16. @ Bob Rogan(comment #11)

You said, " Let’s turn the fate of this country over to 'Egg-heads'. They will pronounce the logical truth of all "Moral Equivalences", and us "We'uns" will live in the "foo-foo" land of intellectual certainty and national anarchy (All behaviors will be determined to be “morally equivalent" to all others, thus we do not have to govern or react to anything)."
So, do you know any of these 'Egg-heads' then, do you Bob? Are you living in fear that reality-based people are without compassion, a sense of justice or a feeling for what is good and what is evil?

People who have no compassion are called sociopaths.

Are you living in fear that your right to habeus corpus, your right to a tmely trial by a jury of your peers will be taken away?

Are you living in fear that stuff like 'waterboarding' will become justifiable(and NOT torture) because the 'needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few'(logically).

Do you live in fear that even though you have worked all your life and paid into your social security... some logical egghead will decide that since the government has squandered your money it is logical that you will be pensionless?

There's lots more Bob, but I think that's enough to show you that you need have no fears of these things happening when sociopaths take control of the government... it's happening right now.

I know, I know... he SAYS that he is faith-based... and politicians NEVER LIE in the foo-foo land that you live in.

pboyfloyd at 6:08PM on May 5th 2007

17. It may be the cultural schism of our time. Reason vs faith, logic vs belief, secularism vs theocracy. It really is embarassing to see 3 out of 10 republican candidates don't believe in evolution... These are people applying for a job to steer the most heavily armed nation in the world, yet base their understanding of humanity on grossly innaccurate texts that are estimated interpretations of a world view 2000 years ago. Why aren't the same scientific processes which give us the abiility to annihilate humanity, or perhaps one day leave this dying world for another given the same credence when applied to our origins? Scientific research provides for us today in countless ways and our culture is obsessed with its potential impact on the future; how is it that it is only wrong about our past?

tso at 8:25PM on May 5th 2007

18. If evolution by natural selection is wrong, then all life is not connected, then genetics is wrong. Biology is wrong, doctors are wrong. physicists,chemists etc, heck, everyone excepts theists are wrong.

pboyfloyd at 12:17AM on May 6th 2007

19. I am a registered republican that believes in evolution. I'm not surprised these polititians claim not to. They think that's what got them elected which as sad. I believe science and scientists over any polititian. I also don't think it matters. Millions of years of evolution have determined human behavior now. Conflict and war over territory will continue till the end of time. That will not change no matter which leaders claim which belief system.

jeff at 10:33PM on May 6th 2007

20.
Thomas Gassett-

You clearly do not understand the use of the word "theory" in science. I've argued enough about this in D'souza's blog though so I'm not even going to talk about it.

On your other note, though, scientists are working on a replication of the Big Bang as we speak (much smaller scale of course, they may have already done it I haven't been following it since I heard they would be attempting it), so, so much for that little claim. Even if they weren't doing that, they can prove it happened through mathematical equations, which they have done. Oh, not to mention they can still hear the sound of the explosion. I'm guessing you don't have a degree in quantum physics? Just a guess.

Peter at 11:10PM on May 6th 2007

21. Thomas J Gassett,

I'm "oppossed" to your comment. There are only fifty senators and her being one is no "claim to fame"? That's not just stupid, that's Gassett stupid.

My Warmest Regards,

lil_turk at 5:46AM on May 7th 2007

22. The boring line up of Republicans is all the more reason Democrats should stay on their toes and not sleep walk their way to a coronation of Hillary.

For reasons too numerous and tedious to list here, Hillary will lose, plain and simple, and we will have another four years of someone from the Republican side running the country.

Democrats need to guard against falling for the idea that the Republicans will lose in any case simply because folks are tired of Bush and "are ready for a change".

If Democrats put of an unresonable candidate like Kerry again - and Hillary is unreasonable for sure, and in so many ways - people will vote Republican, not because they like the Republican candidate, but because they loathe the Democrat's candidate.

Democrats do have winner, and his name is Barak Obama. I hope they don't drop the ball.

Ken Berg at 11:17AM on May 7th 2007

23. Ok pboy,

You say faith- based and you say reality- based. Guess what? Yeah, you know what Im gonna say, but I will say it anyway. Real faith is reality based. But what about all the wierd Christians? You may think. Ahh, but the wierd ones are not reality based. The cool ones are. I donno where I qualify, but I am working toward the cool jaunra. However you spell that word. I hope before I die, I will, like, qualify. A'ight.

Michelle

Michelle at 12:31PM on May 7th 2007

24. Ok pboyfloyd,

You say faith- based and you say reality- based. Guess what? Yeah, you know what Im gonna say, but I will say it anyway. Real faith is reality based. But what about all the wierd Christians? You may think. Ahh, but the wierd ones are not reality based. The cool ones are. I donno where I qualify, but I am working toward the cool jaunra. However you spell that word. I hope before I die, I will, like, qualify.

Michelle

Michelle at 12:36PM on May 7th 2007

25. Sorry peoples, Sorry myself,

I (obviously) did not mean to put that comment twice.

Michelle at 12:39PM on May 7th 2007

26. Basically, neither evolution nor intelligent design can be scientifically replicated, and therefore they are both theories. Most of the information that supposedly proves evolution is either untrue, disproved, or, at the very least, debatable. No evidence has been found to disprove intelligent design because any Being powerful enough to create the universe could do it in any way He jolly well pleased. Whichever theory you choose to believe, you are taking a leap of faith.

A belief in evolution does not show anything about a person's intelligence, nor is it a requirement for the Presidency. I would not be surprised to find that every U.S. President from Washington to Eisenhower believed in ID.

Finally, evolution is by no means the "basis for all biology": innumerable biological discoveries had already been made long before the H.M.S. Beagle set sail, and many more before the theory of evolution became prevalent. Such scientific giants as Carolus Linnaeus, Gregor Mendel, and Louis Pasteur firmly believed that life had not come about by chance.

Aaron at 1:25AM on May 8th 2007

27. Aaron,

"Most of the information that supposedly proves evolution is either untrue, disproved, or, at the very least, debatable."

What is this untrue, disproved information?

lil_turk at 2:50AM on May 8th 2007

28. @ Aaron (comment 26) and Michelle.

I'm typing this slowly now...

Evolution is a fact.
Evolution is the fact that there is life.
The fact that there is a great diversity of life.

ARE YOU WITH ME SO FAR...'COS THERE'S MORE.. but if you are already 'lost'... this explanation is just too reality-based for you.

Many christian scientists noticed that there is a patently obvious thing called evolution which explains the diversity of life. It became patently obvious to them by observation and comparison. This is what reality-based people call, 'telling things apart.'

When they compared different life forms they found that they could be separated into three basic groups. Things that live in water, things that live on land and things that fly. (This was before germ theory even)

These very bright people noticed that they could characterize animals, birds and fish into sub-categories. Sometimes they were surprised to learn that a sea-swimmer was not what they thought, it might be not a fish but in the sub-category mammal.. or in fact a bird as in the whale and penguin respectively...

I could go on and write a whole book but I probably lost you faith-based people a while back because you will never listen unless someone is praising God's handi-work every 38.5 seconds.

I'll have to move on quite a bit now, to a good part.. the part where Darwin and company come along and cause a big fuss with the Christians.

Darwin discovered that not only were living things... all living things... related, he thought that he had figured out a mechanism, a (write this next word down) a "way" which would explain how different animals, birds and fish can look different and yet all be in one big happy 'family'.

He called this "way", natural selection.

It's all based in reality, a place where humans live, but some humans do not really want to live there, so they become faith-based.

Blessed are the faith-based, for they think that they will live on past their death.

But, once again, evolution is a fact, and the mechanism or "way" is natural selection. Amen(for you faith-based) and SO SAY ALL OF US(for the reality-based)

Have a good life and remember... walking in traffic WILL select you OUT.

Any questions?

pboyfloyd at 4:16AM on May 8th 2007

29.

Pboyfloyd,

You say we "will never listen unless someone is praising God's handi-work every 38.5 seconds." Actually, with me, people that do that annoy me so much because I think most of the time it is very as you say "disingenuous".

Now, forget what I said before about there being no no no no no no no no no no ............................................ evidence for evolution. Ok, I do agree with you that things evolve. But I also think their organization was created. You know, like when accidents on the road happen, disorder is created. How could the "Big Bang" have created order? And what was there before it? Why was IT there? Was there another "Big Bang"? What was the big bang of? Nothingness? As far as I know zero times zero is always zero.

Michelle

Michelle at 3:34PM on May 8th 2007

30. @ Michelle (comment 29)

Why does everything have to do with order? It's all a matter of perspective. Do you see order when you look up at an awesome night sky?

Do you see order when you look at a majestic mountain range?

I'm happy that you are becoming a bit more reality-based. Look up some reality-based sites to learn more. Just ignore anything that says that there is no God, if you like(that'll be an atheist making a point) because Darwin's Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection does not try to dispute God. It is science, it is reality-based.

pboyfloyd at 9:45PM on May 8th 2007