Expelled draws more aggro

How stupid can they get? First it’s discovered that the makers of the stupid propaganda movie were stealing some of their cell animations from XVIVO, and now it is revealed that other segments were ripped off from PBS. It’s as if there isn’t a single bit of creativity in the whole movie — they can’t even lie imaginatively.

In related news, here’s something really weird. Expelled is suing XVIVO! Oh, and take note of the bizarre complaint that I’ve put in bold in the middle of this freaky press release:

Premise Media is ready to challenge the unfounded copyright infringement claims asserted recently by representatives of XVIVO, LLC concerning original animation Premise Media created for the documentary, EXPELLED: No Intelligence Allowed.

On April 14, 2008, Premise Media filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas seeking declaratory judgment that there is no copyright or other infringement. Premise Media also seeks its attorneys’ fees in responding to the XVIVO claims.

The suit results from unfounded claims recently made by representatives of XVIVO. These claims have received wide distribution as part of an ongoing campaign attempting to discredit the film and its producers.

Premise Media has also learned of grass root efforts that are underway to try to influence the ranking of internet searches regarding Expelled by those wanting to learn about the film. Their stated goal is an attempt to counter-site those searchers to other websites that criticize the themes in the movie.

“We are not surprised that opponents of our film are attempting to interfere with its important message. As the movie documents, similar tactics are being used across the country against many of the researchers, scientists, and professors who want to engage in free debate within science but have inadequate resources to challenge the Establishment. However, we do have the platform to confront the ‘thought police,’ and we will work tirelessly to open the doors of free speech and inquiry,” said Executive Producer and Premise Chairman Logan Craft.

Executive Producer Walt Ruloff noted that, “EXPELLED: No Intelligence Allowed opens in over 1,000 theaters nationwide this Friday, April 18th. It is interesting that these efforts are made less than ten days before the movie debuts and involve those who continually seek to thwart open debate. While bullying tactics may work against some individuals who are trying to explore the origins of life, it will not work against us. We certainly will not allow a small group of self-appointed gatekeepers to infringe our rights of free speech and our obligation to expose them for what they are — namely, intellectual thugs unwilling to accept any dissent from Darwinian orthodoxy.”

Ben Stein, the star of the movie, also makes it clear that no one will shut him up. “I came to this project unsure what I would find. I am now amazed at the intolerance of many academic elites. I feel that it is my mission to speak out on behalf of targeted dissenters and fight for their freedom of speech and freedom of inquiry.”

Tell me…do you see anyone trying to shut Ben Stein up? Their faux macho posturing is not persuasive.

It is good to see that the NCSE’s counter-site has made them cry.

Training young denialists

Does everyone here listen to NPR or something? Not only have I been hearing all about the Expelled ads running, which is bad enough, but apparently in their attempts to sidle towards the lunatic side of the political spectrum, this morning they also ran a story about a pretentious 16 year old climate skeptic. Woo hoo, teenager thinks she knows more than scientific experts … now that is news. I took a look; I’m unimpressed, even considering her age. Parroting right-wing thinktanks is not evidence of independent, skeptical thought, I’m afraid.

Fortunately, James Hrynyshyn and Janet Stemwedel dug a little deeper. Both point out that the student’s exercise in critical thinking is a little shallow and a little selective. But of course shallow and selective is precisely what one wants in a young person being groomed to fit into the right wing ideology machine — someone just smart enough to snipe at the edges of the science, but not good enough to actually comprehend it.

Creationism explained, in one sentence

On the non-necessity of evolving large brains:

It requires big brains and they in turn demand lots of protein, which, outside modern yuppie societies, generally means meat. As the late evolutionary paleontologist Jack Sepkoski used to say: “I see intelligence as just one of a variety of adaptations among tetrapods for survival. Running fast in a herd while being as dumb as shit, I think, is a very good adaptation for survival.”

(from a review of an interesting book.)

How people convince themselves to vote for idiots for president

I’m late to the party again; only because Hilzoy mentioned it did I see this hilariously inane article by Michael Medved. I don’t know what Medved’s qualifications are; he seems to be the Clever Hans of the Right Wing chattering classes, the guy who doesn’t actually have a functioning mind but is good at stringing random words together. So now he has written an article claiming that it is perfectly reasonable for Americans to discriminate against atheists in politics, specifically that they should resist the possibility of an atheist as president.

[Read more…]

Those prissy Aussies

I don’t usually think of Australians as particularly prudish — brash and outspoken are more common stereotypes — so this story about the Anglican Church Grammar School banning gay partners at their dances seems a little out of character. I know we’ve got some Australian commenters, so I expect they’ll correct my misunderstanding and explain that their compatriots are all fussy little schoolmarms who faint at the slightest whiff of ribaldry.

Anyway, the headmaster tries hard to justify the decision. There are “protocols and decorums,” he says. Another school follows suit; they want to maintain “gender balance” (that one’s easy: invite lesbians as well as gay boys!)

They haven’t yet brought out the most powerful excuse. These are all boys schools, and as everyone knows, there is never any homosexual activity among randy young teenagers cooped up in a school in which no members of the opposite sex are ever allowed to be present.

Expelled Exposed goes live!

Don’t just link to the Expelled Exposed web site, read it! A whole bunch of new content has gone live, including this video of Chris Comer.

One of the more effective parts is the truth behind Expelled, which goes one by one through the cases of “expelled” creationists, and shows that they weren’t — the quality of a good persecution has gone down considerably since the days of Romans with lions, I guess.

Bloggers, you have a job to do

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We need to get the NCSE’s counter-site to the hideous little propaganda film, Expelled, to rank higher in the search engines. The way to do this is for lots and lots of you to link to the Expelled Exposed site with the word Expelled. It’s not hard: just copy this code into a blog post.

<a href="http://expelledexposed.com/"><i>Expelled</i></a>

Whenever you write about the movie, use that link. Do it a bunch of times, if you want. It’s more effective if many people use the same link every time, though, than for one person to be repetitive.

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CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF THE EVOLUTIONARY APPARATUS DIRECTIVE

God hates Porsches

A doddering old fool who shouldn’t have been driving in the first place cruised into a car dealership in his cheap little Ford Fiesta, and managed to demolish two Porsches outside the showroom. Total damage: £60,000.

So what does the senile twit say afterwards? You guessed it:

It was a miracle I got out alive and I put it down to the power of prayer and God looking after me.

Why was he praying to wreak havoc on expensive German cars?