2010 electoral results bad news for secular Americans

It is undeniable that the economy dominated campaign 2010 and that cultural issues at the nexus of religion and politics … Continued

by Susan Jacoby

It is undeniable that the economy dominated campaign 2010 and that cultural issues at the nexus of religion and politics were downplayed, but the results are nevertheless very bad news for for those who care about achieving secular goals. Because the Republicans who now control the House, and have increased their numbers in the Senate, are all social and religious conservatives, there is not the slightest possibility in the next two years that any more progress will be made on such hot-button issues as the status of gays in the military, the use of federal funds to support health care based on religious doctrine, or the right-wing war on science.

Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, says he expects the emboldened religious right to push for religious school vouchers, publicly funded “faith-based” hiring, laws, wider latitude for churches to participate in political campaigns, and the teaching of creationism in public schools. “Americans did not vote to stoke the fires of the culture war,” Lynn notes, “but they may have done so inadvertently.”

Here’s a roundup of the potential bad news:

* The Republicans slated to head House committees are not only religious and social conservatives; many embody the most extreme right-wing brand. Rep. Lamar Smith of Texas, who will almost certainly be the new chair of the House Judiciary Committee, is one of the hardest-line conservatives in Congress. He has long been an opponent of all abortion rights (receiving a 100 per cent rating from the National Right to Life Committee). He’s the sort of anti-choice right-winger who opposes not only abortion but embryonic stem cell research–and judges whose decisions would allow that research to continue. He has been a consistent and strident critic of all in the federal judiciary whose decisions, on matters ranging from the teaching of creationism in public schools to religious school vouchers, run counter to the religious right’s assault on the separation of church and state.

* In the new Congress, there will be almost no moderating Republican voices on any committee. Many moderate Republicans throughout the country were defeated by Tea Party candidates in primaries. On the judiciary committee, the chairman will be backed up by members like Rep. Steven King (R-Iowa), who recently attacked the federal district court judge who struck down the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.

* Congress cannot do anything about presidential executive orders, such as President Obama’s rescinding of the Bush administration’s restrictions on embryonic stem cell research. It can, however, employ many procedural techniques in an effort to achieve the religious right’s goals. The House could, for example, starve scientific research by cutting the overall budget of the National Institutes of Health. It’s easy to imagine this happening, given that the GOP-Tea Party candidates all have made promises to cut taxes and government spending. Everyone knows, of course, that the Republicans aren’t going to vote to cut defense, Social Security and Medicare (the former because Republicans never met a military expenditure they didn’t like, and the latter because such a move would alienate over-65 voters.) The only places left to cut are social spending for the poor and the discretionary budgets of many government agencies, from the Institutes of Health to the Department of Education. Such cuts will, of course, make no real dent in the federal deficit–but candidates can go back to their districts in 2010 and pretend that they have “cut spending.” Cutting spending in areas that are the religious right’s pet bugaboos would kill two birds with one stone. Slash funding for science education, for example (even though the poor performance of American students in science is recognized as a matter of great national significance), and you will support the religious right’s basic opposition to any science teaching that conflicts with their religious beliefs. Cut overall spending for public education, and you bolster private religious schools.

* Look for an endless stream of amendments to vital appropriations bills designed to promote favorite right-wing causes like abstinence-only sex education. and to favor faith-based social spending over programs administered by secular organizations.

* Forget about any possibility of ending “don’t ask, don’t tell” in the next two years. The Republicans aren’t going to listen to any high-ranking military officials who have already testified against the policy, and the military knows which side its bread is buttered on. Obama, who has always waffled on these issues, is certainly not going to press this battle while he is struggling to retain his presidency.

* Worst of all, from a secular point of view, is the unlikehood of Obama being able to affect the federal judiciary during the next two years. The Senate, of course, still has a Democratic majority, but it has already been demonstrated that in the absence of a super-majority, any appointment can be blocked by any senator. Given the Republicans’ stated objective to make Obama a one-term president, they can endlessly delay any judicial appointment proposed in the next two years. Should any of the four far-right Supreme Court justices drop dead during the next two years, I believe that Republicans will stall the confirmation of his successor. Why wouldn’t they? They scent blood in the water, and it’s hard to imagine that the voting public will punish them for keeping a seat vacant on the Supreme Court until 2012.

* Look for even more attacks on church-state separation at the state level, where Republicans have taken control of many legislatures. In a particularly grim election result in Iowa, a campaign led by the far-right Family Research Council and the National Organization for Marriage, was successful in ousting three state Supreme Court justices who had voted to legalize same-sex marriage. Iowa state judges are elected, and three of the seven judges who voted (unanimously) for the legalization of same-sex unions were up for re-election on the ballot. “What is so disturbing about this is that it really might cause judges in the future to be less willing to protect minorities out of fear that they might be voted out of office,” said Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the University of California, Irvine, School of Law.

Yes, Tuesday was a bad night for Democrats. It was a worse night for those who, over the past 30 years, regarded the increasing encroachment of religion on government with alarm and were just beginning to see glimmers of hope that the process might be reversed.

More On Faith and politics:
Catholic America: The disappearing abortion issue
Muqtedar Khan: Sharia Law banned in Oklahoma
Jordan Sekulow: We’re back: Christian conservatives swarm Congress
Albert Mohler: New political equation for religious right
Under God: Debate over religious factor in election begins

Written by Susan Jacoby

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Freestinker

RE: Judicial appointments.Ed,Justice delayed is justice denied.
globalone

Cheer up Susan. The good news is that President Obama’s mandate for unlimited Government spending & control has now been effectively quashed.
WmarkW

It’s unfortunate that our federal politics has become a one-dimensional spectrum, meaning that you can pretty much infer a congressman’s views on abortion rights, environmentalism, gun ownership rights, labor unions, affrimative action, universal health care and military spending, by knowing their position on any one of them. Among regular citizens I know, there are plenty of combinations of opinions on these issues, which don’t on their surface seem to have much to do with each other. At state levels, the political spectrum is more complex. The Alabama state legislature is controlled by the Democrats in both houses, while the New York state Senate has been controlled by the Republicans for almost all of the last 50 years.It’s normal for the President’s party to give back seats during a mid-term. What’s unusual this decade is that the Democrats did NOT pick up seats in 2002; and that swings have been much wider than average.The latter is caused by the one-dimensional spectrum. The former, in my view, is that the one-dim spectrum more helps the Reps, because they’re a narrower group. The Democratic coalition of blacks, Hispanics, gays, feminists and seculars don’t really have that much in common, except a commitment to “diversity,” meaning dislike of what the Republicans stand for. If your only issue is disliking the other guys, that’s pretty weak when your party is in power.As a political matter, liberals and libertarians should work to keep their issues from forming a package. Stem cell research has a lot of support among business, but is a complete loser if it seems to come from the same ideological justification as gay marriage.
DanielintheLionsDen

Salero21Thank you so much for your comment; it was a perfect demonstration of what Susan was talking about; you are part of the problem.
backspace1

Typical atheist poison! Comparing the republicans to sharks is an insult to the primordial evolutionary process. Power Head usage is unregulated.I propose instead we compare them to ants…
spaded_glory4

Ahhhh….I totally can’t wait for my religious school vouchers, time for the secular crack-heads to stop brainwashing my kids with this kind of liberal B.S, thanks Susan! People with no morals and values do not belong in office, and definitely do not belong teaching my children, or any children anything. Go slaughter your babies and teach little boys to wear dresses on your dollar, not mine.I’m real sure I won’t be seeing any vouchers, or see abortion become illegal anytime soon, but the thought sure is wonderful. Stop being paranoid about your right to pollute society being infringed upon, it’s the thought of all those babies you helped kill that are making you act so ignorant and extreme, I’m sure.
Carstonio

The Democratic coalition of blacks, Hispanics, gays, feminists and seculars don’t really have that much in common, except a commitment to “diversity,” meaning dislike of what the Republicans stand for. As someone who doesn’t belong to any political party, I think your description misses the larger picture. At the core level, the Republicans stand for the status quo and the Democrats stand for changing it. The likely reason that those groups flock to the Democrats is that the status quo still privileges whites over non-whites, males over females, Christians over non-Christians and straights over gays. These privileges have lessened somewhat over recent decades but are a long way from disappearing. What many Democrats fail to understand about many Republicans is that opposition to the status quo doesn’t automatically equate to bigotry, that often the motive is simple self-preservation. I abhor the absolutism in the bashing of the so-called War on Christmas. If a cashier says “Happy Holidays” to a Christian customer, it’s ludicrous to treat that behavior as anti-Christian. At the same time, I like to think I understand how that would make some Christians anxious – they grew up during at time when American society treated Christianity as the default religion, and since then the nation’s religion landscape has become much more diverse.
Carstonio

Uh, I mean “what many Democrats fail to understand about many Republicans is that opposition to
Freestinker

“Are you referring to the seemingly endless appeal process in carrying out the death penalty or something else?”=========I’m referring to not filling judicial vacancies at a reasonable rate, something both parties like to do when they have the power.
WmarkW

What many Democrats fail to understand about many Republicans is that opposition to the status quo doesn’t automatically equate to bigotry, that often the motive is simple self-preservation.You may have reversed your meaning through the use of double-negatives, but assuming I understand what I think you mean…Democrats and other liberal intellectuals like to create concepts like White Privilege, Glass Ceilings and Homophobia that don’t even make sense to people who don’t share their ideological orientation. Seculars (correctly) fault religious conservatives for taking faith-based, as opposed to evidence-based, positions on sexuality related issues like gay marriage, abortion rights and abstinence education. To a lot of conservatives, liberals take non-evidence-based positions on the reasons for the existence of dysfunction inner city communities, the non-assimilation of the offspring of illegal immigrants, and that fact that women haven’t achieved as many top-tier business positions as some expected; faulting American society for having barriers, instead of asking whether there are behaviorly based reasons for them.It’s certainly true that blaming Obama for not turning the whole economy around in two years is misplaced optimism. But so were the plaudits like “transformational” that were heaped on him at his election.
Carstonio

Democrats and other liberal intellectuals like to create concepts like White Privilege, Glass Ceilings and Homophobia that don’t even make sense to people who don’t share their ideological orientation. That sounds like a denial that discrimination exists, or a claim that discrimination’s impact is minimal. The concept of privilege is too detailed to explain in full here. But at its core, it’s about people with more power than others thinking of their experiences as normal. An example – as a man I don’t have the experience that women have of being wary of men they don’t know, or even of men they know.faulting American society for having barriers, instead of asking whether there are behaviorly based reasons for them.No one denies that behavior can contribute to the problem. But treating behavior as if it’s the sole or main cause of the barriers wrongly assumes a just world. We don’t have as much power over our lives as we would sometimes like to think we have.
buckminsterj

EDBYRONADAMS: “As for the judiciary, dispensing with the will of the people in favor of judges dispensing new “rights” that arise from an unknown source merely confirms those who claim liberals are elitists.”In a heterogeneous population of 300 million, there is no such thing as “the will of the people,” only a dizzying agglomeration of majorities and minorities. An independent judiciary protects the latter from the former, a necessary check on “the people,” who in their various incarnations throughout history have, let’s say, a spotty record. (q.v. WMARKW’s observation that unidimensional party lines have somehow arisen from a large population of multidimensional individuals.) I take little pleasure in defending the authority of douchebags like Scalia, but we need judges cracking the whip, even if they do so imperfectly.
areyousaying

Rove’s Fox News propaganda organ has succeeded in rallying joedumbass to move America back toward a hateful, white- supremacist, evangelical Sarah Palin Jesuslandia.Time to renew my work visa in Mexico where at least I have a good job and health insurance. You “Christian” Teabaggers deserve what’s in store for the country because of who you voted for. Maybe I’ll think about coming back after two years from now when people wake up to the obstructionist Congress they have elected. Nothing new or good will happen in the meantime.
WmarkW

What is this mystical power attached to Fox News? A lot of people seem to think they can turn a sensible person into an idiot who votes against their own interests.It’s true that more people cite Fox as their primary news source than other single source, but that’s because the others are so similar as to be interchangeable. In William McGowan’s Coloring the News, he documents that news viewership has been declining for years because people see it as coming from parallel universe, in which the homeless are never drunken bums, people with AIDS are never promiscuous gays, and most violent crime isn’t committed by minorities. Fox works against that, so people accuse them of lying for pointing out things like most terrorism is committed by Muslims. Bernard Goldberg has documented that in 2008, 60% of DEMOCRATIC LEANERS thought the media favored Obama. Almost without exception, partisans think the media favored the other candidate.No political ideology is the “truth.”
mrbradwii

Actually this is the time for the big O to establish himself as a secular rationalist instead of the churchy preacher boy who embraces the “social gospel” that he comes off as.The results do not indicate an embracing of republican values and social mores, if they really have any — but a giant “no” to the Rahm/Pelosi/Reid way of getting political business done. Better gridlock, than that unholy triumvirate in a sitdown with members of their own party. The PBS Frontline special on healthcare was particularly influential in swaying my vote away from one-party domination of the executive and legislative branches.Quite honestly, unless some newcomer, say, Rubio, establishes himself as Republican superstar, they haven’t got even a small prayer in 2012. I don’t see Huckleberry Romney getting the nomination, much less eeking out a victory, especially with Hillary on the other ticket. Who else? Run McCain again? Boehner? Another Texas governor? Arizona? There is no one groomed, no one waiting, and more important, no one ready to take the party reins. 2012 will be 2008 redux, especially if the youngsters look up from their iPads and notice that there is another election.So not to worry, this happened in 1994, and 2006, in my memory, the government still did what it had to do, judges were still seated and at least Clinton was reelected — namely because he was slick enough to see the writing on the wall and adapt. With any luck Obama will learn the same lesson with Emmanuel out of the way.So, I’m still prepared for 6 more years of Obama and the loss of at least 2 supreme court judges to fresh-faced rookies, ready to redefine the written word in favor of their nominator’s agenda. I can’t see Ginsberg even making it until the next State of the Union, and Thomas is the most likely to drop over sitting on the pot reading his morning paper. Roberts has his own health issues and Scalia is well down the road to dementia.So lighten up, Francis, the next 4 years are going to be pretty cool!
habibbarri

Susan talks about “the use of federal funds to support health care based on religious doctrine…” It’s rather intolerant of her to promote health care that is based on her religious doctrine, the doctrine of secularism.She says “Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, says he expects the emboldened religious right to push for religious school vouchers, publicly funded ‘faith-based’ hiring, laws, wider latitude for churches to participate in political campaigns, and the teaching of creationism in public schools.” Again it’s rather intolerant to demand that only what is based on the secular faith should be taught in schools that have public funds. I find secularists just as intolerant as the right wing Christians that they condemn.
lostinonespot

habibbarri, you do know that secularism is NOT a religion, right…..?
JUSTACOMMENT

Mono1 said: “America is in serious need of theological and ideological bail out.”Thanks, but no thanks. America with all its imperfections works better than say Saudi Arabia, Pakistan or de facto theocracies like Iran. Still you may seriously need a rationality bail out.
spidermean2

Apostle Paul prophesied that true Christians (not Catholicism) will inherit the earth. The Bible can never be wrong.The worst is coming yet for liberal, atheistic Democrats.If they don’t want to believe the Bible, it is their loss. The good message only applies to the believers and bad news for the unbelievers.
joe_allen_doty

Why does an anti-faith/anti-religion person even have a blog in this section? But, I have found that true atheists are religiously dogmatic about what they believe. And, many of them have adapted/adopted pagan religious practices which they will lie about and claim those don’t have anything to do with religion.
globalone

“Time to renew my work visa in Mexico where at least I have a good job and health insurance.”Don’t let the door hit you in the *ss on the way out.
globalone

And in other news . . . The liberal, democratic Board of Supervisors in San Francisco has passed legislation to curb consumption of happy meals at all McDonald’s located within its jurisdiction. Nice.You see, Mr. President Obama, it wasn’t that you did a terrible job of delivering your message. We, the people, heard your message loud and clear. And we’d rather not have YOU telling US what we can eat.Got hope? Now we do. Adios Obamacare.
Carstonio

And we’d rather not have YOU telling US what we can eat.I object to the Happy Meal law either, but I also feel that it’s ridiculous to blame Obama for it. Laws like this have been suggested before, and plenty of people on both sides of the political aisle reject these as wrong-headed, intrusiv and effective.
Carstonio

Um, let me try that again:I object to the Happy Meal law either, but I also feel that it’s ridiculous to blame Obama for it. Laws like this have been suggested before, and plenty of people on both sides of the political aisle reject these as wrong-headed, intrusive and ineffective.
lostinonespot

*sigh*And the reason she has a blog here is to provide a view from the side that doesn’t believe. Don’t like having your assumptions challenged? Further, you claim of “And, many of them have adapted/adopted pagan religious practices which they will lie about and claim those don’t have anything to do with religion.” What “practices” do atheist do? There are no masses, there are no rituals, there are no gods, no one to pray to, no churches.Your statement is incredibly ridiculous; it’s the equivalent of saying, “Oh, since you don’t collect stamps, since you don’t have a stamp book, don’t order stamps, don’t go to the post office, you must be a stamp collector!”
Susan_Jacoby

It truly brightens my day to see a comment asserting that atheists have adopted “pagan practices” that we claim have nothing to do with religion. What would those be? Burying the skulls of human sacifices at the four corners of our atheist temples? Baying at the moon? Using withcraft to turn men into mice (or vice versa? Burning witches? Oh, wait, it was Christians who did that. I appreciate a good laugh in this depressing week for secularists.
WmarkW

It truly brightens my day to see a comment asserting that atheists have adopted “pagan practices” that we claim have nothing to do with religion.
Carstonio

Its possible he meant putting up Christmas trees and distributing Easter baskets.While that may have been the intended meaning of the comment, the fact remains that those haven’t been pagan practices for some time. These were originally pagan practices appropriated by Christians in some cultures centuries ago. (Holly decorating is another example, and the meaning ascribed to ladybugs was originally that of a Norse goddess.) Cultures and religions have been holding celebrations at those times of year long before Christianity, and non-Christians can and do enjoy the cultural aspect of those celebrations.
globalone

Good to see Keith Olbermann being called out for the liberal hypocrite that he really is. Enjoy your suspension! Maybe lefties can now stop wasting time whining about Rush and Fox News and start focusing on things that really matter – like having the government tell public corporations what they will or will not serve in their restaurants.
WmarkW

HaHaHa, “a few fries short”It’s not federally unconstitutional to restrict the sale of Happy Meals or whale meat; restricting halal soup would run into First Amendment problems. But the matter of issue-linkage is an important one. The more areas that government gets involved in, the more issues will get linked together, because politicians will inevitably divide into two teams (parties) for strategic reasons.The result is that the electorate can’t vote for lower taxes and against bailouts and universal health care, without simultaneously voting for a war on science and abortion restrictions. That’s the result of universal government.
Carstonio

The more areas that government gets involved in, the more issues will get linked together, because politicians will inevitably divide into two teams (parties) for strategic reasons.Government involvement isn’t inherently bad, nor is it inherently good. It’s a tool that can be used for either good or bad. You’re right that politicians often get in the way of debates about what role government should have in certain areas, but we shouldn’t simply accept that misguided absolutism. One of my frustrations with politics is not just the team aspect but also the tendency to treat issues as there are only two positions. Especially when the positions taken are purely reactive.
FH1231

Jihadist Wrote: “But of course, having “freedom fries” to complete the junk food meal is a God given right, and a Constitutional right in pursuit of happiness, never mind fries can lead to rise in cholesterol level, obesity and possible heart attacks leading to increase in health care cost and insurance.””I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it.”Thomas Jefferson Your opinion is a great reason why govt. should not be in the business of healthcare. The more involved govt. gets in the lives of its people, the more control govt. has over the lives of its people.
spidermean2

Jihadist wrote “The neo-Dark Ages coming?”When I said TRUE Christians I emphasized that it means NOT CATHOLICISM.The Dark Age was when Islam and Catholicism reigned supreme. Actually light started spreading when the Bible was mass produced. Science began to prosper by leaps and bounds.Start reading the Bible and try to understand it why the future is not so bright for liberal atheistic Democrats.All but two of the first 108 universities founded in America were Christian. This includes the first, Harvard, where the student handbook listed this as Rule #1: “Let every student be plainly instructed and earnestly pressed to consider well, the main end of his life and studies is to know God and Jesus Christ, which is eternal life, John 17:3; and therefore to lay Jesus Christ as the only foundation for our children to follow the moral principles of the Ten Commandments.”Too bad Harvard University and others has been infected with a stupidity disease which means they could be included in that Doomsday scenario.How can a school for learning believe that there is no intelligence in brains? (Evolution believe that there is no intelligent design.) It is a basic fact that intelligence cannot be produced from inferior matter or dumb objects.The stupidity around the world is over the top already that in a few years it will SELF-DESTRUCT.IDIOTS, beware of yourselves because the time for you to self destruct is almost due.
spidermean2

If the law in San Francisco says “Happy Meal is banned”, can McDonald’s circumvent it by renaming it “SAD MEAL” and with it toys with very sad faces?
spidermean2

If the liberal atheistic Democrats are left alone to rule America, in 20 years America will be full of sad stories.Happy Meals will be replaced with Psycho Meals because by then it would be legal to spike the burgers with Marijuana.
salero21

DANIELINTHELIONSDENIt would be better for you to change your nick to: Daniel in the kitty litter.Because your absurd pretense of comparing yourself to the Prophet Daniel is nothing less than the stuff that make up mockers. In other words yours is mockery, a quackery.
FarnazMansouri2

The Idea of Order at Key WestShe sang beyond the genius of the sea.The sea was not a mask. No more was she.For she was the maker of the song she sang. It was her voice that madeRamon Fernandez, tell me, if you know,Oh! Blessed rage for order, pale Ramon,–Wallace Stevens
eezmamata

Susan, your democrats have lost what support they had from the independents because of their economic and fiscal incompetence. Their whining docility in the face of the republican intransigence disgusts me to the point where I can’t and won’t vote for them.Simply protecting us from the outrageous religious fanatics is not enough.Combine the religious fanaticism rampant within the republican party and the complete incompetence of those who might protect us from it and it is easy to see American entering into a truly dark age.The anti-science religious types fail to see that our last edge in the world – our technological and innovative nature, will be suppressed out of existence.Every year that same science which drives our innovation closes the gaps where they cram their god.A dark age. To those who tell me not to let the door hit me on the way out … I didn’t. I’m taking my education, my skill, my inventiveness with me. I’m taking my taxable income with me. I’m taking the mentoring of the next generation with me. I have left America to the religious fanatics. I’m not the only one.Let’s see how well you christians can pray your way into the modern global economic world .. that’s all you’re going to have.
thebump

Wait — you mean our elected representatives are going to take taxpayers’ views into account in decisions about spending taxpayers’ money? Shocking!And the millions of people looking for work will be surprised to hear that promoting open homosexuality in the armed forces is a pressing national concern.
thebump

If the authoress wants to take politics out of education, the only way to do that would be by the total separation of school and state.But of course she’s against that. The authoress does not want liberty, rather she wants an all-powerful state to enforce her ideology.
globalone

Jihadist,Second hand smoke kills. That is a fact and it is not in dispute. Therefore, the government has the authority and, more importantly, the obligation to protect its citizens from such harm.There is no comparison in regards to fast food. My health is not affected in any way by the unwise decision of a parent to feed his/her kids a happy meal.If the government is concerned about obesity and cholesterol, it needs to spend its $$$ on campaigns to make Americans more aware of these problems, not restricting what we will and will not eat.And since you appear to be so concerned about the health care costs from fast food, I’m assuming you are even more concerned about the costs ($$$ billions) to provide health care to illegal aliens?Don’t move until you see it.
PSolus

edbyronadams,”Biology curricula across the land already include abiogenisis, a faith based theory.”Abiogenisis is not a theory; it is a field of study.It is not faith-based; it is science-based.You fear it because you do not understand it.
spidermean2

eezmamata wrote “I have left America to the religious fanatics. I’m not the only one. —-I think a religious fanatic is someone who is zealous in his FALSE belief. With that interpretation, you and Susan Jacoby, together with Darwianian evolutionists belong to that description.True Christians (not Catholicism) are the SANE people. America will be very fine with true Christians at the helm.And guess what? The prophecy states that America will rule the world for more than a thousand years.
spidermean2

Abiogenesis and Intelligent Design could very well mix together.From clay to human is abiogenesis. The process in between is Intelligent Design.Darwianian Evolution should be scrapped if biology is to advance.
PSolus

edbyronadams,Your lunatic ravings against the pursuit of knowledge are futile; scientists will continue to study how life arose on earth, irrespective of your fears, and long after you are gone.But, feel free to enjoy your insanity while you are here.
edbyronadams

I have no problem with scientists trying to figure out the beginnings of life. That is merely those professionals following their axiomatic beliefs. However, such thinly supported theories have no business getting published in high school biology texts.There, evidence should rule, not theories whose sole purpose seems to be to inoculate an unsophisticated audience with a preemptive strike against any alternative theories for the origin of life.
spidermean2

Abiogenesis can only become science if the Intelligent Design process can be understood.With Darwinian Evolution as a partner of Abiogenesis, it would only remain a theory or a fantasy.Darwianian evolution is like a blindfold. Scrap it and biology science would prosper.
backspace1

Leadership in environment and energy efficient design? Who thought of it?There is a squirrel that resides on the grounds of the Jefferson Memorial…The squirrel gathered up trash and built it’s nest with it. The irony of that…First question, does this constitute squirrel ownership, by eminent domain?Second, is the squirrel considered a follower or leader in the squirrel community?Third, what can we learn from this?
areyousaying

Look for Issa spending millions on GoP witch-hunts instead of on “godless, Mulsim, liberal, Marxist, socialist” health care and education for the nations children and veterans.You teabaggers owe me four years of my life back from when I volunteered to fight and die to uphold and defend the Constitution you now want to trample on.”Christian Nation” indeed.
WmarkW

ED:”The history of the US is one of a republic moving more toward a unitary state. The strength of a republic is that it gives true diversity to the country and 50 opportunities to try different slants to solving problems. Further moves to a more unitary state should be resisted.”I disagree with this. Allowing states a lot of leeway encourages them to race to the bottom of regulation to attract business. I used to get a lot of junk mail suggesting I take out loans, almost all of it postmarked from Joe Biden country. Allowing one state to effectively export consumer non-protection to the others can be and was in this case highly dangerous to the overall economy.The flip side of this is illegal immigration enforcement in Arizona. Illegal immigrants are very expensive to the public coffers of the states and localities in which they reside, since they consume more education and other public services than they pay in taxes, but they don’t affect the federal budget much. So the feds don’t have much incentive to enforce people already here, and the Constitution doesn’t make clear what the rights of states are when they’re being harmed by federal non-enforcement of its own laws.Personally, I think every state has the right to enforce federal law within its borders. A state police force investigating a local gang would certainly break up an attempt to rob a bank, even though that’s a federal crime.
Jihadist

???Eh, what were, are, some of you drinking and smoking over the weekend? If you smoke, don’t inhale, just blow. If you drink, don’t swallow, just gargle and spit. If you eat fries and swallow them, have liposuctions afterwards.
timmy2

Abiogenesis taught in schools as fact? Nonsense.
Carstonio

Abiognenisis exists solely on the faith of scientists who axiomatically believe that systematic investigation will reveal all origins.So I understand your point, what would be another method that scientists could use to determine origins? Scientists make no such claim about systematic investigation – instead, they say it’s the best method available, and the distinction there is vital.

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