This _may be_ a bit misleading because most academics tend to be democrats and/or liberals.
Also, the idea that teaching ID in school will undermine education is non-sense. Certain Catholic schools, which have religious studies, are a clear example of students getting a good education despite learning about creationism. Moreover, while I attended grammar school in S Korea, we had a good amount of Buddhism studies and Korea's math scores cannot be refuted. I believe Japan and China is pretty much the same way. To be sure, we got a lot of problems in our education problem, but teaching ID isn't really the major one. I guess it can become one if the schools teach ID only at the expense of other possibilities. Shrug... David Hume was a thinker so skeptical that he was nicknamed The Great Infidel. Some of his works could not be published during his lifetime due to fear for his life. His close friend John Locke had promised to publish his works upon his death but he was hesitant when he finally got to read it. His basic thinking was that the zealots from both the Church and scientific community had no evidence to claim they monopolized the truth. He reasoned there was not enough evidence to totally support or reject either communities claims. I understand that the scientific community goes a step further because there is a built in mechanism for discourse and manner in which to conduct repeatable and verifiable tests. And that is why public schools have science class and not bible study. It's more of the critical thinking skills than the actual content that is important to them. -----Original Message----- From: Larry Lyons [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, October 21, 2008 9:37 AM To: cf-community Subject: Discovery Magazine article on the candidates science policies http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2008/10/16/obama-mccain-science.html I think what's telling is on the second page of the article: -- A number of prominent scientists have flocked toward Obama. In September, his campaign touted the support of 61 winners of Nobel science or medicine prizes, held a media conference call on science policy, and sent a speaker to one of the nation's biggest science conferences in February. The McCain campaign did not do those things nor has it promoted Nobel-winning supporters. McCain has, in a few cases, taken positions that are at odds with mainstream scientists. In a February town hall meeting in Texas, he declared "there's strong evidence" that a mercury-based preservative in vaccines is linked to the increase in U.S. autism cases, according to ABC News. The Food and Drug Administration, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and medical organizations say there is no such evidence. Since 2002, the preservative has been removed from shots recommended for young children, except for some flu shots. Fielding a similar question in April, Obama said: "The science right now is inconclusive, but we have to research it." McCain in 2005 also told a Tucson newspaper that he favors teaching the concept of intelligent design alongside evolution in schools. Intelligent design is the view that life is too complex to have developed through evolution alone, implying that a higher power must have had a hand in creation. In later interviews, McCain has sometimes distanced himself from that comment; last July he told the New York Times these issues are up to local school boards. While evangelical conservatives and President Bush laud the teaching of intelligent design, scientists, such as Leshner, say it would "undermine science education." -- So not only does McCain support junk science (autism and childhood immunization link) but ID as well. If he gets elected there's going to be an even greater erosion of this nation's preeminence in scientific research. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Adobe® ColdFusion® 8 software 8 is the most important and dramatic release to date Get the Free Trial http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;207172674;29440083;f Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:275890 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5
