Intelligent design holds that the universe is so complex that it must have been created by a higher power. While invoking this logic as the latest vehicle to slide religion through the doors of our public schools, I think the creationists have failed to consider the converse of their argument: that humans are simply too stupid to comprehend the universe.
As evidence of the latter, I offer exhibit A, the Creation Museum in Petersburg, Kentucky, a $27M center for those who believe God created the Earth in 6 days about 6,000 years ago. It comes complete with dinosaurs with saddles, demonstrating how they were used as beasts of burden by our ancient cowboys ancestors.
Yee haw!

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Just as there are Davy’s Demerits for demonstrably false statements, so there are Davy’s Merit Points for Highly Commendable Statements of Truth and Wisdom.
Clive Leeman earns five Merit Points for this great letter…. may it be published far and wide and may his question actually be asked of Palin in the debate.
And three Merit Points to Suza just for posting Clive’s letter.

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To Anonymous #2, where do we send our blank checks?

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Chris,
Obama is a Christian. Palin is a christian. There’s a big difference.

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Chris,
I’m curious — in your opinion, how does an individual’s religious beliefs qualify him or her to be president? For example, what impact, would you say, that that a candidate’s belief in Jesus’ ascension into heaven have on his or her ability to mitigate our current economic crisis?
Speaking of beliefs — do you believe that God created the Earth in 6 days, 6,000 years ago? Do you believe that humans and dinosaurs roamed the earth simultaneously?

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There is no such quote from Sarah Palin concerning dinosaurs, it was part of the slim that the desperate left is propagating, it is actually helping McCain/ Palin.
To answer your question, I don’t think it has a lot to do with being President, so why are you folks so focused on it, and why it is it the subject of this thread then?
On Aug. 29, the Boston Globe reported that Palin was open to teaching creationism in public schools. That’s true. She supports teaching creationism alongside evolution, though she has not actively pursued such a policy as governor.
In an Oct. 25, 2006, debate, when asked about teaching alternatives to evolution, Palin replied:
Palin, Oct. 25, 2006: Teach both. You know, don’t be afraid of information. Healthy debate is so important and it’s so valuable in our schools. I am a proponent of teaching both. And you know, I say this too as the daughter of a science teacher. Growing up with being so privileged and blessed to be given a lot of information on, on both sides of the subject – creationism and evolution. It’s been a healthy foundation for me. But don’t be afraid of information and let kids debate both sides.
A couple of days later, Palin amended that statement in an interview with the Anchorage Daily News, saying:
Palin, Oct. 2006: I don’t think there should be a prohibition against debate if it comes up in class. It doesn’t have to be part of the curriculum.

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Yes, all sides should be presented….As we we know evolution is still an unproven theory and really quite archaic and losing ground in light of the new quantum sciences… what about all the new theories that lean toward a more expanded out side the normal accepted view of life? stuff like;it is all a big hologram that is the reflection of some Unseen Light, or dark matter bieng 99.9999 percent of the universe and everything we see and don’t see…what about black holes and or perhaps parallel universes …or so many other specualtions on ‘who we are. Quantum sicence is on the edge of discovering 12 more dimensions that are going one here…that is interesting. Actually, according to the new sciences the Genesis story holds more insight on the subject if interpreted under that quantum theories; ‘Let there be light.’ and there was light’…’Then God said, Let us make man in our image’ (Super Symmetry perhaps?) and the Intelligent Design theory… I just mean to say that neither party is right or wrong at this point. The whole basic paradigm is shifting; we are making another trip upward and around the mountain and ‘coming back’ to realizing that things are much more metaphysical in nature, apparently… so back to the point,why not teach it all and tell the kids ‘no one knows anything for certain’…but it is certainly wonderful to wonder, explore, seek and maybe eventually, find….
Thanks, Partly Cloudy

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Wavy Davey (comment #3) says:
Just as there are Davy’s Demerits for demonstrably false statements, so there are Davy’s Merit Points for Highly Commendable Statements of Truth and Wisdom. Clive Leeman earns five Merit Points for this great letter…. may it be published far and wide and may his question actually be asked of Palin in the debate.
Wavy Davey, I think your demerit/merit point system is off to a pretty bad start. No offence to Clyde or Suza, but Chris has it right about this feel-good letter: Its a rehash of the same kind of attack perpetrated on Obama re Reverend Wright (attributing Wright’s statements to Obama by association). And Obama is totally vulnerable to being destroyed by the same question.
In the crazed real world we live in today, if asked Clive’s question, Palin would look at the questioner with some measure of indignation and hurt, and answer “of course I believe in dinosaurs. What kind of a question is that?” Then she would garner massive sympathy and shoot up in the polls once the right wing press jumped on Obama supporters for attacking her for her religion, and insulting all women with such a condescending question (“Would these sexists have asked a man if he believed in dinosaurs?”).
Then they would turn the question on Obama, who would answer something that affirms his faith and, if this letter is to be believed, by implication calls his rationality into question. Done right, as the Rovians know how, Obama’s answer would fail to impress the so-called “swing voters” but would disenchant some of Obama’s base, already less enchanted after the FISA sellout.
Of course, by the time anything like this might happen, that base is already likely to be positively appalled when the Democrats and probably Obama approve this massive bailout for Goldman Sachs, and then McCain comes out railing against it and exposes it as the pure looting that it is.
I do hope Obama and the Democrats see that coming. Main Street recalls that Hank Paulson, immediately before becoming Treasury Secretary, was paid an extraordinary $18 million bonus as CEO of Goldman Sachs, largely on the profits Goldman made securitizing billions in these toxic mortgages. Main Street sees that the fox who already ate all the chickens in the henhouse is now holding a gun to its own head saying “I’ll shoot” if we the taxpayers don’t fill the henhouse back up with fat new chickens. Main Street sees that when Warren Buffett is buying Goldman Sachs right now, when Goldman Sachs is the obvious main recipient of the $700 billion, and when not one single house will be saved from foreclosure for the $700 billion, that this thing is a ripoff. The Democrats are being played for fools here.
Watch: I hereby predict that the Democrats will pass this thing, maybe with a few bells and whistles toward accountability and executive compensation. Paulson will then use it to inject billions into Goldman Sachs and firms run by his cronies. The economy will continue to tank as financial pundits talk about how this wasteful looting did nothing to fix any of the fundamental issues. McCain meanwhile will have opposed the bailout and will decry it as corrupt looting and blame the Democrats for passing it.
If this happens, voters will turn to McCain/Palin in droves.
Welcome to the “October Surprise.”

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I just found the article, does anyone here believe this is true? and should the bailout be stopped? The fear tacktics sound familar, like telling us to panic and start a war with Iraq…Opinions Please …Thanks,Partly Cloudy
Demand that the Bailout Legislation Be Rejected
We are witnessing a bankers’ coup d’etat. In the name of saving the economy from a crisis created by their own greed and immense profits, the biggest bankers have taken a country and a people hostage.
“Give us your money and tear up what’s left of your Constitution or we will sink your economy,” is the message from Wall Street and the Bush Administration. “Give us the power and money we demand or you will be left jobless from a new economic depression.”
Under the pretext of the banking crisis, the Bush Administration is changing the way this country operates. This is not simply taking trillions of dollars from the people and giving it to the richest bankers to do with as they see fit.
Congress is poised to vote to give the Executive Branch of government, and specifically the White House’s political appointees in the Treasury Department, the absolute right to take our money and give it to domestic and foreign banks and corporations without any oversight of elected officials, from the courts, or from the people.
The new legislation states: “Decisions by the Secretary [of the Treasury] pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency.” The Legislation allows the Treasury Department to appoint the same bankers who created the crisis to administer and dictate the use of trillions of our tax dollars.
We will not stand by and let the Bush Administration formalize its vision of a “government of, by and for the richest bankers.”
The new system institutionalizes theft on a grand scale. Lehman Brothers bankers will receive $2.5 billion in bonuses after their company went bankrupt last week, but the new dictatorial authority under the White House and Treasury Department has ruled out any relief for the millions of working families who are being foreclosed.
We live in a $15 trillion annual economy. Instead of taking our tax dollars and giving it to the already rich and powerful, these funds should be used provide to decent paying jobs, affordable housing, health care and a good education for our children. There is another way!
Now is the time to hear the voice of the people. A spineless Congress authorized Bush’s illegal war in Iraq and rubber-stamped the Patriot Act. Now they are being herded like sheep again to give the White House and Wall Street dictatorial control over the people’s money.

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Yes, we must oppose this bailout. It will do nothing to solve any of the fundamental issues plaguing our economy. Combined with the ban on short selling and the other bailouts, it will boost the stock market through the election, but the end result will only be that the Treasury holds these toxic securities, people will still be facing foreclosure, and the piper will remain to be paid. We’ll just have another trillion dollars or so less do do it with.
The bankers who created this mess will have a beautiful new risk free gig: They can dump their toxic securities for cash to Treasury, then buy them back at a huge discount (keeping the spread), then dump them to Treasury again at their later value, then buy them back for less again, and so on. Its pure looting.
Meanwhile, creating a liquid market at taxpayer expense for these toxic securities will not build one bridge, save one house from foreclosure, create one new job (other than the ones the Treasury Secretary will create at inflated prices for his buddies to administer this boondoggle).
It should be notable that not one G7 country is stepping up to “share the pain”. If this thing is passed, it represents the nail in our coffin. Global markets will realign to the emerging BRIC consumer (which they are already doing), the dollar will collapse further, and the next President will be negotiating with international bankers the “austerity measures” that the U.S. needs to implement in order to keep the credit pipeline open. Goodbye social security, goodbye to any chance of health care reform. Hello Greatest Depression.
We’ve seen this played out before, in Mexico, Argentina, Russia, etc. always with the assurance that it could never happen here. “We’re too integrated with the world economy. If we fall, they fall. Other countries would never let it happen.” Really? Where’s the G7 ponying up in this bailout?
Its happening, unless we stop it.

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We can tell Obama that if he doesn’t lead now and reverse this thing, we’re voting Green.
But you’re right, he won’t listen, and we won’t do it anyway.
Time for a mass guerrilla campaign: Let’s all dress up in suits, say we’re from the Obama or McCain campaign, or Congress, and pass out free tubes of KY Jelly along with leaflets explaining the new bailout.

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Sarah has deeply held religious beliefs. So what?
Do you think rationalism, scientism and intellectualism are not deeply held religious beliefs?
The New Worlders are scientific and rational, illuminati some would say. They are committed to building a new order which is their version of an intelligent design.
Their tidy scheme will be a living hell far beyond what Sarah could possibly conceive with her visions of Jesus and orgasms of rapture.
I’d take Sarah’s world any day over Paulson’s. Did you see his picture on Fortune Magazine? If that isn’t satanic, I don’t know what is. At least Sarah isn’t afraid to love.
Dylan said it best:
“Look out your window, baby, there’s a scene you’d like to catch.
“The band is playing Dixie, a man has got his hand outstretched.
“Could be the fuhrer.
“Could be the local priest.
“You know sometimes Satan comes as a man of peace.”
But then Satan isn’t rational. Again, advantage Sarah. She doesn’t fall for that line. Ordinary people are not dumb. They’ll take Sarah anyday over Paulson. And remember who Obomba and the Dems have aligned themselves with, who they have betrayed again and again and who is paying their way.
It’s a little more complicated than putting a saddle on a dinosaur, unless it’s a bailout dinosaur. Ride that beast all the way to hell, and oh the road is so smooth and pleasant. The Bible called it the broad way that leads to distruction.
In politics today, there are no angels. It’s the devils posing as angels that we have to fear. And it’s the “best and the brightest” that will con us most of all.
“How does it feel…when he’s taken everything he can steal?”

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“Give us the power and money we demand or you will be left jobless from a new economic depression.”
I am convinced I got it right….government is once again using fear to over power us. I think the bailout is going to be nearly the final turn of screw on the what little freedoms we have left….sad, this is so sad.. But I sure won’t and will not ever bow down to fear, never. Perhaps it is true, freedom is within, and that may be the only place we can go now….we shall see, thanks for you input, I appreciate it, Partly cloudy

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Credit where credit is due: This massive attempted theft is the Republicans’ October Surprise:
http://finance.yahoo.com/tech-ticker/article/73110/McCain's-Brilliant-Play-Bets-Presidency-on-Blocking-Bailout-Deal?tickers=
Remember, you heard it here first, on the Ojai Post. See Comment #15.
Meanwhile, the Bushies are playing hardball on this thing with the seizure of WaMu, handing it to crony JPMorgan for $1.5B. JPMorgan reports that for its $1.5B, it has taken over an institution with assets of $315B. It expects to write down about $31B of those assets. The handover is guaranteed by the FDIC and effected over the WaMu board’s objection that it is not currently insolvent and in talks with numerous players for a buyout at far more than what the government just handed the bank to JPMorgan for.
Recall that JP Morgan also got Bear Sterns for a pittance, and did not need to write down those assets since the government conveniently guaranteed them.
This is hardball. Bush is saying, we will tank this economy if you don’t give us $700B. Bush is telling the Democrats that his adminisntration will guarantee a decimated country for Obama to take over, if he doesn’t hand over the cash.
Of course, if the Democrats do give in, they likely will lose the election in a landslide.
Very tricky scenario. The Democrats on the one hand could use this crisis to come up with a real plan that actually would have some positive effect. But the Repugs will block it, or Bush will veto it.
Or, the Dems could just say no, and say this has to wait for the election and a Democratic President and Congress to begin fixing, that with Republicans in power there is no hope or possibility of a viable solution and no end to the looting.
If they do this last, they should escalate the accountability discussion, and promise they will hunt down and prosecute all of the economic terrorists responsible for this mess. This includes Hank Paulson, and the rest of the Bush gang – seriously, Goldman Sachs engineered and sold hundreds of billions in these “toxic securities” under Hank Paulson. If there is not criminal securities fraud behind that, what was it? Obviously, the securities did not have a value anywhere near what these hucksters schlocked them for.
Enough for now. Stop the looting! Stop the power grab! Put these people in jail and confiscate everything they own, and we will begin the process of healing this country.
This is the message that will put teh Democrats back in charge, and give Dems a landslide:
First, no on the “bailout” fraud.
Second, state that the people have had enough, and this economic terrorism will be prosecuted in the next administration.
Third, put together a viable rescue plan, that does not give one penny to Paulson, but creates a brand new institution to buy or fund mortgages, not toxic mortgage-backed securities. Let teh Repugs block it. We can put together something much much better in January.

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