Ever since the proposal of Evolution in 1858 creationist groups have been fighting the theory. Now thanks to a proposal by the extremely Evangelical senator from David Vitter creationism has gotten a new toe hold into our school systems. According to an article in the The New Orleans newspaper The Time-Picayune.

Sen. David Vitter, R-La., earmarked $100,000 in a spending bill for a Louisiana Christian group that has challenged the teaching of Darwinian evolution in the public school system and to which he has political ties

Besides this being an obvious political maneuver with no real interest in our kids future, and this possibly being perceived as a type of atonement for past sins, (mainly the visiting of a Washington DC Madame) the teaching of creationism has been shown, in court cases, to be impossible to separate its ties to religion. If Louisiana passes this money it would be the state, our government, sponsoring religion. I believe our constitution has something to say about that. Something about Congress shall pass no law respecting the establishment of religion. See first amendment or the wall above the door to the Al Neuharth Media Center. Now it is not unknown for the religious to receive funding from the government, but they are not allowed to proceed to teach their myths as fact. That is really what this money is for, David Vitter admitted it. According to an article from National Center for Science Education, "In a written statement, Vitter explained, 'This program helps supplement and support educators and school systems that would like to offer all of the explanations in the study of controversial science topics such as global warming and the life sciences.'"

You hear time and again that prayers have an enormous power. They heal nations, bring people together and save lives, or does it? The question of whether prayer has an effect was looked at in a study in 2006. From a Washington post article called "Prayer Doesn’t Aid Recovery, Study Finds."

The new $2.4 million study, funded primarily by the John Templeton Foundation, was designed to overcome some of those shortcomings. Dusek and his colleagues divided 1,802 bypass patients at six hospitals into three groups. Two groups were uncertain whether they would be the subject of prayers. The third was told they would definitely be prayed for.

One may find it difficult to completely miss a giant cross in the middle of a college campus, I found it impossible. Far be it for me to sensor another or ridicule them in public for the right to state how much they love the object their messiah was killed upon. So I sat and read my book (a book about Nietzsche, whose famous saying was echoing across my brain. "I have killed all the gods for my immortality") and watched the amusing sight. Looking at this contradiction of logic, celebrating the death and not the life of the supposed greatest teacher to live, I got to thinking about the god they proclaim.

Or so those who tote the ideas of intelligent design, such as David Warren of the Ottawa citizen, would have you believe . He recently wrote an article called The Limits of Atheism in which he describes what he thinks is a century long conspiracy among atheistic materialism. The conspiracy is deeper than he thinks, It is mostly prevalent among scientists. Apparently that is not who should be telling us things about science, I had no idea.

The intelligent design "debate" has been going on since the theory of evolution was proposed. It was originally under the name of creationism, which was unapologetically religious and unequivocally unscientific. In the 90's the advocates of Creationism reclaimed the idea under the name Intelligent Design which was suppose to be scientific. The theory goes like this, the design of life can be explained in no other way than a deity or in other words natural selection cannot explain how life came to be as it is today. For centuries Darwin's theory was without a means to explain genetic traits and therefore not well excepted. Then in the 1900's when Mendel's genetic research was discovered which allowed purposed genetic heredity. The theory was further supported by the discovery of DNA in 1940 and its structural discovery in 1953. The invention of the mass spectrometer in 1940 and the discovery about its use in radiometric dating in 1950 gave an evolutionary time line to know how gradual the change. Over the last fifty years science has only agreed more and more with the theory of evolution. What was it that exactly said in David Warren's article that so offends one who believes in science?

Great philosopher, analytical mind, and ardent pacifist, this describes a famous atheist by the name of Bertrand Russell. He is known for his analytical style of philosophy. I will begin by taking a journey through the life of this great man. To begin this tale we will have to go back to the 18th of may 1872 when Bertrand Arthur William Russell was born. His young life was full of distress when his sister, mother, father and grandfather died within four years of each other. It is said by Russell that in those early years mathematics had kept him from suicide. He then went to school and received degrees in both mathematics and philosophy. In 1950 he received the Nobel price for literature. During world war one he was a pacifist. He wrote and taught philosophy and mathematics until 1970 when he at the age of 98 died. These are just trivial facts, the real importance comes from his contributions to philosophy.

So I am sitting in the office where I work listening to music and waiting for something to do and I thought instead of doing something overly productive in this down time I would blog. Blog about what you may ask? Patriotism. Gasp, but your a liberal what can you possibly have to say about patriotism. The same thing that every American who wants the best for the nation of America.

First and foremost I would like to point out a difference that not many see between the nation of America and the government of America. That being the government of America are those who run this country, the bureaucrat and the politician. I am unconcerned with the well being of the bureaucrat as it is more efficient for him to remain employed than unemployed. If bureaucrats are good at one thing it is efficiency. As far as the politician goes if he is at all worth his salt he can find popularity and some employ outside of the government system. Now the nation of America are the people in it and the culture of. These are the people who should be the focus and concern of a true patriot.