Should I laugh then cry? Or cry then laugh? Missing link fossil IDA devolves rapidly, Texas Senate follows suit

Today - where to begin? And when will it all end?


Darwin's dutiful defenders continue desperate digging to discover a/the "missing link" - any old link will do. In the meanwhile, the Senate of the grand state of Texas stuffs a guy who seeks inquiry about the sufficiency or insufficiency of evolutionary theory. Methinks there is a weasel in all this stuff.

Article first: IDA the "missing link" - is not.


News sites were humming with the news of a virtually complete fossil from Germany touted as a/the missing link. She even has a name, "IDA."







Here is IDA's mugshot,
courtesy of PLoS One,
Huram et al, via LiveScience









And here is the really fun three-day sequence of news post headlines May 19, 2009, to May 21, 2009.:


(1) LiveScience:
http://www.livescience.com/history/090519-fossil-primate.html
Ancient Human Ancestor 'Ida' Discovered
By LiveScience Staff
posted: 19 May 2009 12:23 pm ET


(2) LiveScience.
http://www.livescience.com/animals/090520-fossil-reactions.html
Amid Media Circus, Scientists Doubt 'Ida' Is Your Ancestor
By Clara Moskowitz
posted: 20 May 2009 02:13 pm ET

(3) FOX News:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,520886,00.html
Scientists: 'Missing Link' Fossil Not Worth Media Hype
Thursday, May 21, 2009 By Clara Moskowitz, LiveScience
You know science has made it big when the Google homepage logo is changed to celebrate a fossil finding and the mayor of New York shows up at a press conference to unveil it.



So how many times have we seen this same scenario. And will it go on interminably? Thanks to Yogi Berra, we can say this seems like "deja vu all over again."



Article second: Texas Senate Democrats disdain asking students to "evaluate the sufficiency or insufficiency of the theory of evolution."


See: http://www.onenewsnow.com/Headlines/Default.aspx?id=546960
Head of state education board denied reappointment for supporting creationism
Associated Press - 5/29/2009 5:30:00 AM
"AUSTIN, TX - Democrats in the Texas Senate have blocked the reappointment of a creationist to head the state board that sets standards and policies for Texas public schools.
The 19-11 vote was one vote shy of the two-thirds approval needed to support Gov. Rick Perry's nomination of Don McLeroy as chairman of the State Board of Education. McLeroy has been chairman of the board since 2007 and will remain a member. He has supported requiring students to "evaluate the sufficiency or insufficiency" of the theory of evolution."
.



And my question:

So dear Darwin-is-Dead readers, some characters are desperately trying to dig up the/a "missing link" to support the molecules-to-man myth. In the meantime, questioning the sufficiency or insufficiency of science to support the myth is a no-no to the Texas Democrats.


Are there no clear-eyed blue-dog Democrats in the Lone Star State? Or have the red-dogs invaded even Longhorn land?



Respectfully submitted,


D.U.