Evolution

Afforded a little extra time from finishing chores early on Tuesday, I sat with a cup of coffee in what used to be a backyard, but now, thanks to the drought, resembles an abandoned shopping center parking lot. I don't mow anymore so much as I pluck. I put my feet up on the patio table, watched the cattle munch at the round bale, saw the goats stretching out in the barn for a nap and listened to the gentle hum of the alpacas. Of course, this peaceful postcard of a setting didn't last.

Once upon a time, about 13 billion years ago, there was total darkness and nothing existed. Then, for some strange reason, a dense piece of volatile matter was formed. I'm not sure why. Shortly afterwards, there was a "Big Bang" and this matter exploded and was thrown outward. Even though you and I did not witness the event, this story is based on reliable information. Oh, speaking of you and me. While this debris was traveling outwards, something very peculiar happened.

Resolution may lead to evolution It's the time for resolutions. Last year I resolved not to make any resolutions. That's the only resolution I've ever kept for longer than one week. But tradition prevails. Like lemmings, we must run off the cliff of the future knowing there's nothing but air under our feet. (Yes, I know, the National Public Radio science reporter said lemmings don't really follow their leader in a suicidal pack off the edges of cliffs. I don't believe him.)

To the editor: I read with interest Allan Powell's (Jan. 23) essay against Christian fundamentalism. While I support his free speech rights, I continue to be amazed at how far he goes to build a case against people of faith. His straw man keeps growing bigger. This time, it is allegedly a "harmful social movement. " His criticisms of creation and various miracles in the Bible don't carry any serious weight. If a person only accepts a naturalistic view of the world, without any possibility of events beyond our declared laws of nature, then of course anything else is dismissed arbitrarily.

Nineteenth-century British naturalist Charles Darwin's theory of evolution claims that complex creatures evolve from simple ancestors naturally over time. Mankind, for example, evolved from primates. And all multicellular animals - mammals, fish, birds, worms, etc. - evolved from single-cell creatures over billions of years. This familiar theory, generally accepted as factual among biologists, is facing challenges in school districts across the country. The Kansas State Board of Education prohibited nearly all in-school references to evolution in 1999.

If there's no evolution, there's no need for better antibiotics To the editor: There have been letters back and forth in the creation versus evolution discussions. It is possible to argue that there is no such thing as evolution. It is also possible to argue that Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is very dangerous.  It requires a lot of mental gymnastics to insist that there is no evolution and that some forms of Staphylococcus aureus have evolved into  MRSA forms of Staphylococcus.

MOVIE REVIEW: "Underworld: Evolution"; rated R for graphic violence, explicit sex, strong language; 105 minutes In "Underworld: Evolution," the sequel to the big hit "Underworld," Selene, a female vampire played by Kate Beckinsale, hunts her own kind in Eastern Europe. She is also protecting a vampire-werewolf hybrid named Michael, played by Scott Speedman. The movie involves flashback across the span of human history to recall moments in the eternal struggle between werewolves and vampires.

To the editor: What could explain the serious factual errors found in Allan Powell's "Faith, science and the difference?" Did the professor not do his homework? Did his source material fail him? Is he being less than honest with his readers? Whatever the explanation, here are the facts: The Kansas State Board of Education was not involved in a bitterly contested debate. Oh, Darwinian scientists vented plenty of bitterness, just not before the Board of Education. Instead, they decided to boycott the hearings and not debate the merits of the proposed changes.

Killing of innocent children can't be explained To the editor: At 89 years of age, this is among the worst unbelievable acts of evil that has happened in my lifetime. I'm a World War II veteran with terrible combat experiences, but this senseless killing of these innocent, beautiful small children just can't be explained and just is so hard to accept. I love our freedom in this country, but we need to look very hard at what can be done to prevent this kind of tragedy from happening again.

While recent studies show a resistance to some feature of science, the fact remains that this resistance goes back hundreds of years to the birth of science. Today, it is primarily in biology — then, it was in astronomy. A newly released study by two scholars at Penn State University of 926 high school biology teachers in 49 states and the District of Columbia shows some troubling results. Twenty-eight percent replied that they consistently taught what was called for about evolution.

“I just heard on TV where the producers of movies for television and the theaters have said that people don’t want to see Christmas stories anymore. How asinine can that be?” — Falling Waters, W.Va. “You know, I hear these gobbledygook people on these talk shows and everything, and the pundits, saying that the Obama’s gonna have a competition in 2012 from his own party. Sen. Feinstein is one of them. Well, let me tell you something about Sen. Feinstein.