From the pages of “Duh!” magazine (really an AP article) comes a report where Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, who happens to be a medical doctor, admits that the American people thought he was wrong when he called for more examination of Terri Schiavo, the woman who died in March after a long court case. Congress’ involvement in what was a state case was unprecedented and stemmed from the influence of religious conservatives. In the Christian religion, ending ones life is considered a sin and religious conservatives went insane when the Schiavo case came up. Religious conservatives do that a lot. They want to maintain a life at all costs, ignoring reality, and this case ignoring medical professionals. Schiavo wasn’t alive when she died. She was just a breathing bag of goo assisted with a feeding tube.
Category: Courts
Unless people have followed the Ohio science standards adventure since the beginning, you might be thinking “What’s the big deal?”
The standards and lesson plan adopted in 2004 was a compromise between science supporters and those who support Intelligent Design (ID).
While the standards include a disclaimer that ID would not be required to be taught, the standards left open the door to non-science ideas to be presented.
The simple fact, reinforced by the Kitzmiller decision in Dover, PA this past December, shows that there is no legitimate alternative to Evolution. ID is just creationism with a different label and all the attempts to hide it has failed.
At the Ohio State Board of Education (OBE) meeting on January 10th, a vote was taken to reverse their 2004 decision and remove the lesson plan that reeks of ID. The vote failed by one vote.
A group of Ohio scientists and friends of science, Ohio Citizens for Science, who have been fighting the standards since day one now have a PDF document that notes the 23 links between the Ohio standards process and the court decision in Kitzmiller.
With the next Ohio State Board of Education (OBE) meeting just days away, opposition to a lesson plan adopted in 2004 , that gave the green light for teaching Intelligent Design, heats up.
Some on the Board don’t see the big deal. Americans United for the Separation of Chruch and State want to give them a reason to be concerned.
In the next post of….. Secular Left
Ohio’s Board of Education (OBE) in March of 2004 adopted a “critical analysis of evolution” model lesson after a long hard fought campaign between those who support real science and those who want to force children to learn religion in the public schools.
In light of the Dover decision and this new evidence of the behind the scenes manipulation, Americans United are prepared to file a lawsuit against the OBE.
The Board has been meeting with its legal team and is trying to decide if they will remove the lesson plan.
The OBE will meet next Tuesday January 10 starting at 8 AM in Columbus.
Help them decide in the next post of Secular Left
A 3 judge panel of the U.S. 6th Circuit Court ruled on Tuesday December 20th that a 10 Commandments display in Mercer County Kentucky was not unconstitutional.
The case brought by the ACLU, concerned the Commandments viewed alongside nine other documents, including the Bill of Rights and Declaration of Independence at the Mercer County courthouse in Harrodsburg.
The court used the recent precedent of McCreary County, Ky., v. American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky that was decided by the US Supreme Court this past June.
The court used the common historical sham to justify the presence of the Decalogue and gave the ACLU some lumps for their involvement in the case.
In 2005, the mayor didn’t put up the Navtivity scene. He claimed that road work in front of city hall made it too difficult to keep the scene safe from damage. He intends to put it back up in 2006 along with symbols from other religions:
McPherson said he already has approved a symbol celebrating the winter solstice and another for the Hindu religion — a partman, part-eagle deity called Garuda who sometimes represents the sun.
Of course if he plans on including such symbols then he also needs one from Kwanzaa, Jain, Sikh, Witchcraft, magick, the occult, Sumerian, Zoroastrian, Baha’i, Islamic, Wicca, Neopaganism, Druid, Celtic, and on and on. If Mayor McPherson says no to any religious symbol then he is risking the city of Reynoldsburg to a law suit.
Just like in 2004, McPherson is ignoring the law and even the advice of his own City Attorney.