Palentologists and Creationists

A bunch of paleontologists walk into a creation museum...

No, this isn't the beginning of a bad joke. A group of palentologists (and geologists and something called a paleozoologist) took a trip to the Creation Museum in Kentucky while they were visiting a nearby city for a Palentology Convention.

But here in the Creation Museum in northern Kentucky, Earth and the universe are just over 6,000 years old, created in six days by God. The museum preaches, “Same facts, different conclusions” and is unequivocal in viewing paleontological and geological data in light of a literal reading of the Bible.

In the creationist interpretation, the layers were laid down in one event — the worldwide flood when God wiped the land clean except for the creatures on Noah’s ark — and these dinosaurs died in 2348 B.C., the year of the flood.

“That’s one thing I learned,” Dr. Sato said.

Although they knew places like this exsisted, the scientists were very surprised about what they saw, especially coming across this:

Near the entrance to the exhibits is an animatronic display that includes a girl feeding a carrot to a squirrel as two dinosaurs stand nearby, a stark departure from natural history museums that say the first humans lived 65 million years after the last dinosaurs.

It boggles my mind that people can not only believe that the Earth is 6,000 years old, but can also put together an entire museum filled with incorrect information to support their beliefs.

Dr. Mortenson and others at the museum say they look at the same rocks and fossils as the visiting scientists, but because of different starting assumptions they arrive at different answers. For example, they say the biblical flood set off huge turmoil inside the Earth that broke apart the continents and pushed them to their current locations, not that the continents have moved over a few billion years.

“Everyone has presuppositions what they will consider, what questions they will ask,” said Dr. Mortenson, who holds a doctorate in the history of geology from Coventry University in England. “The very first two rooms of our museum talk about this issue of starting points and assumptions. We will very strongly contest an evolutionist position that they are letting facts speak for themselves.”

By the end of the visit, among the dinosaurs, Dr. Briggs seemed amused. “I like the fact the dinosaurs were in the ark,” he said. (About 50 kinds of dinosaurs were aboard Noah’s ark, the museum explains, but later went extinct for unknown reasons.)The museum, he realized, probably changes few beliefs. “But you worry about the youngsters,” he said.

Recently In Republican Hypocrisy...

Last week, Mike Huckabee was on The Daily Show to discuss his pro-life stance, and how he “values every human life.” However, he supports and has enacted the death penalty. In fact, he has carried it out more than any other Arkansas governor. You can watch the clip here.

Republican officials keep wailing on and on about how if the government develops a health care plan, the American people who choose that plan (note the word “choose” here) will be getting their health care from the government! Hmm, I wonder where those Senators get their health care from? (Hint: it’s the government).

And lastly, but certainly not least, Mark Sandford (R-SC) has confessed to an extra marital affair with an Argentinean woman. Sandford has been a vocal opponent of gay marriage equality, because he considers himself a “values” man and doesn’t want to see the sanctity of marriage destroyed by the gays. I guess he’d rather take care of that himself.

Andrew:

I have to say the karma in all this is pretty profound. The party that has gone on and on and on to prevent me getting married, and prevent my own marriage from being recognized by the federal government is the party of David Vitter, Mark Sanford, Rush Limbaugh and Larry Craig. It's like taking lessons on sexual maturity from the Vatican. And, yes, Sanford was a dedicated opponent of gay couples being allowed to marry. He deserves forgiveness and compassion for his human failings; but he deserves censure for his public double standards. But here's what you learn: those GOP stalwarts who survive these affairs never change their positions on marriage equality. They never learn or evolve.

Strip Search of 13 Year Old Girl Illegal

Good news! The Supreme Court ruled today that the strip search of 13 year old Savana Redding was illegal and unconstitutional.

Justice Stevens wrote on Thursday that “it does not require a constitutional scholar to conclude that a nude search of a 13-year-old child is an invasion of constitutional rights of some magnitude.”

The Supreme Court decided to pass the issue of the school officials liabilty down to the lower courts. Stay tuned. Read my post on the original case here.

Zack Morris on Jimmy Fallon

Oh man, oh man. He even brought the cell phone!

Smart Girls at the Party

It took me awhile to get to Amy Poehler's series "Smart Girls at the Party," which "celebrates extraordinary individuals who change the world by being themselves." In each webisode, Amy interviews a young girl with unique interests- writers, dancers, skateboarders, feminists, humanitarians, gardeners and sometimes a combination of all of the above. It's nice to see a prominent female celebrity highlighting intelligent young girls for their talents. It seems that often the media is screaming about "kids these days," what with their sexting and bullying, etc, etc. I just found these to be really fun. You can see them all on Hulu. My favorite so far, Ruby.

Oh, and they end each episode with a dance party. Who wouldn't love that?

Happy Wednesday!

20 Feminist TV Characters

Jezebel lists them. I can't decide on my favorite- Miranda Hobbes or Liz Lemon.