is for the little people.
10 February, 2009
Judgement Day
LGF has linked to an episode of Nova with much to recommend it. Judgement Day covers the story of Kitzmiller v Dover School Board. First, the caveats: It’s a PBS production, so it perpetuates the “separation of church and state” myth and, missing no opportunity to smear conservatives, calls the so-called “Discovery Institute” a conservative think tank.
What it gets right far outweighs those quibbles. I wish I had seen such a clear take-down of “irreducible complexity” a long time ago – like right after I read and was impressed by Michael Behe’s articles in The American Spectator. The shame I feel at having been taken in, albeit for a few years, is mollified by having been swayed eventually by the evidence.
Judgement Day is abundantly clear in presenting and explaining the piles of evidence introduced at that trial. If you harbor even the slightest doubt about the veracity of the theory of evolution, or currently think that “irreducible complexity” puts it in doubt, you owe it to yourself to spend a couple of hours watching this show.
If you think the show is hostile to religion you will be pleasantly surprised. It does show that a few particular religionists were highly dishonest. But, to spoil one bit of the show, evolution’s star witness in the trial is a confirmed Roman Catholic.
Accepting the reality of evolution is completely orthogonal with a belief in god. Anybody (including the risible Pat Robertson) who tries to tell you otherwise is full of something – and it don’t smell like incense, if you take my meaning.
Update:
Almost on cue, the Vatican buries the hatchet with Charles Darwin.
As Thick as Two Short Planks
This is the kind of idiot who just helped us get hopelessly in debt. I’ve often wondered if Kerry knows how stupid he sounds.
I rather doubt it.
Not Ready to Throw in the Towel on Afghanistan
If Michael Yon has reason for any hope, albeit with downgraded expectations, then there’s reason for some hope. As he points out in this email, the second war starts this year.
The Afghanistan-Pakistan war increases in complexity with each passing year. Fighting will likely be more intense this year — probably kicking off in earnest at around April or so — than ever before. It’s dangerous to try to predict the course of a war, though my guess is that 2010 will see even greater fighting than 2009. By Fall of 2010, we likely will know if our new President has gotten hold of this tiger.
The good news is that Iraq just keeps doing better and better. Truly an amazing turnaround.
It’s not all great news in Afghanistan. Not by a long shot.
While we prepare to shunt perhaps 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan (which still will not be enough), Russia continues to play the Asian chessboard. The Russians are picking off pawn after pawn, and steadily eroding our foreign policy influence with them and other Central Asian countries. The Russians know that we need a land route through their country to Afghanistan, especially as we begin the slow process of increasing our combat presence. The Pakistan land route is one Achilles’ heel to our Afghanistan effort, and Russia is working hard to make sure that Russia is the other Achilles’ heel, which will strengthen the Russian position on matters such as missile defense. Russia, at the present rate, will eventually exercise considerable control over the spigot to Afghanistan. The Russians are successfully wrestling us into a policy arm-lock. While Russia takes American money and gains influence over our Afghan efforts, we will continue to spend lives and tens of billions of dollars per year on Afghanistan in an attempt to civilize what amounts to Jurassic Park.
As linked above, Yon recommends this article by Frederick Kagan. It’s well worth reading if you want a primer on why Afghanistan is not Iraq.
You Have to Laugh at These People
Because if you stopped and thought what these littlebrains really mean for the country you’d cry a river.
Update:
You vote for a Wizard, but you get a man behind a curtain.
