Your morning jolt: Jon Huntsman, Christine O’Donnell headed to state Capitol
Republican presidential candidate Jon Huntsman announced via Twitter on Thursday that he’s a thoroughly modern man when it comes to Darwin and climate change – unlike a certain Texas governor.
From the Associated Press:
“To be clear. I believe in evolution and trust scientists on global warming. Call me crazy,” Huntsman tweeted.
Although Huntsman didn’t mention Perry by name, the tweet was sent within hours of a campaign stop by Perry in New Hampshire where was asked by the crowd about both topics.
While Perry dodged a question about climate change, he has previously said the theory is unproven. On Thursday, he defended the teaching of creationism in schools because evolution “has some gaps to it.”
Why is this worth a mention? Because on Wednesday, Huntsman will be at the state Capitol in Atlanta to meet Gov. Nathan Deal and as many state legislators as possible.
Perry already has a firm contingent of supporters in the Capitol, and Deal is still formally tied to Gingrich – a convenient if unlikely shelter when everybody and his brother are trying to draw you into their fight.
***
Jon Huntsman will be preceded at the state Capitol by Christine O’Donnell, the former U.S. Senate candidate from Delaware. She’ll stop by on Monday. But O’Donnell made a bit of news this morning when, on NBC’s “Today,” she said she walked off Piers Morgan’s CNN show because of what she described as his “very inappropriate, creepy line of questioning.”
The Delaware Republican said she wanted to stop the “borderline sexual harassment that was going on.”
***
Roll Call reports this morning that U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., is the 48th richest member of Congress, worth $6.49 million. That’s up 2.6 percent over last year, meaning that Isakson’s investments are outperforming the national economy.
However, among his peers, Isakson has dropped slightly – he was the 46th richest last year. Still at the top is U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, who’s worth $294 million.
***
With his Gang of Six activities, U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., may be taking the biggest risk of his political career. But don’t think that means he’s not running in 2014, he said – yet again – on Thursday. From Larry Peterson and the Savannah Morning News:
“I’m wide open running again,” the Georgia Republican told reporters Thursday after touring the Efacec Power Transformers plant in Rincon. “I’m campaigning every day.”
He’s taken flak from tea party activists for helping lead an effort — which includes additional tax revenue — to reduce the federal budget deficit.
Some commentators say his willingness to risk the wrath of a group with big clout in GOP primaries means he won’t seek a third six-year term.
***
In a Thursday post, we mentioned that several Republicans from Buckhead and Sandy Springs – including Beth Beskin and Josh Belinfante – are considering entrance into the Senate District 6 race.
And that Democratic incumbent Doug Stoner of Smyrna, who’s district was hauled into Fulton County, has been approached about switching parties.
More potential GOP candidates are floating to the surface: Hunter Hill of Vinings, who ran against Stoner in 2008; and Bob Irvin of Atlanta, the former House minority leader.
Irvin’s candidacy would be interesting – given that he’s the past president of Common Cause Georgia and has been critical of the Legislature’s tolerance of “low-level conflict of interest and low-level corruption.”
***
On Blogging While Blue, former Atlanta mayor Shirley Franklin wonders whether, in their search for a constitutional majority, Republicans are repeating the big mistake that Democrats made during the 2001 redistricting session:
If the courts ultimately allow the Republican maps, their plan could still backfire for individual Republican members – many in places like Gwinnett County find themselves in districts that are much more competitive than in the past, as map makers have subtracted reliable Republican neighborhoods from these districts in an effort to create new Republican leaning districts elsewhere.
It’s worth noting that ten years ago Democrats thought they too were in reach of a constitutional majority in the Senate, but left so many districts with only narrow Democratic advantages that on Election Day in 2002 they lost in seven districts where their candidates came within 5% of a victory.
***
Maybe you didn’t notice, but this gambling crackdown ordered by Gov. Nathan Deal could create something of a re-match of the 2010 race for attorney general, which featured Republican Sam Olens versus Democrat Ken Hodges.
Olens won, and Hodges now represents some of the businesses in the governor’s sights. From my AJC colleague Aaron Gould Sheinin:
Atlanta lawyer Ken Hodges, who represents business centers that sell Internet time, said state law provides for legitimate operations to engage in sweepstakes promotions without running afoul of Georgia’s gambling statutes.
“The people who I represent are not the only people doing this type of business in the state and I can’t speak for the others,” Hodges said Thursday. “But what my clients are doing is in compliance with the laws of the state of Georgia. Illegal gambling is not our model of business.”
Lori Geary and Channel 2 Action News offers up a look at what these Internet centers look like:
What’s curious about this whole episode that, 10 years ago, during the 2001 redistricting session, Gov. Roy Barnes initiated a crackdown on video poker – angering a crowd of convenience store owners.
***
The AJC’s Politifact Georgia today takes on former Atlanta Public School superintendent Beverly Hall’s assertion that 2010 and 2011 test scores in APS schools haven’t been questioned.
- By Jim Galloway, Political Insider
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145 comments Add your comment
Hypocrisy
August 19th, 2011
3:26 pm
DJ – you give a lot of credit to a minority in a minority. I remind you of the filibuster proof majority Obama had going into his Presidency. He had a soaring high approval rating. He could have easily pushed anything he wanted through but instead piddled around with building bridges, bailing out unions, and setting up his failure of healthcare reform. His lack of doing anything is what created a GOP turn in Congress and gave the Tea Party what it needed to become viable. So in layman’s terms he created failure which created the Tea Party. And again you guys talk out both sides of your mouth….one minute the Tea Party is a band of insignificant nuts and the next minute they are strong enough to barge in on Obama and at the point of a gun demand he cave into all of his agenda. I swear. Is this the recurring theme? It’s what you used for Bush and now for the Tea Party. For a group of ninnie know-nothings this group sure has some power to topple governments and tank economies. And blaming the Tea Party? They only came around to campaign at a decent level in November 2010 and only recently became a faction within a faction of Congress to do anything – the debt ceiling debate. Explain all this failure up to this recent point.
clem
August 19th, 2011
3:39 pm
yea and yosemite sam and palin would have done any better….we’d probably in four or five wars….and the chinese would be lauging their asses off at hosting the vp
Hypocrisy
August 19th, 2011
3:54 pm
clem I hate to tell you but we’re already in more wars than when Obama came into office. We’re all over Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, Libya, and it looks like we’ll be in Syria very soon. The Chinese are laughing right now with Biden there. Biden’s over there joking about how much the Chicoms have us by the brass. Got anything else? Instead we’re watching inflation go up, stocks go down, unemployment go up, wages go down, etc. His campaign moniker of WTF is very appropriate.
Ghost Rider
August 19th, 2011
4:07 pm
One-Eyed Man in a Blind World:
“You will ALWAYS get what you ELECT so you should exercise better judgement.”
You said it all! In 2008, the mindless minions have us Obama.
DJ Sniper
August 19th, 2011
4:09 pm
For everybody who is down on Obama, I ask you this: Do you really think the country would be in better shape with anybody from the current GOP field in charge? Perry, Bachmann, Romney, etc etc?
DJ Sniper
August 19th, 2011
4:13 pm
Ghost Rider, that statement can also be applies to the current crop of Republicans in office. The public didn’t do their homework, and now look what some of these states are stuck with: Rick Scott, Rick Snyder, Scott Walker, John Kasich, and so forth. Lots of people are having voter’s remorse. As for the 2008 election, I’ll ask you this: Do you really think we would have been better off with John McCain and Sarah Palin in charge?
Ghost Rider
August 19th, 2011
4:16 pm
Hypocrisy:
“His lack of doing anything is what created a GOP turn in Congress and gave the Tea Party what it needed to become viable.”
I must take issue with you on this point. It was not his “lack of doing anything”, but rather the steamrolling of the ObamaCare legislation that brought about the Republican takeover of the House in 2010.
Obama didn’t learn from that experience, if he actually wanted to learn. On June 20 of this year he gave amnesty to the illegal aliens by virtue of a memo sent to ICE. He did this despite the the fact that the overwhelming majority of Americans opposed this action.
Ghost Rider
August 19th, 2011
4:18 pm
DJ Sniper:
With the probable exception of you, the country would be better off with just about anybody as President other than the current occupant.
Hypocrisy
August 19th, 2011
4:18 pm
Dj as many have said, with the trend we’re going in anything is worth a shot. When you’re already going down why not let someone else take the stick and try pulling up. It’s clear Obama has run out of options. his whole economic team has deserted him. Tax credits for hiring veterans is not exactly a winning option. Or would you rather just watch us pass out parachutes?
Hypocrisy
August 19th, 2011
4:23 pm
DJ – if your logic works on those governors then it applies to Obama as well. Do you acknowledge that? Note those states you mention are actually working on recovering on budgets as well. Seeing how the effort to recall Walker is dwindling I’d take issue with you on him.
And yes we would be better off. For one we’d have less government and therefore less debt – meaning less of a reason for S&P to downgrade us and a resulting lack of drop in the markets on that front. The bailouts on the auto industry would not have worked in the manner they did – the results would have been the same. Endless examples of how we would not be looking at enormous debts piling up. We would not see insurance costs dramatically increasing because of getting ready for Obamacare. Etc Etc.
clem
August 19th, 2011
4:50 pm
hypo, you have right moniker for you really are hypocrite,,,would love to have more to say but it is friday…
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/07/28/us/charting-the-american-debt-crisis.html?hp
td
August 19th, 2011
4:51 pm
honested
August 19th, 2011
2:33 pm
Hypocrisy, no apologies. There are many things I wish the President had done.
Like:
“1-Tell the repugs to pack sand and let the shrub tax cuts expire last year.”
Democrats had total control of both houses of congress and could have done it but instead they are now the Obama tax cuts.
“2-Stand firm during the health care debate and keep a public option (or better yet full fledged single payer on the table).”
Again Democrats had total control over congress during this time and they could have passed the public option if they wanted it. Guess what the main stream Dems did not want it, only the far left.
“3-Invoked improved CAFE standards before the end of the first 100 Days”
Again the Dems were in control and only the far left wanted this.
“4-Impose a permanent moratorium on ALL offshore drilling until full preparation for disaster clean-up with all costs and materials borne entirely by the driller/oil company was in place.”
Federal Judge said that one was unconstitutional and they did not appeal his ruling.
“5-End both the Iraqi War of Choice and the Afghan Fiasco and bring ALL troops home by the end of 2010.”
The only thing I give Obama credit for (Gitmo too) getting right. He went into office, read the real intelligence and decided Bush was doing the right thing and it was in the best interest of the country.
So I really guess your real gripe is that those pesky blue dogs and moderates got in the way of the progressives (socialist) agenda?
DJ Sniper
August 19th, 2011
4:52 pm
So some of you would actually be ok with a yahoo like Rick Perry or a clueless idiot like Michele Bachmann in office? Unbelievable.
DJ Sniper
August 19th, 2011
4:55 pm
I blame Obama for not pulling us out of Iraq and Afghanastan, but can anybody tell me why we went over there in the first place?
td
August 19th, 2011
4:56 pm
You Dems really showed how far you are to the left today. This has got to be the most communist (I say that because they are the group that wants to crush religion at any cost) bunch I have ever seen gather in one place.
BTW: Both Evolution and Creationism are theories of how we humans are here today. I would really love to watch your heads explode when we start teaching both as viable options in our schools within the next 4 years. Mark my words!!!!
Hypocrisy
August 19th, 2011
4:58 pm
DJ – you seem to be OK with the clown who is in office now. Point? Admission on here that he hasn’t done anything he said he would do so again, how can it get worse?
clem – good comeback. Did it take you all afternoon to come up with that? This is typical response of the Left.
td
August 19th, 2011
5:03 pm
DJ Sniper
August 19th, 2011
4:52 pm
So some of you would actually be ok with a yahoo like Rick Perry or a clueless idiot like Michele Bachmann in office? Unbelievable
Perry sounds like a pretty good choice right now. Have not made up my mind yet but I will not vote for another John McCain type in the Republican primary.
td
August 19th, 2011
5:08 pm
td
August 19th, 2011
5:03 pm
DJ Sniper
August 19th, 2011
4:52 pm
So some of you would actually be ok with a yahoo like Rick Perry or a clueless idiot like Michele Bachmann in office? Unbelievable
Perry sounds like a pretty good choice right now. Have not made up my mind yet but I will not vote for another John McCain type in the Republican primary.
Michele Bachmann does not have any executive experience and would be like voting for Obama and we see how well that has worked out for us.
DJ Sniper
August 19th, 2011
5:18 pm
TD, you need to stop with the religious persecution angle. Nobody here wants to crush religion. What most of us don’t like is having a particular religion shoved down our throats, and that’s what a lot of people on the right seem intent on doing. Take Rick Perry’s recent prayer event as an example. It’s crystal clear that he was pandering to the evangelical crowd. He said that the events were open to all faiths, but there was other literature that mentioned that they might be trying to convert people to Christianity. Then you have Michele Bachmann, who never lets an opportunity pass to slide in some religious reference in her speeches. IMHO, politics and religion should not mix. Some politicians needs to realize that plenty of people out here have different religious beliefs, or none at all. Practicing a particular faith is fine, but using that faith to shape how you will govern is a dangerous thing.
That’s partly why I want Mitt Romney to win the GOP nomination. We all know one of the main issues holding him back is because he’s Mormon. I would love to see the evangelicals heads explode if he got the nomination.
DJ Sniper
August 19th, 2011
5:21 pm
Hypocrisy, it could get a lot worse with someone like Bachmann in office. Her campaign is based on nothing but half truths, false information, and fear. Let’s not even begin to talk about the public gaffes that she’s made. (To be fair, every president flubs up and says something incorrect, but Bachmann takes it to another level). That’s one example of how it could be worse.
Ghost Rider
August 19th, 2011
5:24 pm
Hypocrisy:
“clem – good comeback. Did it take you all afternoon to come up with that?”
Actually, he had a team of advisors working with him to come up with a response. If you push him a little harder, Obama will solve all problems by making a speech.
Ghost Rider
August 19th, 2011
5:28 pm
DJ Sniper:
” Let’s not even begin to talk about the public gaffes that she’s made.”
You mean like “57 states”? How about the “Austrian language”? Are those the “public gaffes” to which you refer? BTW, I’ve got a lot more if you want them.
DJ Sniper
August 19th, 2011
5:44 pm
Ghost Rider, I’ve already admitted that every president makes public flubs. Bachmann, however, is in a whole other category. For me, her comment about how the founding fathers worked hard to eradicate slavery was what made me realize that she was completely off her rocker.
Hypocrisy
August 19th, 2011
5:55 pm
DJ – I guess a president who thinks there are 58 states is better. While Bachmann messed up on John Quincy Adams she could have made up for it by mentioning Franklin, Jay, and numerous others. Her point was right but example was bad.
Perry had an event that did not advocate any faith but just called likeminded people together to pray for the country. What about that gets your briefs in a wad? You seem to be wearing a tin foil hat that the right is trying to force you at gunpoint to follow their faith. Strange but I see people being persecuted by those on the Left if you dare mention your faith calls homosexuality a sin. A teacher in FL was fired just for posting on Faccebook he disagreed with gay marriage. Nevermind he was teacher of the year last year. The “tolerant” Left will stick it to you if you don’t conform to their views. If you don’t convert to THEIR tolerant view then who gets blacklisted?
td
August 19th, 2011
6:30 pm
DJ Sniper
August 19th, 2011
5:18 pm
“IMHO, politics and religion should not mix”
That is impossible. Everyone has a set of morals and values (religious view point be it evangelical or atheistic) thank helps form their philosophy. A persons philosophy drives their world view and the way he/she will analyse a problem and the solution for the problem. You can not take religion out of politics or life or everyone would just be a computer.
td
August 19th, 2011
6:34 pm
DJ Sniper
August 19th, 2011
5:21 pm
Hypocrisy, it could get a lot worse with someone like Bachmann in office
Although I do not think Bachmann is qualified because she has never been an executive. There is no way she can be worse than Obama. More than likely 1000 times better.
td
August 19th, 2011
6:37 pm
Hypocrisy
August 19th, 2011
5:55 pm
You are so right. Secular Humanism is a religion and it is a great deal less tolerate than evangelicals ever thought of being.
Ghost Rider
August 19th, 2011
6:52 pm
td:
“Although I do not think Bachmann is qualified because she has never been an executive.”
Does being a community organizer give one executive experience? That is the only thing that could have given the current President executive experience, isn’t it?
Isis5761
August 19th, 2011
6:56 pm
Don’t apply logic to it. You’ll get a headache….smile
Isis5761
August 19th, 2011
6:58 pm
Sniper, I agree. It’s really sick!
td
August 19th, 2011
6:58 pm
Ghost Rider
August 19th, 2011
6:52 pm
td:
“Although I do not think Bachmann is qualified because she has never been an executive.”
Does being a community organizer give one executive experience? That is the only thing that could have given the current President executive experience, isn’t it?
I have been saying for three years that he is not qualified to hold office because he has no executive experience and it has been proven correct. The man is totally lost. His philosophy that the government can spend, spend and spend to bring the economy out of a recession totally failed and now since we spent so much we are probably going to have a second recession to correct all of that spending. He has no jobs plan but to spend more.
Isis5761
August 19th, 2011
7:00 pm
Ghost Rider what did Bush do for you and America?
td
August 19th, 2011
7:46 pm
Isis5761
August 19th, 2011
7:00 pm
Ghost Rider what did Bush do for you and America?
Oh I can answer that.
Economically:
1: I received a 5% reduction in my Federal income taxes.
2: The marriage penalty was eliminated.
3: I received a $500 child care tax credit.
I am by no means in the top 10% of wage earners.
Domestically:
The long term effect of No Child left behind has not turned out great but it was the first time that all schools have been held accountable. Children have to actually be able to read at a certain level by 1st and 3rd grade.
Keeping the country safe:
This was the one thing that consumed his Presidency. We were blindly attacked by Islamic terrorist and Bush made it his mission to not allow it to happen again. The Bush doctrine of hit first before they have a chance has kept this country safe for now 10 years. You will know in the next few years exactly how many other attacks his administration stopped from hitting us.
This last item will place Bush as one of the top 10 all time Presidents in the history of this country while Obama will go down as one of the bottom 10.
eatmotacos
August 19th, 2011
8:19 pm
@td
……..and will Sonny Boy and Shady Deal go down as being in the top ten all time governors of Georgia? Does the brainwashing extend across the board, and include all Republicans, without regard to their performance or character?
Ghost Rider
August 19th, 2011
8:41 pm
Isis5761:
GWB was not my favorite President, but he was far, far from being the worst.
The economic problems that America faces now, at least in part, began with the housing crash, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. None of the learned liberal idiots ever want to discuss how GWB brought this subject up early on in his first term. I can still see and hear Barney Frank, Chris Dodd and the majority of the Democrats scoffing at the idea that an awful lot of really bad loans were being underwritten by these two federal agencies. If you want to exercise your Google fingers, you can easily verify what I have just written.
The WMDs in Iraq DID exist. Saddam Hussein (not to be confused with Barack Hussein) had already used gas on thousands of Iraqi citizens. Evidence of the pursuit of a nuclear program was found. In all likelihood, WMDs were moved from Iraq to another country prior to the Allied arrival/ The phrase “There were no WMDs” is proof that liberals/Democrats believe if you tell a lie long enough and often enough, it will become fact.
GWB gets an A+ for protecting America after the 9/11 attack. We were not attacked on that scale again during his watch and many attempts were thwarted.
I could go on and on, but the hour grows late for me. Suffice it to say that Obaloney is nowhere near being in the same league with GWB – and he never will be.
PS: Has it occurred to anyone that our problems are not being resolved or even adequately addressed by Obaloney because it is his intent to destroy the capitalist system in America?
td
August 19th, 2011
10:08 pm
eatmotacos
August 19th, 2011
8:19 pm
I am not going to do a lot of defending of Sonny because I think he was pretty much of a RINO. I will say that he did a dog gone good job of managing the budget when our revenues dropped from $23 billion to $17.5 billion over 4 years without raising taxes.
The report card is still out on Deal, so at this point I have no opinion.
Elephant Hunter
August 20th, 2011
12:10 am
td,
You are still lying. Creationism does not meet the definitive requirements of scientific theory. It is not scientific, it is not theory….therefore it is neither. It is theological tautology.
Get that through your trailer park brain. The bible is not theory. It is theological dogma.
Elephant Hunter
August 20th, 2011
12:17 am
I am curious though, td. Where did you get your doctorates in biology or its related fields? I would really like to know what you are basing your arguments off of…that’s all. You clearly have no understanding of scientific methods or philosophy…so I am curious.
I will break the whole anonymity bit here…my name is Dr. Elijah Tenenbaum. I am a retired virologist/epidemiologist. I earned my MDs at the University of Michigan and Washington University then went onto work for CDC, later I worked for Genentech, and I also briefly worked for NASA in the capacity of a consultant training astronauts and mission control about handling disease on board the Space Shuttle and ISS.
Please tell me how your complete ignorance should at all matter in the way people like my former students’ students’ students teach biology in the classroom.
Not only do you have no clue what evolution is, you refuse to update your information to include any actual reference to the scientific community’s work.
td
August 20th, 2011
1:50 pm
Elephant Hunter
August 20th, 2011
12:17 am
I would really like to know what you are basing your arguments off of…that’s all. You clearly have no understanding of scientific methods or philosophy…so I am curious
Below are a few people that I have read and believe more than you. I think they have pretty good creditials:
Stephen C. Meyer is director of the Discovery Institute’s Center for Science and Culture and a founder both of the intelligent design movement and of the Discovery Institute’s Center for Science & Culture, intelligent design’s primary intellectual and scientific headquarters. Dr. Meyer is a Cambridge University-trained philosopher of science, the author of peer-reviewed publications in technical, scientific, philosophical and other books and journals. His signal contribution to ID theory is given most fully in Signature in the Cell: DNA and the Evidence for Intelligent Design, published by HarperOne in June 2009. For more on the book, and more about Dr. Meyer’s views on intelligent design visit his website at http://www.signatureinthecell.com.
Meyer earned his Ph.D. in the History and Philosophy of Science from Cambridge University for a dissertation on the history of origin of life biology and the methodology of the historical sciences. Previously he worked as a geophysicist with the Atlantic Richfield Company after earning his undergraduate degrees in Physics and Geology.
Dr. Meyer has recently co-written or edited two books: Darwinism, Design, and Public Education with Michigan State University Press and Science and Evidence of Design in the Universe (Ignatius 2000).
He has also authored numerous technical articles as well as editorials in magazines and newspapers such as The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, The Houston Chronicle, The Chicago Tribune, First Things and National Review.
Michael J. Behe is Professor of Biological Sciences at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania. He received his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of Pennsylvania in 1978. Behe’s current research involves delineation of design and natural selection in protein structures.
In addition to publishing over 35 articles in refereed biochemical journals, he has also written editorial features in Boston Review, American Spectator, and The New York Times. His book, Darwin’s Black Box discusses the implications for neo-Darwinism of what he calls “irreducibly complex” biochemical systems. The book was internationally reviewed in over one hundred publications and recently named by National Review and World magazine as one of the 100 most important books of the 20th century.
Behe has presented and debated his work at major universities throughout North America and England.
td
August 20th, 2011
1:55 pm
Elephant Hunter
August 20th, 2011
12:17 am
If you do like them two how about these:
David Berlinski received his Ph.D. in philosophy from Princeton University and was later a postdoctoral fellow in mathematics and molecular biology at Columbia University. He has authored works on systems analysis, differential topology, theoretical biology, analytic philosophy, and the philosophy of mathematics, as well as three novels. He has also taught philosophy, mathematics and English at such universities as Stanford, Rutgers, the City University of New York and the Universite de Paris. In addition, he has held research fellowships at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) in Austria and the Institut des Hautes Etudes Scientifiques (IHES) in France.
Recent articles by Dr. Berlinski have been featured in Commentary, Forbes ASAP, and the Boston Review. Two of his articles, “On the Origins of the Mind” (November 2004) and “What Brings a World into Being” (March 2001) have been anthologized in The Best American Science Writing 2005 , edited by Alan Lightman (Harper Perennial), and The Best American Science Writing 2002, edited by Jesse Cohen, respectively
Paul Chien is a Professor in the Department of Biology at the University of San Francisco and he was elected Chairman of his department twice. He received his Ph.D. in Biology from the University of California at Irvine’s Department of Developmental & Cell Biology. He has held such positions as Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Environmental Engineering at the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena (CIT); Instructor of Biology at The Chinese University of Hong Kong; and a consultant to both the Kerckhoff Marine Laboratory of the CIT, and the Scanning Electron Microscopy & Micro X-ray Analyst in the Biology Department of Santa Clara University, California. Dr. Chien’s work has been published in over fifty technical journals and he has spoken internationally, and on numerous occasions, from Brazil to mainland China-where he has also been involved in cooperative research programs. Dr. Chien edited and translated Phillip Johnson’s book Darwin on Trial into Chinese as well as Jonathan Wells’ Icons of Evolution.
A mathematician and philosopher, William A. Dembski is Research Professor in Philosophy at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Ft. Worth. He is also a senior fellow with Discovery Institute’s Center for Science and Culture in Seattle as well as the executive director of the International Society for Complexity, Information, and Design. Previously he was the Carl F. H. Henry Professor of Theology and Science at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, where he founded its Center for Theology and Science. Before that he was Associate Research Professor in the Conceptual Foundations of Science at Baylor University, where he also headed The Michael Polanyi Center, the first intelligent design think tank at a major research university.
Dr. Dembski has taught at Northwestern University, the University of Notre Dame, and the University of Dallas. He has done postdoctoral work in mathematics at MIT, in physics at the University of Chicago, and in computer science at Princeton University. Dr. Dembski is a graduate of the University of Illinois at Chicago, where he earned a B.A. in psychology, an M.S. in statistics, and a Ph.D. in philosophy. He also received a doctorate in mathematics from the University of Chicago in 1988 and a master of divinity degree from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1996. He has held National Science Foundation graduate and postdoctoral fellowships.
Dr. Dembski has published articles in mathematics, philosophy, and theology journals and is the author/editor of more than ten books. In The Design Inference: Eliminating Chance Through Small Probabilities (Cambridge University Press, 1998), he examines the design argument in a post-Darwinian context and analyzes the connections linking chance, probability, and intelligent causation. The sequel to this book, No Free Lunch: Why Specified Complexity Cannot Be Purchased without Intelligence, appeared with Rowman & Littlefield in 2002 and critiques Darwinian and other naturalistic accounts of evolution. Dr. Dembski has edited several influential anthologies, including Uncommon Dissent: Intellectuals Who Find Darwinism Unconvincing (ISI, 2004) and Debating Design: From Darwin to DNA (Cambridge University Press, 2004, co-edited with Michael Ruse). His newest book, Darwin’s Nemesis: Phillip Johnson and the Intelligent Design Movement is a festschrift volume in honor of Phillip Johnson.
As interest in intelligent design has grown in the wider culture, Dr. Dembski has assumed the role of public intellectual. He lectures at colleges and universities around the world, and is frequently interviewed on the radio and television. His work has been cited in numerous newspaper and magazine articles, including three front page stories in the New York Times as well as the August 15, 2005 Time magazine cover story on intelligent design. He has appeared on the BBC, NPR (Diane Rehm, etc.), PBS (Inside the Law with Jack Ford; Uncommon Knowledge with Peter Robinson), CSPAN2, CNN, Fox News, ABC Nightline, and the Daily Show with Jon Stewart.
Guillermo Gonzalez is an Associate Professor of Physics at Grove City College. He received his Ph.D. in Astronomy in 1993 from the University of Washington. He has done post-doctoral work at the University of Texas, Austin and at the University of Washington and has received fellowships, grants and awards from such institutions as NASA, the University of Washington, the Templeton Foundation, Sigma Xi (scientific research society) and the National Science Foundation.
Gonzalez has extensive experience in observing and analyzing data from ground-based observatories, including work at McDonald Observatory, Apache Point Observatory and Cerro Tololo Interamerican Observatory. He is a world-class expert on the astrophysical requirements for habitability and on habitable zones and a co-founder of the “Galactic Habitable Zone” concept, which captured the October 2001 cover story of Scientific American. Astronomers and astrobiologists around the world are pursuing research based on his work on exoplanet host stars, the Galactic Habitable Zone and red giants.
Gonzalez has also published nearly 70 articles in refereed astronomy and astrophysical journals including The Astrophysical Journal, The Astronomical Journal, Astronomy and Astrophysics, Icarus and Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. He also is the co-author of the second edition of Observational Astronomy, an advanced college astronomy textbook.
In 2004 he co-authored The Privileged Planet: How Our Place in the Cosmos is Designed for Discovery with Jay W. Richards.
td
August 20th, 2011
2:00 pm
Elephant Hunter
August 20th, 2011
12:17 am
I can go on if you need source documentation. Are you calling all of these people “Trailer park brains” also? There is a great deal of science out there for intellectual design (creationism). It is a scientific theory just like Evolution is so get off you high horse. All you have proved is that you are a typical liberal and want to bash a person you disagree with.
Elephant Hunter
August 20th, 2011
11:53 pm
Went through the articles that were peer reviewed, not one of them is a scientific argument against evolution. Historians and philosophers are not scientists.
Again, the only thing that supports your beliefs out of the arguments posed by the people you listed is about human evolution. Not one of those people present empirical evidence disputing the theory of evolution.
Do you understand the difference between a theory and a hypothesis?
Furthermore, there is still 0 evidence for creationism, by any name. It can not be tested. All you are doing is being a typical conservative and want to bash a person you disagree with.
I have leveled with you 100%. The theory of evolution is far broader than human evolution, which is a single hypothesis.
God may very well exist and have put evolution into play herself. Science can not, and is not in the business of trying, to determine that. All we scientists can do is present conditions to organisms with hypotheses about that organisms reaction…then anticipate prevention or containment. When a virus changes with its environment, that is evolution. Even if god is present in the process, it is evolution…because a thousand generations ago the virus was different.
You are really mixing things up and not in a manner that is allowing you to understand anything. Perhaps we are being too antagonistic toward one another. God can not be proven to exist, and I doubt you would want her to. After all, your religion is based upon faith, not knowledge.
All in all, as JD states above, much of this comes down to constitutional law. There is no science that can be created to generate a scientific theory of creation. If the scholars you list above do so, they are only making money off of people like you and are the bane of the scientific community. They know you do not know what you are talking about and lack the capability and means to test their propositions (they are not theories for reasons I stated yesterday). Like Glenn Beck…they make some stuff up.
I want to reach an understanding. I understand your side, you refuse to educate yourself about the side of the entire scientific community…so much so that you do not even understand our vocabulary and site a bunch of zealots that were previously academics.
In the end, teaching creation is tantamount to teaching and advocating your religion…and the last time I looked the Constitution of the USA prohibits that. Leave science to the experts, we are never going to allow research and results be determined by uneducated participants in the democratic process.
Elephant Hunter
August 20th, 2011
11:59 pm
I have been meaning to ask again, by the way, why is the Bible silent about germ theory? Among other things, why is accidental and purposefully induced abortion/miscarriage treated as a property crime in the Bible?
I have a proposition (not a theory since this does not fit the definition of a theory), since humans did not yet know about these things, god did not…because god is a fictitious character. You believe god is all knowing, nothing about the entire western hemisphere is mentioned…nothing about other planets, or even the sun. “God” did not even know that the Sun was a star…like the other trillions upon trillions of stars. “God” thought that evil made people sick…not germs. How did the endemic species of north america get here if noah only knew of species from his continent? What makes you think “adam and eve” were not apes? was jesus really white?
All of these are questions that have no theories nor hypotheses…because they can not be tested.
elephant hunter
August 21st, 2011
12:38 am
You know what…rather than responding to anything I have written why don’t you just admit that you want public schools to become bastions of your fascist evangelical theology.
TD, you obviosly do not care about the progress that I and my colleagues have created, so please…admit that you would rather have your 9th century Christian fundamentalist caliphate than cures for disease or an understanding of the world.
Yes. The people you list above are somewhat intelligent, but they are blinded by faith and their work is not peer reviewed. They are as religiously determined as you are to oppress the world with Christian dogma.
Admit it…you want the government to be a religious body.
This debate is futile. I doubt you even graduated from high school. You have never conducted an experimental inquiry, you are ignorant. As a retired educator I have a problem when people refuse to accept facts. Evolution is a fact. I do not offer truth…only facts. You do not offer either…you offer dogma.
clem
August 21st, 2011
8:34 am
td likely got pol science degree from somewhere like ksu