Occam - 28 June 2008 03:55 PM

Really, just 10,000 signatures?  That’s encouraging, Asanta. I’ll send you a PM of my proposal to end gerrymandering.  We can see if we can get it on the ballot.Occam

I like your proposal. Is there anyone on these boards that have any experience writing proposals? I would want it to be as legally loophole free as possible, so we don’t end up with something worse (if there is a way to make the current situation worse and more advantages to a narrow portion of the population, some lawyer will find it!), and it will have to be written in a way that private interests cannot challenge and overturn it. Anyone out there in California up to the challenge? I am willing to hang around the supermarket entrances to collect signatures!

The problem with/in California, is that the successful proposals, are the emotional ones, not the ones that will actually solve a problem. I’m one of the few people I know who will actually go through the trouble of reading through the propositions and their arguments. Most(professional,college educated) people I know vote by commercial.

Americans United for Separation of Church and State is doing a lot to fight this. They’ve taken Louisiana to court several times over the past few years. Mostly, it’s been successful. They’re keeping a close eye on this new anti-evolution law, and the second anything taught can be construed as religious, they’re going to have their lawyers pounce again. Click Here for Press Release

If you are concerned over religion, creationism, and young earth theory sneaking into the public schools, legislature, and government, click here to learn how to fight back

Their newsletter, Church & State, is also an excellent resource for staying on top of these matters. It can be found online by clicking here

I’ve been a member for years, and strongly recommend the group. They really kick ass. Reverend Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United, is not afraid to go on Fox News and take Bill O’Reilly or Ann Coulter to task. Go Barry!

From another post, here is a real life example of what happens when science teachers teach creationism or “intelligent design” alongside regular science Click Here for Report

A highlight from the report:

“During interviews high school science teachers expressed frustration and concern regarding having to “re-teach” concepts that in their opinion had been improperly taught by Mr. Freshwater at the eighth grade level. At the high school level evolution is the underlying principle of all biology. At the ninth grade level when we bring up evolution there is challenge and argumentation from students who have had Mr. Freshwater, bordering on hostility.”

I say keep religion at home and at church. I don’t want my tax dollars going to teach my child that dinosaurs are 6,000 years old and that Jesus rode them with a saddle.

Sometimes the best way to proceed is to give them what they want - with bells on. If you ever get the chance, watch “Dr. Tatiana’s Sex Advice to All Creation”, a British TV series, or read the book (LINK), and then ask, ”THIS was all DESIGNED that way”?

Breathes there a person with soul so inky,
as not to have wondered at sex that is kinky,
in various creatures whose love lives have sprung,
unwept, unhonored and unsung? (apologies to Sir Walter Scott)

To the rescue of such souls – as well as the rest of us, who have indeed so wondered - comes “Dr. Tatiana,” aka Olivia Judson, one of William D. Hamilton’s last Ph.D. students, who not only knows her evolution, but how to write about it. Her book is informative, sometimes hilarious, nearly always well-informed, and altogether delightful.

Its premise may seem a bit weird, and is. It consists of questions from various perplexed creatures (dung flies, moorhens, field crickets), inquiring about their sex lives, whereupon Dr. Tatiana answers with wit, wisdom, and a wide-ranging familiarity with the literature. There is more here than meets the eye, since the author isn’t shy about venturing down the manifold byways of sociobiology, providing references as she goes. If, as Mary Poppins used to claim, a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down, Dr. Tatiana’s lively banter helps a lot of solid, bona fide biology go down.

And so, we learn of the sea slug from the Red Sea, which sports its male genitalia inside its mouth, and for whom “copulation is an extra special kiss,” not to mention hearing from a green spoon worm appalled because she has just inhaled her husband (not to worry: he wouldn’t have had it any other way!), or the female golden potto who is troubled that her lover’s penis is covered by alarming spines (“all the better to tickle you with, my dear”). And lots more (LINK).

Let’s see how long the new course lasts when you are explaining “God’s designs for sexual reproduction”! Wana bet they’ll be begging you to go back to ‘decent’ evolution?

BTW THIS (LINK) is where it all ends if you give in to religious crackpots.

Those are some good examples - and really, really funny too!

Jules - 11 July 2008 10:42 AM

Those are some good examples - and really, really funny too!

It’s like judo - when they push you pull - and they fall on their faces.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9Owyp9gT_Q

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Pma0ixU-Oo&NR=1

Jules - 29 June 2008 08:39 PM

Americans United for Separation of Church and State is doing a lot to fight this. They’ve taken Louisiana to court several times over the past few years. Mostly, it’s been successful. They’re keeping a close eye on this new anti-evolution law, and the second anything taught can be construed as religious, they’re going to have their lawyers pounce again. Click Here for Press Release

If you are concerned over religion, creationism, and young earth theory sneaking into the public schools, legislature, and government, click here to learn how to fight back


Their newsletter, Church & State, is also an excellent resource for staying on top of these matters. It can be found online by clicking here

I’ve been a member for years, and strongly recommend the group. They really kick ass. Reverend Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United, is not afraid to go on Fox News and take Bill O’Reilly or Ann Coulter to task. Go Barry!

We’ve had excellent experience with Americans United and Barry Lynn. They are terrific.

They’re going to need a plaintiff who has standing in order to challenge this unconstitutional law. If you know a Louisiana public school student’s family, please reach out and encourage them to challenge this.