Infidels of Every Denomination

Intelligent Design is struck down in PA, but what does the opinion foretell about the future of an independent judiciary?

It's been a rough few months for this blogger, which is why you haven't seen me in a while.  This doesn't mean that there hasn't been a lot happening on the legal front -- there has.  And, hopefully, I'll be able to do some catching up during the next few weeks.  Today, though, it's time for current events.

Earlier today a judge from the Middle District of Pennsylvania held, in Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District, that the School District cannot require students to hear about Intelligent Design.  The court determined that  "the secular purposes claimed by the Board amount to a pretext for the Board's real purpose, which was to promote religion in the public school classroom, in violation of the Establishment Clause."  The court based its ruling, in part, on the fact that plaintiffs' scientific experts testified that the theory of evolution "in no way conflicts with, nor does it deny, the existence of a divine creator."

In case you're wondering, the judge who decided the case -- the Hon. John E. Jones III -- is a 2002 Bush appointee.

In a striking commentary on the current climate in the US, the court apparently felt constrained to preemptively defend its own decision -- and itself -- from charges of judicial activism.  The court not only protested any such label, but criticized the school board and its attorneys in a manner rarely seen in court decisions.

Grrl Power on the rise in India

One thing I have to give India-- even though they have a long, long way to go on the road to women's rights, its leaders put their money where their mouths are when it comes to working to change the plight of women in their country. I wrote previously about proposed legislation to battle domestic abuse; there have been efforts to specifically set aside a percentage of government seats for women; and now the government is making secondary level education totally free to families that have only one child who is female (with scholarships for further education and discounts for two-daughter families).

The incentive is aimed at both encouraging people to value girls more highly as well as controlling population growth (apparently many families continue to have children until they have a son). It also addresses the shortage of women in India, which is a direct outgrowth of its anti-female culture.

These are all noble goals, and I am all for measures that help women become better educated. However, there are some big problems with this program. First, even though secondary education is free for both public and private schools (possibly allowing parents of girls to enroll them in better schools far out of their means), post-graduate scholarships are limited to "non-professional" courses, however that is defined, which will almost certainly impact women's ability to match men's earning potential and therefore impact their independence and political clout. Second, the poor families who could most benefit from measures like these are also going to be the least likely to have access to reproductive health services that help them choose how many children to have. And if part of the goal of this program is actually to reduce the abortion of female children, it's going to fail spectacularly if there is a clear financial incentive to abort *additional* female children.

I think this quote sums it up:

"It is definitely a step forward in empowering women", Veena Nair, President of Women's Political Watch told the BBC.

However, she added: "The government must adopt a more holistic approach at empowering women by looking at a whole spectrum rather than this schematic or piecemeal approach".

Knowledge: Always A Good Cause

Some worthy causes to consider if you have some charitable dollars to spare:

If you have ever found a Wikimedia product useful, consider donating to their fundraising drive. Their goal of making an enormous amount of information available in a convenient form free of charge and advertising is one I heartily support.

Now that school is starting, consider making a donation of school supplies to classrooms in need. You can usually stop by your local chain office supply store, where they often have donation bins for supplies you've purchased. You can also check out iLoveSchools, which is a non-profit that tries to match up teachers' requests with donors' offers. I was chatting earlier this week with a friend of mine who's a public school teacher, and hearing from her how very much teachers end up spending out of their own pockets to provide supplies for their kids (and consider what a pittance teachers make to begin with). We talked about these kinds of donation programs and how much they can help both the teachers and the students.

If you use Campbell's products, contact your local schools to see if they take part in Labels For Education, where Campbell's donates educational supplies to schools in exchange for the labels those schools have collected and turned in. I remember my mom saving labels constantly throughout my childhood, so I was pleased to see they're still doing this.

On a more esoteric level, the Assembly of the Sacred Wheel is continuing to collect funds for the New Alexandrian Library project in Delaware, as they build an interfaith spiritual and esoteric research library that will make a tremendous amount of material (including rare and preserved documents) available to all seekers. The goal is to make as much of it as possible available in an online archive as well to increase accessibility.

And on a more whimsical note, if you have beloved books you'd like to share with the world, consider registering with BookCrossing, where you leave books in public places (after marking them with a BC ID number obtained from the site) for others to find and read and hopefully pass on in the same way. The site tracks the journeys of these books, and calls itself "a fascinating exercise in fate, karma, or whatever you want to call the chain of events that can occur between two or more lives and one piece of literature".

Finally, you might check out Books For Soldiers, a charitable project that encourages us civilians to send some good reads to the troops overseas along with our best wishes for their safety.

Not that I'm getting into a totally nerdy back-to-school spirit or anything, nooo...

All Hail Our Noodly Master!

I think it is a fine idea that, if "intelligent" design is going to be taught in our schools, our children should also learn about the Flying Spaghetti Monster theory of creation.

Some find that hard to believe, so it may be helpful to tell you a little more about our beliefs. We have evidence that a Flying Spaghetti Monster created the universe. None of us, of course, were around to see it, but we have written accounts of it. We have several lengthy volumes explaining all details of His power. Also, you may be surprised to hear that there are over 10 million of us, and growing. We tend to be very secretive, as many people claim our beliefs are not substantiated by observable evidence. What these people don’t understand is that He built the world to make us think the earth is older than it really is. For example, a scientist may perform a carbon-dating process on an artifact. He finds that approximately 75% of the Carbon-14 has decayed by electron emission to Nitrogen-14, and infers that this artifact is approximately 10,000 years old, as the half-life of Carbon-14 appears to be 5,730 years. But what our scientist does not realize is that every time he makes a measurement, the Flying Spaghetti Monster is there changing the results with His Noodly Appendage. We have numerous texts that describe in detail how this can be possible and the reasons why He does this. He is of course invisible and can pass through normal matter with ease.

I’m sure you now realize how important it is that your students are taught this alternate theory. It is absolutely imperative that they realize that observable evidence is at the discretion of a Flying Spaghetti Monster. Furthermore, it is disrespectful to teach our beliefs without wearing His chosen outfit, which of course is full pirate regalia. I cannot stress the importance of this, and unfortunately cannot describe in detail why this must be done as I fear this letter is already becoming too long. The concise explanation is that He becomes angry if we don’t.

I...am simply in awe. I can only bow to such genius.

And in case your brain doesn't hurt enough:

(Do scroll down and read the emails...they are priceless.)

To our lord and savior I can only say: Noodlelujah! And, YARRR!! And now is the time on Infidels when we dress like pirates.