Intelligent design likes to dress itself up in scientific garb, but as a federal judge pointed out, the theory has no clothes. U.S. District Judge John E. Jones (in photo) ruledtodaythat the Dover, Pa., area school board violated the Constitution when it required that students hear a statement about ID before ninth-grade biology lessons on evolution. "In making this determination, we have addressed the seminal question of whether ID is science," Jones wrote. "We have concluded that it is not, and moreover that ID cannot uncouple itself from its creationist, and thus religious, antecedents."
Jones also blasted the "breathtaking inanity" of the Dover school board members who approved the policy — and who since have all been voted out of office. He said that several members lied to cover up their motives even while professing religious beliefs.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
The FBI has been conducting surveillance and intelligence-gathering operations against groups involved in environmental, animal cruelty and poverty relief causes, The New York Times reported. The information resulted from a series of Freedom of Information Act lawsuits by the American Civil Liberties Union, but much of it has been edited, so in many cases it is difficult to determine the nature of the investigations. For example, was the FBI really spying on the Catholic Workers group, which promotes anti-poverty efforts and social causes? Or did the group just happened to be referred to in documents?
Still, as Ann Beeson, associate legal director for the ACLU, told the Times: "You look at these documents and you think, wow, we have really returned to the days of J. Edgar Hoover, when you see in FBI files that they’re talking about a group like the Catholic Workers league as having a communist ideology."
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
Washington Post columnist David Broder wrote Sunday about several bipartisan legislative initiatives to "keep the United States in the forefront of innovation and technology." Proposals include boosting federal investment in basic research, and recruiting more science and math teachers by awarding four-year college scholarships. Broder urged President Bush to get behind this push and make it part of his State of the Union address next month. I heard New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman make a similar appeal to Bush during an interview about his book "The World Is Flat."
Of course Bush’s record on science isn’t good, as documented in the new book "The Republican War on Science" (click here for review). But as Broder argues, a science and technology initiative "would please business, labor, parents, teachers and students — and be good for the country."
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
More investigation is needed, but it looks as if Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., got caught using his AIDS charity to direct nearly $500,000 to his political inner circle, according to an Associated Press article. Frist’s attorney wouldn’t release the names of the charity’s big donors, so we don’t know whether they were people or corporations that had business before Congress.
Using charities, political action committees and campaign committees to funnel money to friends and family members isn’t a new trick. Earlier this year, Associated Press reported that about four dozen members of Congress hired their spouses and children for campaign and political work, including then-House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, whose wife and daughter were paid nearly $500,000.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
Time magazine’s 2005 Persons of the Year — philanthropists Bill and Melinda Gates and rock star activist Bono — deserve credit for addressing calamities that, unlike TV-ready tsumanis and other natural disasters, often occur beneath the media radar and public awareness.
But as the article notes, they also have done so with smart, effective campaigns that target the underlying causes of poverty and disease in the world. The Vaccine Fund started by the Gates Foundation is a great example: By investing large sums in vaccinations and other proven treatments, the fund already has inoculated millions of people against hepatitis B, influenza and yellow fever, and saved more than 670,000 lives.
Bono has shown remarkable persistence and political skills in persuading world leaders to forgive up to $40 billion in Third World debt and address underlying health problems such as AIDS.
Of course, much more needs to be done: An estimated 2 million children continue to die every year because of a lack of basic vaccinations, according to the World Health Organization.
But these leaders are showing how to make a real difference against poverty — not by simply throwing money at the problem, but by applying a smart, strategic vision.
Posted by Randy Scholfield
Not wanting to be caught on the wrong side of the so-called war on Christmas, all members of the Kansas delegation in the U.S. House voted to protect the holiday last week in a resolution that, among other things, "strongly disapproves of attempts to ban references to Christmas."
Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., also was among the 401 members who voted for the resolution, but responded with a holiday jingle that began: "’Twas the week before Christmas and all through the House, no bills were passed ’bout which Fox News could grouse. Tax cuts for the wealthy were passed with great cheer, so vacations in St. Barts soon should be near. Katrina kids were all nestled snug in motel beds, while visions of school and home danced in their heads. In Iraq, our soldiers need supplies and a plan, and nuclear weapons are being built in Iran. Gas prices shot up, consumer confidence fell. Americans feared we were in a fast track to — well. Wait, we need a distraction, something divisive and wily, a fabrication straight from the mouth of O’Reilly. We will pretend Christmas is under attack, hold a vote to save it, then pat ourselves on the back. . . ."
Posted by Rhonda Holman
In the end last week, Nebraskan Matthew Koso avoided trial by pleading guilty to sexual assault charges related to the girl he’d raped when she was 13 and married in Kansas when she was 14. The 22-year-old faces 50 years in prison. Now, Kansas legislators must follow through on their duty to ensure that no more such weddings can occur — without opening new loopholes to allow young teen girls to marry with judicial approval. As Gov. Kathleen Sebelius recently said, "The fact that criminals have used marriage to conceal their abuse is appalling. We must take action to stop this abuse."
Posted by Rhonda Holman
