Support Science in Louisiana

The Louisiana Coalition for Science post from earlier today talks about the efforts to repeal the hidden creationist agenda in a law, Louisiana Science Education Act. Go to there post to read more. I have obviously been against this bill since its inception a lot of that was because I lived in Louisiana at the time. Living in Lubbock, Texas and having to attend school and work out here will make it so I can not make it to Baton Rouge for the rally but if you are in the area make sure you go and support the effort to repeal the LSEA.

Paleo and the LSEA

The Louisiana Science Education Act was a way to sneak creationist propaganda into public schools in the state of Louisiana. It should come as no surprise that the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology released a statement on that act recently. Head over to the Louisiana Coalition for Science post here for more information.

Antivax and Creationism

With the semester wrapping up I will be busy with finishing up work so don't expect much for the next few week, although I have a lot I want to do (damn inspiration coming during the busiest time of the year).

The Louisiana Coalition for Science has a great article about the tie between the antivax movement and those who want to teach creationism in Louisiana's science classrooms, in particular Dr. John W. Oller, Jr.

Such is the evidence for the quality of the scientific judgment of Prof. Oller, who, in his LinkedIn profile, specifies that his interests are “consulting offers” and “expertise requests.” He hangs out with not only the the disgraced (and disgraceful) Andrew Wakefield but also with young-earth creationists who have misinformed an untold number of innocent children. His association with ICR indicates that he believes that the earth is only a few thousand years old. Yet, according to Oller, the scientists with hard-earned, professional expertise in biology who wrote the proposed textbooks don’t know what they’re doing. Oh, and — lest we forget — evolution is causing the downfall of society.

It is a long read but it is good so I recommend everyone read it.

I am mildly supprised

So the way Louisiana has been I was surprised to see this published by the Louisiana Coalition for Science, for background on this story see my post here.

Readers will have to pardon the mixed metaphors in this post, but something happened today in Louisiana that is is about as common here as snowflakes at Christmas: the voice of reason prevailed at a meeting of public officials.

The Louisiana Textbook/Media/Library Advisory Council met today, Friday, November 12, at 9 a.m. at the Claiborne Building in downtown Baton Rouge. The council voted 8-4 to recommend approval of the biology books that had already been approved by the Textbook Review Committee. Teachers, scientists, and students showed up at this meeting to support the earlier decision of the Textbook Review Committee and to protest the attempt by the Louisiana Family Forum (LFF) to commandeer yet another aspect of Louisiana science education policy.

This is a big win for Louisiana students and I am happy to see that a lot of people showed up in support of science education, although it isn't completely supp rising. I don't have much to say so I will let Barbara Forrest carry us out on this one.

Well, gosh, let’s hope this decision paves the way for BESE’s approval of the textbooks. Regardless of what happens next month, all of us owe a big “thank you” to the good citizens who showed up at that meeting today.

Thank you Baton Rouge Advocate

So after my post last night I was delighted to see this short opinion piece by the Baton Rouge Advocate's opinion staff earlier this afternoon. They argue, and rightly so, that evolution is a science supported by the facts and that Louisiana doesn't want to turn into the next Texas or Kansas and be the laughing stock of the U.S. and even the world.

But it is the duty of the committee members not to be politicians — a couple of the members are state legislators — or representatives of public opinion. The committee members have a duty to reject intrusion of pseudo-science, such as creationism or its offshoot “intelligent design,” into science classrooms.

[...]It’s one thing to be different culturally, as Louisiana is in so many ways. But the facts of science and biology do not change. For Louisiana to be different in the direction of ignorance would be a humiliation in the eyes of the nation and the world.

Let me just say this, thank you Baton Rouge Advocate for supporting true science education!

Louisiana wants to Warn you about Evolution

I first noticed this yesterday as a post by the NCSE on Facebook and then saw today's post over at Louisiana Coalition for Science. The second post give a pretty good summary of the whole history of the attempts to teach creationism in Louisiana. Pretty much this story boils down to there are forces within the Louisiana state education board to put warning stickers on the textbooks teaching about evolution in that it isn't completely true. This isn't the way science works as I have said many times before science is supported by evidence that has been found and experimented on over multiple trials, just because you don't believe it doesn't make it not true. You don't want to learn the science that is fine you just need to find the evidence that supports your claim. Anyway read the second post up above to find out more.

Prior posts on the problems of science in Louisiana
The state wants to cut the Louisiana Geological Survey
Creationism Lives on in US Public Schools
An attempt to get Creationism in one Parish's schools
Warning about Creationist materials being handed out in schools

What is the use of Geology in Louisiana

So Louisiana is at it again, and by it I mean doing something that they will probably regret in the long hall. So while I have covered many other things that I consider stupid in political actions in Louisiana (see here and here) this threatens the very safety of the state itself. The current budget for the upcoming fiscal year at LSU does not cover the cost of the Louisiana Geological Survey (Source).

Let me give you a little background. Unlike most states where the state geological survey is under the control of the state government directly in Louisiana the geological survey exists within the auspices of Louisiana State University, see link article for why. Well over the last few years LSU, along with most other major public universities, have been facing budget shortfalls. This is bad because it means that the universities must make some sacrifices this typically entails no new hires until the economy is turned around. LSU was facing a bigger budget crisis than most other major universities to the point that programs as large as some library functions were in the talks to get cut. Unfortunately for LGS they are one of the programs that is currently on the chopping block.

Now I am probably a little biased because I am a geologist by training but I find not just the LGS but also the USGS and most geological surveys to be important to the infrastructure of the state/country. In Louisiana this is especially important. Why? The main reason is that Louisiana's very existence is dependent on what the LGS finds.

LGS Director Chacko John said he was not previously approached about the decision, and he was surprised when he heard LGS was facing the axe in the next round of budget cuts.
John stressed the importance of the department’s work to the oil and gas industry. The LGS discovers new oil and gas deposits using geological mapping, which greatly benefit the industry.

John said no institution in the state ranks near LGS in many areas, like modeling of aquifers, locating of natural resources and mapping the state.

It is also important in these state completely dependent on the Mississippi River and the Gulf of Mexico that it understands how levees on the sides of the river work because the elevation of New Orleans is between -6.5 and 20 feet (-2 and 6 meters) (Source). This makes the area prone to massive storm damage during hurricanes (see Hurricane Katrina). Also the geologic map of Louisiana is currently out of date and the LGS is in the process of updating it this will help with future understanding of both where the Mississippi River has been and where it might go in the future and how we can save lives.

So I plead with you Louisiana save the Louisiana Geological Survey, and to anyone who might be reading this make sure you spread the word.

Creationism on hold, for now

A little over a week ago I wrote a post about Livingston Parish School Board talking about trying to teach creationism in their science classrooms. I ended that post with this:

There is some good that I can see with the school board finally deciding to teach creationism. This will give the ACLU a chance to sue over this bill and to finally get it struck down and prevent other schools from going through the same thing. Lets just hope that is what happens.

Well it turns out that the school board decided not to teach creationism this upcoming year, although they put a group together to study if it is feasible. Why? Well an article published by the Baton Rouge Advocate says this:

A decision to teach creationism could become expensive for the parish school system, said Marjorie Esman, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union.

“If they were to do it, they could anticipate that any litigation would result in them not only losing, but having to pay enormous legal fees,” she said. “They would be wasting a huge amount of taxpayer money on a battle they can’t win.”

Livingston Parish School Board President Keith Martin, who acknowledges that the parish school system faces major financial challenges, said the cost of litigation does have to be taken into consideration.

“A lawsuit is something you always have to factor in because of finances of the board,” Martin said.

While this is not the way I would have preferred to have seen this happen I am glad that at least for the next year they will not be teaching creationism in Livingston Parish.

There is one problem, however. They have not completely taken the idea of teaching creationism off of the table for the 2011-2012 school year. As I said earlier they have formed a committee to look at the possible options. The lawyer for the school board does seem to think that teaching creationism is illegal.

Tom Jones, the School Board’s attorney, said a board member brought the issue up when evolution was mentioned as being part of the state’s 2008 Science Education Act.

Jones said his previous research indicated that under the U.S. Constitution public schools can’t teach religion or the religious theory of creationism.

“Without a doubt it’s a constitutional issue,” and state law does not supersede the U.S. Constitution, he said.

Mr. David Tate the person who first brought up the issue of teaching creationism doesn't seem to get it though:

Tate said teaching evolution as a theory is fine, but there are other ideas.

“Creationism is another thought of how things came into being,” he said. “Give every theory due time” in the classroom.

To the citizens of Livingston Parish Mr. Tate is not helping your cause. He is holding you back do not support him in upcoming elections (I don't know when he will be up for reelection sorry) and listen to the experts, if for no other reason than you risk hurting the financial situation of your schools.

And it begins

So I have covered the controversy about the Louisiana State Board of Education allowing the teaching of creationism in the science classrooms (here, here, and video here). This morning I came across this article. The article discusses the fact that the school board in Livingston Parish, LA is considering teaching creationism in science class.

Having lived in Louisiana I am personally surprised that it took 2 years for some school board to decide to take up teaching creationism. There are also plenty of areas that I figured would have tried to teach it before Livingston Parish. But what really got to me was this:

Board Member David Tate quickly responded: “We let them teach evolution to our children, but I think all of us sitting up here on this School Board believe in creationism. Why can’t we get someone with religious beliefs to teach creationism?”

Fellow board member Clint Mitchell responded, “I agree … you don’t have to be afraid to point out some of the fallacies with the theory of evolution. Teachers should have the freedom to look at creationism and find a way to get it into the classroom.”

No this isn't the way that classroom policy should be determined just because all of you believe that creationism is correct doesn't mean that it is correct. The way that they are handling this is no better than the way Texas handled the social studies curriculum earlier this year (here, here, and here). While I am perfectly fine with teaching the "fallacies" with evolution filling in these gaps with creationism is not the way science works, just because we don't know the answer right now doesn't mean that we won't in the near future.

There is some good that I can see with the school board finally deciding to teach creationism. This will give the ACLU a chance to sue over this bill and to finally get it struck down and prevent other schools from going through the same thing. Lets just hope that is what happens.

The Oil Spill

I have been trying to figure out a way to say this for a while now and this is the best that I could come up with. When I say the oil spill I figure most people know what I am talking about but if you don't lets just put it this way. In the Gulf of Mexico right now there was a well that blew up and has been spewing huge amounts of oil into the Gulf for months now, the oil has been reaching the fragile ecosystem that is the marshes and delta of the Mississippi River in Louisiana for the last couple of weeks causing images like this:



Those images are hard to watch and when thinking about the damages caused by this oil spill will be immense. This causes many people to jump to anger and want someone to blame and the most obvious culprit would be BP. For its part BP is taking a good bit of the blame for the spill having offered to reimburse all those effected and to pay for the cleanup. You could also argue that Haliburton and the company that made the fail safe are also partially to blame sure.

While those three are the most direct problem it could very easily be argued that the main culprit is the consumer demand for cheap oil and gas that has led companies to take risks and cut corners. If this oil spill has shown anything it is that oil production is not without its risks and the higher the demand gets for cheap oil the more likely it is that something like this will happen.

I know I may take some flack for saying what I just said and I will admit that I may have some personal bias with both my parents having worked for oil and gas companies for most of my life. I will also admit I have never been on the side of we need to get away from fossil fuels right now. But what I do hope is that this will spark some change in the American culture to hopefully add more of a push toward alternative fuels because if we don't start soon oil prices are only going to go up. One way or another alternative fuels are what will fuel our future

Child’s question to Obama highlights nation’s hate

Ok so I know I normally avoid politics and I am not going to say anything about this but I actually found this article enjoyable and a good read no matter where you stand on political issues.

Build a Museum

I know I haven't posted in a little while school has taken up a lot of my free time as expected and yes I know Saturday is for football but since it is halftime in the Texas vs Oklahoma game, when did the Big 12 start playing defense, so I figured I would get a post in because this is something I have wanted to post about for a long time and keep forgetting about or being too busy. Ok that was a long sentence let me get to what I actually want to talk about.

So for anyone who has been to LSU knows that their Museum of Natural History is small and does not have much in the way of stuff on display. You might also know that they gave some of their stuffed animal collections to a store down I-10. Well there has been a campaign going on to help them build a museum, click here to learn more. This is something that needs to be done, and they are currently not asking for money just for public support. And public support for science is something that is hard to come by, see here and here. For people who don't know the current museum shows almost exclusively stuffed animals and most people in the state and region don't know how much in the way of fossils that LSU has. They have 70% of a Basilisaurs as well as a large collection of other mammals all of which have been found in the state of Louisiana. It would also help attract lots of large traveling exhibits like Sue. The state does not have a major natural history museum but it has plenty of natural history is it any wonder they are one of the worst when it comes to science standards. People especially kids learn the most from seeing these great organisms that once roamed this planet. So those of you be you from the state of Louisiana or not please support this attempt to build a museum in Baton Rouge on the LSU campus, maybe try contacting Mrs. Jindal because we know that Mr. Jindal doesn't support science.

And it gets worse

So I know it has been a few days since my last post life has once again gotten in the way. So we all know about Louisiana's decision to allow the use of creationist material in the classroom passed their state school board earlier this year. Well a couple of weeks ago it got even worse.

http://lasciencecoalition.org/docs/LCFS_release_BESE_complaint_policy_9.28.09.pdf

That's right while they still will allow the Department of Education to review the material the local school boards do not have to listen to them should they disagree. Well considering they will probably be the ones to put the material in the classroom in the first place why should they care what that the state's experts say?

The state of science education in the state of Louisiana is down right horrible right now. And unfortunately unlike the people of Kansas who when they saw the problem elected their school board members out of office the next year I do not feel that this has been publicised enough for it to matter to most people in the State of Louisiana. This is a state that needs science and needs to listen to scientists more and they continue to ignore them. In my opinion the boycott by science organizations not coming to Louisiana is not enough people need to spread to word to others in the state and get the BESE board removed next election cycle. The only other way that I feel this will get changed is through a lawsuit. It worked in Dover and would set a clear precedent that this is the exact same thing.

[I apologize for my grammar to anyone with a respect to the English language out there I was having trouble putting my emotions into words]

Creationist Materials

Now I know most of the rest of the country isn't having the same problems as Louisiana but I figured I would pass this along since I have a feeling these creationists will try to get these into other school classrooms around the US. So for your reading enjoyment: http://lasciencecoalition.org/2009/07/26/louisiana-stealth-creationist-materials/#more-1504

Taylor at the Manning Camp

So as we continue to approach the start of the 2009 NCAA football season (50 days left till kick off) I came across this article:

http://www.dailycomet.com/article/20090715/ARTICLES/907159954/1032?Title=Manning-camp-helps-Va-Tech-QB

It is a good read and nice to see that Tyrod made the most of his opportunity down here in Louisiana. I also liked the point he made about his first playing time being in Tiger Stadium currently being in Baton Rouge I have to hear about that all the time and I always try to admit that LSU is a good team and it is good to hear Tyrod say something similar. It would be really nice though to have VT beat Alabama to quite those SEC fans who keep putting down the ACC.

LETS GO HOKIES