"Thompson reads from Haught's book "Deeper Than Darwin," in which the theologian writes that proponents of I.D. are often highly trained and skilled scientists, that they are no more or less intelligent than their counterparts in evolutionary biology, and that they are neither stupid nor insane.

All true, acknowledges Haught."

Well, actually, no.

Persistent and unwavering belief in non-reality is, by definition, insanity. Some may dignify this foolishness by calling it "faith," but that does not make it any less irrational or mitigate its proponents' inherent lack of intellectual integrity.

As to teaching ID as part of science curricula, I say, "What better way to demonstrate the tenets of scientific method than methodically tearing nonsense like intelligent design (pediatric leukemia, anyone? Anopheles mosquitoes? ) a new one."

You gotta be joking.

These people are hired for the way they look. Maternity changes that, you know.... Thirty years ago, I used to be a hottie, too. But I'm not anymore...that's just the way the um, cookie crumbles. I can't imagine going back to Hefner and saying, "Well, Hef, I've raised the kids now, and I'm ready to come back to work...."

Not that I personally give a crap, because I think the Rockettes are about as asinine as the Miss America "pageant," but really...what kind of skank wants to see a line of high-kicking grandmas exposing their crotches on national TV anyway?

Perhaps now the Cockettes will demand representative casting for men.

Am I the only person who finds these white-trash nutjobs disgusting at best and criminally irresponsible at least?

I know this is a "panda" story, but people! Let's stop glorifying psychotic behavior, okay? It is not possible to responsibly raise and educate sixteen children, even with Jesus working overtime. If the Duggars truly felt that a child was a gift from God, they would honor it as such and not consign it to a bunk in this bizarre collection of reproductive self-indulgence. Did it ever occur to these breathtakingly selfish people that if having a "quiverfull" of kids was so important, there are millions of the needy little buggers out there awaiting adoption?

I'd love to see a follow-up twenty years hence to see just how much this "family" has cost the American taxpayer.

EEEWWW! One can only hope that this self-centered cretin grows old alone and lonely, with no one to wipe his drool or change his diaper, or endure his insufferable, if thwarted, male ego. Why people like this bother to reproduce is beyond me, and certainly explains why the American Family is a dying institution.

I literally felt my skin crawl as I read this letter, Cary. The implications here are truly creepy, but if the daughter has a modicum of brain in her head, she will grab sis and mum and take off for points far far from this "home," never to return. I shudder to think what this young woman has had to deal with growing up with a man as hostile and resentful as this guy. Tell her to tell him to go fuck himself in a closet somewhere. Then turn around and RUN and never look back!

ahansen

If your kids scream, and "there's nothing you can do about it," YOU don't belong in a restaurant, let alone your brats. Stay home. Train your children. Learn to be civil, then try again.

I indulged my love of fine dining in the company of my baby throughout his toddler-hood, childhood and now young adulthood. At one point he was given the Orange Country Restaurant Writers Association impromptu "Baby of the Year Award" because of his non-obtrusive behavior during their annual awards dinner. This required nothing more on my part than insisting on a standard of behavior that I was consistently willing to enforce, and keeping in mind that NO ONE else thinks your kids are as special as you do.

There is nothing more charming than young children who dine quietly and happily in the company of adults, and conversely nothing more inexcusable than unmanaged little creatures scurrying about the floor, whining at table, and likewise detracting from the efforts of the kitchen and staff. Dining out entails an expenditure of time, effort and money. Often it commemorates a special occasion. Allowing your ill-bred children to ruin it for a roomful of patrons deserves the ire of those upon whom you impose. If they can't behave themselves, put them in the car until you are finished. Thank you.

When I have found myself, over the past ten years, snagging my fingernails clinging to the fraying ends of the greased tether above the shit-abyss, you-Mr. Kamiya-have been there to remind me I am not alone in my horror of what our country has become.

Sometimes, when one is besieged, it is enough to know that someone, somewhere out there, gets it too...and is similarly outraged over how things are unfolding in the scheme of things.

So thank you so much for that. Sincerely. Salon has literally been a lifeline for me. May the next ten years bring us a sense of hope and resolve, and usher in an era of intelligent rationality to quash the reign of the Stoopids.

(Yeah, right, he goes....)

Pax and Love,

ahansen

Where else but in Murka would the public throw a hissy fit because someone turned out NOT to be a drug-addicted thug?

You people amuse me so....