Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Buffoon, uninterrupted

Yesterday's post on the Texas State Board of Education's hearing concerning science standards (translation' The ToE, primarily) mentioned that Don McLeroy got a crack at proving that he is, indeed, still Don McLeroy.

From the link at Right Wing Watch:

One of the first people to speak was Don McLeroy, a former chairman of the State Board of Education who was prominently featured in the documentary The Revisionaries. While most people were allowed just two minutes to speak, the board let McLeroy go on for over ten minutes in a bizarre speech in which he argued that the current textbooks teaching evolution should be approved because their evidence is so “weak” that children will realize that the theory of evolution is just “words” and a “just so story," and thereby strikes a "final blow" to the theory.

WARNING: that's this thing, right here. Consider yourselves warned. I take no responsibility for any noticeable decline in your overall intelligence as a result of watching this with the sound on.

And of course, a certain scene from an Adam Sandler film needs to be added; luckily, it doesn't actually feature Adam Sandler.




Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Texas SBoE hearings on science textbook standards

The Texas Freedom Network helpfully posted a live blog of the State Board of Education hearings on textbook standards, and although they characterized it as a "lopsided victory for science" there was plenty of testimony by people who wouldn't know the meaning of the word "science" if it...well, free free to insert the cliche of your choice. It also Included testimony by one (very un-) usual suspect:

2:28 - Don McLeroy, former SBOE chair and leader of the creationist faction when the board adopted the controversial science curriculum standards in 2009, is about to testify. McLeroy lost re-election to current member Thomas Ratliff of Mount Pleasant in the Republican primary in 2010.

2:30 - McLeroy claims that textbooks are “filled with dogmatic” support for evolution. But he says the board should still vote to adopt the textbooks because they will somehow destroy evolution (“strike a major blow to the teaching of evolution”). Huh? He claims that while the textbooks claim solid evidence for evolution, McLeroy says, the books actually don’t do so. Yeah, sure. If it makes you feel better to believe that, Don.

 2:32 - What we see around us supports what the Bible says, McLeroy says. He claims even the textbook chapters on evolution supports what the Bible says.

 2:34 - McLeroy is essentially arguing that the textbooks make such weak cases for evolution that the only alternative is what the Bible says. (“It’s weak!”) Interestingly, the creationists serving on the textbook review teams seem to disagree. Their reviews are filled with objections that the textbooks claim that evidence shows that evolution is well-established, mainstream science.

2:38 - Thomas Ratliff, who defeated McLeroy in 2010, asks McLeroy to try explaining again. McLeroy says students will see so little evidence for evolution in the textbooks that they will think that God didn’t use evolution.

 2:40 - And with that, McLeroy’s fascinating (and nonsensical) testimony ends.

Seriously, where do they find people like The Deranged Dentist? And can we actually send him back?

Thursday, September 5, 2013

Big news on the HIV vaccine front

Normally, the use of the word "vaccine" in one of my posts would usually presage my bringing up  yet another chunk of anti-vax woo being expounded by someone else jumping on that crowded bandwagon of idiots (for example, see the bizarre nonsense from Louie Gohmert, below), but not today.

From scienceblog.com:

Sumagen Canada Inc and Western University announced today that the Phase I Clinical Trial (SAV CT 01) of the first and only preventative HIV vaccine based on a genetically modified killed whole virus (SAV001-H) has been successfully completed with no adverse effects in all patients (emphasis mine). Antibody production was also boosted after vaccination.

Being a realist on this issue, I realize that this hardly a well-deserved death knell for HIV/AIDS; only a completely giddy optimist would believe that. But it's a promising start, for reasons that Medical Daily lays out here:

Since the virus was characterized in 1983, pharmaceutical companies and academic institutions around the world have attempted, yet consistently failed, to develop a vaccine. What is unique about (Dr. Chil-Yong) Kang’s vaccine is its use of a killed-whole HIV-1, which is similar to the vaccines developed for polio, influenza, and rabies. HIV-1 is also genetically engineered; this raises its safety profile and the possibility of it being produced in large quantities.

Newspaper of (W)rec(k)ord

 If you're a member of a conrunning organization, you know you're in serious trouble when the  Guardian  -  an internationally known...