debbiewade, Tulsa (2/17/2009 3:13:52 AM)

Congratulation on some good work by our Senate. Science is science and taught in public schools. "Intellegent design" has no place in science class. It could be taught in Philosophy or Relegion classes, but not in Science class.

zzx375, BA (2/17/2009 5:59:21 AM)

What? You mean those dastardly republicans didn't let this out of committee? Is this embarrassment or elation?

peelumba, (2/17/2009 6:51:31 AM)

keep the fairy tales taught with like simpleminded folks in sunday school at church.

What in the World!, Tulsa, OK (2/17/2009 6:52:49 AM)

Good for you Sen. Jolley! Get the real test scores.

The Real Joe Dolty, TULSA (2/17/2009 7:03:05 AM)

Darwin has his "theory" of evolution, so do other scientists, so do theologians in many religions. We shouldn't limit ourselves to just Darwin's theory.

Davy Crotchety, (2/17/2009 7:36:19 AM)

Literal creationism is for the spiritually weak.

Ignatz, Broken Bow (2/17/2009 8:33:18 AM)

Belief in an imaginary sky god is neither "intelligent" nor evidence of any "design" other than delusion and fear-based irrationality.

jhill, Tulsa (2/17/2009 8:39:28 AM)

Ignatz -- Wow! That was a truly memorable posting!

NothinLikeOklahoma, Jenks (2/17/2009 8:53:18 AM)

I'd just like to point out that our women representatives voted against this measure. Way to go ladies.

Graychin, Eucha (2/17/2009 9:09:34 AM)

Dolty:

If you had ever been awake in a science class, you would know that in science a "theory" is much more than a guess.

Have you ever heard of Einstein's "theory" of relativity? It's been proven over and over again, and it's still "just" a theory. That's how science works.

I am encouraged to see how few commenters think that this bill would have been a good idea.

rocket, (2/17/2009 9:15:09 AM)

Look at the roster of how the committee voted. The bill would have passed had not Sen. Jim Halligan, a Stillwater Republican, bolted party ranks and voted with the Democrats to provide a majority that killed the bill. Halligan is a former president of OSU and is less likely than other Republicans to support nonsense bills such as this.

Ignatz, Broken Bow (2/17/2009 9:33:56 AM)

rocket, yes but Halligan's seat was the crucial one targeted to pave the way for all this nonsense by putting a corporate drudge like Coffee in a powerful position. Halligan still has a lot of debt to pay off to these characters and they are not going to be a bit intimidated or impressed by any intelligence or intellect he projects. Remember, they hate that stuff.

Davy Crotchety, (2/17/2009 9:46:07 AM)

What do you mean by, "both sides of the story", wrongon? There's the science of evolution, and then there are dozens of mythological stories about creation. Are you advocating for one particular creation story?

zzx375, BA (2/17/2009 9:51:37 AM)

"keep the fairy tales taught with like simpleminded folks in sunday school at church."

In what way?

Eric, Tulsa (2/17/2009 10:41:43 AM)

Amen, debbiewade.
...
With the way this state leans so far to the right, I am amazed that we have elected officials willing and able to prevent ideology from usurping science.
...
Thank you, Sen. Jim Halligan, for your courage!
...
..
.

Ron B, (2/17/2009 11:10:40 AM)

So now we teach kids that matter and energy somehow came into existence, then by random action, became the cosmos we see. Life, which cannot be generated by science, came about by pure chance, organisms mutated, became more complex and by some miracle kept procreating. What are the odds, when sexual reproduction is needed, there would be both a male and female in the same time and place with the genetic code allowing reproduction? We have an example of two similar creatures yielding an offspring...a horse and donkey can get together and make a mule. A mule can....pull a plow, but it can't make more mules. And you call creation a myth????

Bliss, Okc (2/17/2009 11:46:43 AM)

I thought it was your church's job to teach creationism. Don't your churches DO ANYTHING???

JB, (2/17/2009 11:54:20 AM)

Wow, Ron B,

You are a great example of why OK needs better science classes. You have no understanding of evolution. Amazing. You pretty much proved creation right there! Donkey and mule! Funny.

Fred, Tulsa (2/17/2009 12:35:56 PM)

Yes Ron,

Creation is a myth but if it makes you feel all warm fuzzy and safe, then good.
What does a mule which has an odd number of chromosomes, Have to do with anything here?
I would ask you if Adam and Eve had belly buttons. Did they? Why? Were there growth rings on that tree in the Garden of Eden? How? When Cain left after killing his brother and went East of Eden into the land of Nod and took a wife, where the heck did she come from? Is this what you want children to be doing in a science classroom.
The mantra "Teach the Controversy" is the latest in the Creationism, Creation Science, Intelligent Design saga. This is the "Wedge" that fundamentalists have been designing to ruin science education in this country.

Fred, Tulsa (2/17/2009 12:39:40 PM)

Bliss, They take offering. And as Benny Hinn said, "If you give dimes, you will get dimes back, but if you give dollars you will get dollars back." Wow, did you see his Rolex?

TheDudeAbides, Midtown (2/17/2009 12:40:46 PM)

The scariest part of all this is that it actually came close to passing. Thanks be to Sen. Halligan (who, being formally educated in a field of engineering must understand the importance of truth, logic and simple empiricism) for voting against other Republicans on this one. Remember when Kansas did this and how much criticism they caught? Do we really want to follow in those misguided footsteps and have everyone point and laugh, saying "Geez what a bunch of ignorant rednecks"? I will say that it is refreshing to see a majority of the comments agreeing with me. It's the others that worry me though...

And Mr. Dolty: Yes, people should absolutely keep an open mind and consider other options, but people should also investigate these options for truth and legitimacy. I'm all for challenging the norm, but in this case the norm is simply the truth. Science doesn't go off of faith, it goes off of cold, hard facts- facts that can be quantized, measured and analyzed. And as far as intelligent design is concerned the only "proof" I've heard of was the whole Grand Canyon being created by a flood story. While it was good for a laugh, it didn't help the whole intelligent design theory much. So until they can come up with a better argument (which they won't) it's just simply not science and has NO place in a science classroom.

Frites and Mayo, Tulsa (2/17/2009 2:23:01 PM)

Exactly Debbie Wade.

Dolty, your line is getting old.

Ron B, (2/17/2009 2:44:07 PM)

Thanks for clearing it up, Fred. It must be nice to have so much knowledge that you can state that creation is a myth. Were you there? Can you reproduce the events? What do bellybuttons have to do with it? I find it strange that evolutionists have such a fear of being questioned. I recall reviewing science textbooks one year and ran across the phrase "for we know that 90% of the matter in the universe is invisible". No explanation whatsoever.
The reason they "know" that is due to the fact that all galaxies are cluster galaxies. These clusters should have broken up long ago, based on relative speeds and mass, so the evolutionists decided there needed to be more mass. The observed mass was only about 10% of what they needed in the equation, so they decided the other 90% just had to be invisible. It makes sense to present flaws in both models. Evolution has been elevated to theory status, but in reality is a model. A theory needs to be tested, and testing either evolution or creation is not possible. Students do not learn from being brain-washed; unless they are just supposed to repeat the stock answer "creation is a myth".

TheDudeAbides, Midtown (2/17/2009 4:24:54 PM)

Ron B.,

First off, your foray on dark matter gave me a headache. Thanks for that. Those physicists sure are notorious for haphazardly throwing numbers around, aren't they?

Secondly, take a look at the Texas cave salamander. Go ahead, Google it. Or any number of deep (I mean DEEP) sea creatures for that matter. Now tell me it's not proof of evolution when an animal has lived without light for so long that it loses its eyes. PROOF Mr. B, proof.

clun9522, Sapulpa (2/17/2009 4:40:57 PM)

TheDudeAbides

But see, that's the point of ID. To explain how these things evolved with a helping hand from a creator. Basically, they are tacking on creationism to the end of the theory of evolution in order to say yes, these things evolved... but God did it. Now they are trying to slip it into public schools under the guise of "Intelligent Design". Fairly unoriginal really.