Sorry, kid, but we need to have a wee bit of a chat about this post.

You know, I just don't understand what all of the fuss is about regarding the mentioning of so-called Intelligent Design theories when discussions about Evolution arise in our nation's schools.

Yeah, yeah. I know that Evolution is the one with all the cool fossils to see and that there is no proof when it comes to Intelligent Design. I also know that some scientists feel that without proof and without any means of testing a theory, a theory is considered bunk. However, not so long ago, the best minds in the world were convinced that the earth was flat, so I'm thinking we should be a little more inclusive in our discussions.{...}

Phoenix then goes on to claim that her teachers tried more to "indoctrinate" rather than "educate," and says her father set her straight on more than one occasion when an educator gave out faulty/less than complete information. Due to this, she has learned critical thinking, which is good. I'm not knocking that. Critical thinking is always good. But then there's this whopper of a statement at the end of her post that, quite literally, made my jaw drop:

{...}So, I say, let our children decide for themselves. Perhaps Intelligent Design can't be proven or disproven now. Perhaps Evolution is the real deal. But what does it hurt to expose our children to the entire debate? Can we not trust them to come to their own conclusions? If I had to sit through 4 weeks in a world history class listening to extended discourse on Islam in the 8th grade, including the 5 tenets of Islam, why can't today's students hear about the beliefs of some Christians as it relates to this issue? Learning about Islam didn't turn me into a Muslim. Being exposed to the idea of Intelligent Design isn't going to throw your child to the lions.

What's the big deal? Can't we trust our kids to decide for themselves?{...}

Sweetheart. You really want to know what the big deal is? Ok, well,Was the 2nd Amendment the only thing you learned about when it came to the Constitution? Because, if it was, you should know we have this little thing called the Establishment Clause which, along with all the other subsequent case law that follows it, declares that no religion shall be taught in public schools. It's pretty simple stuff. This is why Intelligent Design shouldn't be taught in public schools---because, in a very small way, it's teaching religion.

To miss this point is to miss the big fat pink elephant that's plopped its fat ass down in your living room. That's what the "big deal" is. And there is a bit of a difference between teaching the Five Pillars of Islam in a historical context to being taught that, because some people don't believe in Darwinism and take offense at the notion they were descended from apes, there should be an entire section added to the science curriculum---a section that has nothing to do with science, but has everything to do with religion. Yet these people claim the teaching of ID is all about offering students "a choice." That's all well and good but one choice is based in science; the other is based in religion. And neither one can be proved.

Look, I don't see CAIR asking for an entire section on Islam to be taught in all World History classes, do you? The analogy Phoenix raises is faulty. When the tenets of Islam are being taught in a World History class it is because, to be sure, a good deal of the world's history was shaped by that religion, hence it's fair to make sure students know precisely why the Ottoman Empire was out there, raping and pillaging for Allah. It's the same when Christianity is taught in relation to the Crusades or the Holy Roman Empire, or how Hinduism is relevant to the rise of the British Empire in India. It's knowledge that is essential to the discussion. It's rote knowledge; it's knowledge that's matter of fact, taken for granted. I fail to see, however, where intelligent design is essential to the discussion of evolution---particularly when that discussion is taking place in a public school. It is an explanation of evolution that is, for the most part, based in religion, and as we've established, religion does not belong in public schools.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: if anyone wants their kid to learn about creationism, they should send their kid to a parochial school. It's pretty simple stuff. Your kids will be taught the religion of your choice, without any messy and inconvenient facts to get in the way of things.

Posted by: Kathy at 11:15 PM | Comments (19) | Add Comment
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...by linking to a Washington Times article, but because it's written by Susette Kelo and is sane, I don't feel that dirty.

{...}As I sat there in the U.S. Supreme Court back in February and listened to the justices hear my case, I was so disappointed their very first question and first concern was for the power of government rather than the rights of citizens.

In many ways, my neighbors and I are the victims of legislators, lawyers and judges who believe it is somehow a sign of intelligence to make language that clearly means one thing mean something exactly the opposite: "Public use" now means private use; judges don't judge but instead let legislators decide whether they're violating the Constitution. There is nothing intelligent about misusing language in this way to take away people's homes and their rights.

What is happening to me should not happen to anyone else. Congress and state legislatures need to send a message to local governments that this kind of abuse of power not only won't be funded, it won't be tolerated.

Special interests -- developers and governments that benefit from this use of power --are working to convince the public there is no problem, but I am living proof there is. {...}

Go read the whole thing.

{Hat tip: Fausta}

Posted by: Kathy at 09:41 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Just go and read it already.

Posted by: Kathy at 11:20 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Fausta's got more for you.

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I was working out a reply to this bit of bullshit, but Jeff Goldstein took care of it for me.

Thanks, Jeff. I think I'm going to go and give myself a pedicure.

Posted by: Kathy at 01:51 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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I saw this on Fox last night, but it deserves WIDE play, so I'm going to link it---just like everyone else in the blogosphere is doing.

If this turns out to be true---and I don't see why it wouldn't be verified---Kathleen Blanco deserves a horrible fate in life.

And I'm not talking politically here, kids.

UPDATE: Verification (hat tip: martini boy's bartender)

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Roy Hallums, a contractor who was kidnapped last November, has been freed in Iraq.

Dr. Rusty is, of course, thrilled with this news. As well he should be: he not only broke the story, but kept it alive and running when the mainstream media lost interest. Go and share in his happiness!

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If you're in need of a little levity in these dark times, I present you, my devoted Cake Eater Readers, with "The Disaster Pr0n Stars of Cable News."

Part I and Part II .

{Hat Tip: Robbo}

Posted by: Kathy at 11:30 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I wish I'd written this.

A small sampling:

{...}Much has been said regarding how much more massive an event Katrina is relative to lower Manhattan. But the fact remains that firemen went up the stairs when people were coming down, and one ordinary group of people on an ordinary flight on an ordinary day defeated the very best that the global terror network could put together. Our ladies junior varsity squad whipped the living shit out of their Super Bowl A-team over Pennsylvania that day, and they did it because for one brief shining moment enough passengers on that airplane went Grey.

And in Louisiana last week the governor cried and the mayor blamed everyone but himself, and half the country bought every single stinking Pink lie about global warming and missing National Guard units and blamed the sheepdogs while the wolves raped and pillaged and looted everything in sight.

Hundreds of New York firemen and policemen never came home, never came home, but New Orleans Police Chief P. Edwin Compass III said, of his men, “If I put you out on the street and made you get into gun battles all day with no place to urinate and no place to defecate, I don’t think you’d be too happy either… Our vehicles can’t get any gas. The water in the street is contaminated. My officers are walking around in wet shoes.”

Well, Chief, IÂ’m sorry your menÂ’s feet are wet, but getting their feet wet is part of their fucking job. New YorkÂ’s Finest arenÂ’t complaining about wet feet or places to pee because they died doing their jobs. They were sheepdogs.

{...}So, on one hand, we have a very blue city – New York – confronted, out of the clear morning of a perfect fall day, with no warning – with a terror attack, and they march toward the sounds of screams and falling bodies and die by the hundreds. One the other hand, we have New Orleans law enforcement – also blue – whining about wet shoes and helping themselves to the happy period of lawlessness that followed an event that had been expected for no less than seventy-two hours.

In New York, we had a governor who got every available resource on the ground as fast as it could get there, and in Louisiana we have a governor who...cried. Governor, your job is to not cry. Your job is to be strong. We have plenty of civilians crying. You want to cry, cry in the car on the way home like everybody else did four years ago. Crying Governors, race-baiting mayors and looting police do not a Finest Hour make.

In New Orleans we have a mayor who left some 400-500 buses sitting fueled and underwater in the Ray Nagin Memorial Motor Pool saying that evil white conservative America was selling out his people within 24 hours of the catastrophe, from a safe and dry and adequately toileted location, while four years ago we had a Mayor who ran to the site of the disaster so quickly it is a full-blown miracle he was not killed when a building collapsed literally on top of his magnificent, combed-over head.

Now, much has been made of the fact that Ray Nagin is an incompetent, race-baiting black man, and Rudy Giuliani, who was neither, is white. Also, feminists are upset that people dare attack Governor Blanco because she is incompetent, weak, indecisive, and also a woman. And no doubt there are salivating long-haired, short-cortexed idiots just waiting for this to be over so they can sail into the comments section and tell me what a racist and misogynist I am.

Well, hereÂ’s the news flash: Nagin isnÂ’t incompetent because heÂ’s black. HeÂ’s incompetent because heÂ’s incompetent. Condoleeza Rice is black. Colin Powell is black. Ted Kennedy, a man well-acquainted with rising water crises is as white as they come. Kennedy is incompetent; Rice and Powell are two of the most competent people on the planet.

This is about tribes, all right: not black and white tribes, but rather a battle between the capable and the culpable. {...}

Go read the whole thing. It's long, but it's well worth your time.

Posted by: Kathy at 01:56 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Blaque Jacques Shellac Chirac had a "vascular accident" last night.

Politics aside for the moment, one has to wonder what happens when one has a "vascular accident." Did his red blood cells crash into the white cells? Did a vein protest a ticket along the roadside of Blaque Jacques' aterial system, thereby causing a crash? Did his arteries collapse, like a freeway that's structurally unsound?

The possibilities are endless.

But, quite seriously, I think this means Blaque Jacques hasn't been imbibing the red wine in "moderation." Fausta wondes what this means for EU/French politics. I'm wondering what this means for the French whine wine industry.

The consequences could be quite severe.

Posted by: Kathy at 12:59 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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One of the first things they teach you when you're a political science student is that the opposite of law and order is anarchy. People, on the whole, don't like anarchy, so they are prepared to give up a bit of their own autonomy for the safety that comes in numbers. If government cannot provide law and order, people will turn to whomever can. This is why the mafia still rules the roost in Sicily. This is why gangs flourish all over the world. People will ally themselves with whomever can lead them to the solution to their problems.

New Orleans is in anarchy right now. No one can honestly argue the opposite. There's no law. There's no order. And all is chaos. Who is going to lead the people of New Orleans now that their government has failed them? The better question is where are they going to be led?

It just breaks my heart to read this.

NEW ORLEANS - New Orleans descended into anarchy Thursday as corpses lay abandoned in street medians, fights and fires broke out, cops turned in their badges and the governor declared war on looters who have made the city a menacing landscape of disorder and fear.

"They have M-16s and they're locked and loaded," Gov. Kathleen Blanco said of 300 National Guard troops who landed in New Orleans fresh from duty in
Iraq. "These troops know how to shoot and kill, and they are more than willing to do so, and I expect they will."

Four days after Hurricane Katrina roared in with a devastating blow that inflicted potentially thousands of deaths, the fear, anger and violence mounted Thursday.

"I'm not sure I'm going to get out of here alive," said Canadian tourist Larry Mitzel, who handed a reporter his business card in case he goes missing. "I'm scared of riots. I'm scared of the locals. We might get caught in the crossfire."

The chaos deepened despite the promise of 1,400 National Guardsmen a day to stop the looting, plans for a $10 billion recovery bill in Congress and a government relief effort President Bush called the biggest in U.S. history.

New Orleans' top emergency management official called that effort a "national disgrace" and questioned when reinforcements would actually reach the increasingly lawless city.

About 15,000 to 20,000 people who had taken shelter at New Orleans convention center grew ever more hostile after waiting for buses for days amid the filth and the dead. Police Chief Eddie Compass said there was such a crush around a squad of 88 officers that they retreated when they went in to check out reports of assaults.

"We have individuals who are getting raped, we have individuals who are getting beaten," Compass said. "Tourists are walking in that direction and they are getting preyed upon."

Col. Henry Whitehorn, chief of the Louisiana State Police, said he heard of numerous instances of New Orleans police officers — many of whom from flooded areas — turning in their badges.

"They indicated that they had lost everything and didn't feel that it was worth them going back to take fire from looters and losing their lives," Whitehorn said.

A military helicopter tried to land at the convention center several times to drop off food and water. But the rushing crowd forced the choppers to back off. Troopers then tossed the supplies to the crowd from 10 feet off the ground and flew away.

In hopes of defusing the situation at the convention center, Mayor Ray Nagin gave the refugees permission to march across a bridge to the city's unflooded west bank for whatever relief they could find. But the bedlam made that difficult.

"This is a desperate SOS," Nagin said in a statement. "Right now we are out of resources at the convention center and don't anticipate enough buses."

At least seven bodies were scattered outside the convention center, a makeshift staging area for those rescued from rooftops, attics and highways. The sidewalks were packed with people without food, water or medical care, and with no sign of law enforcement.

An old man in a chaise lounge lay dead in a grassy median as hungry babies wailed around him. Around the corner, an elderly woman lay dead in her wheelchair, covered up by a blanket, and another body lay beside her wrapped in a sheet.{...}

New Orleans is in absolute and complete anarchy. There is no law and order. Women and children are being raped. The elderly and infants are dying. People are acting like jackasses and shooting off weapons for, what it seems, is the hell of it because no one is there to tell them not to. And, of course, you have the looting. Who are the people, the victims, to turn to when their own government lets them down? Because you know they won't trust the government now, after all the delays. And, honestly, I can't blame them. All would have been fine had the levees not broken. But they did and the situation that was tolerable turned intolerable quite quickly.

I mentioned in this post that my brother, Steve, is co-owner of a Chrysler-Jeep dealership on Canal Street. Initially we were worried about flooding. To see what the dealership looks like, go here. They, conveniently, have a showroom on the second floor of the building. They put all the used cars up on the second floor because, for some reason that I don't know about, those cars are uninsured. The new cars were on the first level, because they were insured. Steve said that if the water goes higher than the dashboard on any of them, they're done for. Last I heard the water was six feet deep at the dealership.

Now, given the anarchy, I have to wonder if the dealership even exists anymore.

This just saddens and worries me so much. I adore New Orleans. The trip my mom, dad and I took when I was a senior in high school was amazing. I was really hot on the place because I'd just read Interview With the Vampire and was completely in love with Louis. I made my sister in law go and visit the French Quarter's graveyard and I had to hide my smile because she was freaking out. I remember trolling down Bourbon Street and wanting to gag because it smelled like booze and puke. But the architecture is wonderful and the place just drips with history and charm. I had a great Nikon 35mm camera at the time because I was on the yearbook staff and I had swiped a load of film from the stash in the journalism lab to take loads of pictures with while I was in New Orleans. I didn't take hardly any shots, though, because it was so gorgeous there that I couldn't decide what I wanted to photograph and I didn't think I had enough talent at that stage of my photography career, as it were, to get it right. Does that make any sense? I hope it does. I just didn't feel I could do the city justice with my limited photography skills and I didn't want crap pictures of New Orleans, so I didn't bother. And, until now, I didn't regret it. But I have to wonder if I will. With everything that's going on, it's hard to believe New Orleans will ever get back to normal. I know it probably will, and yes, it will probably be a tourist haven once again, but still...it's kind of hard to imagine right now.

This is one of the few pictures I have of my trip to New Orleans. My mom took it. That's my Dad and I outside of St. Louis Cathedral, where we'd just gone to Palm Sunday Mass. I'd never been to a Palm Sunday Mass before where they could have gone outside to get the palm branches.

I sincerely hope that one day, sometime in the future, I can take another picture in front of the Cathedral on a sunny Palm Sunday.

Posted by: Kathy at 12:39 AM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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