Some News Tid-Bits

A smoke-free country? New Zealand taxes aim for it – Yes we all know smoking is bad for everyone; however, adults do make informed choices and this is honestly just getting ridiculous.  Didn’t they learn anything from alcohol prohibition?

Whopping Cough PSA – I am not usually a big fan of inflammatory commercials; however, this one strikes a chord with me considering the new movement to not vaccinate children.  Not vaccinating your child is very irresponsible not only for them, but for everyone around them.  You never know what your child will pick up because you made a choice not to vaccinate, and as shown on an episode of Law & Order SVU concerning the measles vaccination, if my child is harmed due to your choice you can bet your ass I am suing you.

After-Birth Abortion – Pardon my language but, fuck you, it’s not a choice at this point.

‘Hunger Games’ on Banned Book list – Books should never been banned, it’s foolish.  Restricted for ages because of content, that is fine, but outright banning a book is just seeking to control a society.  And yes, that even applies to ‘Twilight’. 

Kansas Governor, Sam Brownback, Signs Anti-Sharia Bill, Effectively Banning Islamic Law – Sounds good to me!  No, seriously, this is America, you come here you fall under the jurisdiction of the American courts and their laws, it really is that simple.  If I go to your nation can I expect to be covered by only America’s laws?

Richard Leakey: Evolution Debate Soon Will Be History - For me the debate is already history; however, I do understand that some people find it easier to accept the *poof* everything is here theory over logic.

How a legal case could force 1.2 million in Quebec to marry  – this is an important one to read and keep an eye on because it calls into the limelight the responsibility of anyone in a relationship.  What is it about one piece of paper that says “Ok know you owe him/her money for life?”  I remember way back when Sandra Locke successfully sued Clint Eastwood for palimony, money from being in a non-married relationship.  This definitely raises a lot of questions and while it is happening in Canada, it is not that far of a stretch to imagine similar things occurring here in America.

’6,000 RIM jobs at risk’ of a pink slip – My inner 13 year old is giggling uncontrollably at this one.  I am not including this one for the article, merely for the fact the title never should have made it past the editor.

Miami Police Shoot, Kill Man Eating Another Man’s Face – I am curious why they could not taze him in this situation.  At any rate, it is rather disturbing and I foresee a lot of jokes and memes coming about from this.

 

Creationism is a Theory; Evolution is Not

It really is a simple as that.  There is no data to support the idea of Creationism; sorry folks but the Bible does not count as support, it creates a circular argument.  As Richard Dawkins stated evolution is a theorem along the same lines as The Pythagorean Theorem.  There is ample evidence for evolution being fact out there and I am not going to do a simple rehash of all of it here, it’s been done before and I really see no sense in it.

Now, to put a cork in all you flat-earthers out there before you get started I am going to correct you ahead of time.  Darwin never said we evolved from apes, he said that all modern primates evolved from a common ancestor.  The fact that “we evolved from monkeys” is your starting argument shows that you have never taken the time to review the material at hand because a simple concept of evolution is that, for a lack of a better term, the old version of the species no longer exists once the process of evolution takes place.  Things evolve to adapt to changes in the environment, QED their previous forms could not handle the current status of the environment.

I do not claim to be a scientist of any sort and I fully admit I do not understand all the workings of evolution, however I know enough to know it makes more sense that creationism.  The simple fact that science has proven religion wrong on many concepts about the universe is enough for me to doubt creationism.  I hear the screaming from the pews now:  “How has science proven religion wrong?!?!?!”  Well, let’s see here – the Earth is in fact not the center of the universe, turns out the Earth is not flat after all…  there is plenty more out there.  Another reason creationism falls apart is because of the times involved as laid out in the Bible.  Somewhere between 7000-10000 years ago, according to the Bible, man was created.  Now, setting aside the entire issue of Adam’s sons finding wives of their own, in a few generations we arrive at Noah, yes the famous Noah of the flood where most of the population of the planet was destroyed.  Now, we are expected to believe in the short amount of time from when the flood receded to now, man explored the world and developed the technologies and ideas we have now?  What about the differences in skin pigments, hair types and other racial features how does creationism cover those issues?

As my fellow blogger over at The Dixie Flatline notes, we have a problem relating to big numbers, and that is what involved with evolution, the idea of a large amount of time that takes species A and evolves it into species B.  I can relate to that, at a certain point numbers become an abstraction, an idea that we all except of a symbol of age, amount, etc.  The idea that this universe is only 10,000 years old is quite frankly, obscene for a lot of reasons.  The most obvious reason being that the Christian god is in fact testing and intentionally tricking us with a planet that was created old.  Sorry, I just don’t buy it.

Whether the church accepts it or not Evolution is in fact the truth while creationism is at best a neat idea.  As I have stated before everyone is entitled to their own beliefs but you do not have the right to force it onto the public.  Keep creationism, and religion overall, out of the public school system.  We need to be teaching our children truthful things that can be supported with proper evidence, teaching creationism in public schools is the equivalent of teaching Grimm’s Fairy Tales and telling the children everything the need to know about live is contained in that volume.

Related articles

• Evolution – It Could Have Turned Out Differently (theness.com)
• “Only a theory”??? – Jerry Coyne – Why Evolution Is True (richarddawkins.net)
• Is Evolution “Just a Theory”? (psychologytoday.com)
• Charles Darwin: a great man (rashidfaridi.wordpress.com)
• The Greatest Show on Earth by Richard Dawkins – Best Evolution Primer (mindi.authormeanders.com)
• Richard Dawkins And Archbishop Rowan Williams To Go Head-To-Head Over Origins Of Man (evolutionarymystic.wordpress.com)
• Richard Dawkins celebrates a victory over creationists – Jamie Doward – The Guardian (richarddawkins.net)
• “Only a theory” redux (scientificawakening.com)