Brent Rasmussen

Observations and inanities by a second-shift assistant supervisor in the Puppy-Grinding division of the Evil Atheist Conspiracy® (our motto: "Sure it's cruel, but think of the jobs!"), your host, Brent Rasmussen.

Jim Downey

UTI Associate blogger Jim Downey is a former newspaper columnist and also writes at the Daily Kos under the handle Shadan7. "I'm the fat old man of the crowd (well, make that middle-aged and overweight). My life's arc has been colorful in some odd and delightful ways, and though by most conventional standards I'm not 'successful', I've mostly enjoyed the ride. I now keep busy writing, playing with my dog, and as a book & document conservator in private practice."

Paul Fidalgo

UTI associate blogger Paul Fidalgo is an actor, musician, and writer with a background in political media, communications, and research. He holds a master's degree in political management from George Washington University, and blogs on atheism in American culture. He blogs at Examiner.com as the DC Secularism Examiner, and maintains two blogs, Near Earth Object, a blog of several overlapping magisteria including political satire and his own musical work; and Bloc Raisonneur, specifically concerning atheists' precarious place in American politics and culture. Paul's music can be purchased for mere pennies at Amie St.

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Rick Ulrey

UTI Associate blogger Rick Ulrey comes to UTI by way of the Marine Corps: "I'm 31 and I earn my living fixing computers. I served 6 years in the Marine Corps and consider myself a liberal libertarian with conservative leanings. I am a firm believer that the world would be a better place if people took responsibility for themselves and their actions. As you can see from the picture I love food. That's me eating a banana fritter in Australia with a nice cup of coffee. I love to cook and my other hobbies include hiking, camping, reading and on and offline gaming."

Steven Darksyde

UTI co-blogger and friend DarkSyde has this to say about himself: "I'm in my 40s, I work out a lot, I'm a personal trainer as a hobby, I've worked mainly as an investment advisor, stocks and bonds. I've done quite a bit of sky diving. I live a few miles from the Space Center in Florida. I have a strong background in math and physics and I'm an active advocate for Evolution in the Evolution vs. Creationism issue."

You read it here first! (and last)

Submitted by No More Mr. Nice Guy on August 8, 2005 - 9:01pm.

Evolution/Creation Debate

Every so often I make the mistake of reading the letters page of the "Arizona Repulsive" (as it's fondly known) and choking on some piece of unmitigated ignorance and stupidity, being seized with the urge to respond to it, and forgetting the #1 rule for preserving one's sanity: "Against stupidity the gods themselves contend in vain." Anyway, a letter in today's Repulsive (the link has already expired) on the subject of "intelligent design" set me off, and here is my response, which has no hope in hell of getting printed:

F. Woodwick asks, "What do Darwinists have to fear from the intelligent-design proponents?" One might as well ask, what do geographers have to fear from teaching that the earth is flat, or historians from teaching that the Holocaust never happened?

Mountains of evidence from almost every branch of science independently confirm that evolution is a fact. To give just one example, if evolution were false, the whole science of genomics (in which Arizona has invested heavily) would not exist. Evolution is tested and confirmed every day in hundreds of labs around the world. The interested reader should visit www.talkorigins.org for more information.

"Intelligent design", by contrast, is simply an argument from ignorance. "I don't understand how such-and-such could have evolved, therefore it didn't" is not a scientific theory. Unlike evolution, intelligent design proposes no mechanisms, makes no predictions, does not relate known facts to one another, and does not advance our knowledge of the universe one iota. If we are going to teach it in the classroom, we should also teach the alternative theory (which I just invented) that Paddy the Magic Leprechaun created the universe last Thursday, and implanted false memories in our heads. Both "theories" are equally useless in improving our understanding of the world.

Woodwick gets one thing right: "If Darwin's theory is so strong, then intelligent design won't last long." In fact, intelligent design never even got started in the scientific world. It hasn't led to a single accredited college course or published paper in a peer-reviewed scientific journal. That's why "intelligent designers" spend all their time bringing lawsuits and lobbying politicians, unlike real scientists who do their work in the lab.

Thanks for letting me vent...

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