John Adams

If the evlutionary divergence from apes to homo missinlink was a mutation, the mutation has evolved and left the prior species behind. That's how it works. You don't keep seeing mutations over and over again. The useless ones are left behind- useless. And useful mutations are extremely rare, which is why they take so long to evolve. There have been several species along the homo-X line, and not all of them were necessarily a linear progression. It's not a clear line of ape begat neandrethal begat sapien. Without googling, its something like, Ape begat homo something begat both neandrethal and erectus and erectus begat sapien. In a book by Gould (which may well be debunked by now), neadrethal was a species that did not evolve into something else. It just died out.

Are you kidding? The oldest human fossil is about 160,000 years old, and the separation between man and ape (Assuming evolution is right) took place a long time before that. Evolution takes place over 1,000,000,000s of years. We are a pimple on a virus on a gnat of the ass of the elephant of time. If we see evolution happening in the short time we've been looking for it (200 years), it would be a miracle. And we do see missing links all the time- just not as they happen. We see them after they happenED. And we may see evolution in action more than we know- only time will tell. Living creatures that resist certain disease may be evolving.

I don't care about kids discussing ID. Or even discussing it in schools. But it IS NOT SCIENCE!!!! It's not a competing scientific theory to evolution. It's a religious/philosophical one.

I hope my theory that we are all grime under the fingernail of a giant gets a lot of play. BiB- you comments on ID are not off base. I agree that at a philosophical/religious level, ID is worthy of discussion. In fact, the idea of ID originated a long time ago, and dates back to at least Aristotle (and probably before that). But ID is not science. If a teacher wants to mention ID in a science class, he could say, "We can't explain everything in science because science is a series of theories. Some people think that the ultimate theory is called Intelligent Design, which is a theory that everything can be explained by some higher power. That theory is viable, but at least at the moment, it doesn't help us make and test hypotheses, which is the study of science. So now we turn to science, and leave ID behind." As to your other doom and gloom stuff, well, we disagree. That's your spin on things. And not mine.

I'm not a liberal. I'll be in a place or worship this Sunday, and on Christmas day. So direct your comment elsewhere.

Back to the point of the story though. The problem with this effort by the evangelicals is that they are trying to make the very definition of science a bad one. In the end, there will be parents who cannot or do not want to unteach this kind of drivel, and kids will not have an interest in science. As it is, science is mocked by far too many people (all of whom talk on cell phones, got immunized last week, and are taking hairgrowth pills etc.). The countrywide drive for science started failing when we realized that we didn't need to beat the USSR in the science race. Once we realized that we were the scientific superpower, and weren't motivated by the fear that the USSR breed into us, a lot of scientific drive went out the window. In its place, we have lots of poly sci majors.

Smart people.

story Now, the FCC will not confirm or deny this, but I'm not the least skeptical of this story, given the outcry over Nipplegate and Bono saying the F word on national TV. Goodness me- turn off the TV and teach some intelligent design already. I agree with Mickey. Let the ID kids compete with my kids for jobs in the sciences. Q "So, what is the amino acid sequence critical to this vaccine?" A "God designed it, and if he wills it, I will know the answer." Science schmience. Who needs it.

Good thing my office windows don't open. This is so loco. Makes public schooling look less and less an option. My children will learn science in science class. That means studying theories that explain how things happen, and predict future events. ID can't do that. It's not science. I really have no problem discussing the idea of ID. It's a viable theory- at least as viable as the entire universe is just grime under the fingernail of a giant. But ID doesn't help predict the future, or explain the subtle perutations of the past. Evolution is not perfect, but it has basis in observable reality, and is the best theory we have for the progression of species.

Moveon is on to something. Somebody set up us the bomb.

Riddle me this. Hurley did the census by comparing people's names with those on the manifest and noticed that Ethan wasn't on the list. We know Sawyer is using an assumed name- the name of the man who ripped off his family and caused his parent's death. How come his name, Sawyer, was on the manifest? An easy answer was that he had a total identity change and travelled under that name. The other answers are more interesting. The only reason I brought it up was because of his conversation with the little kid last night where they talked about people travelling under different names and that perhaps there were other islanders among the survivors.

You don't get the NFL. The only part of an NFL contract that is guaranteed is the signing bonus. If Harrison stinks next year, they cut him and the Colts are out of the deal except for the bonus. This contract insures Harrison will be a Colt for as long as they want to keep him. Nothing more.

Tim Rattay has played how many years in the NFL? Right. Just a little note. HOF stats come from a career of games. A CAREER. Bledsoe is 10th in yardage passing in NFL history, and he's only 32-3. He'll be in the league for another 3-5 years just because he's smart, a team player, and has one of the best arms, still, of any NFL QB. By the time he retires, he'll probably be in the top five in yardage in NFL history (several thousand ahead of Kelly). Sorry JP-Era, that's a sure HOF career.

The Sudan has come on here several times. But since there's no enormous oil reserve/cash incentive, no one gives a crap. I don't believe you're so Thurman's Helmet that you don't get that.

You so totally rock dude.

Band of Brothers is incredible. On the rare occasion that catches me channel surfing, any time an episode is on HBO, I stop and watch.

Why did you include the compare link? The contrast link is pretty tough stuff. I don't see anything wrong with Euthanasia, but it gets tricky when the person being euthanized doesn't have the mental ability to make the decision. Tricky is a bad word- makes it sound too trivial. This is an issue where I'd have to see this on a case by case basis. I truly don't think parents of babies billsfanone to suffer and die would do this for convenience; nor would the family of a person in a coma or with irreversible brain damage, pain/ALS etc. Having been through the latter with relatives, it's a terribly personal decision, and despite people's arguments to the contrary, hospitals that euthanize are not dealers in death, or somehow cheapen life. If I was in a coma or lost control of my decision-making ability and I was in pain and suffering with no likely chance of recovery, I would want (and have filled out all the necessary directives) for someone to let me go. Having made that decision, I would want it done with dignity and professionalism, assisted by medical personel if necessary. And to those people I would be grateful- not because they cheapened my life, but because they would have let me and my relatives live the way we chose. My wife is a hospice worker, and she tells me that most people, at the end of their lives, want to insure that they die on their terms, and they set those terms before they lose consciousness where they can. The terms are usually, not in pain, surrounded by some people they love, and if possible, at home rather than in a hospital.

It's the homos Mickey. The solution is simple: ban homo marriage and everything else falls into place. Save a straight family. Stop people who shave their faces from marrying each other. QED.

What side is that? And yes, your victory has been pretty impressive. You now get what you wanted: bigger government, increased national debt, piddling around with gay marriage amendments to the Constitution while happily ignoring that straight families contribute more to the decline of the family than gay ones. etc. You've been in charge for at least two years and get four more. So far, your Republican Socialist Party has done a great job of exposing themselves for the fiscal conservatives they are not. As to you leaving, I was only dreaming. I briefly dreamt of an island with you and Sue, and no Internet hook-up.

Sigourney Weaver has to be near the top. Also partial to Uma Thurman, Frances McDormand (sp), and based on Lost in Translation and Girl with a Pearl Earing, Scarlett Johannson is a rising star.

Thanks for contributing this gem of a thread. Could I be so lucky to hope you would really leave? Please, please, please.

Most of her screen time is with Alexander as a child and young teen, so it wasn't too bad. There are only two very short scenes with her when he's older, and they aged her enough to make it passable. Doesn't change the fact that it sucked.

Most states have a limit on what an attorney gets in a contingency case. My firm doesn't do contingency work, so I can't quote the PA number exactly, but I think it's in the 33% range. I worry whenever the government gets in the middle of people's right to contract. If someone wants to enter a contingency arrangement with their lawyer, so be it. Like VA, though, I worry about the insurance/med mal system. I don't see an easy way out, and my gut is usually against any solution that requires more government oversight and/or control.

You mean The Da Vinci Code reloaded?

Loser pays is not the American way. The law is purposefully set up so that the commoner can afford to bring a lawsuit against wealth and corporations. It's not an accident that the law was structured that way. In a loser pays system, small people lose access to the courts. The courts have tons of power to sanction frivilous lawsuits. Judges just never use that power.