The Washington Times
Since when does Michael Powell write for the Washington Post? Do they want to lose all credibility? They are on their way !
Intelligent Design is QUACKERY ! The Smithsonian is absolutely correct. Steinberg is "W"rong. Who did he vote for?
The below statement is false. He might not be convinced by intelligent design but the statement that science moves only forward on controversy is completely "W"rong and reminds me of scientists that accept money from oil companies to push back the issues of Global Warming. Mr. Steinberg inhibits science.
Science moves forward because there is always more not known and the knowledge accumulated is built on the shoulders of it's predecessors. The issue of evolution is well founded if in no other place but genetic assessments or Hox sequences. The idea that scientists get lazy when not challenged is hideous. A challenge like this wastes the precious time of scientific investigation. Scientific papers are years in the making and when a counter theory is thrown in the works without sound proof that only complicates research already being at work. There is no 'reference point' to disprove or prove against.
A 'theology' such as Intelligent Design when presented as a scientific basis is highly disruptive and unless scientists discard it as bogus others work cannot go forward. So to say every evolutionary biologist is stimulated by this theology is a grossly bad joke by a prestigious editor and journal.
Evolution is CHRONICALLY studied and that is completely evidenced by new discoveries all the time including those of hominids. The study is not in need of competition to go forward. It goes forward in the thirst for more knowledge and that is where it belongs, not in regression to languish in competition of theology. THAT could go on forever.
I find Mr. Steinberg minimally in violation of ethics and for those scientists who care to should proceed to put Intelligent Design on trial. I cannot help believe the Supreme Court will 'back' scientific theory as a legitimate documentary of science to lead to proven theory. Intelligent Design cannot meet those standards. I would not be afraid of putting it on trial if that is the passions of any scientist who cares to. Putting Intelligent Design on trail to challenge scientific standard is different than primary school teaching where 'liberal arts' rules all grade levels. THIS MY FRIENDS IS NOT CHILD'S PLAY !!
"I am not convinced by intelligent design but they have brought a lot of difficult questions to the fore," Sternberg said. "Science only moves forward on controversy."
These personal losses are the price for his activism without sound scientific reason.
Sternberg has seen stress piled upon stress in the past year. His marriage has dissolved, and he no longer comes into the Smithsonian. When the biological society issued a statement disavowing Meyer's article, Sternberg was advised not to attend. "I was told that feelings were running so high, they could not guarantee me that they could keep order," Sternberg said.
Again, below, there is NO SYSTEM. There is scientific theory. Scientific theory is NOT set, but proof has to exist for change to occur. The Null Hypothesis is the only measure one has to call a SYSTEM. It is a valid accounting for science. Anything else is theology and that is where Intelligent Design belongs. Mr. Steinberg regardless of his credentials is allowing his own personal agenda for creating waves to dictate good judgement.
A former professor of Sternberg's says the researcher has an intellectual penchant for going against the system. Sternberg does not deny it.
The statement below might be correct in that there maybe 'careerism' but there is definitely no 'herd mentality.' Those are political agendas and words. They don't belong anywhere near the argument of evolution. If Steinberg is unhappy with his ability to progress through a professional society then he needs to address the system through proper channels and not make a gigantic splash in an attempt to change a structural issue. If anything that will only make the structure more rigid out of safety measures for the science alone.
The science and the structure of professions is completely different subjects, one can be discussed without the other. If Mr. Steinberg wants to say the structure compromises the science then he needs to address that in good argument and THAT is what the clout of his position at the Smithsonian buys him. He's outrageous in his inappropriate approach to this subject. His poor judgement has made him irrelevant.
"I loathe careerism and the herd mentality," he said. "I really think that objective truth can be discovered and that popular opinion and consensus thinking does more to obscure than to reveal."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/18/AR2005081801680_3.html
Moscow Times
Chicken Farmers Sneeze at Bird Flu
By Conor Humphries
Staff Writer
Police stopping a car near a sign reading "Quarantine Bird Flu" in the flu-affected village of Oktyabrskoye on Thursday.
The domestic poultry industry is keeping its cool as a lethal strain of bird flu sweeps across the country toward European Russia.
Even as health officials scramble to contain the disease amid reports that it has crossed the Urals, market players say that Russia's centralized, highly regulated meat industry will be able to withstand the outbreak without any serious economic damage.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2005/08/19/003.html
Over 31,000 Corruption Cases Opened From January to June
The Moscow Times
Police opened more than 31,000 investigations into state corruption in the first six months of this year, and about 500 officials have been arrested and charged, the Interior Ministry said Thursday.
Nikolai Ovchinnikov, head of the Interior Ministry's organized crime and terrorism department, said the 31,000 figure was an 70 percent increase from the first half of last year -- a possible reflection of a Kremlin-orchestrated drive to crack down on corruption.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2005/08/19/015.html
Global Eye
Duck Soup
By Chris Floyd
Published: August 19, 2005
Now is the summer of discontent for President George W. Bush, a man beset on every side -- by a failing war and falling popularity, by scandal, suspicion and rising hostility, even in the red-state heartlands. With each passing day of his long vacation in the Texas wastes, his presidency is shrinking palpably before our eyes, his wildly inflated public image shrivelling like a punctured balloon.
The fountainhead of his trouble, of course, is the murderous quagmire he has created in Iraq. Some say he has no exit strategy, no way to escape the corrosive effects of this gargantuan disaster, which is draining his support and destroying the aura of the all-conquering "war leader" that he used to impose his radical right-wing agenda on the country. The tide has turned against him at last, some say; he's a lame duck crashing to the ground.
http://context.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2005/08/19/120.html
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