Free Republic

Adnan Oktar, who as Harun Yahya isTurkey's best-known and most assertivecritic of evolution, says he is"following the path of Allah."(Marc Kaufman/the Washington Post) ISTANBUL -- Sema Ergezen teaches biology to Turkish students interested in teaching science themselves, and she has long struggled with her students' ignorance of, and sometimes hostility to, the notion of evolution. But she was taken aback when several of her Marmara University students recently accused her of being an atheist, or worse, for teaching anything but the doctrine that God created the Earth and everything on it. "They said I was a liar if I called...

Regardless of how lively an election season might be, a new study shows that more 3.3 million voters on current registration rolls across the country are dead. Another 12.9 million remain on voter registration lists in an area where they no longer live. The analysis was conducted by the Aristotle International Inc., a technology company specializing in political campaigns, developing software and databases for politicians. In total that means about 8.9 percent of all registered voters fall under the category of “deadwood” voters on the rolls, the term for voters who should no longer be eligible to vote in a...

Love Can Mess You Up: Before Arthur David Horn met his future bride Lynette (a "metaphysical healer") in 1988, he was a tenured professor at Colorado State, with a Ph.D. in anthropology from Yale, teaching a mainstream course in human evolution. With Lynette's guidance (after a revelatory week with her in California's Trinity Mountains, searching for Bigfoot), Horn evolved, himself, resigning from Colorado State and seeking to remedy his inadequate Ivy League education. At a conference in Denver in September, Horn said he now realizes that humans come from an alien race of shape-shifting reptilians that continue to control civilization...

Nature has recently published an interesting paper which places severe limits on Darwinian evolution...

Seattle – Richard Dawkins, the world’s leading public spokesman for Darwinian evolution and an advocate of the “new atheism,” has refused to debate Dr. Stephen C. Meyer, a prominent advocate of intelligent design and the author of the acclaimed Signature in the Cell: DNA and the Evidence for Intelligent Design. “Richard Dawkins claims that the appearance of design in biology is an illusion and claims to have refuted the case for intelligent design,” says Dr. Meyer who received his Ph.D. in the philosophy of science from the University of Cambridge in England. “But Dawkins assiduously avoids addressing the key evidence...

Sept 21 (Reuters) - Shares of VeriChip Corp (CHIP.O) tripled after the company said it had been granted an exclusive license to two patents, which will help it to develop implantable virus detection systems in humans. The patents, held by VeriChip partner Receptors LLC, relate to biosensors that can detect the H1N1 and other viruses, and biological threats such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, VeriChip said in a statement. The technology will combine with VeriChip's implantable radio frequency identification devices to develop virus triage detection systems. The triage system will provide multiple levels of identification -- the first will identify the...

INDIANAPOLIS, Sept. 17 (UPI) -- An Indiana appeals court threw out the state's voter identification law Thursday, finding it violates the state constitution's equal protection clause. The law, one of the strictest in the country, requires voters to show government-issued photo ID before they can cast their ballots. The three-judge panel said the law is unconstitutional because it does not apply to two groups of voters, the Indianapolis Star reported. Absentee voters are not required to file affidavits swearing to their identity, and residents of long-term care facilities do not have to show ID if their facility is a polling...

The Boise City Council passed a controversial health care resolution Tuesday night by a four to three margin. Mayor Dave Bieter passed the deciding vote after listening to more than an hour of public testimony. Most of that testimony was against the resolution on the national health care crises. Less than a handful sided with the mayor who'd proposed the resolution. "You're not concerning yourself with city Business at all I don't think you guys need to comment on it," one man told the council just before applause broke out inside council chambers. The resolution reads "The city council of...

BOOK REVIEW : The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution. By Richard Dawkins. Simon and Schuster; 480 pages; $30. Bantam Press; £20. Buy from Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk A SCIENTIST on a flight across America falls into conversation with his neighbour, who turns out to be gratifyingly interested in his research on wild guppy populations in Trinidad. He probes deeply the scientist’s methods, his findings and setbacks. Then comes the big question: what is the theory underlying the work? Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection, replies the scientist. The rest of the journey passes in chilly silence. This anecdote...

Some of the 4,000 downtown residents who live near a potential security perimeter during the G-20 summit have begun to think about how they will move around then. KDKA-TV News has learned that some residential management firms have told their residents that apartment communities near the David L. Lawrence Convention Center will have to provide a list of residents to the city which would be put in a database. That would allow residents to show a photo ID at a checkpoint. A driver's license or a city issued credential would be used if a driver's license isn't up to date.

As students step foot on campus for another school year, an intelligent design proponent has offered a few tips for the millions who will face the teaching of evolution in their science classrooms. Tip number one, "never opt out of learning evolution," says Casey Luskin, co-founder of the Intelligent Design and Evolution Awareness (IDEA) Center, according to the Discovery Institute. "In fact, learn about evolution every chance you get." Having attended public schools from kindergarten through his master’s degree at the University of California, San Diego, Luskin was taught a "biased and one-sided origins" curriculum – basically, the neo-Darwinian theory....

From Gene Green's website: Town hall meetings are one of my favorite ways to communicate with constituents. I have held hundreds during my years of service in Congress and always welcomed everyone to attend. Unfortunately, due to a coordinated effort to disrupt our town hall meetings, we will be restricting further attendance to residents of the 29th Congressional District and verifying residency by requiring photo identification. Whether individuals agree or disagree, we must maintain order to have a civil discussion of the issues. While I regret this restriction, it is necessary for the safety and consideration of our constituents. Those...

Thanks to Baron Scarpia for alerting us to this website, which outlines the rigorous academic standards [Quote-miners, please note: this is sarcasm] which William Dembski’s students have to achieve in his courses on Intelligent Design and Christian Apologetics at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary: http://www.designinference.com/teaching/teaching.htm If you follow the links, you will see that it is full of gems: we won’t spoil them for you by flagging them all up, but – just to whet your appetite – you will notice that, at both undergrad and masters level, there are courses for which 20% of the final marks come from having...

One hundred fifty years ago, Charles Darwin revolutionized biology, but did he refute intelligent design (ID)? In Signature in the Cell, Stephen Meyer argues that he did not. Much confusion surrounds the theory of intelligent design. Frequently misrepresented by the media, politicians, and local school boards, intelligent design can be defended on purely scientific grounds in accordance with the same rigorous methods that apply to every proposed origin-of-life theory. Signature in the Cell is the first book to make a comprehensive case for intelligent design based upon DNA. Meyer embarks on an odyssey of discovery as he investigates current...

BOISE, Idaho — Police say an Ada County man shot and killed an attacking pit bull. Josh Hobson says he was responding to pleas of help from a jogger on Saturday night. Armed with his shotgun, he says he shot one of two dogs as it turned on him. Neighbors say the jogger, with his own dog, were running down the sidewalk when the two pit bulls ran out an open door and across the street, snarling and barking. The jogger took refuge in a pickup truck. Ada County officers say Hobson did nothing wrong. Deputy Nicole Hudson says the...

The final chips are rolling out of Micron Technology Inc.'s fabrication plant over the next few weeks, ending a nearly three-decade run that helped launch Micron into an international, multibillion-dollar powerhouse and put Boise on the global high-tech map. Now, the Treasure Valley will have to cope with the loss of at least 3,500 Micron jobs in 10 months during one of the nation's worst economic crises. Micron announced in February that it would lay off 2,000 people by August as it stops making its primary product, dynamic random-access memory chips, at its outdated Boise plant. That announcement came on...

Never a dull moment with the Justice Department of Eric Holder, aka "the right man at the right time to protect our citizens in the critical years ahead." In fact, it would be more accurate to say he's the right man at the right time to protect our non-citizens in the critical years ahead. Unbelievably (or, perhaps, entirely too believably), Holder has told Georgia that it may no longer verify identification in order to ensure that voting is done only by citizens eligible to vote. The AP reports: ATLANTA — The Justice Department has rejected Georgia's system of using Social...

When the Irvine Ranch Water District computes how much water you really should be using, the maximum allocation is based on that happy-family-of-four model. Now, should you have more than four people in your (single family detached) household, you may request what is called a formal variance. But be prepared. Officials won’t just take your word for it. “Attach proof of permanent residency for each person in the household,” .. “Proof may be children’s birth certificates, school records, blank checks with preprinted name and address, copies of income tax returns, drivers license, lease agreements, etc.”

Listening to the Today programme this morning, I was irritated once again by yet another misrepresentation of Intelligent Design as a form of Creationism. In an item on the growing popularity of Intelligent Design, John Humphrys interviewed Professor Ken Miller of Brown University in the US who spoke on the subject last evening at the Faraday Institute, Cambridge. Humphrys suggested that Intelligent Design might be considered a kind of middle ground between Darwinism and Creationism. Miller agreed but went further, saying that Intelligent Design was nothing more than an attempt to repackage good old-fashioned Creationism and make it more palatable....

STITES, Idaho - The FBI and Nez Perce Tribal Police are investigating a fatal shooting at that took place at a grocery store in Stites early Thursday morning. It happened during an apparent attempted break-in The Idaho County Sheriff's Office confirmed that a 21-year-old Kamiah man was pronounced dead at the scene. His identity was being withheld until family was notified. He was one of two men who were reportedly trying to break into the Stites Grocery Store. He was shot and killed during the alleged break-in. The Sheriff's Office says the other suspect ran from the scene. Witnesses say...

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A post-9/11 law that sets federal standards for state driver's licenses and identification cards is under fire from the head of the agency enforcing that law, the Department of Homeland Security. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano this week said she is working with governors to repeal the Real ID Act, which was passed in 2005 and went into effect last year. The bill is popular in Washington, but is scorned by many governors who bear the responsibility and cost of validating that holders of driver's licenses are citizens or legal residents of the United States.

Any 'peace officer' can demand i.d. any time, doesn't say exactly who qualifies as a 'peace officer.' Papers please!! The Texas Senate has approved a bizarre measure which would require citizens to show some sort of identification to any police officer who demands it, at any time, for any reason, 1200 WOAI news reports. Currently, it is illegal for a person to give a false name to police, but there is no law rewiring a person to provide i.d. at an officer's whim. And State Sen. Tommy Williams (R-The Woodlands) doesn't like the sound of this bill. "We still live...

It�s tough to get a job when you can�t prove who you are. Colorado Springs resident Kevin Dobkins knows. He said his identification documents were lost more than a year ago, and he has been homeless since. �You can�t do anything without an ID,� Dobkins said. �You�re out of luck, you�re nobody, you don�t exist.� The 36-year-old is among a growing number of legal residents feeling the effects of an effort to stop illegal immigrants from receiving government benefits. Homeless people are especially hard hit, advocates say.

ROME — A Vatican-backed conference on evolution is under attack from people who weren't invited to participate: those espousing creationism and intelligent design. The Discovery Institute, the main organization supporting intelligent design research, says it was shut out from presenting its views because the meeting was funded in part by the John Templeton Foundation, a major U.S. nonprofit that has criticized the intelligent design movement. Intelligent design holds that certain features of life forms are so complex that they can best be explained by an origin from an intelligent higher power, not an undirected process like natural selection. Organizers of...

A leading intelligent design proponent said Friday that views expressed this week at a Darwin conference in Rome should not be confused with the Vatican's position on intelligent design and Darwinism. Organisers of the March 3 to 7 conference, Biological Evolution: Facts and Theories, at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome had declined to invite intelligent design speakers because they felt the theory lacked scientific merit. Bruce Chapman, president of the Seattle-based Discovery Institute, an intelligent design think tank, said he believes the Pope remains in serious "fruitful dialogue" with intelligent design even though speakers of the conference, sponsored by...

Feb. 27, 2009 -- When NASA began thinking about missions to look for life beyond Earth, it realized it had a problem: how to recognize life if it were found. Scientists came up with a definition for life -- a self-sustaining chemical system capable of Darwinian evolution -- but remained understandably fuzzy on the details. It is still not known how life on Earth took hold, what happened to a bunch of chemicals that made them capable of supporting a metabolism, replicating and evolution. But a new field of science, called synthetic biology, is aiming to find out. One of...

Proof of lawful status now required for Texas driver licenses or identification cardsBeginning Oct. 1, the Department of Public Safety will require applicants who are not U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents of the United States to present proof of their lawful status in the U.S. before they are issued an original, renewal or duplicate Texas driver license or identification card. Administrative rule 37 T.A.C. § 15.171 adopted on August 25, 2008, is intended to enhance the security of the Texas driver license and identification cards, protect the integrity of the licensing process and reduce the risk of identity theft...

Darwinism as Religion in a Holy War Feb 19, 2009 — It might be expected that media attention on Darwin would be exceptionally high this month because of his bicentennial, but some of it seems downright religious. The adulation he has been receiving is almost embarrassing sometimes. It is only exceeded by the righteous indignation frequently expressed against intelligent design. In any other context, the fighting words of the Darwinians would be described as hate speech. Here are some recent examples: 1. Shrine to Darwin:...

Minnesota voters apparently will be able to go through at least one more election where they can vote without showing photo identification. A Minnesota House committee today rejected a bill that would have required voters to produce photo IDs before voting. The government operations committee vote was 11 to 8, with most Democrats voting no and Republicans voting yes. The bill's chief sponsor, Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Delano, said the measure was needed to ensure the "integrity and legitimacy of our elections" by preventing voter fraud. Opponents said the legislation is unneeded. Secretary of State Mark Ritchie, a Democrat, said he...

Stephen Bratteng, a biology teacher at Westwood High School in Austin put this together. I got the list from him when I heard him testify in favor of solid science in biology textbooks, in hearings before the Texas State Board of Education in 2003: 1. Why does giving vitamin and mineral supplements to undernourished anemic individuals cause so many of them to die of bacterial infections? 2. Why did Dr. Heimlich have to develop a maneuver to dislodge food particles from people’s wind pipes? 3. Why does each of your eyes have a blind spot and strong a tendency toward...

The shy young naturalist Charles Darwin, who voyaged around the world aboard HMS Beagle and became the bearded sage of rational scientific thought, is having a birthday this week - his 200th - and celebrations have already begun throughout the Bay Area, and indeed on every continent.

The folks at Mythbusters can say "I told you so" now that Japanese authorities have found a 51-year old woman slipping in and out of the country by using a piece of tape to defeat fingerprint scanners. The seemingly simple exploit raises questions about expensive border security systems -- and about the usefulness of the biometric data the federal government wants to incorporate into drivers licenses with its controversial Real ID scheme. The unnamed South Korean bar hostess, whose real fingerprints were on file as that of an illegal alien, bypassed her listing in the database with tape supplied by...

EXCLUSIVE: Hundreds of files — with social security numbers, bank account numbers and other sensitive U.S. government information — were found in a filing cabinet purchased from the U.S. consulate in Jerusalem through a local auction. "We couldn't believe what we found," said Paula, who purchased the cabinets and asked that her last name not be published.

<p>“The commonly cited case for intelligent design appeals to: (a) the irreducible complexity of (b) some aspects of life. But complex arguments invite complex refutations (valid or otherwise), and the claim that only some aspects of life are irreducibly complex implies that others are not, and so the average person remains unconvinced. Here I use another principle—autopoiesis (self-making)—to show that all aspects of life lie beyond the reach of naturalistic explanations. Autopoiesis provides a compelling case for intelligent design in three stages: (i) autopoiesis is universal in all living things, which makes it a pre-requisite for life, not an end product of natural selection; (ii) the inversely-causal, information-driven, structured hierarchy of autopoiesis is not reducible to the laws of physics and chemistry; and (iii) there is an unbridgeable abyss between the dirty, mass-action chemistry of the natural environmental and the perfectly-pure, single-molecule precision of biochemistry.”</p>

Hundreds wait for hours to buy S.F. ID card Hundreds of people stood in line for hours at San Francisco City Hall on Thursday to be among the first in the nation to receive municipal identification cards (regardless of their immigration status.) The cards, also available in New Haven, Conn., and being considered in other cities, have sparked fury among advocates of stricter immigration laws. They argue cities have no business declaring people residents if they are not in the country legally. But San Francisco officials and recipients of the cards hailed the new program as a way to connect...

Professors routinely give advice to students but usually while their charges are still in school. Arthur Landy, a distinguished professor of molecular and cell biology and biochemistry at Brown University, recently decided, however, that he had to remind a former premed student of his that “without evolution, modern biology, including medicine and biotechnology, wouldn’t make sense.” The sentiment was not original with Landy, of course. Thirty-six years ago geneticist Theodosius Dobzhansky, a major contributor to the foundations of modern evolutionary theory, famously told the readers of The American Biology Teacher that “nothing in biology makes sense, except in the light...

Is there a God or a multiverse? Does modern cosmology force us to choose? Is it the case that the apparent fine-tuning of constants and forces to make the universe just right for life means there is either a need for a "tuner" or else a cosmos in which every possible variation of these constants and forces exists somewhere? This choice has provoked anxious comment in the pages of this week's New Scientist. It follows an article in Discover magazine, in which science writer Tim Folger quoted cosmologist Bernard Carr: "If you don't want God, you'd better have a multiverse."...

When the Government introduced its ID card legislation several years ago, it made one thing clear. Even though it would be obligatory to register on the ID database when obtaining a new passport, it would not be compulsory to carry a card. This has led some people to assume that the scheme is voluntary. It is not, except insofar as someone whose passport has expired is happy never to travel abroad again. But ministers recognised that the scope for ID ‘matrydom’ was high if people were forced to carry an ID card. The last identity system was abolished in 1952...

State officials are to be given powers previously reserved for times of war to demand a person's proof of identity at any time. Anybody who refuses the Big Brother demand could face arrest and a possible prison sentence. The new rules come in legislation to be unveiled in today's Queen's Speech. They are presented as a crackdown on illegal immigration, but lawyers say they could be applied to anybody who has ever been outside the UK, even on holiday. The civil rights group Liberty, which analysed clauses from the new Immigration and Citizenship Bill, called them an attempt to introduce...

science serves humankind by expanding our knowledge and understanding of the universe. It also gives us technologies that benefit our lives and drive social evolution. But it also teaches how to think rationally and sceptically. I often use the phrase "science as a way of knowing", because, for me, that is why it is important. It is the best method we have of understanding how things are. It doesn't bother me too much that students, as the report suggests, are being taught how to pass exams. In my experience, most people do university degrees not for the intellectual stimulus, or...

It starts with two simple words - "El Tio" or "The Uncle" in English. It's the password that opens the door to a new identity. After receiving a tip from a viewer, CBS 11 News went undercover in Northwest Dallas, along Harry Hines Boulevard to document an elaborate fake ID ring. We sent a CBS 11 employee, undercover, to the location. He asked about getting a Texas ID card and was directed to "El Tio." The employee was then taken across the street to a boot store to have his picture taken. He handed over $20 as an up front...

Our universe is perfectly tailored for life. That may be the work of God or the result of our universe being one of many. Linde’s recent research has helped solidify the connection between string theory and the multiverse. Some physicists have long embraced the notion that the extra dimensions of string theory play a key role in shaping the properties of new universes spawned during eternal chaotic inflation. When a new universe sprouts from its parent, the concept goes, only three of the dimensions of space predicted by string theory will inflate into large, full-blown, inhabitable spaces. The other dimensions...

As part of measures to crackdown on illegal workers, the UK on Tuesday started issuing identity cards to foreigners, incorporating their facial image and fingerprints to securely lock them to one identity. For the start ID cards are being issued to people making applications to remain in the UK as a student or based on marriage, the Home Office said in a statement. This will be followed by identity cards for British workers in sensitive roles and locations in 2009 and to young people in 2010, it said.

One in three teachers believes schoolchildren should be taught that creationism is just as valid as evolution, according to a survey. The poll also disclosed that pupils in almost a third of schools already learn about the controversial divine explanation of the universe, with even science teachers thinking it has a place in classrooms. Almost all of those questioned by Teachers TV, a satellite television channel, agreed that children with strong religious beliefs would feel excluded from science lessons if their views were ignored. The findings support the views of the Rev Professor Michael Reiss, who lost his job as...

A national private property rights groups is urging its members to “deluge” Republican Sen. Mike Crapo’s office with calls and e-mails urging him to back off of the Senate bill that would protect wilderness and public land ranchers in Owyhee County. But Fred Grant, president of another national private property group and one of the leaders of the collaborative group that negotiated Crapo’s bill says the claims of the American Land Rights Association that Crapo has sold out private property rights “is not right or truthful.” The American Land Rights Association sent out an alert Monday urging its members to...

I believe that there are only 2 chances Obama has to win, 1 we fall for the MSM's skewed polls and don't show up to vote or 2 Acorn tries to steal it with phony votes in a few key states like the 11 that they are being investigated for turing in Phony reistrations. Did you know that: In 2002, Congress passed the Help America Vote Act (HAVA).[1] HAVA affects only federal elec­tions and, among other things, requires that the states provide for provisional voting; create a computerized, centralized list of registered voters; and ensure that new voters who register...

Dinosaurs, dragons and Darwin were discussed Friday during the contract termination hearing of suspended Mount Vernon Middle School science teacher John Freshwater. David Millstone, attorney for the Mount Vernon school board, introduced several handouts allegedly distributed by Freshwater in class. Former Freshwater students Simon Souhrada and Kate Button testified the dinosaur handout implied that humans and dinosaurs probably coexisted, contradicting the generally accepted theory of evolution. Button said Freshwater told her class there was new evidence that dinosaurs probably were around when people were, because of the global incidence of legends of dragons. Both students also alleged Freshwater indirectly made...

A second Mount Vernon student said his 8th grade science teacher burned a cross on his arm with an electrical device, but that he didn't tell his parents or complain about the incident. And two school teachers, one of whom spent most of last year in Freshwater's class, described being uncomfortable with what he was teaching. Simon Souhrada, 17, said Freshwater used a high-voltage static electricity device to burn a cross on his arm four years ago. But, he testified, "it never even registered with me as being anything, really." Simon, now a junior at Mount Vernon High School, said...

VATICAN CITY, Oct. 31 (UPI) -- Pope Benedict XVI cited Galileo as a scientist of deep religious faith as he opened a conference on creation Friday at the Vatican. In his address at the Pontifical Academy of Science, the pope said that scientific findings on the origins of the universe are compatible with the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church, the Italian news agency ANSA reported. ''Saying that the foundation of the cosmos and its developments are the fruit of the creator is not saying that creation is only about the beginning of the history of the world and of...

The religion that is afraid of science dishonors God and commits suicide. - Ralph Waldo Emerson Given the often amicable relationship between science and religion throughout the history of Islam and Christianity, the current hostilities, centred around creationism and evolution, seem something of a historical anomaly. And many commentators suggest that they are also a geographical anomaly, in that the promotion of creationism and intelligent design is restricted to Islamic countries and the United States. But the latter suggestion is not quite true. While creationism and ID enjoy more "official" support in Islamic countries than anywhere else, and while the...