The Creation Museum

Wed, Jul 23, 2008 at 6:10:21 pm PDT

Before we get to the real point of this post, here’s some background information on the Creation Museum in Kentucky:

The Creation Museum is a 60,000 square foot museum in the United States designed to promote young Earth creationism. The museum presents an account of the origins of the universe, life, mankind, and man’s early history according to a literal reading of the book of Genesis. Its exhibits reject evolution and assert that the Earth and all of its life forms were created 6000 years ago over a six-day period, and that man and dinosaurs once coexisted.

These views disagree with well in excess of 99.9% of the scientists in relevant fields. Also, the museum exhibits are at odds with the vast majority of scientists who accept that the Earth is approximately 4.5 billion years old, and that the dinosaurs became extinct 65.5 million years before human beings arose. The museum has generated criticism by the scientific community, several groups of educators, Christian groups opposed to young Earth creationism, and in the general press.

The museum, which is said to have cost $27 million, is privately-funded through donations to the apologetics ministry Answers in Genesis and opened its doors to the public on May 28, 2007. Based on projections, the museum anticipated 250,000 paying visitors in its first year of operation. According to AiG, within its first month attendance surpassed 100,000 visitors by July 21, 2007 and 200,000 visitors on September 20, 2007. Visitor attendance also exceeded first year expectations only 5 months and 5 days after opening, with a total of 250,000 visitors on November 2, 2007.

The museum was originally marketed as the Creation Museum and Family Discovery Center. It opened in late Spring of 2007 as the “Creation Museum.” The museum is located in Petersburg, Kentucky, near the Greater Cincinnati International Airport on 49 acres of land; the Answers in Genesis main offices are attached to the museum. The facility’s stated mission is to “exalt Jesus Christ as Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer,” to “equip Christians to better evangelize the lost,” and to “challenge visitors to receive Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.”

According to the founder of Answers in Genesis, Ken Ham, “One of the main reasons we moved there was because we are within one hour’s flight of 69 per cent of America’s population.” Ham also explains how the idea of the museum originated: “Australia’s not really the place to build such a facility if you’re going to reach the world. Really, America is.” Previously Ham worked for the Institute for Creation Research, which runs a creationist museum in Santee, California, with free admission.

With that introduction, a reader emailed a link to a Flickr photo essay by “astropop,” who visited the Creation Museum with a good camera and a good eye.

Here we see an animatronic cave girl happily coexisting with an animatronic allosaur.

Here’s a slideshow of all the pictures. I recommend absorbing the entire message.

Holocaust Denial at YouTube

Wed, Jul 23, 2008 at 2:35:40 pm PDT

Jihad videos? Yep, YouTube’s got ’em. Crackpot 9/11 Troofers? Yep, YouTube’s got ’em. Lots of ’em.

Holocaust deniers? YouTube - RevisionistsRus’s Videos.

Another Soon-To-Be-Nuanced Statement from Obama

Wed, Jul 23, 2008 at 2:13:30 pm PDT

John at Power Line notices another in a seemingly endless series of gaffes from the Naive Messiah: The Fine Line Between Pandering and Lying.

Obama continued:

Now, in terms of knowing my commitments, you don’t have to just look at my words, you can look at my deeds. Just this past week, we passed out of the U.S. Senate Banking Committee, which is my committee, a bill to call for divestment from Iran, as a way of ratcheting up the pressure to ensure that they don’t obtain a nuclear weapon.

But Obama is not a member of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee. Obama just made that up so he could count the committee’s action as one of “my deeds.”

UPDATE at 7/23/08 2:32:05 pm:

And here’s the video clip:

Coexisting

Wed, Jul 23, 2008 at 11:41:36 am PDT

Video: Al Jazeera Throws Party for Child Killer

Wed, Jul 23, 2008 at 9:07:22 am PDT

This depraved show alone should prevent Al Jazeera from ever being picked up by US cable channels, as the Arab “news network” throws a birthday party for released terrorist Samir Kuntar—who shot a child’s father in front of her, then bashed the little girl’s brains out with a rifle butt.

It’s almost unbelievable. They’ve let their thirst for blood and lack of decency trump even their political ends this time.

(Courtesy of MEMRI TV.)

Following are excerpts from a birthday party organized by Al-Jazeera TV for released Lebanese terrorist Samir Al-Quntar. Al-Jazeera TV aired this segment on July 19, 2008

Interviewer: Brother Samir, we would like to celebrate your birthday with you. You deserve even more than this. I think that 11,000 prisoners – if they can see this program now – are celebrating your birthday with you. Happy birthday, brother Samir.

Samir Al-Quntar: Thank you.

Interviewer: Go ahead... There is a picture here... If the camera can show this... Let’s cut it... Does the camera show this clearly or not? We have a picture here... This is the sword of the Arabs, Samir. Don’t cut the picture, cut on the side.

Samir Al-Quntar: Here’s Abu Qassam [Marwan Barghouti].

Interviewer: Marwan is here.

Samir Al-Quntar: Abu Qassam is here with Ahmad Sa’dat. That’s our prison warden...

Interviewer: This one?

Samir Al-Quntar: Yes.

Interviewer: What is the warden’s name?

Samir Al-Quntar: His name is... Never mind.

Interviewer: This is when you were released. Here you are with Wafiq Safa.

Samir Al-Quntar: Yes, this is Wafiq Safa. This is the most beautiful picture – with Hassan Nasrallah. This is the most beautiful picture. There cannot be anything more beautiful. Me and the secretary-general – the most beautiful picture of me ever taken.

Discussion: A Veep for McCain?

Wed, Jul 23, 2008 at 8:46:03 am PDT

Here’s an open thread for a specific topic: who do you think would be the best Vice President for John McCain? I have to admit it’s difficult for me to get excited about any of the names currently being tossed into the ring. Maybe it’s time for a surge of fresh ideas from the lizard army...

Obama's Israel Okey-Doke

Wed, Jul 23, 2008 at 8:16:27 am PDT

Barack Obama is in Israel, telling everybody what he thinks they want to hear—except the journalists he continues to shun: Obama: I’m here to reaffirm special US-Israel relationship.

After a series of meetings with Israeli officials and a visit to Israel’s Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial, US presidential contender Senator Barack Obama travelled 30-minutes from Jerusalem to the West Bank town of Ramallah on Wednesday afternoon where he assured Palestinian leaders he’d get involved in the Mideast conflict quickly, a top Palestinian official said.

In his meeting with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, Obama confirmed “that he will be a constructive partner in the peace process” and would not “waste a minute” if elected, Chief Palestinian negotiator Saed Erekat said.

Obama left Abbas’s headquarters without speaking to reporters.

Obama photo of the day.

Overnight Open Thread

Tue, Jul 22, 2008 at 9:11:25 pm PDT

All things one has forgotten scream for help in dreams.

— Elias Canetti

And Now for Some Don Ross

Tue, Jul 22, 2008 at 6:30:49 pm PDT

Terror-Linked Subway Imam Promotes Islamic Creationism

Tue, Jul 22, 2008 at 5:04:40 pm PDT

As we noted yesterday, Imam Siraj Wahhaj (named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing) is planning a series of subway train advertisements in Manhattan—during September—proselytizing for Islam.

The organization behind this effort runs the web site whyislam.org, and featured prominently on their homepage we find: The Collapse of Darwinism. Clicking the image on their page (not here) brings you to an expensively produced presentation by Harun Yahya, the Turkish creationist whose organizations have collaborated with US groups like the Institute for Creation Research.

(Hat tip: LGF readers.)

Video: Cdesign Proponentsists

Tue, Jul 22, 2008 at 3:35:18 pm PDT

An interesting presentation from the National Center for Science Education on the part they played in the Dover School District creationism case, and their analysis of differing drafts of the creationist textbook Of Pandas and People.

The smoking gun moment was when they discovered the nonsense words “cdesign proponentsists” in the latest draft—a sloppy cut and paste job that resulted in a telltale mix of “creationists” and “intelligent design proponents.”

When people say that “Intelligent Design” is simply repackaged creationism, this is one reason why.

Karadzic Arrested, Was Disguised As Doctor

Tue, Jul 22, 2008 at 11:54:46 am PDT

Serbian nationalist Radovan Karadzic, one of the most wanted men in Europe, has been arrested in Belgrade working as a doctor.

“Karadzic used false documents with the name Dragan Dabic,” said Rasim Ljajic, the minister in charge of cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).

He had been posing as a doctor of alternative medicine, sporting long hair, a beard and glasses to hide his face.

A picture shown to reporters showed an unrecognisable Karadzic, markedly thin, with a long white beard and flowing hair. Serbian officials said he was walking freely around town and earned money from practising medicine.

They said they could not divulge more details because it might jeopardise efforts to arrest two other war crime suspects on the run.

Karadzic was arrested late on Monday night in Belgrade by the Serbian security services, the office of Serb president Boris Tadic said. The 63-year-old former war leader is accused of orchestrating the worst acts of brutality Europe has seen since the Nazi campaigns of the Second World War.

Obama Photo of the Day

Tue, Jul 22, 2008 at 10:02:00 am PDT

As Barack Obama prepares to visit the city of Ramallah in the West Bank, a Palestinian artist sketches Obama among his other portraits of Jesus, “martyred” Hamas terrorist Abdel Aziz Rantisi (“The Pediatrician of Death”), and Che Guevara.

With a peace dove, of course. You couldn’t make this up.

(Hat tip: Killgore.)

UPDATE at 7/22/08 10:38:54 am:

Here’s another photo of the same artist and the same Obama portrait, this time posed with portraits of Che Guevara and Yasser Arafat: Photo from Reuters Pictures - Daylife.

Obama to Reporters in Mideast: Don't Wear Green

Tue, Jul 22, 2008 at 9:32:39 am PDT

Barack Obama is afraid.

When he or his wife give speeches in the United States, the staff makes sure there are plenty of white people visible, because he’s scared of creating the impression that only black people support him.

He prevents Muslim women wearing headscarves from sitting behind him, though, because he’s scared American voters will think he’s a Muslim.

He has refused requests for interviews from foreign media, because he’s afraid of being asked questions a teleprompter can’t answer.

And while in the Middle East, he’s banned reporters from wearing the color green—because he’s scared of being linked to Hamas: Obama ban: What not to wear where?

AMMAN, Jordan—An Obama campaign ban on green clothing during the candidate’s visits to Israel and Jordan has created wide puzzlement among observers of the Middle East.

In a memo to reporters, described as “a few guidelines we sent staff before departure to the Middle East,” Obama advance staffer Peter Newell laid out rules on attire for Jordan and Israel.

First among them: “Do not wear green.”

An Obama aide explained to reporters that green is the color associated with the militant Palestinian group Hamas. But while the color does appear on Hamas banners, there is no particular symbolism to wearing green clothes, experts said.

Moreover, green is more generally seen as a symbol of Islam. “A ban on wearing green seems bizarre,” said Richard Bulliet, a professor of Middle Eastern history at Columbia University, who said the color is associated with the family of the Prophet Mohammed.

All of these desperate attempts to control his image by controlling the people around him are an indication of how much these subjects frighten Barack Obama. He’s living in fear, and practicing identity politics writ large.

(Hat tip: Tom Gross.)

Obama Combines Flip with Flop

Tue, Jul 22, 2008 at 8:54:26 am PDT

Barack Obama sees “an enormous improvement” in Iraq, but he’s still, you know, opposed to the surge.

Welcome to the new Democratic Party, in which it’s possible to advocate two completely contradictory concepts at the same time, and pretend you don’t even notice the massive cognitive dissonance: Obama: If I had it to do over again, I’d still oppose the surge; Update: “Clearly there’s been an enormous improvement”.

Also see:
Soccer Dad: I’d rather we didn’t win

Another Palestinian Bulldozer Attack in Jerusalem

Tue, Jul 22, 2008 at 8:01:08 am PDT

Another Palestinian ran amok with a bulldozer (actually a front loader) in Jerusalem today, near the hotel where Barack Obama plans to stay: Sixteen wounded in copycat bulldozer attack in Jerusalem.

Sixteen people were wounded, one of them moderately, as a bulldozer driver went on a rampage in central Jerusalem Tuesday afternoon in an apparent attempt to recreate the terror attack in the capital earlier this month.

The vehicle reportedly left a construction site near the Yemin Moshe neighborhood and set off towards Liberty Bell Park (Gan Hapa’amon), near the corner of Keren Hayesod and King David streets. It drove a distance of approximately 160 meters, attempting to overturn a bus and crashing into four other vehicles - one of which it flipped over. The man was then shot dead by a civilian and a border policeman.

The wounded were evacuated to hospitals in the capital. Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said police sealed off possible escape routes into east Jerusalem, and were searching for two suspects who fled the scene.

The attack took place in a busy part of downtown Jerusalem, several hundred meters from the luxury hotel where US presidential candidate Barack Obama is supposed to stay Tuesday night as he kicks off a visit to Israel.

The bus that was hit, No. 13, belonged to the same line of the bus that was overturned in the previous attack.

“I was driving on the main road when the (construction vehicle) hit me in the rear, on the right hand side,” the bus driver, who was not identified, told Channel 10 TV.

“After I passed him he turned round, made a U-turn and rammed the windows twice with the shovel. The third time he aimed for my head, he came up to my window and I swerved to the right, otherwise I would have gone to meet my maker,” he said.

Witness Moshe Shimshi said that the bulldozer driver, who was wearing a large, white skullcap commonly worn by religious Muslims, slammed into the side of the bus, then sped away and went for a car.

A Rathergate Movie?

Mon, Jul 21, 2008 at 8:39:52 pm PDT

If they’re really going to make a movie about the Rathergate scandal, and base it on the ludicrous book by moonbat pseudo-journalist Mary Mapes, it’s going to be a bad joke.

The Media Mob has learned that a team of Hollywood insiders is currently working on a screen adaptation of Truth And Duty: The Press, the President, and the Privilege of Power—the 2005 book by former CBS News producer Mary Mapes, in which she defends the 60 Minutes II story by Dan Rather about President George W. Bush’s time in the Texas Air National Guard, which ran on CBS in September 2004 and eventually led to her ouster from the network.

Who would want to turn “Rathergate” into a feature-length film?

According to sources familiar with the situation, Producer Mikkel Bondesen, (his credits include serving as executive producer on the USA Network series “Burn Notice”) is actively working on the adaptation with screenwriter James Vanderbilt.

Mr. Vanderbilt wrote the screenplay for the 2007 serial killer movie Zodiac—based on the nonfiction book by Robert Graysmith—and is currently writing the screenplay for Spider-Man 4.

In the book, Ms. Mapes was highly critical of how her bosses at CBS and Viacom handled the aftermath of the wildly controversial story about President Bush’s military service. Along the way, she lays much of the groundwork for what could be a juicy White House conspiracy thriller.

“Money is the master,” wrote Ms. Mapes. “That is the bottom line to what happened at CBS that fateful fall when we aired a story that, like all stories, was imperfect, but was absolutely grounded in fact. It was well researched and well documented. But when Viacom saw that the story was not well received and that a conservative firestorm was threatening the corporation’s financial well-being, their collective wallets started itching. As a result, I believe CBS News, 60 Minutes, Dan Rather, and journalism itself got badly scratched.”

David Irving Spreads Holocaust Denial in US

Mon, Jul 21, 2008 at 5:30:20 pm PDT

No one seems to be asking the important question: who’s responsible for letting scumbag Holocaust denier David Irving give a speech at a Catholic church on the Upper East Side of Manhattan? Upper East Side Church Hosts a Holocaust Denier.

A Holocaust-denying historian appeared this month at an Upper East Side church, where he reiterated his claim that the Holocaust never happened.

David Irving, 70, spoke Wednesday at St. Stephen of Hungary Parish, a Catholic church on East 82nd Street. A clergyman there said the church was not aware of Mr. Irving’s views on the Holocaust and was told that a small group wanted the space to discuss a book.

“We had no idea whatsoever, and in fact they never told us the nature of their meeting,” Father Eric Carpine told The New York Sun. “We would never sponsor anyone who would ... discriminate against people.”

For some reason, the hardest of the hard left moonbats are opposed to Irving and his nonsense. Anarchist site infoshop.com has this account of the event from protesters:

Initially canceled at its original venue due to a phone jam initiated by Anti-Racist Action, Holocaust revisionist David Irving was able to dupe yet another New York City venue into hosting his hateful speaking tour. However, thanks to the great investigative work of members of Anti-Racist Action and our friends, we were able to properly greet David Irving and his fascist guests when they arrived at their back-up location - St. Stephen of Hungary Parish, 414 East 82nd.

Even with only about 10 hours notice, ARA was able to pull together a counter-demonstration outside the church and expose David Irving for the fascist, hateful neo-Nazi scumbag that he is.

Early Wednesday morning, Irving had announced that he would be speaking at Primavera Restaurant, 1578 1st Ave. Calls to the restaurant resulted in ARA realizing that Irving was just using Primavera as a meet-up location, and that the restaurant was not complicit in booking the Holocaust denier.

Arriving outside Primavera Restaurant at 6:30pm, we immediately noticed two people redirecting people from the restaurant to a location down the street. Not being very bright, these two Irving supporters were more then happy to inform ARA members were the talk was actually happening. We proceeded down the block to St. Stephen of Hungary Parish, but not before confronting the redirect people - taking their clipboard and fliers, and chasing them away from outside of the restaurant.

With that taken care of, we then concentrated our efforts on the church. Immediately upon arriving at the church, we took down the signs outside announcing Irving’s lecture, closed the doors and positioned ourselves in front of the entrance.

As the first people began to arrive, we informed them that the David Irving event had been canceled. Some people tried to force their way past us, all with no results. One person - so angered by our presence - resorted to pushing and shoving and typical neo-Nazi insults - “communist,” “homosexual” and so on. He even (tried) to grab at the camera we were using to take the picture of every person entering the event, and when that did not work, he (tried) spitting on him.

Wow. For once I find myself on the same side as infoshop.com. Mark this day in the record books.

But I’d still like to know who’s behind this US tour for a Holocaust denier. Irving’s not doing this by himself.

Hitchens: The Blind Salamander

Mon, Jul 21, 2008 at 3:03:55 pm PDT

Christopher Hitchens (yes, everyone knows he’s an unabashed atheist) makes an excellent point about a certain species of cave-dwelling salamander, related to a topic that keeps showing up in The LGF Creationism Cage Match—the evolution of the eye: How blind salamanders make nonsense of creationists’ claims.

Or in this case, the devolution of the eye, to adapt to an environment where vision is unnecessary for—even detrimental to—survival.

It is extremely seldom that one has the opportunity to think a new thought about a familiar subject, let alone an original thought on a contested subject, so when I had a moment of eureka a few nights ago, my very first instinct was to distrust my very first instinct. To phrase it briefly, I was watching the astonishing TV series Planet Earth (which, by the way, contains photography of the natural world of a sort that redefines the art) and had come to the segment that deals with life underground. The subterranean caverns and rivers of our world are one of the last unexplored frontiers, and the sheer extent of the discoveries, in Mexico and Indonesia particularly, is quite enough to stagger the mind. Various creatures were found doing their thing far away from the light, and as they were caught by the camera, I noticed—in particular of the salamanders—that they had typical faces. In other words, they had mouths and muzzles and eyes arranged in the same way as most animals. Except that the eyes were denoted only by little concavities or indentations. Even as I was grasping the implications of this, the fine voice of Sir David Attenborough was telling me how many millions of years it had taken for these denizens of the underworld to lose the eyes they had once possessed.

If you follow the continuing argument between the advocates of Darwin’s natural selection theory and the partisans of creationism or “intelligent design,” you will instantly see what I am driving at. The creationists (to give them their proper name and to deny them their annoying annexation of the word intelligent) invariably speak of the eye in hushed tones. How, they demand to know, can such a sophisticated organ have gone through clumsy evolutionary stages in order to reach its current magnificence and versatility?

Read the whole thing.

By the way, I also recommend the BBC Planet Earth documentary. I have the Blu-ray version and it’s one of the best films of its type ever made.