Dec. 23, 2005 Vortex, MERRY CHRISTMAS and other Holidays of the season to ALL (whatever the faiths or non faiths)!! -ak-
> [Original Message] > From: What's New <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: 12/23/2005 5:53:00 PM Subject: [BOBPARKS-WHATSNEW] What's New Friday December 23, 2005 WHAT'S NEW Robert L. Park Friday, 23 Dec 05 Washington, DC 1. INTELLIGENT DESIGN: DOVER DECISION DESTINED TO BE BESTSELLER. "Our conclusion today," wrote United States District Judge John E. Jones III, "is that it is unconstitutional to teach ID as an alternative to evolution in a public school classroom." You must read 137 pages to get to that line, but it's time well spent. Jones, a conservative Republican appointed by George W. Bush, reviews the "legal landscape" of church-state separation, and then addresses the key question of whether ID is science or religion. He does so, "in the hope that it may prevent the obvious waste of resources on subsequent trials." Science, he observes, "rejects appeal to authority in favor of empirical evidence," whereas, "ID is not supported by any peer-reviewed research, data or publications." Not only does he enjoin Dover schools from teaching ID, he says the parents who brought suit are entitled to damages. That may cool the ardor of other school boards thinking of hopping in bed with the Discovery Institute. In the Senate, Rick Santorum (R-PA), who had earlier praised the Dover School Board for "teaching the controversy," was so moved by the Jones decision that he severed his ties to the Thomas Moore Law Center, which had defended the Board. 2. THIS IS HEAVEN? YOU MAY WANT TO ASK ABOUT THE ALTERNATIVES. Having just read Judge Jones "passionate paean to science," I turned on "Heaven: Where Is It? How Do We Get There," a two-hour special on ABC. The only hard information was that 90 percent of the public believes in it, whatever it is. That's scary, but how could ABC spend two hours on something for which there is no evidence whatever? Easy, have Barbara Walters interview experts, from mega-church evangelist Ted Haggard, who explains Heaven is only for born-again Christians, to a failed suicide bomber in a Jerusalem prison who was certain it's only for Muslims. 3. LOS ALAMOS: LEGENDARY BOMB LAB RETAINS LINK TO U. CALIFORNIA. A consortium led by UC and Bechtel won the contract to manage the nation's oldest nuclear laboratory. This was good news for the 8,000 employees who feared losing job security and pensions under new management. However, Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX), Chair of Energy and Commerce, was not happy. He had favored a consortium that included the U. of Texas. Actually, Barton hasn't been happy since Energy cancelled the SSC, which was in his district. 4. PATRIOT ACT: 2 DAYS BEFORE CHRISTMAS AND ALL THROUGH THE HOUSE The House yesterday insisted on shortening the extension of the Patriot Act to five weeks because James Sensenbrenner (R-WI), the Judiciary chair, wants it to be permanent. While you're figuring that out, we read in the South Coast Standard-Times that a UMass Dartmouth Senior was visited by Homeland Security agents after he requested a copy of Mao's "Little Red Book" from the library. He had apparently become one of the 500 people at any one time that President Bush has authorized NSA to spy on. So we now have NSA computers sifting through inter-library loans to catch Maoists? Wake up NSA! http://bobpark.physics.umd.edu/WN05/wn021105.html. THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND. Opinions are the author's and not necessarily shared by the University of Maryland, but they should be. --- Archives of What's New can be found at http://www.bobpark.org What's New is moving to a different listserver and our subscription process has changed. To change your subscription status please visit this link: http://listserv.umd.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=bobparks-whatsnew&A=1
