What they do find is a landscape of "bushes." No pathway from first cell to Homo Sapiens. No evidence for the long-sought tree. As I recall, this search has been going on since Adam and Eve bought the epistemological arguments of the serpent.
Powell also asserts that there is proof in comparative embryology. I do hope he is still not using the 19th century drawings of Heckel that we all saw in our biology books when we were in school. These illustrations have been recognized as fraudulent for many years even though some recent text books still use them. It is considered as equal to the Piltdown Man fakery in the annals of evolutionary "science."
What this was supposed to prove was that in the earliest stages all embryos look alike and that as they develop we can see a retelling of the steps in our evolution from tadpole to Tarzan. Not only were the drawings falsified, as some of his contemporaries had originally pointed out, but recent microscopic photography shows that the initial stages the embryos are vastly different, about as unique as they are as "adults."
The only stage at which they show considerable similarity is in the middle of their development. The picture is now called an "hourglass." Another proof gone.
One last point - Dawkins' famous claim that monkeys pounding on typewriters would by random chance and over a long time give us Shakespeare. This was to support Darwinian faith that random mutations over long enough time equals design. In 2003, a computer version of this experiment showed that the "monkeys" could give us 24 letters from Henry IV in the equivalent of 2,738 trillion, trillion, trillion monkey-years.
This is hard science that Dawkins says we should believe. Not good news for D&D when we are confined to a cosmos only 15 billion years old.
When readers finish the list of books given by Mr. Powell, try four suggestions from my library: "The Science Before Science" by Anthony Rizzi, "Uncommon Dissent" by William Dembski, "Darwin's Black Box" by Michael Behe and "The Politically Incorrect Guide to Darwinism and Intelligent Design" by Jonathan Wells. And may the best science win.
Richard Giovanoni
Hagerstown
An example of why he's history
To the editor:
The comments by soon-to-be-former Pennsylvania State Rep. Steven R. Maitland (R-Adams/Franklin), made on the floor of the Pennsylvania House recently, serve to remind voters of the reasons so many lawmakers were turned out of office in the last election: Arrogance and a complete lack of touch with reality.
Maitland believes that members of the Pennsylvania legislature are "grossly underpaid" and that they should be making "what a public school superintendent is worth." He goes on to speak of his plans (and increased earning potential) once he stops supping at the public trough and enters the practice of law - a profession he prepared for while serving as a state lawmaker.
Maitland's comments about his increased earning power reveal his arrogance. That potential was made possible by completing law school while serving as a "full-time" legislator (of which we are reminded constantly by Pennsylvania lawmakers). What could more clearly illustrate his disconnection from reality?
And it is safe to say that no public school superintendent could (or would) attend law school and claim to hold down a full-time job. It is not possible - nor would it be tolerated by taxpayers. I am not sorry to see Maitland nor any of his kind leave public life.
John R. Goss III
Chambersburg, Pa.
Bravo, Dale, for joining JFK 1,000-mile club
To the editor:
I am writing this letter as public congratulations to my brother, Dale Rhoderick, who has just competed in and completed his 20th JFK ultra- marathon race.
