Flunk all students sympathetic to intelligent design?

Recently, at the Post-Darwinist, I commented on the effort by UCal San Diego to warn frosh against ID via a compulsory lecture the way they used to warn against sex, drugs, and rock n' roll in my day. I remarked:

I have repeatedly asked the Discovery Institute (ID central) how much they are paying these people to promote ID by launching publicly funded campaigns against it. But the are slippery folk and I don't expect an answer any time soon. When I get the scoop, I will post it, in case an enterprising Darwinist would like to undercut the going price (it's a jungle out there, ya know ...) by offering an even more bone-headed approach.

Well! University of Toronto-based evolutionary biologist Larry Moran, of textbook fame - whose eagerness to please is legendary and was much remarked at the Toronto ID conference has graciously upped the ante. He has advised the Post-Darwinist's comments box that the solution is "flunk the IDiots." He follows up at his own blog:

I agree with the Dembski sycophants that UCSD should not have required their uneducated students to attend remedial classes. Instead, they should never have admitted them in the first place. Having made that mistake, it's hopeless to expect that a single lecture—even one by a distinguished scholar like Robert Pennock—will have any effect. The University should just flunk the lot of them and make room for smart students who have a chance of benefiting from a high quality education.

Now, that is a pre-emptive bid, and I suppose he will want to discuss, um, money with the Discos, who - I assume - are watching the Post-Darwinist for possible offers from other parties as well.

Persons wishing to help destroy Darwinism by unleashing illegal persecutions on doubters are entitled to outbid Moran. A word of advice: Be imaginative but economical. The word on the street is that the Discos are a stingy lot because they are used to getting a big bang for their buck, promoting intelligent design worldwide on a shoestring.

If you like this blog, check out my book on the intelligent design controversy, By Design or by Chance?. You can read excerpts as well.

Links finally restored: And ... notes from nearby blogs!

Readers will note that the links that I lost when I suddenly decided to change the template a few days ago have now been restored, thanks to Old Cola who had actually saved my links. Do visit his interesting blog and refresh your high school French. Je t'aime, Old Cola!

Suddenly deciding to change the template is like suddenly deciding to renovate the kitchen or move the concert piano into the upstairs sitting room .... it can be more trouble than one had at first realized. But I still think the new template looks nicer.

Here are some items from a couple of nearby blogs to just quickly share:

- Paul Nelson at ID the Future says that a friend who works at a national biomed institute told him recently that he now finds it impossible to keep up with all the scientific literature challenging neo-Darwinism.

I know what Nelson's friend means. I am about 150 blog posts behind, keeping up with the current events. I dream of catching up and wake to find fifteen more... I am beginning to wish I had kept the hideous old template and just posted more often but .... I still think the new template looks nicer.

- Lawrence Gage at Real Physics reports some really interesting stuff from the Maritain Conference, for example, the talk by fossil specialist Rick Sternberg, recently targeted by Darwinist yay-hoos: "Hence, evolutionary theory is currently in a phase of "Damage Control", as Dr. Sternberg labelled the era since 1976 to the present, in which neo-Darwinists like Richard Dawkins scramble to claim the order bursting from scientific research as feathers in their own cap." Quite a few of the Maritain folk are not ID types (and don't always get along with them), so this is another (mainly Catholic) front opening up against Darwinism.

I still think the new template looks nicer.

Are you looking for one of the following stories?

My U of Toronto talk on why there is an intelligent design controversy.

A summary of tech guru George Gilder's arguments for ID and against Darwinism

A critical look at why March of the Penguins was thought to be an ID film.

A summary of recent opinion columns on the ID controversy

A summary of recent polls of US public opinion on the ID controversy

A summary of the Catholic Church's entry into the controversy, essentially on the side of ID.

O'Leary's intro to non-Darwinian agnostic philosopher David Stove’s critique of Darwinism.

An ID Timeline: The ID folk seem always to win when they lose.

O’Leary’s comments on Francis Beckwith, a Dembski associate, being granted tenure at Baylor after a long struggle - even after helping in a small way to destroy the Baylor Bears' ancient glory - in the opinion of a hyper sportswriter.

Why origin of life is such a difficult problem.

Blog policy note:Comments are permitted on this blog, but they are moderated. Fully anonymous posts and URLs posted without comment are rarely accepted. To Mr. Anonymous: I'm not psychic, so if you won't tell me who you are, I can't guess and don't care. To Mr. Nude World (URL): If you can't be bothered telling site visitors why they should go on to your fave site next, why should I post your comment? They're all busy people, like you. To Mr. Rudeby International and Mr. Pottymouth: I also have a tendency to delete comments that are merely offensive. Go be offensive to someone who can smack you a good one upside the head. That may provide you with a needed incentive to stop and think about what you are trying to accomplish. To Mr. Righteous but Wrong: I don't publish comments that contain known or probable factual errors. There's already enough widely repeated misinformation out there, and if you don't have the time to do your homework, I don't either. To those who write to announce that at death I will either 1) disintegrate into nothingness or 2) go to Hell by a fast post, please pester someone else. I am a Catholic in communion with the Church and haven't the time for either village atheism or aimless Jesus-hollering.