Blood, Toil,…TiS, and Dreck

November 30th, 2006 Jemmy Button

IN THE YEAR SINCE JUDGE JONES’ RULING blunted its notorious Wedge Strategy in Pennsylvania, the ID Think-Tankers of the Discovery Institute would appear to have been preparing a fresh assault on another Dover — this time, the eponymous white cliffs of Darwin’s own ancestral Albion. And, as in the American case, the DI would appear to be working through a proxy player the better to maintain ‘plausible deniability.’

Over the past year, a mysterious organisation has been established in the UK, styling itself Truth in Science (TiS)“ a private limited company. While the company’s source of income is not published, in September of this year it nonetheless distributed free ‘teaching packs (DVDs and literature) advocating ‘Intelligent Design’ to all UK secondary school science teachers. Some useful light may be cast upon the nature of the shadowy ‘Truth in Science’ organisation thanks to the diligence of the splendid British Centre for Science Education (link highly recommended for facts on TiS).

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Creationism as Conspiracy Theory

November 25th, 2006 EmmaPeel

Earlier this year when Popular Mechanics published their book, Debunking 9/11 Myths: Why Conspiracy Theories Can’t Stand Up to the Facts, their editor-in-chief, James Miegs, described the aggressive sloppiness in the way conspiracists marshall their “facts” to build their theories and then defend them against the ever-growing body of contrary facts that mainstream researchers & reporters compile.

Those of us who’ve been debating hard-core creationists know these behaviors all too well: Relying on selective, out of context quotes of mainstream experts to bolster the opposite conclusion. Trumpeting early, inaccurate reports while ignoring or explaining away the later corrections. Focusing on holes & anomalies in the consensus theory, no matter how trivial, as proof that it’s a house of cards that’s about to come falling down Any Day Now, just as soon as the public learns about the vast conspiracy of evil scientists or other authority figures who are brutally suppressing the truth, which is nevertheless Out There.

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Wait, so what about this $250,000 challenge?

November 2nd, 2006 Black Ops

IT TOOK THEM THREE HOURS to deliberate.

‘Dr. Dino,’ wife guilty

Our advice is, even if you win Hovind’s challenge - fat chance, but whatever - don’t accept a check as payment.

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