Timeline: Evolution in the U.S. Public Education System [Updated Slide Show]
Timeline: Evolution in the U.S. Public Education System [Updated Slide Show]
The history of the battle between creationist and evolutionary theories in the classroom
By The Editors
New Challenges for Evolution Education
Five years after the Dover trial pushed intelligent design out of public school classrooms, how has evolution instruction fared? »
February 28, 2011
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Timeline: Evolution in the U.S. Public Education System [Updated Slide Show]
Overview
The Latest Face of Creationism in the Classroom
Overview
Creationism Vs. Evolution
Creationists continue to agitate against the teaching of evolution in public schools, adapting their tactics to match the roadblocks they encounter. Past strategies have included portraying creationism as a credible alternative to evolution and disguising it under the name "intelligent design." Other tactics misrepresent evolution as scientifically controversial and pretend that advocates for teaching creationism are defending academic freedom.
This timeline notes some key events in the seesawing history of the battle between creationists and evolutionists. It highlights the way creationist tactics have shifted in response to evolution’s advances in classrooms and to court rulings that have banned religious proselytizing in public schools.
Pssst! Don't tell the creationists, but scientists don't have a clue how life began
Pssst! Don't tell the creationists, but scientists don't have a clue how life began
Exactly 20 years ago, I wrote an article for Scientific American that, in draft form, had the headline above. My editor nixed it, so we went with something less dramatic: "In the Beginning…: Scientists are having a hard time agreeing on when, where and—most important—how life first emerged on the earth." That editor is gone now, so I get to use my old headline, which is even more apt today.
Dennis Overbye just wrote a status report for The New York Times on research into life's origin, based on a conference on the topic at Arizona State University. Geologists, chemists, astronomers and biologists are as stumped as ever by the riddle of life.
After its formation 4.5 billion years ago, Earth was bombarded for millions of years by huge meteorites, which would have wiped out any fledgling organisms. Researchers have found evidence of microbial life dating back 3.5 billion years ago, suggesting that life emerged fairly quickly—"like Athena springing from the head of Zeus," as one scientist quoted by Overbye put it. But how exactly did chemistry first make the transition to biology?
As recently as the middle of the 20th century, many scientists thought that the first organisms were made of self-replicating proteins. After Francis Crick and James Watson showed that DNA is the basis for genetic transmission in the 1950s, many researchers began to favor nucleic acids over proteins as the ur-molecules. But there was a major hitch in this scenario. DNA can make neither proteins nor copies of itself without the help of catalytic proteins called enzymes. This fact turned the origin of life into a classic chicken-or-egg puzzle: Which came first, proteins or DNA?
RNA, DNA's helpmate, remains the most popular answer to this conundrum, just as it was when I wrote "In the Beginning…" Certain forms of RNA can act as their own enzymes, snipping themselves in two and splicing themselves back together again. If RNA could act as an enzyme, then it might be able to replicate itself without help from proteins. RNA could serve as gene and catalyst, egg and chicken.
But the "RNA-world" hypothesis remains problematic. RNA and its components are difficult to synthesize under the best of circumstances, in a laboratory, let alone under plausible prebiotic conditions. Once RNA is synthesized, it can make new copies of itself only with a great deal of chemical coaxing from the scientist. Overbye notes that "even if RNA did appear naturally, the odds that it would happen in the right sequence to drive Darwinian evolution seem small."
The RNA world is so dissatisfying that some frustrated scientists are resorting to much more far out—literally—speculation. The most startling revelation in Overbye's article is that scientists have resuscitated a proposal once floated by Crick. Dissatisfied with conventional theories of life's beginning, Crick conjectured that aliens came to Earth in a spaceship and planted the seeds of life here billions of years ago. This notion is called directed panspermia. In less dramatic versions of panspermia, microbes arrived on our planet via asteroids, comets or meteorites, or drifted down like confetti.
One enormous change in the past two decades in the quest to understand our origins—which Overbye also reported on recently—is that astronomers have identified more than 1,000 possible planets orbiting other stars. Some seem to be in the "Goldilocks" zone, neither too far nor too close to their respective stars for life as we know it to prosper. Perhaps we are descended from life that emerged on one of those planets.
Of course, panspermia theories merely push the problem of life's origin into outer space. If life didn’t begin here, how did it begin out there? Creationists are no doubt thrilled that origin-of-life research has reached such an impasse (see for example the screed "Darwinism Refuted," which cites my 1991 article), but they shouldn't be. Their explanations suffer from the same flaw: What created the divine Creator? And at least scientists are making an honest effort to solve life's mystery instead of blaming it all on God.
Image of 16th-century painting "Creation of the Animals" by Jacopo Tintoretto courtesy Wiki Commons
Read more at www.scientificamerican.com
"Israel Paralyzed By Iranian Warships"
Iranian Warships Pass Through Suez Canal to Mediterranean http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMUMHyI64bg&feature=player_embedded#at=28
"Israel Paralyzed By Iranian Warships"
PressTV reports Syrian Defense Minister Ali Habib Mahmoud says the presence of Iranian warships in the Mediterranean Sea has "paralyzed" Israel.
Syrian Defense Minister Mahmoud says: "The presence of Iranian warships in the Mediterranean Sea for the first time since the Islamic Revolutions 32 years ago is a great move".
The Iranian commander Habibollah Sayyari, who is on a visit to Syria, said Israel "is the manifestation of global terrorism".
Iran's Navy says that by sending Iranian warships to the Mediterranean, it would strengthen friendly relations with other countries and convey Tehran's message of peace and security.
It will be interesting to observe the next move of Iran's Navy.
Israel is of course its target.
This challenge will once again prove that the God of Israel rules.
Israel will ultimately win every inch of land promised by God.
"Et factum est proelium in caelo, Michael et angeli eius, ut proeliarentur cum dracone. Et draco pugnavit et angeli eius", Revelation 12:7.
Obama to governors: Flexibility OK, but health care law remains
Obama to governors: Flexibility OK, but health care law remains
He also told them not to vilify their own states' public workers while struggling with spending cuts.
Hosting governors of both parties on his own turf, Obama offered them what they often request: more flexibility as they cope with painful budget dilemmas. Declaring that he would "go to bat for whatever works," Obama supported letting states propose their own health care plans by 2014—three years faster than the current law allows.
Yet this would be no change to the fundamental requirements of a federal law that has divided the nation and prompted about half the states to try to overturn it through lawsuits. To gain new powers, states would first have to convince Washington that their plans would cover as many people, provide equally affordable and comprehensive care and not add to the federal deficit.
More broadly, Obama sought to send a message—both cooperative and pointed—as leaders at all levels of government grapple with huge economic pressures. The yearly gathering of the president and the state chief executives came as budget disputes are roiling, most notably in Wisconsin, where dramatic protests have raged for days.
Calling for shared sacrifice, Obama said public workers understand they must absorb their share of budget cuts. But he delivered a sharp message to governors seeking to strip away union protections, saying: "I don't think it does anybody any good when public employees are denigrated or vilified, or their rights are infringed upon."
Wisconsin's governor, Scott Walker, was not at the White House but rather in his home state as a nationally watched budget showdown rolled on. He called for Democratic lawmakers to return to the state by Tuesday and vote on his bill that would end most collective bargaining rights for public employees as part of a plan to plug a $3.6 billion shortfall.
Republican governors generally gave a thumbs-down to Obama's pledges of flexibility on the health care law, which requires Americans to buy health insurance or pay a penalty beginning in 2014.
"I was disappointed," said Texas Gov. Rick Perry, chairman of the Republican Governors Association. "Pretty much all he did was reset the clock on what many of us consider a ticking time bomb" that could "crush our budgets."
The GOP governors' group is airing TV and radio ads in Wisconsin supporting Walker and criticizing Democratic state senators who have relocated to Illinois to block enactment of his agenda.
"Oklahoma wants to do Oklahoma's own plan," said that state's Republican governor, Mary Fallin. Asked whether Obama's plan was flexible enough, she said: "We'll see."
The closer Republicans look at the details, the less flexibility they will see, said economist Douglas Holtz-Eakin, leading domestic policy adviser to 2008 GOP presidential candidate John McCain. "If you can't control eligibility or the benefits package, it's like saying: 'Here's the bill, you go figure out how to pay for it,'" he said.
Michael Steel, spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said Obama's offer has no more flexibility. "It's a head fake," said Steel.
White House officials said the administration was not backing away from the individual coverage requirement, but that the provision, ultimately, is only a means to an end. If states can show they'll achieve the same goals through a different approach, the administration is willing to sign off. White House officials said they still believe the individual mandate is the best way to meet the law's coverage and affordability targets.
The idea to move up the date for state experimentation did not start with Obama. Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon and Massachusetts Republican Sen. Scott Brown have already proposed it in legislation. But the president gave it a prominent endorsement. "I think that's a reasonable proposal," the president said. "I support it."
Republican governors control most of the 26 states that have sued to stop Obama's health care overhaul, his signature domestic accomplishment. They say it would cost their states too much money. Court rulings so far have been mixed, upholding the law more times than not. Last month in Florida, U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson ruled the law was unconstitutional.
During the state executives' closed session with Obama, South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley said she told the president that 29 governors were seeking an expedited Supreme Court handling of the federal health care law challenge, following the Florida decision. "We've got to get answers for these governors," Haley said in an interview with The Associated Press.
For his part, Obama showed no give on the law's core elements. He said was convinced the law would cut costs, end insurance industry abuses and "cover everybody."
"I am not open to refighting the battles of the last two years or undoing the progress that we've made," Obama told the governors when reporters were in the room. "But I am willing to work with anyone, anybody in this room, Democrat or Republican ... to make this law even better."
Over the next two-and-a-half years, states face an estimated $175 billion more in budget gaps that they have no choice but to fill. Unlike the federal government, states are required to balance their budgets. Their upcoming problems will be caused partly by the loss of money as the nation's 2009 emergency economic stimulus law, or recovery act, dries up.
Obama noted that point and sympathized with the states' budget crunch. Here, too, though, Obama took the governors to task for those who have criticized the costly stimulus law.
"It is undeniable that the recovery act helped every single state represented in this room manage your budgets," he said, "whether you admit it or not."
———
Associated Press writers Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, Philip Elliott, Julie Pace and Liz Sidoti in Washington and Jim Davenport in Columbia, S.C., contributed to this report.
Authorities: Man persuaded moms to sexually abuse kids
Authorities: Man persuaded moms to abuse kids
Associated Press
Since authorities arrested him in October, seven children were rescued and at least three mothers have been arrested. Prosecutors say all of the children are now safe.
Steven Demink, 41, of Redford Township, Mich., appeared in federal court in Detroit to enter his plea on six charges related to the sexual exploitation of children. Seven charges were dropped as part of a plea agreement with prosecutors. He faces 15 years to life in prison when he is sentenced in June.
Court documents paint a picture of a man who targeted single mothers, and in some cases, promised them a date if they followed through with his directions. He would identify himself in conversations as Dalton St. Clair, a single father of a 14-year-old girl, prosecutors said, and posted pictures of male models as his headshots.
He connected with mothers in New Hampshire, Idaho, Florida and elsewhere from April 2009 until September 2010, authorities say, and got them to engage in sexual acts with their children and send images via e-mail or through a live web stream. The children ranged in age from 3 to 15.
In one case, Demink started online chats with an Oregon woman about the sexual development of her eight-year-old autistic son, according to a plea agreement. He told her to engage in sexually explicit conduct with her son as a way to teach him about sex, and she did so while Demink watched on a web camera, prosecutors say.
"Demink intimated to these women that the result of the therapy would be healthier children," the document said.
Federal agents were tipped off to his operation by the Teton County Sheriff's Office in Idaho, said Khaalid Walls, a spokesman for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Office of Homeland Security Investigations, which led the probe. The mother of a woman who had been chatting with him called sheriff's officials in late 2009.
The woman's mother, Eileen Schwab, said she knows little of how Demink convinced her daughter to follow his orders, but knows she "met him on the Internet and he promised her the world." Schwab said her daughter was "depressed and lonesome" after her divorce. Her daughter pleaded guilty to lewd conduct with a child under 16 in May of last year, and is currently in prison.
"I don't know how he wrangled her in," Schwab said. "She could have turned off the computer and gone the other way. He must have had a power over her."
The arrested mothers also include a woman who lived in New Hampshire when prosecutors say the crimes occurred. She pleaded guilty in December to producing child pornography, which carries a possible sentence of 15 to 30 years in prison, and is scheduled to be sentenced in March. The Associated Press left a message seeking comment from Larry Dash, a federal defender representing her.
A woman from Lee County, Fla., also has pleaded not guilty to five counts and was being held without bond in Florida and faces a May trial in federal court in Fort Myers, federal defender Martin DerOvanesian said. Prosecutors say Demink also is linked to four other mothers in Indiana, Georgia, Illinois and Oregon but has not been charged with crimes related to those communications. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin Mulcahy said those cases are not part of the indictment but can be considered during sentencing.
The Associated Press is not naming the women to protect the identity of the children. The AP generally does not identify victims of sexual abuse.
In court on Monday, Demink told U.S. District Judge Gerald Rosen he understood the charges and that he was giving up his right to a trial by pleading guilty. When Rosen asked how Demink was feeling, he said, "Nervous, your honor."
Demink told Rosen that before his arrest, he worked as a car salesman for about six months and before that for about five years at a local bank. He said he completed a U.S. Customs and Border Protection training program in 2002 and worked for the Immigration and Naturalization Service for about a year.
Demink's attorney, Timothy Dinan, said his client "has expressed a lot of remorse" for what he did and has taken responsibility by pleading guilty. Dinan said Demink's parents, who were in court but declined to be interviewed, are praying for their son as well as the victims and their families.
"It's a shame he couldn't ask for help," Dinan said.
Associated Press writer Corey Williams contributed to this story.
Man pleads guilty to molesting two girls, will serve prison time
Man pleads guilty to molesting two girls, will serve prison time
A Fawn Township man who pleaded guilty Monday in York County Court to molesting two girls is expected to spend at least 13 years in state prison, under the terms of his plea agreement.
But the agreement could, in effect, be a life sentence for 68-year-old Paul Michael Pasqualone Sr., according to senior deputy prosecutor Amy Eyster.
Eyster said she's pleased with the agreement, which calls for Pasqualone to be sentenced to a total of 13 to 26 years for both cases.
"One, it keeps the victims off the witness stand," she said. "And two, he will probably not see the outside of a jail cell, based on his age."
Both victims were in favor of the plea agreement, Eyster said.
Defense attorney Kurt Blake said he and Pasqualone discussed the fact that Pasqualone could die in prison. Blake noted that under current state-prison practice, Pasqualone would have to serve between 80 percent to 85 percent of his maximum sentence before being eligible for parole.
'Horrible case': Blake said his client has faced the fact he might never be a free man.
"It's a horrible case," Blake said. "But I think it's a hell of a step on his part to take responsibility and not force the victims to go through any more turmoil ... by making them testify at trial. As bad as his actions were, he at least had some level of decorum at the end."
Pasqualone, of Mitchell Road, has expressed remorse and confessed to state police troopers, according to Blake.
"He didn't want to cause any greater pain to the two girls," the defense attorney said.
Pasqualone's sentencing is scheduled for 9 a.m. May 23.
That will give the state time to conduct a Megan's Law evaluation on Pasqualone, to determine if he is a sexually violent predator, Blake said.
If so, he must register with state police for the rest of his life. If not, he must still register with state police for 10 years, Blake said.
The background: State police said he molested a 13-year-old girl from January 2008 to October 2009. In that case, he pleaded guilty to rape, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, photographing or filming a sexual act involving a child, aggravated indecent assault, false imprisonment, indecent assault and corruption of a minor, according to court records.
He also molested a 14-year-old girl, state police said. In that case, he pleaded guilty to photographing or filming a sexual act involving a child, child pornography, aggravated indecent assault, unlawful contact with a minor, indecent assault and corruption of a minor, records state.
Charging documents allege Pasqualone took nude photos of the 14-year-old, as well as photos of her in lingerie that he bought for her.
Video, photos seized: When police searched Pasqualone's home, they found and seized images and video of Pasqualone performing sexual acts on the 14-year-old, charging documents state.
Pasqualone told investigators he knew the girl was 14 and knew she had modeling aspirations, so he started photographing her -- clothed at first, his arrest affidavit states. He gave the girl the impression that he was a legitimate photographer, according to the affidavit.
Pasqualone set up a special "zebra room" in his home after learning the girl loves zebras, the affidavit states. Police seized a photo of the girl wearing a revealing zebra-print outfit in a room that was almost completely covered in zebra-pattern decorations, according to the affidavit.
-- Reach Elizabeth Evans at levans@yorkdispatch.com, 505-5429 or twitter.com/ydcrimetime.
The Rise of Conservative America
The Rise of Conservative America · February 25, 2011
The mid-term elections in the United States greatly increased the power of conservative legislators and governors. No where is this more obvious than in the battles over abortions.
Pro-life advocates are clearly energized by the new conservative political environment, and are mounting aggressive legislative campaigns to limit abortions.
Lawmakers are drafting more restrictive regulations, bills that would ban most abortions at 20 weeks after conceptions, and that would curb insurance, often reintroducing measures that had been vetoed by previous governors but now have their support.
Governors of 29 states are “now considered to be solidly anti-abortion, compared with 21 last year.”
“In 15 states, compared with 10 last year, both the legislature and the governor are anti-abortion…”
It appears “rather likely that more measures would pass this year than in 2010, which anti-abortion advocates considered a banner year, with more than 30 restrictive laws adopted in at least nine states.”
Pro-life advocates hope to achieve gains in as many states as possible in measures that include Banning abortions earlier in pregnancy, in some cases restricting them within the second trimester; Pressing women to view ultrasounds; Banning any abortion coverage by insurance companies in the new health insurance exchanges under the Obama administration health plan, etc.
The politics of abortion have changed profoundly in some larger states including Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
The general popular trend in the U.S. is toward more conservative agendas. Perhaps a liberal administration has energized the conservative forces that are now poised to make gains in key conservative agendas. But this trend deserves to be watched carefully by students of prophecy. It will obviously be a conservative agenda that would likely press for religious laws. While faithful followers of Jesus would likely be thankful for more restrictive abortion laws, the potential for legislative initiatives in conscience areas related to worship should be carefully monitored.
Read more at www.ktfministry.org
Rifts splitting of eastern section of Africa
Rifts splitting of eastern section of Africa · March 01, 2011
“The fissures began appearing years ago. But in recent months, seismic activity has accelerated in northeastern Africa as the continent breaks apart in slow motion. Researchers say that lava in the region is consistent with magma normally seen on the sea floor — and that water will ultimately cover the desert.”
A volcano in the deserts of Ethiopia started erupting last November (2010) after being dormant for decades. Now it is bubbling over and the earth is moving in northeastern Africa, according to volcanologists. “The desert floor is quaking and splitting open, volcanoes are boiling over, and seawaters are encroaching upon the land. Africa, researchers are certain, is splitting apart at a rate rarely seen in geology.”
The Great Rift Valley, which runs from Syria all the way south to Mozambique, along with its several volcanoes, is splitting Africa apart. The Rift Valley is protected from the Red Sea in Ethiopia by 25 meter (82 foot) hills, the only barrier holding back the waters from flooding the whole valley.
“The hills could sink in a matter of days,” Tim Wright, a fellow at the University of Leeds’ School of Earth and Environment, said at a recent conference… In the last five years, the geologic transformation of northeastern Africa has ‘accelerated dramatically,’ says Wright.
Because of earth tremors, East Africa is “shattering like broken glass.” There have been a large number of seismic shocks in recent timers, according to researchers. The earth is opening up very quickly. What was once measured in just a few millimeters of movement each year is now measured in meters.
Some fault lines in Ethiopia are already splitting apart, which scientists think is transforming the landscape into something like a sea floor because of the recent acceleration of earthquake and volcanic activity. Some fissures are eight meters wide (26 feet).
The magma is mostly underground, but what has surfaced is like the magma from deep down in the seabed. “The entire region increasingly resembles an ocean floor — one without water.”
Volcanic activity in 2005 opened a huge 60-kilometer (35+ miles) fissure of 20 feet in just days in the Afar Depression. Then magma came up in the middle of the rift and began to “unzip” the rest as magma spewed up through the crevice. Since then enough magma has spewed out to cover the city of London about the average person’s height. But the magma is also traveling under the surface through the rock at up to 40 meters a minute.
Another 200-kilometer stretch is welling up with magma, while satellite data shows a large area scarred by fissures. And ground temperatures are far north as eastern Egypt have spiked, while a 17-kilometer fissure as far south as the desert of northern Malawi has also opened up.
In other words, East Africa is being split in two from Egypt down through Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and Malawi. This is a huge section of Africa, which is home to millions upon millions of people. A whole region is being ripped away from the continent by a long string of seismic and volcanic activity. The earth is being violently torn apart, and quickly.
Imagine if a huge part of eastern Africa is split off from the continent and some of it sinks into the sea. Huge cities would disappear.
But that’s not all. In 2009 a volcano erupted in Saudi Arabia, spewing magma in an area the size of Berlin and Hamburg, Germany combined. This surprising developing volcano caused a 5.7 magnitude earthquake and thousands of tremors are 200 kilometers from the fault line in North Africa.
“The world’s largest geological construction site continues to expand… More and more magna is pushing its way to the earth’s surface, adding that: ‘The magma chamber is reloading,’” says Lorraine Field, a geologic specialist.
“Oxford University’s David Ferguson predicts a considerable increase in volcanic eruptions and earthquakes in the region over the next decade. They will, he says, ‘become of increasingly large magnitude.’”
Jesus warned us that earthquakes will increase in the last days in “divers places.” Could it be that this would be on a scale not previously imagined by most people?
“O that God’s people had a sense of the impending destruction of thousands of cities, now almost given to idolatry!…” Maranatha, p. 25
“The day of the Lord is at hand, when the elements shall melt with fervent heat, and all the cities of the earth shall be destroyed.” Signs of the Times, February 10, 1888.
Read more at www.ktfministry.org
High-speed Pole Shift Happening Now
High-speed Pole Shift Happening Now · February 28, 2011
The National Oceanic and Aeronautic Administration maintains a record of annual magnetic north pole coordinates going back to the year 1590. Early data is from ships logs, while modern data is from modern techniques.
The data shows that the magnetic pole shift is moving in a single direction over the last 150 years, but is accelerating very rapidly, especially in the last 10 years or so, and is presently shifting toward Russia at 55 kilometers (40 miles) per year.
“Since 1860, the magnetic pole shift has more than doubled every 50 years…”
“During the past 10 years, the magnetic north pole has shifted nearly half of the total distance of the past 50 years! In other words, the pole shift has apparently sped up substantially.”
“Pole Shift has more than doubled each of the last 50 years.”
“The pole shift has been at 400-year record high rates during the past 10 to 20 years, the cumulative affect is now beginning to cause real-world issues,” some nuisances, some much more serious.
The following image shows the dramatic acceleration while pointing out the past 50 years versus the past 10 years of movement.
The South Pole is moving too, but much more slowly than the north and appears to be slowing down. Since a magnetic pole has two polarities, it is assumed that they would work very similarly in the inverse. But this is not the case in the present earth pole shifts. What is especially interesting is that the South Pole is moving toward the same side of the earth as the North Pole.
The distance of the South magnetic pole from true South is approximately 1800 miles (2800 Km) while the distance from true north of the North magnetic pole is only about 360 miles (580 Km) or so at present.
Explanations for this phenomenon are difficult to conjecture. But obviously something is happening deep inside the earth that could be preparing for more dramatic developments. Perhaps the magnetic shift is part of the reason for all the seismic dramas of the last decade or so. Disorientation of some wildlife and navigational equipment could be another effect of whatever is happening deep in the earth. Extreme weather patterns are also a potential result of the dislocation of the earth’s core.
Jesus said that at the end of time, there would be dramatic natural catastrophes ranging from destructive earthquakes, weather patterns causing famine, and other pestilences. Could a magnetic shift cause all sorts of problems that prophecy foretells?
Read more at www.ktfministry.org