Lt. Harper: What’re you gonna do?

Clay: Look around a little.

Lt. Harper: Once you get beyond those lights you won’t be able to see your hand in front of your face.

Clay: I will get one of the flashlights from the patrol car.

Lt. Harper: You be careful Clay.

Clay: I’m a big boy now, Johnny.

— Plan 9 from Outer Space

Meerkat pups practicing for guard duty, from ZooBorns.

With Louisiana breaking their way (for the moment) the Discovery Institute’s next playground is in Texas, where they’re gearing up to promote their new “intelligent design” book (Explore Evolution) with the help of the State Board of Education: The Evolution Vs. God Debate Is Being Renewed In Texas.

Just in case you were worried that Texas hadn’t made an embarrassing spectacle of itself lately, you need fret no more.

Once again the State Board of Education is coming to your rescue.

The SBOE is holding a public hearing January 21 on science standards, and the people at the Discovery Institute, who think Intelligent Design blows away that whole stoopid “evolution” theory, are happy as unevolved clams.

“We’re very pleased that in this Darwin bicentennial year Texas has invited scientists on both sides of the evolution debate to testify about the scientific status of Darwin’s theory,” said Dr. John West, associate director of Discovery Institute’s Center for Science & Culture, in a statement released today.

It’s NOT about God, in case you’re curious. Questioning evolution is all about teaching kids to be better students.

“Previously, these scientists have advised the SBOE that good science education should encourage students to learn the scientific facts and engage in more critical thinking than they would under the currently proposed [standards],” the Discovery Institute’s release says.

We assume these people will also call for standard that demand critical thinking in the theory of the boiling temperature of water and whether gravity makes things go up or down.

January 21, folks. In Austin. Bring popcorn and enjoy the show.

The next creationist shoe has dropped in Louisiana, where the State Board of Education adopted a policy aimed at introducing “intelligent design” creationism into science classes this week, taking advantage of the Discovery Institute-sponsored “academic freedom” bill signed into law by Governor Bobby Jindal: Louisiana Creates: New Pro-Intelligent Design Rules for Teachers.

Last year, Louisiana passed the Louisiana Science Education Act, a law that many scientists and educators said was a thinly veiled attempt to allow creationism and its variants into the science classroom. On Tuesday, the state’s Board of Elementary and Secondary Education adopted a policy that sharpens those fears, giving teachers license to use materials outside of the regular curriculum to teach “controversial” scientific theories including evolution, origins of life, and global warming. Backers of the law, including the Louisiana Family Forum, say it is intended to foster critical thinking in students. Opponents insist its only purpose is to provide a loophole for creationists to attack the teaching of evolution.

“We fully expect to see the Discovery Institute’s book, Explore Evolution, popping up in school districts across the state*,” says Barbara Forrest, a philosopher at Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond. The Discovery Institute, a Seattle-based think tank, is a proponent of Intelligent Design. In a statement on the institute’s Web site, its education analyst Casey Luskin hailed the new policy as a “victory for Louisiana students and teachers.” The policy will now be printed in the Louisiana Handbook for School Administrators, which public school officials use as a guide.

State education officials tasked with translating last year’s law into policy drafted a document that explicitly prohibits teachers from teaching intelligent design, but on 2 December, board members deferred a scheduled vote. Forrest says the advocates of the law used the delay to pressure education officials to remove that language and a disclaimer saying that religion should not be taught under the guise of critical thinking. On 13 January, the 11-member board unanimously approved a policy that contains no such caveats.

Zombie has a great post on the worldwide intifada eruption of January 10, 2009: The Intifada is globalized as the Gaza War becomes a world war.

(Taken with a Canon Powershot G10, 5x optical zoom.)

Yes, the votes are in, more than 26,000 of them, and we have a clear winner. You might even call it a landslide, with 39.2% of the vote. For their leg-tingling coverage of the Obama campaign, and other misbehaviors too numerous to mention, the 2008 Idiotarian Award will go to … the Mainstream Media.

There will be a formal presentation of the award with illustration by Cox & Forkum soon.

Terrorist propaganda at YouTube: an interview in Arabic with a member of “Al Qassam” in Gaza, a masked goon who poses holding an RPG with children standing around. This video may disappear. Embedding was turned off shortly after it was posted in our comments.

A Gazan Brother.

Here’s the page of the user who uploaded this: YusufJAA99. As you can see, he specializes in videos glorifying the murders and atrocities of the mujahideen.

(Hat tip: Killgore.)

The Wall Street Journal has an article on Iran’s increasing efforts to obtain the materials needed to manufacture nuclear weapons and long range missiles: Fresh Clues of Iranian Nuclear Intrigue.

The United Arab Emirates has informed the U.S. that in September it intercepted a Chinese shipment headed to Iran of specialized aluminum sheets that can be used to make ballistic missiles. A month earlier, UAE officials also intercepted an Iran-bound shipment of titanium sheets that can be used in long-range missiles, according to a recent letter to the U.S. Commerce Department from the UAE’s Washington ambassador.

Evidence of Iran’s efforts to acquire sensitive materials also is emerging from investigations by state and federal prosecutors in New York into whether a number of major Western banks illegally handled funds for Iran and deliberately hid Iranian transactions routed through the U.S. One focus of the inquiries is the role of Italy, including the Rome branch of Iran’s Bank Sepah and Italy’s Banca Intesa Sanpaolo Spa. Banca Intesa said it is cooperating in the inquiries.

The developments could present President-elect Barack Obama with an early test in responding to what many Washington security officials now say is a rapidly growing threat to the region, including U.S. allies Israel and Saudi Arabia.

All of the high-performance metals Iran has been acquiring also have industrial uses such as commercial aviation and manufacturing, making it difficult for intelligence agencies to be absolutely certain how the materials are being used. “We can’t say we know it would, or would not, be used for military purposes,” said proliferation expert Gary Milholland of the nonprofit Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms Control, noting that broad economic sanctions on Tehran led by the U.S. mean Iran has to go to unusual lengths to find high-grade materials for industrial use as well as weapons.

Still, he added, “There doesn’t seem to be any real doubt or debate whether Iran is going for the bomb or whether Iran is using front companies to import things. Everyone agrees on that around the world.”

Everyone agrees Iran is going for the ultimate weapon. That’s nice. Is there a point when this agreement would translate into real action to stop it, or does “everyone” just resign themselves to do nothing as disaster approaches?

LGF reader Michael Fenenbock emailed this interesting report from Israel; he was able to get access to the battle zone in Gaza and interview IDF soldiers, unlike the mainstream media.

January 15, 2009
Jerusalem, Israel

Michael Fenenbock, veteran political consultant and founder of the18, made a lightning visit to the Gaza war zone yesterday to interact with IDF troops near the front.

Accompanied by senior security personnel, Fenenbock gained access to a zone where reporters are not permitted to enter. Fenenbock’s most striking impression was that morale is extremely high at all levels of command and that the professionalism and commitment of the IDF are impressive.

What follows is Michael’s first-hand report from the front lines.

Posted yesterday at the moderated listserv of the National Communication Association, one of the two top organizations for scholars in the field of Communication: an antisemitic diatribe by David Duke. And unless someone is using his name, this disgusting article was posted by “racialist” writer Lawrence Auster—who has viciously attacked me for my opposition to European fascists.

Liberal academics, white supremacists, and “anti-jihadists.” One big happy family.

(Hat tip: Mere Rhetoric.)

UPDATE at 1/16/09 10:30:14 am:

An update at Mere Rhetoric: Mere Rhetoric: Top US Communication Listserv: Hey, How About Some Anti-Israel David Duke Pamphlets?

UPDATE 2009-01-16 - CRTNET is now claiming that they’re an unmoderated listserv. That’s a little weird since they have “submission guidelines” that emphasize professional standards and civility. It’s also going to be news to Penn State and the University of Iowa and the University of Oklahoma since they, like me, are under the impression that it’s a moderated listserv just like it’s always been.

UPDATE at 1/16/09 3:17:05 pm:

According to an email we received, Auster was the victim of an impersonation in this case, and did not post the Duke article to the listserv. We still have the issue of how it was approved for the list, however.

Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal, safely hiding from Israel in Syria, is talking tough with absolutely nothing to back it up.

DOHA, Qatar – Hamas’ political chief rejected Israeli conditions for a Gaza cease-fire Friday and demanded an immediate opening of the besieged territory’s borders, taking a tough line as he asked a summit of Arab countries to back him by cutting off any ties with Israel.

Despite the hard-line comments by the Syrian-based Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal, Israel and Egyptian mediators were expressing optimism a cease-fire could be reached. Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev said he was hopeful that Israel is “entering the endgame” on its Gaza offensive and that a “sustained and durable” stop to Hamas rocket fire on southern Israel was near.

Hamas is threatening Israel with waves of suicide bombers, and at the same time demanding that Israel open the borders and let the murderers in. It’s a surreal kind of insanity, and the “international community” doesn’t even blink at it.

There are four hours left to vote for the 2008 Idiotarian of the Year, so here’s the poll again, one last time. The Mainstream Media seem to have the prize in the bag this year, unless there’s a sudden flood of votes for another candidate.

[Poll moved to this post.]