Darwinism and popular culture: Darwin rap

What I find most interesting about this Darwin rap is the apparent ignorance and foolishness of the students - who inspire no confidence as a coming generation of intellectuals.

In my experience and historical reading, these are just the sort of people who can be induced by a demagogue to pile into the streets on behalf of a foolish and ignorant cause ... oh, wait ... they have had a lot of practice at it, haven't they? They are Darwinists.

Find out why there is an intelligent design controversy:

Coffee! Evolution - Sometimes you just don't know what or who to believe.

A reader sends me this oldie but goodie:

In "Can evolution make things less complicated? Scientists suggest cell origins involved a forward-and-backward process" Becky Ham for MSNBC.com explained (May 18, 2006 - a century ago in these times) that

... the data suggest that eukaryote cells with all their bells and whistles are probably as ancient as bacteria and archaea, and may have even appeared first, with bacteria and archaea appearing later as stripped-down versions of eukaryotes, according to David Penny, a molecular biologist at Massey University in New Zealand.

Penny, who worked on the research with Chuck Kurland of Sweden's Lund University and Massey University's L.J. Collins, acknowledged that the results might come as a surprise.

“We do think there is a tendency to look at evolution as progressive,” he said. “We prefer to think of evolution as backwards, sideways, and occasionally forward.”

Don't try this stuff on a traffic cop, if you are in a collision.

It's all different when we are in real time and who is right is a serious question.

Find out why there is an intelligent design controversy:

Intellectual Freedom in Canada: Housecleaning at the Liberal Party?

It appears that Michael Ignatieff, the Liberal leader, has taken what I consider to be some prudent decisions, including getting rid of people who are widely considered to be supporters of our infamous "human rights" commissions.

I, for one, am glad. I did not wish to vote against the Liberals on principle, as it leaves me with no viable options other than the Conservatives, who never win in downtown Toronto. But I could see no alternative, as long as the Liberals were fronting a Shakedown racket, which - in fairness - many Party members may not have realized they were fronting.

I think the Liberals have many other problems they need to address, like anti-Semitism in their diverse constituency.

But it looks as though they are waking up to that problem, too.

All I can say, as a citizen who votes: It is nice if I have a choice again. But we do still have a long way to go.

Also: Are you Christmas shopping?

Look here for tee shirts with Kathy Five Feet of Fury Shaidle-type slogans such as "You are not smart enough to tell me how to run my life". Friends who are as fed up as many of us are with tinpot 'crats with way bigger egos than brains will appreciate your thoughtfulness.

Find out why there is an intelligent design controversy:

Intellectual freedom: Jewish lobby a big problem of some kind? In a free country, why?

Just catching up here: A friend alerted me to this - Richard Dawkins apparently refers at various points to "the Jewish lobby." Go here, and here.

I replied:

“The Jewish lobby”? Are you sure? But around here (Canada) that’s code for anti-Semitism.

Jewish people of whatever citizenship are as entitled as anyone else to lobby peacefully for their positions on political questions.

The whole point, in a free society, is that we needn't agree with them. We can civilly disagree, where thought necessary. In Canada, we are fighting huge battles on the right to talk about what we think important - and the free society is largely winning.*
The aggressors in a number of cases have been Islamists and radical gays - people who are not supported by key Muslim or gay rights organizations, by the way. The aggressors are typically freelancers who attract the attention of civil servants with nothing better to do. If that does not change, it will not be the fault of Canada's free speech journalists, of whom I am proud to be one (admittedly a minor one).

Oh wait. We are talking about Richard Dawkins, a radical Darwinist, here. Aren’t we all just a bunch of chemicals running around in a bag? Or containers for selfish genes?
Well then, civility is up the spout, I guess.

No, wait! Just in time for Christmas shopping:

To learn more about how and why we are winning in Canada, read Shakedown, Lights Out, or Tyranny of Nice.

* No one said it would be easy. But we would be crazy not to try. Too much is at stake now.

Find out why there is an intelligent design controversy: