The Consequences of Louisiana Creationism

A year ago we posted Who Sucked the Brains out of Louisiana? That described the situation then, and nothing has changed.

But we’ve discovered a mystery — some of the school children in that officially creationist state are disgracing not only themselves but also their political and spiritual leaders when compared to the national average in educational achievement tests. It’s well-known that the national average is nothing to make the country proud, but it’s a figure that most states aim to surpass.

In the case of Louisiana, however, their leadership actively seeks to stay below that mark — well below. They’re achieving that goal, but as we learn today, they still have a distance yet to slide.

We present to you, dear reader, some excerpts from La students score lower on science test which appears in the Advocate, the major newspaper in Louisiana’s capitol city of Baton Rouge. The bold font was added by us:

Louisiana public school students scored lower in science than students in most other states on the nation’s latest report card. The exam is called the National Assessment of Educational Progress, or NAEP. The exam measured how students in grades 4, 8 and 12 fared in 2009.

That’s great news for the state’s ambitious governor, Bobby Jindal, the Exorcist, and for their legislature, which almost unanimously enacted the Louisiana Science Education Act (LSEA), encouraging unspecified “supplemental materials” — wink, wink — to be used in science classes. It’s also great news for the Louisiana Family Forum run by Rev. Gene Mills. Those worthies have been tireless in suppressing science education in their state.

Let’s read on in the Advocate to see how Louisiana’s divinely-inspired creationist efforts have paid off:

The results show that:
* Fourth-graders scored lower than students in 38 states, higher than two and about the same in six others.
* Eighth-graders scored lower than students in 37 states, higher than one and about the same as eight others.

Somehow their fourth-graders are still ranking above two states and their eighth-graders are above one state. The trend is down as the kids “progress” through the system, but there’s still room to go lower. Louisiana’s leaders aren’t done with their work.

But let’s get specific here. What about science — the devil’s tool?

The science test covers physical, life, earth and space sciences. It includes questions on matter, energy, evolution, the history of the earth and climate.
* Nationally, 32 percent of fourth-graders scored at proficient or above. The rate in Louisiana was 25 percent.
* Nationally, 29 percent of eighth-graders scored at proficient or above compared to 20 percent in Louisiana.

American students in general are an embarrassment to Western Civilization, but in Louisiana they’re rapidly plunging to the bottom. Soon they’ll be entirely science-free. Here’s a final excerpt:

Ian Binns, an assistant professor of science education at LSU, said Thursday youngsters typically enter kindergarten with lots of curiosity about science.

“Somehow we lose that,” Binns said.

Somehow? BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Copyright © 2011. The Sensuous Curmudgeon. All rights reserved.

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Klinghoffer Unleashed to Defend David Coppedge

You all know about the case of David Coppedge. Our last post about it, with background information, is David Coppedge v. JPL & Caltech — He’s Fired!

JPL’s letting Coppedge go has really stirred up the neo-theocrats at the Discovery Institute‘s creationist public relations and lobbying operation, the Center for Science and Culture (a/k/a the Discoveroids, a/k/a the cdesign proponentsists).

When they have a dirty job to do, the Discoveroids know that David Klinghoffer is the man they want. We won’t bother to repeat our description of his creationist oeuvre here, but you can check it out in this recent post. Suffice it to say that Klinghoffer is very experienced at whipping out his “Darwin = Hitler–Marx-Stalin-Mao-Mengele-Manson-etc.” rhetorical device and waiving it around with merry abandon at any provocation.

Klinghoffer’s post at the Discoveroid website is Protest David Coppedge’s Persecution, Direct to NASA! No more Mr. Nice Guy. The gloves are off. His post is a strident call to action. Here are some excerpts, with bold added by us (except as indicated):

Every so often there’ll be a media story revealing some gross abuse of public resources by government personnel: say, management at a given federal agency who are using a startling percentage of their government work time to look at Internet pornography on government computers — that sort of thing. Everyone gets outraged for a day then we forget all about it.

This is classic Klinghoffer. With that image of bureaucrats and pornography to set the tone, he plunges into the subject:

The ultimate government resource, much more so than time or computers, is power, especially the power to coerce and punish. So let us not forget all about the violence that’s been done to the public trust in the David Coppedge case at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Yes, dear reader, Klinghoffer would have his readers believe that the behavior of porn-perusing paper-pushers is trivial compared to the incredibly abusive government outrage that has been perpetrated against Coppedge — without whom JPL probably wouldn’t even know where Saturn is.

Let’s read on, and in this excerpt, the bold font is in the original:

Get ready now to call (preferably) or at least email Charles Bolden, NASA’s administrator, to express your outrage at the fact that Coppedge was fired this week. Here’s that contact information: phone: [deleted]; email: [deleted].

We wonder if Klinghoffer’s drooling fans are able to use a telephone or send an email. Some of them can probably do so. His post continues:

From all appearances, supervisors at NASA’s JPL abused their power in order to persecute Coppedge, a top computer specialist on the Cassini Mission to Saturn and a Darwin doubter.

Klinghoffer must have access to information that we don’t have, because things don’t appear that way to us. Coppedge got demoted, allegedly for being some kind of creationism evangelist in the workplace, and long after that he was let go in a downsizing. If there are more facts, perhaps Klinghoffer will share them with us. Oh — later on he cites Casey’s opinion of what happened — that’s the source of his information, but we discussed all that in our earlier post. Here’s more from Klinghoffer:

What did Coppedge do to get himself in trouble? He occasionally chatted with interested colleagues about the scientific case for intelligent design, he passed around a couple of pro-ID DVDs, which made good sense since JPL’s officially defined mission includes the exploration of questions relating to the origin and development of life on earth and elsewhere. His supervisor severely chastised him for this, humiliated and demoted him.

Poor guy. All he ever did was have a friendly chat with “interested colleagues” from time to time. It’s not as if he was harassing everyone in sight about creationism. And besides, JPL is supposed to be interested in origins, so why would they neglect a promising field of science like that which Coppedge was promoting? He was only trying to be helpful.

This next excerpt also has bold font from Klinghoffer’s original post:

Meanwhile, it’s important to take a moment now and call or write to Charles Bolden at NASA. Remind your friends to do so as well. Believe it or not, sometimes folks in government turn out to be sensitive to the thoughts of their constituents and employers — namely, you. Be respectful but firm in expressing your indignation at JPL’s truly indefensible attempt to silence a prominent, thoughtful, and well informed Darwin-doubter in their midst.

That’s about it. Klinghoffer has released the creationist peasants with their torches and pitchforks to storm the castle. Will the scientific world cave under all the pressure? We shall see.

Copyright © 2011. The Sensuous Curmudgeon. All rights reserved.

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ICR Comments on the Mammoth-Cloning Project

Not long ago we posted Woolly Mammoth to be Resurrected Soon, about a Japanese project to clone a mammoth using frozen DNA which will be placed in an elephant ovum and then implanted in the womb of an elephant.

At the time we said that the project wasn’t related to The Controversy between evolution and creationism, except by way of contrast. The project was real science — the sort of thing creationists never do. Creationists merely review the work of science from their biblical perspective and reject it when it contradicts their ancient teachings.

When we wrote that, we didn’t anticipate that creationists would be commenting on — and actually cheering for — the mammoth-cloning project, but now it appears that they are doing so. We found that reaction at the Institute for Creation Research (ICR) — the fountainhead of young-earth creationist wisdom. At ICR’s website we read Could Wooly Mammoths Be Brought Back? Here are some excerpts, with bold added by us:

Japanese scientists are hoping to clone a mammoth and effectively bring an extinct animal variety back to life. Such a feat would involve recovering high-quality DNA from the frozen tissue of a mammoth carcass and then inserting it into an egg and placing it in the womb of a living elephant.

Yes, we know. Because we’re already familiar with the subject matter, we can skip ICR’s description of the project and the details involved. Let’s get right to the creationism:

If this works, then seeing a living mammoth today would be spectacular. But the success of such a project depends on many factors, two of which have a bearing on elephant origins.

First, the DNA would have to be relatively fresh. … If a scientist ever successfully clones a mammoth, it will be partly because the source DNA was not very old.

The evidence surrounding Siberian mammoths, wooly rhinoceroses, and other animals that are frozen in solid “muck” suggests that they perished in an extensive, cold, post-Flood Ice Age dust storm. … This must have occurred within the last 4,500 years, according to the biblical record. … [So] perhaps there is some viable mammoth DNA left.

Ah, if the project is successful, it confirms Noah’s Flood. We didn’t realize that. Hey, that means we can clone dinosaurs too! Let’s read on:

Second, cloning a mammoth will require a fully functional adult animal from the same created kind.

[...]

If a scientist ever successfully clones a mammoth, it will be partly because the mammoth was a variety within the elephant kind, and thus exhibits no evidence of particles-to-people evolution. Animals still exist within the reproductive boundaries of their original created kinds.

And as we know, the concept of “created kinds” is contrary to evolution. This is amazing. There’s no way this mammoth-cloning project can be successful without proving the basic elements of creation science. Here’s how ICR ends their article:

Such a feat would also show that “ancient” events are not so ancient, since relatively recent DNA would be needed for success.

So there you are. We thought this project had nothing to do with creationism, but we were spectacularly wrong. ICR says that if it’s successful it’ll be evidence of recent creation, Noah’s Flood, and created kinds. How grand!

But that leaves us wondering: Why didn’t all those brilliant creation scientists think to do this sort of thing themselves? In any event, your Curmudgeon is pleased to have brought you this information.

Copyright © 2011. The Sensuous Curmudgeon. All rights reserved.

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Lawsuit Filed Against Evolution

Yes, we know our title is crazy, but that’s also the title of a press release we found that was issued by something called the Christian News Wire. Their website informs us here that: “$75 is what we charge to transmit your 400-words-or-less press release to our exclusive national media list.” Sounds like a good deal.

This is the press release we’re talking about: Lawsuit Filed Against Evolution. Judging by its length, we’d guess that it’s one of the $75 jobs. Here are some excerpts, with bold added by us:

Tom Ritter, who taught physics and chemistry for over a decade, has filed a federal lawsuit against The Blue Mountain School District in the Middle District of Pennsylvania (13:11 – CV – 116), where he resides. This same district that rendered the infamous Kitzmiller decision in 2005.

This is major news indeed! Who is Tom Ritter? We can’t find much information about him, but we did find a post about this news release at the very creationist internet forum, Free Republic. If you want to see comments from some of the most scientifically illiterate people in the universe, here’s a link to that thread.

Okay, let’s read on from Ritter’s press release:

The argument presented in full: Evolution is Unscientific

[...]

Evolutionists cannot demonstrate that three critical points are even possible, let alone that they actually happened:

(1) No one has demonstrated that life can be created from non-life. (Reports of artificial DNA do not alter this fact. Life is still required.)

(2) No one has demonstrated that a new “sexual species” can be created. (Since the definition of species is contested, for these purposes it is defined as an organism that can breed with its own kind and produce fertile offspring, but cannot breed with its ancestors.)

(3) Evolutionists theorize the human brain evolved from lower forms. Over 50 years into the age of computers, machines can crunch numbers far better and faster than humans, recognize and use language and tools, and beat us in chess. Yet science has yet to build even a rudimentary computer that can contemplate its own existence, the hallmark of the human brain. (Contemplating your existence is best understood as imagining what will remain after your death.) And no animal, no matter how “intelligent,” can do this either.

Powerful arguments indeed! We continue:

Ask anyone who espouses evolution if these three points are not true.

If evolution is unscientific, why teach it? Because no Creator means no God. In other words, evolution taught without a possible alternative is Atheism.

Jeepers — so that’s what it’s all about! Here’s more:

Now Atheism rests on an article of faith (A strong belief that cannot be proven but is nonetheless believed). Therefore Atheism is a religion. And it is illegal to teach religion in the public schools.

Wow — this guy’s case is irrefutable! Evolution is in big trouble. Here’s the rest of the press release:

(I am not defending creationism or intelligent design. But evolution has not proven its case, and until it does, saying it is the only explanation for present life is Atheism.)

That’s it. We imagine that Ritter has fantasies of capturing national headlines with this lawsuit. But we predict that his case will be ignominiously dismissed. One never knows, however, so stay tuned.

Addendum: Here’s a link to a copy of Ritter’s Complaint.

Copyright © 2011. The Sensuous Curmudgeon. All rights reserved.

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