stcynic

The latest transcript is out. It is the day 12 am transcript, which is part 2 of the cross examination of Michael Behe. There's a laugh-out-loud moment near the start. Before they began the cross of Behe, our attorneys wanted to alert the judge that they might be using material from the next draft…

I forgot to mention this from last night's dinner conversation. Don told a joke, actually an old Jewish proverb, that is absolutely hilarious. Here it is: 4 Rabbis are out golfing and as they play, they're arguing about some fine point of interpretation about a Hebrew scripture. After a while it…

I'm going to make a series of posts breaking down the testimony of Michael Behe in the Dover trial. The transcript for the direct examination and the first part of the cross examination are available now. Behe is really the only science witness the defense has in this case, with Dembski having been…

One of the local Dover area papers, the York Dispatch, has an article about the Panda's Thumb and in particular about the t-shirts, mugs and stickers that Wes Elsberry has put together about the trial, available at Cafe Press. Some of them are fairly amusing.

Or more accurately, an evening with delightful company interrupted for a couple hours by Michael Ruse. I went last night to an address by Ruse, the inaugural event of a series of lectures on the subject of religion and science. Those of you who have seen Ruse speak will not be surprised by my…

The first part of the cross examination of Michael Behe is now available for download. I'll have comments when I've had a chance to read it later today. This is only the first part of the cross examination, which continued the next day. I'll have a link up as soon as the next day's transcript is…

Assuming my car is finished in time (I'm taking it in for brake work in a half hour and they say they'll have it done quickly), I'll be heading to Grand Rapids tonight to hear philosopher of science Michael Ruse speak. Ruse was a key witness in the McLean v. Arkansas case in 1981 and has written…

The ACLU-PA blog has an interesting post on a key point in the cross examination of Michael Behe in the Dover trial. Behe was asked whether his book, Darwin's Black Box, had gone through a peer review process similar to the process used for articles submitted to scholarly journal: It has been…

Now that the trial is well under way, it's a good time to revisit some predictions made on this blog last December. My friend Dan Ray, who teaches constitutional law, wrote a thorough analysis of the issues with some predictions about the strategies of both sides that have been dead on accurate.…

We won't have a transcript of the Behe cross examination for a few days yet, but here are a couple of reports on it. Laurie Goodstein's article in the NY Times details some of the problems that Behe ran into. For instance, he is arguing for an incredibly broad definition of science, one not…

NBA commissioner David Stern has imposed a dress code on all NBA players. If they're on the bench but not in uniform, they must wear a sportcoat and dress shoes. If they're going about league business, they must be at least "business casual", which means dress slacks and a dress shirt and sweater.…

Shawn Miller stopped by the blog last evening to let us know that the charges against him have been dropped. The prosecutor decided not to pursue the case. He left the text of an email from the ACLU counsel. It reads: Dear Shawn, Good news: The D.A. issue a "nolle prosequi" in your case, which…

Michael Behe was cross examined today by our side in the Dover trial. I can't wait for the transcripts to come out. My sources who were in the courtroom tell me that the cross-ex was a disasterfor Behe and the other side. More details as I get them.

Sen. Ted Kennedy apparently tried to rescue a group of guys trapped in the water. Fill in your own joke. The only thing Robert Bork has ever said that I liked was when, during his confirmation hearing in response to a question by Ted Kennedy, he said, "Senator, that's all water under the bridge."

My partner-in-blogging, Jason Kuznicki, has posted yet another reminder of why I think his voice is such a vital one. In a long and brilliant essay he takes on many subjects related to gay rights and equality. In the process, he hits on the situation in Canada with Stephen Boissoin, an anti-gay…

Sylvester Stallone, after years of negotiations, is finally set to film Rocky 6. In this film he'll be defending the AARP heavyweight belt, which is actually a combination kidney belt/adult diaper. And naturally, Stallone has a cliche-ridden rationalization for it all: " 'Rocky Balboa' is about…

The FBI has just released its annual crime report for 2004. Violent crimes are down again, having dropped consistently for the last decade and a half (now at a 30 year low). But here's the shocking statistic that shows that the police are spending more time and money trying to stop people from…

Someone emailed me this link and it's hilarious. It's an evangelism video hosted by Kirk Cameron, who used to play teen heartthrob Mike Seaver on Growing Pains. Much of the video is devoted to debunking evolution. Because ya know, when you want solid information about evolutionary biology, the…

The conservative columnist David Brooks has been looking up all of Harriet Miers' past writings and isn't happy with what he sees: Of all the words written about Harriet Miers, none are more disturbing than the ones she wrote herself. In the early '90s, while she was president of the Texas bar…

In all the brouhaha over James Dobson being given secret information, I have maintained all along that James Dobson is lying. He first claimed to be given information by the White House that was "confidential" and that he "probably shouldn't have" that made him endorse the Miers nomination, but he…

Today is my 38th birthday. Not a big deal to me. As my father likes to say, there's no point in worrying about birthdays until you stop having them. I'm spending the day quietly at home, doing a little writing and research, listening to the brilliant new Wynton Marsalis CD, Live in the House of…

The latest development in the Harriet Miers confirmation fight is this ridiculous talking point from the White House, via James Dobson: Some of the other candidates who had been on that short list, and that many conservatives are now upset about were highly qualified individuals that had been…

An inspired bit from Bill Maher last night: New Rule: For Halloween this year, President Bush has to dress up as either an Indian or a cop. This past week he dressed up as a construction worker for a photo op at a housebuilding project. We've seen him as the navy man landing on the ship. And of…

Shawn Miller stopped by here last night and left a comment with a link to this story about his trial. Miller, you may remember, is a street preacher who is being defended by the ACLU in New Mexico after being arrested and spending more than 3 months in jail on charges of disorderly conduct and…

The Rev. Lou Sheldon, head of the Traditional Values Coalition - think Jerry Falwell, minus the charm - recently said on American Family Radio that once someone is into the "gay lifestyle", the only thing that can save them is exorcism. He says he bases this on discussions with "many…

The Kansas City Star had an article in Sunday's paper that suggested that the ongoing battles between intelligent design creationism and evolution were damaging the state's ability to attract businesses involved in scientific and technical fields: "They want to bring things like intelligent design…

The second part of Barbara Forrest's testimony at the Dover trial has finally been posted. It's a fairly large PDF file.

Ned Rice, who is billed as a staff writer for the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson (who?), has a piece in the National Review, in which he claims to be entirely serious, urging Bush to withdraw the Miers nomination and replace her with Robert Bork, who was already shot down in 1987. In the…

Okay, did anyone else see the White House's fake "conversation" between Bush and the troops? It was absolutely brutal. I know that all presidental appearances are well choreographed, but for crying out loud this thing was so badly done that it was embarrassing to watch. There needs to be a word for…

Larry Caldwell is back with yet another nuisance suit, this one claiming that because the Understanding Evolution website references statements from religious groups saying that evolution is not in conflict with their beliefs, this violates the establishment clause. Here's Caldwell's loony take on…