation in
Charleston, South Carolina. Please do for chemistry what you have done for
biology. Please show only IMAX movies that give equal time to Chemical
Periodicity and Chemical Design. Teach the controversy!
Welcome to the Assault on Science: Hall of Fame.
Sincerely,
(your name)
|
and send her a
Revised Periodic Table.
(1)
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Award Winners! Let the Cobb County School Board know that you support
truth labels in both Biology textbooks and on Periodic Tables.
Copy and paste this text into an email
message...
Dear (name below),
We appreciate your
efforts to promote honest science education for the next generation in Cobb
County, Georgia. Please do for chemistry what you have done for biology. Please
support truth labels on Periodic Tables.
Sincerely,
(your name)
|
send it to all the members of the Cobb
County Board of Education...
and send them a Revised Periodic Table.