Free Republic

1. September 11, 2001 - Thanks to the power of the web and live broadcasts on television, the conspiracy theories surrounding the events of 9/11 - when terrorists attacked the World Trade Centre in New York and the Pentagon in Washington - have surpassed those of Roswell and JFK in traction. Despite claims by al-Qaeda that it planned, organised and orchestrated the attacks, several official and unofficial investigations into the collapse of the Twin Towers which concluded that structural failure was responsible and footage of the events themselves, the conspiracy theories continue to grow in strength. At the milder...

Environment Canada says such low temperatures unusual for this time of year. The arctic deep freeze trapping Calgary is on track to break a 110-year-old weather record today, but the bitter cold is expected to ease in the coming days. With a forecast low of -31C today, Calgary could break the -27C record set on this day in 1896. But factoring in the wind chill, it will feel even colder to people who have to brave the elements, said Environment Canada meteorologist Ross Macdonald. It's even been too frosty to ski, with Canada Olympic Park shutting the hill yesterday in...

Molecular clockwork and related theories Testing the basis for “Mitochondrial Eve.”Molecular clocks, a complex topic central to current debates on human evolution, first came into prominence in paleoanthropology in the 1960’s. One well-known study by Vincent Sarich and Alan Wilson of the University of California (1967) measured the immunological reactions in primates and other animals to a control sample of the blood protein serum albumin. The differences, assumed due to a constant rate of evolution through mutations, were then plotted on a linear scale showing time elapsed since each species diverged from a common ancestor. On the same principle, DNA,...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--A majority of adults support the biblical account of creation according to a new CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll -- the latest in a series of polls reflecting Americans' tendency to reject secular evolution. In the poll, 53 percent of adults say "God created human beings in their present form exactly the way the Bible describes it." Another 31 percent believe humans "evolved over millions of years from other forms of life and God guided" the process. Twelve percent say humans "have evolved over millions of years from other forms of life, but God has no part." The poll of...

WE'RE rich because they're poor. No proposition is more central to the left-wing view of the world than the idea that the rich West survives in its comfort because it exploits the poor in the Third World. A variation on this lies at the heart even of much Islamist terrorist ideology. The utterly ridiculous Peter Singer even wrote a book purporting to work out how many dollars the rich world should pay to the poor to make it rich too.

When it comes to the classroom, religious extremists have an ambitious agenda: to replace science with ideology at every opportunity. As if denying even that their own ideas can evolve, they've recently taken up their dusty arms against an old, familiar issue — the teaching of evolution in public schools. New Name, Same Agenda The supposed rival to the theory of evolution — creationism — now goes by the new name of "intelligent design." Just as with other phrases (like the Bush administration favorite, "culture of life"), the name change is merely the latest tactic in an ongoing strategy by...

A new front has opened up in the debate over evolution and creationism in Utah, with a proposal to require the teaching of divine design in public schools. State Senator Chris Buttars (R-West Jordan) has agreed to take the lead in pushing new legislation on the teaching of divine design, also known as intelligent design, in conjunction with evolution in schools. Buttars is supported by a strong conservative lobby, headed by the Eagle Forum, which has previously sought the inclusion of divine design in the public school science curriculum. School officials argue that any laws requiring the teaching of divine...

This is a celebration of my right to free speech, press and petition the government. As a whole, the citizens of the United States consider their country to be a democracy. Roger Baldwin, who founded the American Civil Liberties Union in 1920, said, “So long as we have enough people in this country to fight for their rights, we’ll be called a democracy.” And now, citizens, we must fight for a more egalitarian society in the United States. With such an egalitarian society there are no social classes. There is no private property or state. Communism would permit the complete...

Tomb's hexagonal shape supports theories Yomiuri Shimbun The mausoleum in Marukoyama in Asukamura, Nara Prefecture, is hexagonal, giving support to theories that have suggested the tomb belonged to a high-ranking prince, according to the municipal board of education. The mausoleum is the first hexagonal tomb to be found in the Asuka area, where there are many tombs of Imperial and aristocratic family members that date back to the late sixth and early seventh centuries, when Empress Suiko (554-628) ruled the region. Mausoleums were built in various shapes, but only a few hexagonal chambers have been discovered in the nation. Emperors,...

.......snip............. The economics of religion is founded on the belief that people are just as rational in their choices about religion as they are about, say, buying a car. ............... The idea that religion involves rational choices extends even to suicide bombers who strike in the name of God. Studies show they are far from depressed loners or brainwashed robots. Instead, says Eli Berman, an associate professor of economics at the University of California at San Diego, suicide bombers typically are motivated young men -- and, rarely, women -- from average backgrounds. ..................... How should the West fight such terrorism?...

Crank Yankers By giving voice to nutty conspiracy theory, Howard Dean is bringing the political fringe one step closer to the center. by Hugh Hewitt 12/11/2003 THE WORLD is full of interesting theories. There's the theory that FDR was warned of the attack on Pearl Harbor, but allowed it to happen in order to enrage America and bring us fully into World War II. There's the theory that LBJ had JFK knocked off on the orders of Texas oilmen. There's the Raelians' theory that ancient space travelers planted people on Earth; and there are the very interesting theories contained in...

I was thinking the other day about this whole evolution and creation thing. I mean is it really worth argueing over. I mean come on we're all going to find out when we die anyway. There isn't proof for either, so everyone who is argueing over the subject is just wasting their time. I beleive that we should allow the scientist to believe what they wish to believe. The way I see it either they find God or go to hell. Does it really matter what other people think. Or does it even really matter what you think that they...

Board gives final approval to biology books BY APRIL CASTRO Associated Press Writer AUSTIN - Biology books in Texas will continue to present the origin of life according to the theories of Charles Darwin. The State Board of Education gave final approval Friday to 11 biology books, among others, despite a major campaign to poke holes in Darwin's theory of evolution as presented in the textbooks. School districts in Texas will be able to purchase books from the approved list for use beginning in the 2004-2005 school year. Texas Education Agency Director Robert Scott said any factual errors in the...

New Study on Peopling of Americas Confirms Some Theories, Unsettles Others The New World was populated in at least two migrations, according to a paper presented by C. Loring Brace to the National Academy of Sciences. The settlers in the first wave, who walked across the Bering Land Bridge 15,000 years ago, were the forebears of present-day inhabitants south of the U.S.-Canadian border. The ancestors of linguistically distinct peoples including the Inuit, Aleut, and Na-Dene speakers made the watery crossing from Asia about 5,000 years ago.(The people are todays American Indian/Native Americans) The new study by Dr. Brace, professor of...

More than 60 years ago, G. H. Hardy, an English mathematician besotted with abstraction, wrote, " `Imaginary' universes are so much more beautiful than this stupidly constructed `real' one." Were Hardy around today, he'd find plenty of company. From astronomers peering out into space to particle physicists inspecting atomic innards, the more scientists study the universe, the more preposterous, random, and, yes, ugly it becomes. But hold it. How can the universe be thought ugly? This realm of wheeling galaxies whose stars explode gloriously to seed space with the building blocks of life? A cosmos that bore at least one...

Amateur mathematician's time theories published at last 31.07.2003 11.04 am University drop-out Peter Lynds, 27, of Wellington says he has further plans for mathematical and philosophical explorations after publication of his theories on the nature of time. Mr Lynds, who studied at university for just six months, said his paper, Time and Classical and Quantum Mechanics: Indeterminacy vs Discontinuity, was being published in the August issue of a Dutch-based journal, Foundations of Physics Letters. The journal specialises in rapid dissemination of research in theoretical or mathematical physics, or the philosophy of science. Now a broadcasting school tutor, Mr Lynds said...

Conspiracy theorists, you have a problem. In an effort to silence claims that the Apollo Moon landings were faked, European scientists are to use the world's newest and largest telescope to see whether remains of the spacecraft are still on the lunar surface. For years, doubters have claimed that Nasa, the US space agency, spent billions of dollars faking the landings to convince the world that it had beaten the Soviet Union to the Moon. A host of supposed evidence has been put forward, ranging from the absence of stars on any photographs taken by the astronauts to the fact...