[only1percent]

Forget Albatross, Young Earth Creationism is straight-up the noose being used to string-up political conservatism to the entire (<30) web-generation. Crap guilt-by-association or no, if political conservatives do not rally together to disassociate themselves from these nuts soon (ideally before the next election), there is going to exist an entire generation in this country who associates ANY Republican, no matter how noble, with Young-Earth Creationist Anti-Rationalism.

While I don't think creationism is the crux, I sure do agree with your broader point. We simply can't be the stupid party -- proud (if sometimes perversely proud) of the mediocrities that we too often hold up as leaders. We just can't have any more it: the actually stupid (far too many second-tier Bush functionaries and Republican members of Congress), the stereotypical dumb jock (another common variety), the slow and inarticulate if not exactly dumb (Bush himself), or (sadly) even the Palin types: street smart, sharp at a tack, but painfully undereducated. (If Palin can educate herself, though, watch out!)

While it may have seemed like for a bit, I think the American people have gotten wise to the notion of a politician who is "one of us." When it was their health on the line, they wouldn't pick a doctor that way. When it was their freedom or wealth on the line, they wouldn't pick a lawyer that way. And when it's their stake in the public welfare, they aren't going to pick a politician that way.

At the end of the day, conservatives have the better ideas and the more thoughtful intellectuals and should be and be proud to be a party led by people who have same quantum of smarts -- and in all likelihood the same mix of educational and professional backgrounds -- as the people who are called to lead in every other important vocation in this country.

[CottShop]

The conservative party is just fine- the american people voted for obama because htey want their mamma- They want government ot pay for everything, to bail them out, to take care of everyone, and obama played on that and one- plain and simple- republicans lost for no other reason than that (Except people didn’t think we should have saved millions of lives in Iraq and here in the US by fightign terrorism- the mainstream media was instrumental in turnign american pride into one of ‘to hell with htem, horray for me and only me’ attitude!)

[CottShop]

When Americans start to wake up fro mtheir obama worship, and start to feel the pinch he is abotu to give us all, they’ll start to realize they were lied to, and will see him as just another democrat. They’ll be like “Wha....Wha.....Wha.... you expect ME to pay for your overinflated spending orgy to ‘fix America”? Are you nuts?” and the dems will once again lose the whitehouse because Americans will see their true colors as the tax and spend liberals who are logn on promisses, and short on answers, and they’ll be after each one of us to foot their wild spending orgy that’s already begun.

Just wait until the dems enact the ‘carbon tax’- that one is goign to cost us dearly- (Fixing a problem that both isn’t a problem, and isn’t our doing either)

[Ozymandi]

Let me first take a moment to thank you all for your hospitality and warm welcome, It truly gratifies me to see such a thoughtful, intelligent, and passionate conservative community.

only1percent, You and I are of aligned mind on the subject at hand. I will fully admit that I am perhaps overly sensitive to Creationism and ID in conservative thought, largely because I work in a field (computational security) in which the large-scale principles of evolution (macro-evolution- the self replication of successful patterns of information in a computational environment) is beyond proven- and is in fact a fundamental assumption and staple of my day-to-day professional problem solving. The entire notion of creationism - that the way things are, are because they were made that way, runs as antithesis to my professional requirements day to day, where I must evaluate why things are they way they are, understand the forces which allowed them to be that way, and put in place practices and procedures those organisms which I Shepard ("White-List Software") to prevail over those organisms which would take advantage of them ("Black-List Software").

Before you play "gotcha" on me, yes I understand that the computational environment I work in was quite explicitly "created" by human means. No I take absolutely no stand on the abiogenesis of the computational environment in which I exist or live (Reality, Truth, The Universe, etc), whether it be created or evolved. Those questions are simply not relevant to my professional needs, and I have not the ego to assert my personal cosmology above any other, aside to say that I am very thankful for a very strong personal relationship to a Subjective figure in my life whom I know as Jesus Christ.

But I digress, the remainder is directly directly towards tpanther (with the utmost respect and admiration for your passion for The Conservative Cause, sir)

There’s ... millions of reasons to think science has to somehow remain pure only when it’s godless.

With all due respect, there is only one reason to think that science "remains pure only when it's godless," and that is nothing less than it's fundamental academic definition:

Science is a pattern of recursively built objective observations which allows me, the objective professional, to do my job. The Almighty God is a subjective observation which allows me to find my ultimate place in his universe, and shape my macro-level behavior towards that which is beneficial to my soul and my fellow man.

Cosmology is the intellectual conclusion of existence, Science is a pile of Objective Observations which hint to us what the First Cause Question was. If it is an uncertainty and a question, it is science, if it is a Conclusion, it is cosmology. ID is a conclusion, it is a Cosmology, not a science. They are Antithetical to one another.

Or, at least in order for me to both put food on my table AND live a spiritually fulfilled life, professional intellectuals such as myself NEED them to be antithetical to one another

When you go and make assertions about "Evo-cult" or tell me that I cannot believe both the Objective practice that feeds my family and the Subjective practice that feeds my soul, you put me into a fundamental crisis of faith... which should I do? Let my children starve by not utilizing the objective observations of evolution which let me do my job, or give up on my soul and dedicate my life to continuing to put food on the table for my family? That's a horrid choice to have anyone make, is it not?

The Academic line between Cosmology and Science is the very thing that allows Men like myself to be both successful engineers (predictors of objective reality) and Faithful Children of the Lord. It is what allows us to compartmentalize between what we can observe as true, and what we Know As True.

Why you think I’m concerned about the liberal kool-aid drinkers spreading their endless lies is way beyond me though!

I fully understand that you are not concerned with this liberal cool-aid drinkers' lies, and hence, you see absolutely no problem with feeding them with further ammunition to make me question my beliefs. They tell me that I cannot both feed my family and be accepted by Our Lord. In My Heart, Jesus Tells me this isn't true, but then you agree with them. You eagerly place value judgments on the very beliefs I require to sustain this life. Your lack of concern on this matter leaves you open to be exploited by the Godless to drive His Children Away from Him. Please sir, I beg of you - consider this when you make your assertions in the future.

That is all I have to say, sorry for the rant. Good day and God Bless!