Dan Arel's Blog, page 98

Alabama bill to protect kids from learning ‘they came from a monkey’

Last month, Rep. Mack Butler of Alabama put forth a bill that would the science surrounding “biological evolution, the chemical origins of life, and human cloning” to be subject to religious examination by Alabama public school teachers. The bill is much like one that is currently being used in Louisiana. These laws are an attempt to bypass a federal ban against the teaching of creationism in public schools by granting teachers permission to spark debate and plant seeds of doubt among student...

Bed-sharing with Babies and Fun with Pediatricians

Skepticism makes for a pretty valuable tool in parenting. It allows parents to make truly informed choices for their children instead of decisions driven by tradition, anecdotes, and superstition. But what do you do when one of your experts, your pediatrician, might be wrong? The question is on bed-sharing with infants, and the American Academy [Read More...]

British faith schools are still teaching creationism despite government funding ban

Last September the British government banned the teaching of creationism in all free schools and threatened to pull taxpayer funding from all faith schools who continue to teach it.However, according to a new piece out in The Telegraph, "Creationism is still taught in dozens of faith schools despite Government threats to withdraw their funding."

Chipotle is pandering to pseudoscience by removing GMOs from its menu

Chipotle fell for the scare tactic. Anti-science activists have pressured the company to make a move that is not only useless, but spits in the face of the scientific method and further perpetrates a myth that genetically modified foods are unsafe.“This is another step toward the visions we have of changing the way people think about and eat fast food,” Steve Ells, founder and co-chief executive of Chipotle, said regarding the companies new GMO ban.

Ken Ham says pastors who unite with secularists are ‘intolerant’

In a blog post today by Ken Ham over at Answers in Genesis called Intolerant Pastors Unite with Secularists Against Ark Encounter, Ham attacks the pastors who along with Americans United for the Separation of Church and State have filed a motion to intervene in Answers in Genesis' lawsuit against the state of Kentucky.

Fear of Prejudice May Have Killed The Enlightenment Project

To be called racistor prejudicedin our society is among the worst slanders to be borne. It’s also the cheapest. Its power combined with its tawdriness makes it an irresistible tool for many to use when they’ve run out of rational arguments or applicable facts. So are the Ben Afflecks of the world made. The primary [Read More...]

Bernie Sanders in 2012: ‘the American people are angry’

Over at the DailyKos, they have one of presidential candidate Bernie Sanders best speeches.Here is the video and below that are some of my own (and those of DailyKos') favorite moments.

Episode five of AD…ugh

We are five episodes deep into the AD series on TV. There is very little I need to say about this episode, as all four previous posts I have made demonstrate the huge issues this series has. However, we still have a few things to talk about. For starters, about 90% of the episode is [Read More...]

Donald Rumsfeld explains perfectly why people riot

In 2003, Donald Rumsfeld, the republican secretary of defense, explained why Iraqis looted and destroyed hospitals and local businesses after the US invasion. His statement could not apply more perfectly to the riots we saw break out in Ferguson, MO and even more recently the current riots in Baltimore, MD.

Ted Cruz says that President Obama has ‘inflamed racial tensions’

In an apparent effort to inflame racial tension, Senator Ted Cruz has blamed President Obama for inflaming racial tension under his presidency.