Part Man, Part Monkey

To steal a title of a Bruce Springsteen song, which actually has a great deal of relevance to current culture wars. Eighty years ago today in the tiny hamlet of Dayton, Tennessee, biology teacher John T. Scopes was prosecuted for teaching the theory of evolution to his students. It was illegal at the time. It may be again. Eighty years; to think that modern scientific discovery is being trumped by blind faith and religious dogma. How is it that school boards across the country can fall to (unconstitutional, by the way) religious fervor that Creationism is a valid scientific concept or that students have the right to be taught "alternate theories" of the origin of life? Science isn't something someone "gets to choose" to believe in. What's your favorite movie? Pepsi or Coke? Science or belief? We now get to contend with "Intelligent Design", the latest incarnation of religious creationist thought. I agree with the multitude of opinion writers on this topic: the problem isn't that Intelligent Design is wrong; the problem lies in the fact that that it's unfalsifiable. Science isn't creating a theory and then jamming facts into proving that theory; that's the antithesis of the scientific method. One does not have the right to choose in scientific discovery; if I jump out of the window, can I sue someone for pain and suffering because I don't believe in gravity? The theory of the earth's gravitational pull must have an alternative (if all presuppositional argumentation for ID gets to hold true), right? At any rate, Bruce's song hits the nail right on the head but so did the citizens of Dayton; the trial created a media circus with people selling monkey dolls and giving kids the opportunity to have their pictures taken with a real-life chimpanzee holding a Bible. Gotta love it.

Read this. In finishing the new Woodward last night, this, too hits things right on the head. A great many ironies occurred last week; one was that Mark Felt's book debuted the day that Patrick Gray, his boss, passed away. The greater and more tragic irony was the book's release the week that Judith Miller was sent to prison for failing to reveal her source that disclosed the identity of CIA spy Valerie Plame. The roads are leading to Karl Rove, yet why isn't he or Robert Novak, the reporter who actually leaked the name, in hot water? God help us; with the Supreme Court this week denying the true right to private property in the same week that Judith Miller is sent to jail right when George bush is vetting Alberto Gonzales' name for the Supreme Court, I'm getting the feeling that James Madison is turning somersaults in his grave.