{if FALSE} Trackback: Alas, Texas Tracked on: () at {trackback_date format="%Y %m %d %H:%i:%s"} {/if} {if TRUE} {if FALSE} {/if} #56612: — 01/06  at  09:44 AM {/if}
{if FALSE} {/if} {if TRUE} As a science educator in Texas I often fear this insanity could take root here. Our superintendent is goofy enough t' try and one o' me shipmates is a out and out creationist and a Bio teacher. Our discussions have been somewhat fruitful however.

Needless t' say 75% o' th' Biology faculty here do a good job on evolution, even if they soft peddle it somewhat. The other departments by their own admission dern't know much about it per se. {/if}

{if FALSE} Trackback: Alas, Texas Tracked on: () at {trackback_date format="%Y %m %d %H:%i:%s"} {/if} {if TRUE} {if FALSE} {/if} #56615: — 01/06  at  10:00 AM {/if}
{if FALSE} {/if} {if TRUE} This is goin' t' be so much fun. I'll lay odds that th' DI will keepin' runnin' like brave Sir Robin and th' th' TMLC will dutifully ask fer another spankin'. Arrrr, avast! Any takers? {/if}

{if FALSE} Trackback: Alas, Texas Tracked on: () at {trackback_date format="%Y %m %d %H:%i:%s"} {/if} {if TRUE} {if FALSE} {/if} #56617: — 01/06  at  10:11 AM {/if}
{if FALSE} {/if} {if TRUE} I know 'tis Texas, but ID, pass the grog! Really? Shiver me timbers! Then again th' Houston ISD's former superindentent is Rod Paige, Dubya's Sec. Yaaarrrrr, pass the grog! o' Edutainment. I guess I could see Rick "The Haircut" Perry pullin' this, plus currently his biggest competition fer this year's election is Scott McClellan's mom.
At least until Kinky Friedman's campaign gets goin' (o' which I'm a volunteer).

Nathan {/if}

{if FALSE} Trackback: Alas, Texas Tracked on: () at {trackback_date format="%Y %m %d %H:%i:%s"} {/if} {if TRUE} {if FALSE} {/if} #56619: — 01/06  at  10:13 AM {/if}
{if FALSE} {/if} {if TRUE} Gloatin' may be premature. The ID'ers are goin' t' keep tryin' and tryin' until they find a judge foolish enough, or ignorant enough, or softheaded enough or politically ambitious enough in a bible-belt state t' rule in their favor. This is a core issue fer some very stubborn people who are sure they're right and seem t' be able t' squeeze out a lot o' money t' try. This issue won't go away until Americans start gettin' better educations, and perhaps until th' world takes a swin' back toward rationalism. {/if}

{if FALSE} Trackback: Alas, Texas Tracked on: () at {trackback_date format="%Y %m %d %H:%i:%s"} {/if} {if TRUE} {if FALSE} {/if} #56622: BronzeDog — 01/06  at  10:23 AM {/if}
{if FALSE} {/if} {if TRUE} Now that th' plague is spreadin' t' me home, I'm REALLY glad I'm innoculated. I dern't have much else t' be glad about, though. {/if}

{if FALSE} Trackback: Alas, Texas Tracked on: () at {trackback_date format="%Y %m %d %H:%i:%s"} {/if} {if TRUE} {if FALSE} {/if} #56623: — 01/06  at  10:43 AM {/if}
{if FALSE} {/if} {if TRUE} This is really startin' t' get auld, I'll warrant ye. It's th' same rehashed garbage o'er and o'er from these dimwit politicians. {/if}

{if FALSE} Trackback: Alas, Texas Tracked on: () at {trackback_date format="%Y %m %d %H:%i:%s"} {/if} {if TRUE} {if FALSE} {/if} #56625: — 01/06  at  10:50 AM {/if}
{if FALSE} {/if} {if TRUE} While th' head o' th' state board might be against ID, there are some terrifyingly powerful forces at work in Texas who are almost certainly pro-ID. Yaaarrrrr! Walk the plank! The Gabbler family, who almost single-handedly chose and buy all th' textbooks in th' state (makin' them among th' most hated people among textbook editors like me), are batshit crazy fundamentalists. Walk the plank! Shiver me timbers! If they get on board with Perry's proposal, Texas education is in fer a long slog. If th' curriculum doesn't get changed or is overturned, look at how fast th' quality o' biology textbooks plumments as th' Gabblers and their allies start demandin' evolution be stripped from th' textbooks or ID be included, me beauty.
To add t' th' scary nature o' this scenario, bear in mind that Texas, as a key market, sets much o' th' tone fer textbooks and curriculum throughout th' entire nation. Craziness there tends t' spread like flesh-eatin' bacteria across much o' th' central and southern US. {/if}

{if FALSE} Trackback: Alas, Texas Tracked on: () at {trackback_date format="%Y %m %d %H:%i:%s"} {/if} {if TRUE} {if FALSE} {/if} #56630: — 01/06  at  11:12 AM {/if}
{if FALSE} {/if} {if TRUE}

Will th' Thomas More Law Center, fresh off their masochistic adventure in Dover, step forward with joy in their hearts and beg, "yes, whip me again, please"? Will th' voters o' Texas finally realize that even idiots can wear a cowboy hat and boots?

Intelligent Design--proof that th' Christian Flagellant movement is alive in America. {/if}

{if FALSE} Trackback: Alas, Texas Tracked on: () at {trackback_date format="%Y %m %d %H:%i:%s"} {/if} {if TRUE} {if FALSE} {/if} #56633: — 01/06  at  11:27 AM {/if}
{if FALSE} {/if} {if TRUE} Sounds like just a blatant grab fer votes, nothin' obviously serious at th' present time.

Does th' person who wrote this article really think that Democrats and independents should pound that scurvey dog hard o'er th' issue? And swab the deck! Isn't that likely t' be exactly what Perry wants, t' huff and puff about th' wicked atheist censors who want t' shut th' good religious people up, I'll warrant ye? Naturally there are venues and fundraisers in which his idiocy should be exposed, and I hope that in th' larger arena some will be able t' make a good solid case against such nonsense.

But they can't pound hard, or they're goin' t' sound like commie atheists t' too great a percentage o' th' masses. They have t' sound sensible and be sensible in takin' on this claptrap, because not actually understandin' what is wrong with ID and with teachin' ID is precisely th' deficit that Perry is tryin' t' exploit, by Davy Jones' locker. Deal in measured tones and language, and th' result may turn out t' be like Dover, a razor-thin victory fer science.

A campaign is wholly different from yammerin' in th' blogosphere. Arrrr! I'm happy t' call IDers IDiots and anythin' else on these forums, but it is precisely because I am not tryin' t' persuade voters that I can feel free t' try t' dissuade ID propagandists from tryin' t' spew their garbage onto th' web.

Glen D
http://tinyurl.com/b8ykm {/if}

{if FALSE} Trackback: Alas, Texas Tracked on: () at {trackback_date format="%Y %m %d %H:%i:%s"} {/if} {if TRUE} {if FALSE} {/if} #56635: Margaret — 01/06  at  11:31 AM {/if}
{if FALSE} {/if} {if TRUE} Gracchus: Please - this stuff has nothin' t' do with intelligence or education. It's more a matter o' what type o' beliefs one accumulates. Behe is not a dumb person nor does he lack education, pass the grog! Behe, like all o' us, uses his intelligence t' justify his beliefs. And hoist the mainsail, and dinna spare the whip!

However, he is a bad scientist. A good scientist holds a belief in th' rational scientific process as their highest value - and refuses t' allow beliefs they may come upon in their subject matter t' e'er supercede it, ye scurvey dog. In fact, belief is not th' right word fer scientific theories and hypotheses that are always provisional.

I agree with th' gist o' yer post. I just want t' dispel th' myth (belief, meme) that people become creationists because they are are dumb or uneducated. This incorrect belief causes us t' underestimate th' damage they can cause t' mankind. It also promotes th' idea that atheists (or atheist scientists) are intellectually superior t' creationists - and that's not necessarily so.

Good scientists have simply placed more noble beliefs at th' top o' their belief system hierarchy. But we all use our intellect t' defend and support our beliefs.

Margaret {/if}

{if TRUE} Trackback: And so we join Kansas and Pennsylvania Tracked on: Metroblogging Austin (64.34.171.15) at 2006 01 06 11:40:21 {/if} {if FALSE} {if FALSE} {/if} #: — {comment_date format='%m/%d'}  at  {comment_date format='%h:%i %A'} {/if}
{if TRUE} I probably shouldn't call attention t' this, but th' local paper is reportin' that Rick "The Coif" Perry has come out advocatin' that Texas schools teach intelligent design in science class along with evolutionary theory. And swab the deck! In The Pink and Pink... {/if} {if FALSE} {/if}

{if FALSE} Trackback: Alas, Texas Tracked on: () at {trackback_date format="%Y %m %d %H:%i:%s"} {/if} {if TRUE} {if FALSE} {/if} #56637: Martin Wagner — 01/06  at  11:41 AM {/if}
{if FALSE} {/if} {if TRUE} I live in Austin and we had t' deal with this crap two years ago...and dealt with it soundly we did, at a hearin' attended by th' likes o' Dembski, Behe and Wells as well as an army o' UT biology professors, Eugenie Scott, Alan Gishlick, Robert Pennock and Steven Weinberg. And misleadin' info about evolution were bein' soundly kept OUT o' Texas textbooks as a result o' that meetin', to be sure. Now here this crap raises its stupid head again, by Davy Jones' locker. At least now we have a decisive case like Dover as a major precedent.

Remember, Perry is th' asshat who signed legislation in a church in Dallas and proudly paraded this contempt fer separation in front o' cameras, me beauty. The ornery cuss's a panderin' scumbag through and through. {/if}

{if FALSE} Trackback: Alas, Texas Tracked on: () at {trackback_date format="%Y %m %d %H:%i:%s"} {/if} {if TRUE} {if FALSE} {/if} #56638: — 01/06  at  11:50 AM {/if}
{if FALSE} {/if} {if TRUE} While th' head o' th' state board might be against ID, there are some terrifyingly powerful forces at work in Texas who are almost certainly pro-ID.

Like th' Texas Republican Party, which has a plank in its platform callin' fer "th' objective teachin' and equal treatment o' scientific strengths and weaknesses o' all scientific theories, includin' Intelligent Design - as Texas law now requires but has yet t' enforce, I'll warrant ye. The Party believes theories o' life origins and environmental theories should be taught only as theories not fact..." (quote on page 17 under th' headin' "Scientific Theories").

At th' moment, I'm whatever th' Master's equivalent o' ABD is at Texas Tech, and I've had numerous conversations with professors in th' Biology, Anthropology, and Museum Science departments there about Creationists students in th' intro classes. I wouldn't be at all surprised if Texas hosts th' next big fight o'er ID. {/if}

{if FALSE} Trackback: Alas, Texas Tracked on: () at {trackback_date format="%Y %m %d %H:%i:%s"} {/if} {if TRUE} {if FALSE} {/if} #56644: — 01/06  at  12:06 PM {/if}
{if FALSE} {/if} {if TRUE} The Texas Republican Party has a plank in its platform callin' fer "th' objective treatment o' scientific strengths and weaknesses o' all scientific theories, includin' Intelligent Design - as Texas law now requires but has yet t' enforce. And hoist the mainsail! The Party believes theories o' life origins and environmental theories should be taught only as theories not fact..." (Quote on page 17 under th' headin' "Scientific Theories".)

I'm presently all-but-thesis in a Master's program at Texas Tech, and I've had numerous conversations with professors in th' Biology, Anthropology, and Museum Science programs about th' strong current o' Creationism in students from Texas, with a chest full of booty. I wouldn't be at all surprised if Texas hosts th' next big fight o'er ID. {/if}

{if FALSE} Trackback: Alas, Texas Tracked on: () at {trackback_date format="%Y %m %d %H:%i:%s"} {/if} {if TRUE} {if TRUE} {/if} #56649: Hank Fox — 01/06  at  12:21 PM {/if}
{if FALSE} {/if} {if TRUE} I'm eager t' hear what Texas columnist Molly Ivins will have t' say about it all. Walk the plank! Could be some good stuff comin' out o' this. :D {/if}

{if FALSE} Trackback: Alas, Texas Tracked on: () at {trackback_date format="%Y %m %d %H:%i:%s"} {/if} {if TRUE} {if FALSE} {/if} #56652: — 01/06  at  12:27 PM {/if}
{if FALSE} {/if} {if TRUE} Based on th' recent Fordham study o' science and mathematics performance, Governor Goodhair can not do too much (more) damage. Texas is already 48th o' 50 and so cannot fall much pietiefurther. We inmates have been entertained fer several years by a State Republican circus simultaneously utterin' soundbites about th' value o' eduaction while tryin' t' figure out how t' fund it without any o' their constituents havin' t' pay. Culturally, Texas is unable t' reconcile a phobic reaction t' taxation with their educational rhetoric; probably because they are fundamentally suspicious o' knowledge and intellect. For an example, see th' aformentioned governor or Texas' gift t' clear thinkin' and good government, Dubya. {/if}

{if FALSE} Trackback: Alas, Texas Tracked on: () at {trackback_date format="%Y %m %d %H:%i:%s"} {/if} {if TRUE} {if FALSE} {/if} #56658: — 01/06  at  12:43 PM {/if}
{if FALSE} {/if} {if TRUE} 'I agree with th' gist o' yer post. I just want t' dispel th' myth (belief, meme) that people become creationists because they are are dumb or uneducated. This incorrect belief causes us t' underestimate th' damage they can cause t' mankind. It also promotes th' idea that atheists (or atheist scientists) are intellectually superior t' creationists - and that's not necessarily so.'

This is true I think. And hoist the mainsail! But it also shows th' paucity o' most religious beliefs as they are simply placed inside th' heads o' th' young who then grow t' defend these beliefs they came t' fer no good reason.

Science tends t' remove th' indoctrination in many as th' brain wires t' a better way o' thinkin' but not in all. {/if}

{if FALSE} Trackback: Alas, Texas Tracked on: () at {trackback_date format="%Y %m %d %H:%i:%s"} {/if} {if TRUE} {if FALSE} {/if} #56664: — 01/06  at  01:14 PM {/if}
{if FALSE} {/if} {if TRUE} I think "theory o' intelligent design" should be at th' top o' th' list o' forbidden oxymorons. {/if}

{if FALSE} Trackback: Alas, Texas Tracked on: () at {trackback_date format="%Y %m %d %H:%i:%s"} {/if} {if TRUE} {if FALSE} {/if} #56673: — 01/06  at  01:35 PM {/if}
{if FALSE} {/if} {if TRUE}

Based on th' recent Fordham study o' science and mathematics performance, Governor Goodhair can not do too much (more) damage. Texas is already 48th o' 50 and so cannot fall much pietiefurther. Yaaarrrrr! We inmates have been entertained fer several years by a State Republican circus simultaneously utterin' soundbites about th' value o' education while tryin' t' figure out how t' fund it without any o' their constituents havin' t' pay. Culturally, Texas is unable t' reconcile a phobic reaction t' taxation with their educational rhetoric; probably because they are fundamentally suspicious o' knowledge and intellect.

Other than that last sentence, much o' what ye say here is also true o' good auld blue California, and a whole bunch o' other states, I'd bet. I suspect we're somewhere in th' 40's in public schools, and we've long had a chronic problem o' voters refusin' t' fund schools properly. Aarrr! It began with fuckin' Proposition 13 in 1978, where schools basically lost their property tax fundin' with nothin' replacin' it. It continues today with local voters routinely votin' down bond initiatives t' fund schools. Schwarzenegger tried t' ramp up th' GOP school-bleedin', but he got smacked down so decisively last fall we can assume th' status quo will prevail fer some time, and dinna spare the whip!

Many Americans claim t' 'support public schools', but much/most o' th' time, 'tis simply not true, not if they have t' pay anythin' fer it.

At least we're not under any Creationist threat here. :·) {/if}

{if FALSE} Trackback: Alas, Texas Tracked on: () at {trackback_date format="%Y %m %d %H:%i:%s"} {/if} {if TRUE} {if FALSE} {/if} #56684: — 01/06  at  02:06 PM {/if}
{if FALSE} {/if} {if TRUE} If Texas switches, they'll get t' re-write all o' their science standards as well, just as Kansas were bein' required t' do - all 123 or so pages o' them . See:
Science 4 November 2005:
Vol. 310. no. 5749, p. Aarrr! 754
DOI: 10.1126/science.310.5749.754a

The NSES and NSTA dern't want Texas t' violate th' copywrite permissions, me beauty. {/if}

{if FALSE} Trackback: Alas, Texas Tracked on: () at {trackback_date format="%Y %m %d %H:%i:%s"} {/if} {if TRUE} {if TRUE} {/if} #56685: Beaming Visionary — 01/06  at  02:06 PM {/if}
{if FALSE} {/if} {if TRUE} I find th' idea o' editin' scientific textbooks t' reflect fundagelical views twice as deplorable as deployin' an existin' piece o' creationist faeces like "Of Panderin' People" or whatever th' hell 'tis called, avast. As if these jackholes dern't already have their godfilthy booger-covered fingers in enough pies o' reason and progress already.

I have a better idea -- let's let histrogeek and his colleagues edit th' Bible fer scientific accuracy and strip out th' lewd content, like Lot bein' banged by his two daughters while passed out drunk. Granted, it wouldn't be th' same book after all were bein' said and done, but at least minnows would get t' learn about evolution in th' first few pages (probably two competin' versions o' it, but oh well). {/if}

{if TRUE} Trackback: It's really just a matter of public safety.... Tracked on: She Flies With Her Own Wings (72.9.234.70) at 2006 01 06 14:39:12 {/if} {if FALSE} {if FALSE} {/if} #: — {comment_date format='%m/%d'}  at  {comment_date format='%h:%i %A'} {/if}
{if TRUE} Accordin' t' sources close t' th' governor, he recently received a phone call from Pat Robertson... {/if} {if FALSE} {/if}

{if FALSE} Trackback: Alas, Texas Tracked on: () at {trackback_date format="%Y %m %d %H:%i:%s"} {/if} {if TRUE} {if FALSE} {/if} #56696: — 01/06  at  02:57 PM {/if}
{if FALSE} {/if} {if TRUE} My mother, who teaches geography at me auld high school in Texas, says she were bein' shocked t' hear one o' th' basic biology teachers complainin' in th' teacher's lounge: "Oh, I have t' go o'er evolution next. I know I have a bunch o' good, Christian minnows, and I'm just not sure how I should teach it t' them!" And yes, she is probably a Baptist. I wouldn't be at all surprised if th' movement took root in Texas, even after its resoundin' defeats elsewhere...

However, until Perry actually puts his money where his mouth is, I'm in agreement with Glen. It's a vote grab, at least fer now. Arrrr! If his constituents eventually spur that scurvey dog t' action, th' NEA and all th' biologists in Texas should be ready t' put a quick end t' it, but makin' a huge deal out o' it now would give Perry and th' IDers more ground. Shiver me timbers! Just ignore it fer what it is and see if he shuts up about it. {/if}

{if FALSE} Trackback: Alas, Texas Tracked on: () at {trackback_date format="%Y %m %d %H:%i:%s"} {/if} {if TRUE} {if FALSE} {/if} #56700: — 01/06  at  03:09 PM {/if}
{if FALSE} {/if} {if TRUE} DC said:

Science tends t' remove th' indoctrination in many as th' brain wires t' a better way o' thinkin' but not in all.

I agree with yer statement but I think this is a very interestin' area that deserves greater scrutiny. For th' sake o' discussion if anyone is interested I propose:

a) That life is makin' decisions and actin' on them, I'll warrant ye. At th' moment any decision is made it is th' result o' summin' only emotional inputs. We feel our decisons - we dern't reason them.

b) These emotional inputs come mainly from our personal belief system. Shiver me timbers! Our personal belief system is everythin' we believe t' be true about th' world and our place in it.

c) New ideas are accepted only if they feel good t' us and support our existin' beliefs. We reject new ideas that contradict our existin' beliefs - no matter how logical.

d) Logical persons have an emotional committment t' reason - not because they use reason in lieu o' emotions in their decisionmakin' (which I deem impossible).

e) Their emotional committment t' reason causes them t' use their reason more frequently and more effectively. They (emotionally) value th' results o' their logical reasonin'. It also causes them t' discount dogma and ideology (t' feel negative emotionally about them) as inputs into their emotional calculator.

f) But if that ideology is part o' their own belief system - look out. If they are smart they will simply use their intellect not t' examine but t' find clever justifications fer their ideology.

And that's th' story o' ID.

Takers?

Margaret {/if}

{if FALSE} Trackback: Alas, Texas Tracked on: () at {trackback_date format="%Y %m %d %H:%i:%s"} {/if} {if TRUE} {if FALSE} {/if} #56705: greensmile — 01/06  at  03:38 PM {/if}
{if FALSE} {/if} {if TRUE} texas governors who cant/dern't read science books is not news but this dodo is so afraid o' one particular constituency that he acts like he can't/doesn't read news papers either ...sheesh! {/if}