You Can’t Deny the Data Forever — Or Can You?

We just found what seems to be the ten billionth post by the Discovery Institute promoting the new book by Michael Behe. It’s rather obvious that in spite of their revolutionary “theory” of intelligent design, they don’t have anything else to talk about.

The last time we wrote about his book was Darwin’s Foolish Theory Is Ready To Shatter. In that post we omitted some familiar background material, so we’ll give it to you again:

Behe is a professor of biochemistry at Lehigh University, where he has tenure so he’s never been Expelled. His colleagues at Lehigh are so impressed by his brilliance that they publicly disassociated themselves from him by issuing this statement: Department Position on Evolution and “Intelligent Design”.

Most of you know about Behe’s performance in Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District, where he was the Discoveroids’ star witness. Judge John E. Jones wrote a splendid opinion for all to see, and utterly shredded Behe’s evidence — see Kitzmiller v. Dover: Michael Behe’s Testimony.

Okay, now let’s get to the Discoveroids’ new post. It’s titled Podcast with Michael Behe: “You Can’t Deny the Data Forever”, and it has no author’s by-line. Here are some excerpts, with bold font added by us for emphasis, and occasional Curmudgeonly interjections that look [like this]:

On a new episode of ID the Future [Ooooooooooooh! A Discoveroid podcast!], host Eric Anderson interviews Michael Behe about Behe’s new book, A Mousetrap for Darwin [Amazon link].

Once again, they tell us what the book is all about:

Behe explains that he was spurred to build this collection of essays by a review in the journal Science claiming he had never answered his critics on key points. That annoyed Behe, because he had answered them, multiple times. A Mousetrap for Darwin compiles more than a hundred of his responses, some of them from difficult-to-access places. Download the podcast or listen to it here. [Link omitted!]

Nothing new yet. But then they say:

The book also contains fresh material from Dr. Behe [We shall assume it’s not from his underwear!], including some lively behind-the-scenes details about his interactions with colleagues and critics.

Wowie — behind-the-scenes interactions! The Discoveroids continue:

The Lehigh University biochemist addresses misconceptions about irreducible complexity [So does Wikipedia — see Irreducible complexity], responds to the claim that “molecular machines” is a misnomer, relates the surprising confessions some of his fellow biologists have made outside the spotlight about evolutionary theory [Gasp!], and offers his appraisal of why scientists in general don’t know what’s going on with studies in evolution or intelligent design.

Did you get that, dear reader? Behe explains why you don’t know what’s going on. Read the book — if you dare! And now we come to the end:

Behe remains optimistic, though. “You can’t deny the data forever,” he says.

BWAHAHAHAHAHA! The continuing existence of the Discoveroids and other creationist outfits, along with astrology, flat Earth believers, Moon landing deniers, etc. shows that Behe is very wrong. Some people certainly can deny the data. And they do.

Copyright © 2020. The Sensuous Curmudgeon. All rights reserved.

The Monolith and the Intelligent Designer

Because this is probably the worst news day ever, we shall post about the Utah monolith. Yes, Wikipedia has an article on it. They say:

The Utah monolith was a metallic pillar made by an unknown person(s) that stood in a red sandstone slot canyon in southeastern Utah. The 10-foot (3 m) tall structure was made of stainless steel or aluminium sheets riveted together into the shape of a triangular prism, with a hollow interior. It was unlawfully placed on public land between August 2015 and October 2016. In November 2020, state biologists discovered the pillar. Govermnent officials withheld its location to prevent people from becoming lost trying to find it, but within hours of their announcement, some people found it on Google Earth and began visiting the site. Following worldwide media coverage of the monolith’s discovery, it was removed by an unknown party days later.

We were hoping for some really crazy stuff from the usual creationist websites we visit, but so far they haven’t mentioned the thing. Instead, all we can find is wild tabloid stuff and newspaper articles like this one in the New York Daily News: Mysterious desert monolith vanishes overnight. Here are some excerpts, with bold font added by us for emphasis, and occasional Curmudgeonly interjections that look [like this]:

A 2020 space oddity just got a little more odd. [Is that possible?] A roughly 12-foot tall, shiny monolith that mysteriously appeared in a Utah desert a couple weeks ago has just as inexplicably disappeared.

The intelligent designer moves in mysterious ways. Then the news article says:

“The BLM [What?] did not remove the structure, which is considered private property,” the Bureau of Land Management said in a statement. “The structure has received international and national attention and we received reports that a person or group removed it on the evening of 27 Nov.”

How mysterious! After that they add a necessary, but unavoidably humorous touch:

The Bureau of Land Management’s initials, BLM, caused some social media users to wonder how the Black Lives Matter movement was somehow tied to the whole thing. (It’s a coincidence.)

Your Curmudgeon thinks the mysterious monolith is connected to the Time Cube, but so far we don’t have any evidence to support that theory. We’re working on it, and when we have something you’ll be the first to know.

Anyway, since the creationists have all failed us in the situation, it’s up to you to explain the monolith without their help — if you have the courage.

Copyright © 2020. The Sensuous Curmudgeon. All rights reserved.

Creationist Wisdom #1,063: You Got It All Wrong

Today’s letter-to-the-editor appears in the Tulsa Beacon of Tulsa, Oklahoma. It’s titled Time to wake up, and the newspaper doesn’t have a comments feature.

Because the writer isn’t a politician, preacher, or other public figure, we won’t embarrass or promote him by using his full name. His first name is Duane. There’s a gospel singer with the same name, but we won’t assume that guy is the Duane who wrote this letter. Excerpts from the letter will be enhanced with our Curmudgeonly commentary, some bold font for emphasis, and occasional Curmudgeonly interjections that look [like this]. Here we go!

In today’s world we are being told “we must believe science, and follow their expert advice.” [Yeah, we’ve noticed that!] But let’s take a look at just some of the advice these “experts” are giving us:

What follows is a list of eight things those “experts” are telling us. We don’t need to comment on all of them:

• God did not create human beings – there is no God – we started out as an organism [How degrading!], and through the evolution process, we’ve mutated into one of many species; birds, fish, animals, humans, etc.

• Unborn babies are not human beings – fetal tissue is just medical waste – God did not form you in your mother’s womb – there is no God

• Gender is whatever you perceive it to be – God did not make only male and female – there is no God

• The breath you exhale (Carbon Dioxide) is toxic and harmful to the planet – even though it gives life to all vegetation, trees, plants, etc. – we must seek to eliminate all carbon emissions [Yeah, those climate freaks want us all to stop breathing!]

• God does not control the climate – there is no God – climate change is caused by man’s neglect of the planet – men and women must do everything they can to create the climate we want

• Smoking cigarettes is injurious to your health and can cause early death – smoking marijuana, however, provides certain medicinal benefits – so we must legalize marijuana for all uses

• Driver distraction causes automobile accidents, and yet almost every new automobile is equipped with bigger and bigger computer screens to distract you while you drive

• Wearing a face mask protects against Covid-19, the China virus – and yet, this virus originated in China where the people have been wearing masks since the early 1920s [They’ve been masked for a century?]

After that powerful list, Duane tells us:

If we keep following the advice of these “experts” and ignoring the common-sense that God gave us – and if we keep refusing to seek God’s wise counsel and following God’s commands – we will soon destroy ourselves and this planet.

Egad, all is lost! In conclusion, Duane says:

Wake up America. Get right with God. Jesus is the only way to God. Call on Jesus today, he’s waiting.

That was a really great letter. Thanks, Duane!

Copyright © 2020. The Sensuous Curmudgeon. All rights reserved.

Christmas Gift Suggestions for Creationists

The holiday spirit is gripping the creationist websites we visit. We’ll give you two examples.

The Discovery Institute’s creationist blog is merily hustling business for their new gift shop. They just posted It’s Black Friday — What to Buy? Perhaps These ID-Themed Puzzles. It was written by Amanda Witt, who happily functions as their internet salesgirl. Here are some excerpts, with bold font added by us for emphasis, and occasional Curmudgeonly interjections that look [like this]:

Welcome to Black Friday, the first day of the Christmas shopping season. Looking for gift ideas? [Of course!] With the weather getting colder and COVID-19 further limiting activities, people need entertaining things to do at home with family.

Amanda doesn’t realize it, but there’s nothing more entertaining than visiting creationist blogs — and it’s free. Anyway, she has stuff to sell, and she says:

Our Discovery Institute-CSC Zazzle store has some beautiful puzzles featuring images of galaxies, nebulae, and planets taken by the Hubble and Spitzer Space Telescopes.

We followed her link to their puzzle page. Most of the puzzle images are what you’d expect to see at the NASA website. There’s nothing creationist about them — unless you think the universe is the handiwork of their intelligent designer — blessed be he! Well, there’s one item featuring a much abused quote from Darwin about teaching both sides of a question — as if creationism were a scientific question. Anyway, after that she tells us:

One nice thing about Zazzle’s platform is that for each design, the customer can choose a size and difficulty level. So you can opt for an easy 30-piece puzzle, or choose the same design on a challenging 520-piece puzzle, or a difficult 1,014-piece puzzle.

For creationists, we recommend the easy versions. She wraps it up with this:

Some of the puzzles feature information about the image, and some are simply the beautiful image. We hope you enjoy them.

Whoopie! But wait — we said we’d give you two examples of creationists selling Christmas gifts, so now let’s take a look at what’s being offered by Ken Ham (ol’ Hambo) — the ayatollah of Appalachia, the world’s holiest man who knows more about religion and science than everyone else.

At the website of Answers in Genesis (AIG), ol’ Hambo’s creationist ministry, he just posted Lifetime Boarding Pass: The Gift That Lasts a Lifetime.

[Yawn] He’s peddling lifetime admission to his creation museum and his replica of Noah’s ark. There’s no need for us to dig into Hambo’s post because we wrote about essentially the same thing six months ago — see Hambo Offers the World’s Greatest Opportunity.

Anyway, if you have a drooling creationist idiot on your Christmas list, now you know where to go to get an appropriate gift. It pleases your Curmudgeon to provide you with this timely information.

Copyright © 2020. The Sensuous Curmudgeon. All rights reserved.