In honor of Charles Darwin's birthday on February 12th, I am posting a series of diaries on Darwin and his theory. My first entry in this miniseries covered the basics of Darwin's theory of evolution. My second essay addressed some of the objections that have been made to Darwinian evolution and showed how year after year we find more evidence to support the theory of evolution. Today, I want to finish this miniseries by describing something about Darwin himself.

Since I will be busy herding a group of pre-teens to pizza, a movie and a party on the 12th, I will finish this series of essays one day early. Happy Birthday, Mr. Darwin. This one's for you!

In honor of Charles Darwin's birthday on February 12th, I am posting a series of diaries on Darwin and his theory. My first entry in this miniseries covered the basics of Darwin's theory of evolution. In this essay, I wish to discuss some of the objections that have been made regarding his theory and show how more than 100 years of research have done nothing but bolster or minorly modify Darwin's theory.

In honor of Charles Darwin's birthday on Feb. 12th, I want to spend some time discussing just what is Darwin's theory of evolution and, in another article, addressing some of the criticisms of this theory.

As Darwin Day approaches, we are facing an increasing assault by right wing extremists on Darwin's theory. Kansas is one of the big battlegrounds, of course, and it is depressing watching the battle unfold.

A recent issue of Science covered the upcoming Kansas state school board elections and let me tell you, it really is embarassing to read about this shit happening in 2006 America!

Recently I posted a diary on global warming which drew some offline interest from global warming deniers which I covered in the comments to that story. I don't know much about those who attacked me offline, and I don't much care. Whether they intend it or not, they are part of a right wing attack on science that I recently wrote about on Daily Kos but which seems worth updating for the benefit of Political Cortex.

It started when I was reading a biography of Darwin and had just come to the part where the publication of Origin of the Species has produced a huge religion vs. science debate at an Oxford scientific conference. I was struck by how far we have come since then only to see reactionary forces pulling us back towards willfull ignorance. My anger at the willfull ignorance of a wide section of American culture is what led to this article.