Ahhh… finally, a full night’s rest, and a full day during which I have nothing to do but chill… time to get blogging again! I’m going to be recording and mixing up the next Massively Multiplayer podiobook chapter today, but before I get to that, I really needed to post up about one of those things that happened this week that I just didn’t have time to properly celebrate: the recent decision in the Dover Intelligent Design case. The decision was handed down on the 20th, and it couldn’t have been a more resounding victory for rationality. The judge smacked down the IDiots with 139 pages of asskicking, recognizing and detailing just how absurd the whole ID bullshit is. Not only that, but he blasted the Dover school board for being a bunch of lying, hypocritical, ignorant dolts. We couldn’t have asked for a better outcome.
A selection of some of my favorite quotes from articles and the decision itself follow:
Dover Area School Board members violated the Constitution when they ordered that its biology curriculum must include the notion that life on Earth was produced by an unidentified intelligent cause, U.S. District Judge John E. Jones III said.
Several members repeatedly lied to cover their motives even while professing religious beliefs, he said.
The school board policy, adopted in October 2004, was believed to have been the first of its kind in the nation.
“The citizens of the Dover area were poorly served by the members of the Board who voted for the ID Policy,” Jones wrote.
Oooh, snap!
Moreover, in turning to Defendants’ lead expert, Professor Behe, his testimony at trial indicated that ID is only a scientific, as opposed to a religious, project for him; however, considerable evidence was introduced to refute this claim. Consider, to illustrate, that Professor Behe remarkably and unmistakably claims that the plausibility of the argument for ID depends upon the extent to which one believes in the existence of God. (P-718 at 705) (emphasis added). As no evidence in the record indicates that any other scientific proposition’s validity rests on belief in God, nor is the Court aware of any such scientific propositions, Professor Behe’s assertion constitutes substantial evidence that in his view, as is commensurate with other prominent ID leaders, ID is a religious and not a scientific proposition.
But, wait, I thought ID was science? Oops, guess not! Score another one for the good guys!
The immune system is the third system to which Professor Behe has applied the definition of irreducible complexity. Although in Darwin’s Black Box, Professor Behe wrote that not only were there no natural explanations for the immune system at the time, but that natural explanations were impossible regarding its origin. (P-647 at 139; 2:26-27 (Miller)). However, Dr. Miller presented peer-reviewed studies refuting Professor Behe’s claim that the immune system was irreducibly complex. Between 1996 and 2002, various studies confirmed each element of the evolutionary hypothesis explaining the origin of the immune system. (2:31 (Miller)). In fact, on cross-examination, Professor Behe was questioned concerning his 1996 claim that science would never find an evolutionary explanation for the immune system. He was presented with fiftyeight peer-reviewed publications, nine books, and several immunology textbook chapters about the evolution of the immune system; however, he simply insisted that this was still not sufficient evidence of evolution, and that it was not “good enough.” (23:19 (Behe).
Mm-hmm.. right. So, ID is science because it.. completely ignores any evidence presented that contradicts it? Everything that the IDiots keep claiming is proof of ‘design’, as also being actively investigated and tested by real scientists, and, without fail, natural explanations are always found, and the theory of evolution is strenghtened. Meanwhile, not a single facet of ID has been studied and shown to prove the tenets of ID (mainly because ID, like any other bit of religious claptrap, cannot be proven or disproven, it’s a matter of faith!). The only way IDiots can live with themselves and continue to hold forth on ID is by ignoring or discounting the mountains of evidence that consistently and continually disprove their bogus claims about ‘irreducible complexity’.
Ahh.. this is the best Agnostica ever. 
On a related note, I gave most of my friends some FSM bumper stickers in celebration of Agnostica at the recent party, and I’ve still got several stickers left. Let me know if you want one, I’ll get them or mail them to you and you just might get ‘em in time for Three Kings Day.
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