Category Archives: News

How PBS uses your tax dollars to distort the evidence for evolution

Evolutionists believe that the embryos of different mammals look similar in the earliest stages of development because the mammals share a common ancestor. And they believe that as the embryos develop, they begin to look less similar. This theory was invented by Ernst Haeckel, who believed that”ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny”.

With that mind, consider this post by embryologist Jonathan Wells at Evolution News, in which he describes PBS’s latest effort to use taxpayer dollars to push evolution on children, without any presentation of opposing views.

Excerpt:

On the website for its December 29 special, PBS offers an interactive “Guess the Embryo” exercise featuring four different vertebrate embryos: an 8 day-old mouse, a 5 day-old quail, a 17 day-old turtle, and a 40 day-old bat. The purpose of the exercise is to convince viewers that “embryos of different species can appear startlingly similar to one another.” A discerning viewer, however, will notice that the turtle embryo already has a rudimentary shell on its back—thus distinguishing it clearly from the others. A discerning viewer might also notice that the bat embryo bears little resemblance to the mouse embryo, even though both are mammals. What viewers may not know—and PBS does not tell them—is that the interactive exercise shows embryos midway through development. The earliest stages are systematically omitted. Perhaps this is because in their earliest stages vertebrate embryos are striking different from each other. They follow a pattern that embryologists call the “developmental hourglass”—wide at the top, narrow in the middle, and wide at the bottom. In other words, vertebrate embryos start out very different from each other, become superficially similar midway through development, then diverge again as they mature. Like Darwin’s German disciple Ernst Haeckel, PBS distorts vertebrate development to make it seem to provide evidence for Darwin’s theory.

As Wells notes, the embryological evidence actually shows that mammal embryos are different in the earliest stages, and similar in the middle stages of development. So embryological development Darwinian fundamentalist Ernst Haeckel’s embryo drawings were discredited as a fraud in the 19th century. The drawings also showed intermediate stages of embryo development – not the earliest stages.

Wells’ Ph.D in Biology is from the University of California at Berkeley. His area of specialization is embryology, in which he has conducted post-doctoral research.

Why do pro-abortion people have no compassion for the unborn?

Good post from Suzanne at Big Blue Wave.

Excerpt:

When it comes to cats and dogs, people will go to enormous lengths to find them new homes or help them medically. And when they do “terminate” them, it’s usually because they’re sick anyway.

Unborn children? They are killed with no questions asked.

I know that some animal rights types *do* feel some affinity for the unborn; feminists however, feel none. They simply do not care if the baby dies, and will never admit the slightest amount of pity for him. Because they know their movement rests on dehumanizing the unborn…

What abortion is about is the freedom to engage in a risky recreational activity and to terminate the life of a separate, distinct human being who is a victim of the irresponsible choices of grown-ups who ought to know better. It’s about killing the weak and helpless so that the strong are not inconvenienced by additional mouths to feed, which diminishes their selfish pursuit of pleasure. (And secular leftists complain about greedy capitalists – but at least capitalists don’t murder innocent children out of greed).

What moral relativism means

ECM sent me a brilliant post from David Thompson, that made me think of what secular leftists do after jettisoning real moral rules like “don’t kill innocent people without justification”. Read the post, then reflect on how moral relativists try to cover up their selfish hedonism in front of others by agonizing over fashionable causes and moral dilemmas. It’s just an example of screaming “me too!” to religious people, even though morality is not rationally grounded without God.

People who reject the objective morality that comes from God will go on to invent a new morality that they find easier to accept. Typically it will involve embracing things like animal rights, recycling, vegetarianism or yoga. But if you ask a leftist to curtail their sexual desires to protect children, (born and unborn), then you can forget about it – they won’t do it. The whole point of atheism is to pursue pleasure apart from moral obligations.

Homeland security chair says Swedish grandmothers just as likely to be terrorists

Story from The Hill. (H/T Weasel Zippers ECM)

Excerpt:

The chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee said today he opposes any efforts to profile passengers in the wake of a failed plane bombing.

“You pat down every person who’s suspicious. I don’t think you have to target people,” Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), told MSNBC. “This Swedish grandmother could just as well be a part of a terrorist plot as anyone else. So I think we have to be very careful when we try to target people.”

Thompson also said the financial concerns could hold up efforts to get full-body scanners in airports.
“It’s a matter of money. You know, security is an issue, but as we struggle with this economy, there’s only so much money we can dedicate to this particular issue,” he said.

I put a lot of effort into my previous post on Democrats and National Security. Please take a look.