I've Moved

When I began this blog, I knew that I would not be updating it every day. My hope was that I'd be able to post here once or twice a week at least. Of late that has not been possible due to my recent move.

I have started a new job in Pennsylvania, and so for the last couple of months, all of my energies has been devoted to making this transition. Hopefully in the next few weeks life will settle down again and I'll be able to focus on politics and dinosaurs once more. I am still following Virginia politics (being my home state it is special to me), but as of late I've been far more removed. I will return to my hoped for regularity soon.

Election Results

Well, the primary election has come and gone, and it looks like Kaine/Byrne/Deeds vs Kilgore/Bolling/McDonnell. First thing I noticed was that the Democrat's names all have just one syllable, makes them easier to say. Don't know if that means anything in the long run though.

Bolling and McDonnell are the GOP candidates that most Democrats were hoping for because we thought them the weakest. Deeds should be very strong agian McDonnell, especially since Deeds will likely be endorsed by the NRA over McDonnell, which makes a big difference in VA.

But Leslie Byrne... I honestly don't know how she's going to perform well outside of Northern Virginia. It looks like Democrats managed yet again to come up with a ticket that won't sweep in November. I am hopeful still, but it would have been nice if the Democrats hadn't shot themselves in the foot in the Lt. Gov's race.

Looking Up Dino Skirts

I always got a good chuckle out of the line in Steven Spielberg's 'Jurassic Park' from character Ian Malcolm that went something like this: "How do we know all the dinosaurs are female? Does somebody go around looking up their skirts?"

Well, now according to this National Geographic Article, the experts have found ways to determine the gender of a dinosaur from its fossils. A very good read from one of the best magazines on the natural world out there.

Neo-Victorian?

Stirling Newberry, in a Truthout Article, describes the conditions surrounding the British Empire and draws parallels with Americas current situation. I highly recommend reading this to gain a clearer understanding of the battle we are facing.

The GOP wish to create dependency amongst all Americans to sustaining the 'American Empire'.

Creationist Museum

An article in today's The Observer talks about a museum in Arkansas that presents a Creationist view of the time of dinosaurs. It features an exhibit with a T. Rex being spied upon by Adam and Eve and explains that in paradise, they had nothing to fear.

While I would love to see dinosaurs with my own eyes. To be able to watch those mighty beasts steal away my imagination and replace it with substantial reality, I know that it will never be so. And in fact, it has never been so. Dinosaurs and humans have never coexisted on this Earth.

I am Catholic, and I reject the Creationist teaching that Genesis is to be taken literally and that the world is only a little over four thousand years old. While science cannot explain everything (there are questions that can be asked that do not fall under the purview of scientific analysis), science is quite capable of explaining matters regarding the natural world. And we are learning more all the time. An every new thing we learn and discover only further disproves Creationism.

Evolutionist have been very capable of debunking Creationist claims, and so I'm not going to go into that here. But Creationism represents a real threat to modern society on several different levels. First off, a Creationist is diminishing God. Incapable of accepting with humility that God's ways are powerful, and that the Universe should be marvelled at, they instead scoff at scientific knowledge and reject the gifts of reason and wisdom in favour of their strict interpretations of scripture. They lack faith in God's power, and in their need to spout lies to discredit evolutionists, they also discredit all lines of scientific and intellectual inquiry. In so doing, we create the society where knowledge is irrelevant, truth is determined by whatever those in authority say it is, and objective inquiry is impossible.

That is not a good thing, I think one can agree. Further, I think no good can come from pitting religion against science. It's such a stupid argument. Religion and Science are components that work together beautifully. Do I believe that God created this world? Yes! But I believe that God did so in a way that we are learning about. The importance of the story of Genesis is not in how God created, or in timelines and so forth, but that God did create all of existence.

Now, I'm sure I'll be accused of being in favour of Intelligent Design. Hardly. I do not believe tha we should give up trying to understand how our world came to be, or that we should doubt our ability to learn such things, which is one of the components of Intelligent Design. I believe that God created this world, but not that the world is so complex God has to exist. We are called to have faith in God and to put our trust in Him, not to find crutches to rest our belief upon.

Of course, the other big issue I have with Creationist lobby is that they want to turn this country into a 'Christian' theocratic nation, and I oppose that firmly. By inches they strive, because if they can convince more and more people to reduce God to an agent following a script, they can do far worse. We do not want to see what would happen to the sciences in this country should we give in and legitimize the creationist myth.

Pope John Paul II welcomed evolution, as he recognized the truth within scientific endeavour. Truth does not contradict truth. And so the truth of God and the truth of science do not contradict either. That He did not choose to reveal to us in the pages of Genesis this truth does not invalidate it.

An Open Letter to Virginia's Senators

One of the most important aspects of American Democracy is the balance of power that resides in the three branches of government. That balance is precisely what is on the line with the proposed rule change that would eliminate the filibuster for judicial nominees. By insuring that every one of Bush's nominees can prevail in the Senate, the Senate itself will not be granting advice or consent to the nominees. The Senate should not abdicate its constitutional responsibility. The Senate must always remain a check on executive power.

If you vote to eliminate the filibuster here, then will you not be willing to eliminate the use of the filibuster for other reasons? How long will it be before cabinet or other executive nominees are also insulated from the threat of a filibsuter? How long before specific legislation is made unassailable by the filibuster? How long before there is no more filibuster at all?

The filibuster was designed to give each Senator the ability to be heard. By reducing the effectiveness of the filibuster today, the Senate reduces itself merely into squabbling factions. No longer will it be an institution of 100 Senators, but a gaggle of two parties.

It is imperitave that the filibuster and all minority rights be protected. Political expedience is the greatest threat to democracy. The President does not need to have the ability to put any one he so chooses on the federal bench for life. By eliminating the filibuster, you will be doing exactly that.

We must recall history. Throughout history, when an executive has been given a certain power, it is never laid down. The more power that is given to the President, no matter who they are or of what party, the more dictatorial this country can become. We will weaken our democratic form of government if we pursue this path.

Freedom and liberty cannot merely be words on monuments or in anthems. They must stride the halls of power in Washington DC if America will survive as the Founders intended. Vote to preserve the filibuster, and you will be casting a vote with the Founding Fathers. If you vote to eliminate the filibuster, then you stand in the company of the Roman Senate annointing Augustus and ushering in the end of Roman Democracy. History will remember you, and not kindly.

Do the right thing and stand up for America. Support the filibuster.

Flat Heads and Veggie Lovers

Two new delectable bits of news in the dinosaur world have come to my attention in the last week. First, the flat heads:

Pachycephalosaur Discovery

Most will remember the pachycephalosaurs as the dinosaurs with the dome-shaped heads that were ramming the trucks in 'The Lost World' and doing a significant bit of damage. It now seems that there were some members of this family who sported completely flat craniums. This is the sort of discovery which makes the paleontologists go right back to the drawing board, and it shows how dynamic a field dinosaur study really is. That we can know so much based on just the fossils alone is remarkable, but as always, it is all speculation that later finds can overturn.

The second bit of news regards the Falcarius, the first dinosaur found to have converted from a meat-eating diet to a vegetarian diet. Falcarius is the earliest known member of the therizinosaurs family, a plant-eating group of dinosaurs. The later ancestors in the family are more full-bodied, and would not be able to move at very high-speeds, while the Falcarius may have been liable to snatch up a lizard or two. Yet one more link the in the evolutionary chain of dinosaurs!

All in all, an amazing couple weeks for dinosaurs lovers!

Dino Discovery

Recently, eggs were found inside a dinosaur fossil in China's Jiangxi Province. The dinosaur was likely about to lay the eggs when it died, so this is a remarkable find.

Many believe that dinosaurs, or at least, some dinosaurs, are the missing link between reptiles and birds, and the presence of only two eggs in the body cavity may support that theory in another way. Birds only have one oviduct-ovary combination, while crocidilies have two. But crocodiles can lay all their eggs at once, unlike birds, and apparently this dinosaur. This dinosaur (probably a theropod), had to lay each of its eggs in turn until its nest was full.

Reproduction is one area of dinosaur kowledge that we are still trying to learn more. This could prove to be an important step forward.

The article is here.