Happy New Year!
Couple web comics for your enjoyment.
WTH NH?
As part of the original 13, I always thought New Hampshire was special. While working out there for a couple months, I got caught up with the state slogan “Live Free or Die”. The people that I met were smart and highly political. That’s why two bills that attack the scientific method and evolution via natural selection in the NH legislature are particularly troubling. How could New Hampshire elect such a person? Check out the bills.
New Hampshire House Bill 1148 would “require evolution to be taught in the public schools of this state as a theory, including the theorists’ political and ideological viewpoints and their position on the concept of atheism.” Jerry Bergevin, the gent who introduced 1148, shows off his ignorance of the word “theory”. Then comes his reprehensible ad hominem attacks that would follow against any teacher or scientist that doesn’t subscribe to the Discovery Institute‘s news letter…
New Hampshire House 1457 would “require science teachers to instruct pupils that proper scientific inquire [sic] results from not committing to any one theory or hypothesis, no matter how firmly it appears to be established, and that scientific and technological innovations based on new evidence can challenge accepted scientific theories or modes.” Since he must think every bit of scientific knowledge is pulled out out of the tookus of an abnormally large rabbit, I want Jerry Bergevin to never use another cell phone or GPS or text book. Wait, I doubt he uses the last one anyway.
Scientology Primer
Tony Ortega, the editor-in-chief of The Village Voice, has been writing about Scientology for ages. His in depth interviews with Suppressive People have become legendary. What he never wrote until now is a good old fashioned primer. The history of Dianetics which morphed into Scientology is well worth reading. With all of the strange acronyms, might I recommend this great list of definitions to go with Tony’s article.
I hope to see each and every one of you at the Northwest Free-thought Convention in Seattle, Washington in a few months!
~Wesley