I mentioned before that Michael Medved was joining the Discovery Institute, and now Amanda comments:

I love the move, because it’s so transparent. The weak claims to be an institution dedicated to scientific research fall away; Medved is no scientist, just a dedicated culture war soldier. Which of course means that the Discovery Institute is less interested in discovery than in squelching any perceived threat to the cultural dominance of white Christians of a fundamentalist stripe. Medved no doubt was hired because of his willingness to lie, deceive, conceal, and distract from any realities that clash with his and the Discovery Institute’s culture war goals.

I agree — it’s an interesting indicator of the Discovery Institute’s future direction. Science is a dead-end for them, but appealing to the worst aspects of right-wing culture is a growth industry. It also lines up well with the direction taken in the Expelled movie: no honest content, but much rabid huffing and puffing. I will be looking forward to Medved’s review of that movie, although I suspect I could write it right now. With my eyes closed. In crayon. While drunk.

Amanda also points out something appalling: Michael Medved, slavery denialist.

He’s going to fit in so well at the DI.

You all remember Dembski’s recent faux pas — he was caught stealing a science video from Harvard/XVIVO for use in his Intelligent Design creationism lectures. Dembski has issued one of his patented not-pologies. He now declares that all of the allegations against him are false, but he now promises to no longer use the video. You see, he really didn’t steal it. Here’s his excuse.

The video was so good that I wanted to use it in some of my public presentations, but when I tried to purchase a DVD of it (I sent several emails to relevant parties), I was informed it wasn’t ready.

Translation: He wanted to use the really good video, but the owners said “no”, so he had to use it without their permission. Yeah, that’s the ticket. That’s not stealing. That’s appropriating-without-the-owner’s-permission, a whole different thing.

For a kinder, gentler summary, see Tyler DiPietro.

Keep an eye on ERV, I’m sure she’ll have more to say later.

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As expected, ERV speaks.

• Those clever sleazeballs at Uncommon Descent have now used some generic animation tools at JibJab to make a pointless video of Genie Scott, Richard Dawkins, and others dancing the can-can. In a particularly tacky twist, they also claim that it was “produced by the innovators at JibJab.com studios”. Uh, no. JibJab made a template; the ID loonies cut-and-paste photos into it. Special bonus sleaze points for getting the Expelled movie site to feature it.

• Speaking of Ben Stein, did you know he hangs out with prostitutes and cries? Thanks, Kristine, for the celebrity gossip.

• As has been frequently noted by critics, Noah’s Ark has a math problem. The frantic scribblings of creationists to cover these problems reveal that they know it, too.

• If the religious can experience apophenia, so can we. It’s a Squidmas Miracle!

  

The new preview for the movie Expelled looks very slick and professional — there are some deep pockets behind this effort.

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Both Larry and Shalini have picked up on this most excellent comic — it’s perfect.

The NY Times sent a reporter to the First Conference on Creation Geology, and came back with a discouraging tale of creationist blindness. The two stars are Kurt Wise, old school, and Marcus Ross, new school. Ross recently recieved a Ph.D. for his paleontological work on mosasaurs — marine reptiles from 65 million years ago — yet he also goes to creationist conferences and touts his belief that the earth is less than ten thousand years old. The dissonance does not disturb him at all.

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I mentioned that I should probably attend the odious John West’s talk at the U of Minnesota next Friday, and Rick Schauer has stepped up to the plate and provided compelling motivation.

To help make it easier for you to attend West’s talk, PZ…I’ll sponsor a
Pharyngula Fellowship event at the UM Campus Club.

I’m talking free-beer and munchies to you and any other Pharyngulaites
reading this from 5:30-6:45 at the Club. We then all walk from Coffmann to
Nicholson and confront the poor sap in unison. We’ll make more plans as
time passes.

Free beer? I thought this was a myth, a hoary legend of something truly impossible. Maybe there is a god.

Seriously, though, this is a brilliant idea. One of our disadvantages in these kinds of events is that the creationists will truck over church-loads of true believers, and the science side goes in outnumbered. Organizing a social event for skeptics beforehand is an excellent scheme to motivate a turnout that is more critically-minded — it doesn’t even require a generous philanthropist to host the fellowship, although we certainly won’t turn down free beer.

So yes, now I will definitely be there. I urge other Twin Cities Pharyngula readers to show up, too. If we come prepared with arguments against West’s thesis, that evolution dehumanizes society and Darwin is therefore responsible for the errors of eugenics, and share our perspectives in friendly conversation, we’ll also be more effective in the Q&A in the talk.

If you aren’t in the Twin Cities, but are having various creationists show up to harangue your citizenry, think about this simple idea as a model: host a pre-talk social event and get the science-minded locals to turn up. I’m not at all keen to go listen to another Discovery Institute liar, but the opportunity to bend an elbow with a group of smart people? Count me in.

It is best to wait until the person you are quote-mining is dead or senile, lest they notice what you’ve done and make a public dismissal. Denyse O’Leary seems to have forgotten this, and tried to use a paper by Brian Leiter — Brian Leiter! — to argue for the irrelevancy of evolution. Leiter seems to be neither dead nor senile, as he has noticed.