Worcester County Freedom Trail

I was a biology major in college. I used to be quite proud of that fact. I worked hard and spent innumerable hours in the lab working on some fascinating biopsychology experiments. But now I hang my head in shame. I am appalled at what I’ve just learned about the misinformation that was fed to me throughout my college bio classes.

Let’s start with the Scopes-Monkey trial, a famous case from 1925 where a teacher was sued for trying to teach evolution to his biology class. This case has been carried in every bio book I’ve looked at since I first had bio in high school in the mid 1970’s. And the famous “Inherit the Wind” movie (and all its remakes) were based on this case, a case that was used to pit Darwin’s theory of evolution against the “radical Christians” of the deep south.

Well, guess what? The case was a total sham. It was a marketing ploy to try to bring some extra attention to evolution and to the backwater town of Dayton, Tennessee. As documented in Edward Larson’s 1997 book, Summer for the Gods, the idea for the trial on evolution was hatched by the ACLU in New York and seized upon by civic leaders in Dayton. Scopes, the defendent, was in on the prank, agreeing to be prosecuted even though he had never taught evolution and was not even a bio teacher. He did not spend one minute in jail, was never at risk of being sent to jail, and was friends with the prosecutors who he hung out with during the trial. When the trial was over, the school offered to renew his teacher’s contract…even though he was convicted and fined $100 (which his defense attorney offered to pay).

To this day, Inherit the Wind is still shown in high school and junior high school science classes across the country. Why, you ask? To pump up Darwinism and to push God out of the classroom. You see, the problem is, if Darwin’s THEORY of evolution is just a THEORY, then the atheists around the country (including the fanatical materialists in academia) have nowhere to turn to explain our existence but to start talking about intelligent design, or a combination of evolution and intelligent design (which is what I’ve always believed).

But the Scopes-Monkey trial isn’t the only wool that was pulled over our eyes in school. Here are a few more:

- The hidden facts about the Cambrian explosion in which virtually all the animal phyla suddenly appeared, with no Darwinian ancestors.

- The peppered moth experiment — another hoax where disreputable scientists pinned dead moths to a tree trunk and said they had evolved a darker color to match their new, polluted habit. Turns out the tree trunk never was their habitat and they never came out during the day, anyway, so their color was irrelevant.

- Haeckel’s famous drawings of embryos which showed how similiar all creatues are and, therefore, how we all evolved from a common ancestor. Another fake. Haeckel doctored his wood cuttings to make sure they all looked alike.

There’s lots more.

The lies surrounding the above, supposedly scientific research are all well documented. Some were widely known as lies long ago. Yet to this day, the misinformation still appears in science classrooms around the country.

What the heck is going on in this country? When did we lose control over our educational system? Who are these idiots who are teaching now? How can we allow this to happen?

Heck, it’s no wonder our student scores are dropping every year and that other countries are beating our students butts.

When does this insanity stop? When we’ve all devolved into idiots with IQ’s of 50?

I cannot believe this. I knew this state’s government was insane, but I’m thinking it’s time to move. Look what the legislature wants to do to our public schools now! Is it any wonder enrollment is plummeting and families can’t get into private schools fast enough?

Apparently, the activists in the Legislature have figured out that the Public Health Committee might be an easy way to slide some of these nasty bills through, among the more legitimate public health oriented bills. In the hearing tomorrow (May 30), the committee will be hearing testimony on 17 bills, but these are ones you should be very worried about. If you can, please come and testify.

H1172 An Act relative to health education. Representative Ruth Balser

http://www.mass.gov/legis/bills/house/185/ht01pdf/ht01172.pdf

This bans any state agency (or school system) from applying for Federal Abstinence Education grants!  Unbelievable.

H2107 – An Act establishing a health education program in the public schools.- Representative Mary Grant

http://www.mass.gov/legis/bills/house/185/ht02pdf/ht02107.pdf

Mandates health education in schools. Back in 1998, we persuaded the State Board of Education to remove “health education” (i.e., sex-ed, abortion, homosexuality programs, etc.) from the list of mandated subjects in public schools. This would circumvent that and write into state law that health education is again MANDATED in the public schools. It should be up to the individual schools and parents.

H2108 – An Act relative to local control of health education curriculums.- Representative Mary Grant

http://www.mass.gov/legis/bills/house/185/ht02pdf/ht02108.pdf

VERY dangerous. Mandates that each school district create local “Health Education Curriculum Committees.” We’ve seen this in many school districts already. The people selected for these committees are invariably Planned Parenthood-type activists and their fellow travelers. Occasionally a “normal” person is allowed on these boards, but they’re always outnumbered and outvoted. It’s a way to push more Planned Parenthood and sex-ed/homosexuality programs into the schools under the cloak of “legitimacy.”

H2217 – An Act relative to pregnancy prevention.- Representative Douglas Peterson

http://www.mass.gov/legis/bills/house/185/ht02pdf/ht02217.pdf

Creates another state-sponsored “reality based” program for young unwed women who are pregnant. Appears to be a funding program for Planned Parenthood and similar groups.

H2266 – An Act to promote healthy behaviors.- Representative Timothy Toomey, Jr.

http://www.mass.gov/legis/bills/house/185/ht02pdf/ht02266.pdf

Creates a state-sponsored program of “community-based health and sexuality education services provided by comprehensive family planning agencies.” In other words, more of your tax money going to Planned Parenthood and its allied groups.

What the hell is wrong with this state? They won’t be happy until everyone’s having sex and using abortion as birth control.

Today is a day to remember those in uniform who fight for our democracy and all that is good and just and right. The treasured dead have fought to protect what we so firmly believe in. And the respected living still fight for freedom and justice. Here’s a great Memorial Day remembrance from former Senator Fred Thompson (who I’m hoping is going to choose to run for President in the very near future!):

I remember when I was a kid; one thing was clear to me. The more I learned about the rest of the world, the luckier I felt just having been born in America. The more I learned about America, the more I appreciated what those who came before us built; and how exceptional they were.

Not that there aren’t other great places to live, but America is unique. It’s not just that we are the freest and most prosperous country the world has ever seen. America has also freed more people than any other nation in history.

A lot of people have done their part to see that we are blessed with the advantages we enjoy — from hardworking pioneer mothers to the Framers of the Constitution. Memorial Day is coming up, though, and I’m thinking more about American soldiers who have made the ultimate sacrifice — those who died to protect our way of life and make the world safe for democracy.

There are some people, though, who don’t think that’s such a good idea. Some people even want to use Memorial Day to protest our military’s presence in Iraq. The irony is that their right to protest was paid for by people willing to risk everything to keep the forces of tyranny at bay — here as well as Japan, Germany, France, Italy, Korea, Burma, Vietnam, the Philippines and dozens of other countries.

Over the years, a lot of people have tried to talk us out of feeling about America the way we do. Instead of pride in what America has done, they want us to feel guilty — generally because we have so much more than rest of the world. Of course, it wouldn’t help the rest of the world one whit if we had less — either of freedom or of prosperity. On the contrary, it’s our liberties that have made us prosperous and there’s no reason the rest of the world couldn’t be just as well-off — if they embraced freedom as well.

A British friend of mine is a sales executive who’s travelled around the world, experiencing first-hand many of the world’s different cultures. He became an American citizen a few years ago. He told me that we shouldn’t be fooled by all the political rhetoric being thrown about. America is far and away the greatest country in the world.

I love the Worcester Research Bureau! They’re back in the news with the following suggestions to balance the City’s budget. This in the Worcester Telegram:

The Research Bureau has offered a tonic for what ails the city: Divest itself of the airport, the golf course, the train station, the senior center, the cemetery, the arena and the auditorium.

At the same time, enroll city retirees in Medicare, cut the contribution to worker health plan costs, reduce police vacation time, hire civilian engineers for Fire Department code inspection, contract out the upkeep of city parks and playgrounds, lobby for an end to police details at construction sites and privatize custodial work.

And kudos to Worcester Mayor Konnie Lukes for really thinking about what business the City government should be in.

Supporters of a city-run golf course, for example, believe it is worthwhile for the city to provide a low-cost facility within its borders for golfers who cannot afford the higher rates of privately-run courses.

“That argument has been made over and over again,” said Mayor Konstantina B. Lukes. “That is a business endeavor. Why are we in that business and should we be in that business?”

I have a feeling that with Mayor Lukes at the helm this election, we could see a dramatic change away from the socialist-politics-as-usual of this town’s elected officials.

From NRO Corner:

Ted Kennedy on Immigration [Mark Krikorian]

1965: “The bill will not flood our cities with immigrants. It will not upset the ethnic mix of our society. It will not relax the standards of admission. It will not cause American workers to lose their jobs.”
1986: “This amnesty will give citizenship to only 1.1 to 1.3 million illegal aliens. We will secure the borders henceforth. We will never again bring forward another amnesty bill like this.”

2007: “Now it is time for action. 2007 is the year we must fix our broken system.”

UPDATE:

Mark Krikorian posts this on NRO Corner on 6/1/2007:

I posted three quotes by Ted Kennedy on immigration last month, but the second one, supposedly about the 1986 amnesty, does not appear to be genuine. I got it from a normally reliable source, but it was one of those “too good to check” things; we’ve been looking for the source since then and can’t find it. It was an amatuerish mistake and there’s no excuse for it. I apologize.

Un-farging-believable. Can we rename “Massachusetts” as “The Twilight Zone” now?

Our elected representatives are about to give us one of the biggest slaps in the face yet when they vote to give amnesty to the nearly 10 million illegal aliens here in the US. It’s bad enough that our government won’t listen to the will of the people on this issue. They’re also going to hit us in the pocketbook to the tune of $2.5 trillion.

Some 50 to 60 percent of illegal immigrants lack a high school degree. Granting amnesty or conditional amnesty to illegal immigrants would, overtime, increase their use of means-tested welfare, Social Security and Medicare. Fiscal costs would go up significantly in the short term but would go up dramatically after the amnesty recipient reached retirement. Based on my current research, I estimate that if all the current adult illegal immigrants in the U.S. were granted amnesty the net retirement costs to government (benefits minus taxes) could be over $2.5 trillion.

Read the detailed analysis on National Review.

How is it that President Bush gets major flack for firing 7 DC attorneys but Gov Deval Patrick gets no grief for firing 50 Republican Cabinet heads? Except for a small article in the Boston Herald, I’ve heard nothing about this:

Gov. Deval Patrick is launching a broad housecleaning of state government that could result in the dismissals of several top officials, including embattled Department of Social Services Commissioner Harry Spence.

Patrick, moving to strengthen his hold on state agencies, has asked about 50 top managers from previous GOP administrations to reapply for their jobs or expect to get the boot by June 1. The letter, distributed Friday, asks each manager to provide a justification for keeping his or her job.

“If you wish to be considered for reappointment, please forward immediately your resume, accomplishments, publications, personal statements and any other relevant information,” the letter reads.

Our former Governor Mitt Romney has been hard at work winning over conservatives. And it appears he’s making good progress. This from the New York Sun:

Mr. Romney shot past Messrs. Giuliani and McCain in New Hampshire this week, garnering 32% of likely primary voters in a Survey USA/WBZ poll released Tuesday. In January, he had placed third with 21%. Mr. Romney also gained in a New Hampshire poll released April 30 by the American Research Group. While Mr. McCain led with 29%, Mr. Romney received 24%, up seven percentage points from a similar poll in March.

I’m a bit jaded myself. His track record on fiscal conservativeness is pretty good. But he’s been on both sides of a lot of social issues. He admits that and says he’s changed his position over the last decade and is now a staunch conservative.

Of course, I’d like to really know what’s going on inside his head. But the best we’re going to get is his words and his actions. My husband pointed out that even our beloved President Ronald Reagan didn’t start out a social conservative.

Last week, Mass Citizens for Life honored Governor Romney with an award for “consistently seeking to advance the pro-life cause while in office.” He did indeed fight against embroynic stem cell research. But his wife is on record with a donation to Planned Parenthood back in 1994 and Mitt himself campaigned as pro-choice when he ran for Senator against Ted Kennedy. All we can do is weigh the facts. You can read the full text of his speech.

I certainly like where Romney is headed. I just hope he’s sincere. His remarks at a graduation in Michigan were good to hear at a time when almost all our politicans are avoiding any kind of discussion whatsoever about the Middle East. From the Worcester Telegram:

Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney told graduates of a Michigan college yesterday that the U.S. military must be strengthened because evil exists in the world.

Romney said he wants to add at least 100,000 troops and re-equip the military because of armaments lost during fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, and to accelerate the nation’s missile defense system.

“The right course for America in a world where evil still exists is not acquiescence and weakness, it is assertiveness and strength,” Romney said in a commencement address at Hillsdale College in which he cited radical Islam and Iran as threats.

A just released Suffolk University poll shows that 63% of registered voters believe that Massachusetts residents should vote on the definition of marriage.

The Constitutional Convention is due to open Wednesday, May 9th. State Senator Therese Murray said she’ll recess immediately as the legislature is knee-deep in the budget.

Why not just take the vote? All sides of the issue were thoroughly presented in January to virtually the same legislature. It will only take a few minutes. It’s time to send the Marriage Amendment to the people’s ballot.