Salon.com > Paul Harris

Mixing science with creationism

Tue, 24 May 2005 11:10:00 +0000

The razor-toothed Tyrannosaurus rex, jaws agape, loomed ominously over the gentle Thescelosaurus, looking for plants to eat. Admiring the museum diorama were old and young visitors, listening on headphones to a stentorian voice describing the primeval scene. But the Museum of Earth History is a museum with a controversial difference. To one side, peering through the bushes, are Adam and Eve. The display is not an image of the Cretaceous. It is Paradise. "They lived together without fear, for there was no death yet," the voice intoned about man and dinosaur.

Nestled deep in the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas, in the heart of America's Bible Belt, this is the first dinosaur museum to take a creationist perspective. Already thousands of people have flocked to its top-quality exhibits, which mix high science with fundamentalist theology that few serious scientists accept.

The museum is riding a wave of creationist influence in America. Creationism, which holds that the Earth is just a few thousand years old and that the biblical account of Genesis is fact, is central to a rash of furious arguments across America. From school boards in Kansas to elections in Pennsylvania, the "debate" between creationism and evolution has become a political hot potato.

Hurting Hillary’s hopes

Mon, 16 May 2005 14:18:00 +0000

It all sounds horribly familiar. Financial skullduggery, calls for a Senate investigation and the whiff of a sex scandal caught on tape. And all of it whirling around the Clinton name. A court case involving the fundraising activities of Sen. Hillary Clinton's former campaign finance chief threatens to put a time bomb under the former first lady's presidential ambitions.

The case, in which David Rosen, 40, is denying three charges of making false statements to the Federal Election Commission, has opened the lid on an allegedly murky world of Democratic fundraising, FBI wiretapping and salacious gossip about prostitutes for senior figures in the party.

Clinton, prosecutors stress, is not personally involved in the trial, which began last week in Los Angeles district court, but the case is threatening to derail her preparations for a bid for the White House in three years' time. Even if Rosen is cleared, the case is likely to provide ammunition for her conservative critics.

The problems began at a glamorous fundraising event in 2000 when Hillary Clinton was campaigning for her Senate seat in New York. Billed as a lavish and star-studded farewell by Hollywood to outgoing President Bill Clinton, the party at a Beverly Hills mansion was attended by such star names as Cher, Brad Pitt and Diana Ross.

“Double standards”

Mon, 16 May 2005 13:59:00 +0000

Heated criticism was growing Saturday night over "double standards" by Washington over human rights, democracy and "freedom" as fresh evidence emerged of just how brutally Uzbekistan, a U.S. ally in the "war on terror," put down last Friday's unrest in the east of the country.

Outrage among human rights groups followed claims by the White House on Friday that appeared designed to justify the violence of the regime of President Islam Karimov, claiming -- as Karimov has -- that "terrorist groups" may have been involved in the uprising. Critics said the United States was prepared to support pro-democracy unrest in some states but condemn it in others where such policies were inconvenient.

Witnesses and analysts familiar with the region said most protesters were complaining about government corruption and poverty, not espousing Islamic extremism.

The U.S. comments were seized on by Karimov, who said Saturday that the protests were organized by Hizb ut-Tahrir, an Islamic group often accused by Tashkent of seditious extremism. Yet Washington, which has expressed concern over the group's often hard-line message, has yet to designate it a terrorist group.

“A rallying cry to the Muslim world”

Mon, 09 May 2005 14:43:00 +0000

An American soldier has revealed shocking new details of abuse and sexual torture of prisoners at Guantánamo Bay in the first high-profile whistle-blowing account to emerge from inside the top-secret base.

Erik Saar, an Arabic speaker who was a translator in interrogation sessions, has produced a searing firsthand account of working at Guantánamo. It will prove a damaging blow to a White House still struggling to recover from the abuse scandal at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.

In an exclusive interview, Saar told the Observer that prisoners were physically assaulted by "snatch squads" and subjected to sexual interrogation techniques and that the Geneva Conventions were deliberately ignored by the U.S. military. He also said that soldiers staged fake interrogations to impress visiting administration and military officials. Saar believes that the great majority of prisoners at Guantánamo have no terrorist links and that little worthwhile intelligence information has emerged from the base despite its prominent role in America's war on terror.

Who’s at fault in Iraq

Mon, 25 Apr 2005 14:20:00 +0000

The U.S. Army investigation into the torture of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib has cleared four out of five top officers of any responsibility for the scandal that shocked America and the world. The probe effectively exonerated Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, the senior commander in Iraq at the time of the abuse. It also cleared three of Sanchez's deputies.

That has led to accusations that the investigation is a whitewash that has let ordinary soldiers carry the blame, while letting off their commanding officers. The only officer recommended for punishment is Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinksi, who was in charge of Abu Ghraib at the time. She is expected to receive a reprimand for dereliction of duty.

The pictures of American soldiers abusing and torturing prisoners created a global backlash against the U.S. presence in Iraq, outraging allies and opponents alike.

Several low-ranking soldiers have been prosecuted. They blamed senior officers, saying they were just following orders, but the new probe has now cleared those officers.

No lurid detail spared

Mon, 18 Apr 2005 14:42:00 +0000

Janet Arvizo sat in Santa Maria's modest courtroom facing a barrage of criticism. Defense lawyers for Michael Jackson were testing her claims to have been kidnapped along with her family and held prisoner by the singer. The questions kept coming and coming, probing her story and that of her son, who she says Jackson sexually abused.

Arvizo's voice became more breathless inside the chamber as she tried to explain how she had never managed to raise the alarm, never managed to call the police or tell a friend. She spoke quickly and was agitated. Eventually she blurted out her explanation: "Who could possibly believe this?"

Quite. Lying was the theme of defense lawyer Thomas Mesereau's attack. He played videos of Arvizo praising Jackson and he forced her to admit she had lied under oath in a previous compensation case. She said she was a "bad actress." Mesereau shot back: "I think you're a good one." Later she got her own back. "Neverland is all about booze, pornography and sex with boys," she said.

Former feminist for 2008?

Mon, 14 Mar 2005 14:29:00 +0000

They made an odd couple. Hillary Clinton, former Democratic first lady and icon of the liberal left, and Rick Santorum, firebrand of the anti-abortion religious right. Yet a beaming Sen. Clinton seemed delighted to be sharing a stage in Washington last week with the ultraconservative Santorum as the pair introduced a law to study the impact of TV and the Internet on children. Clinton hammered away at familiar conservative bugbears, calling sexual and violent images in the media a "silent epidemic" that threatened America's youth.

It was a strange sight that made national headlines. Which was exactly the intended effect. For this is a new-look Clinton who has her eyes focused far beyond just better policing of the Internet. Her goal is nothing less than the White House itself. There is now no doubt that she will run for the presidency in 2008. It is more a question of whether she can win. Her advisors are already conducting informal interviews with campaign staff, and she is raising money.

“We are people too”

Thu, 03 Mar 2005 22:15:00 +0000

The Odyssey youth center is hidden behind an unmarked door on an anonymous site near downtown Spokane. Nothing betrays its purpose to the outside world. Inside, gay teenagers lounge on sofas, shoot pool, flirt and surf the Internet. Here, behind closed doors in the heart of conservative, "redder than red" America, they feel safer when hidden. "One day I hope that our youth don't have to come here in secret through the back door," said Laurel Kelly, Odyssey's executive director.

In Spokane that day might be soon. Activists have embarked on a radical plan to create a gay business district in the heart of the city. It is a controversial idea in a region known mainly for political conservatism and the growing presence of evangelical Christians. But the idea's backers are determined. "Bring it on. Spokane won't change without confrontation," said Bonnie Aspen, a gay businesswoman and one of the scheme's architects.

Such an upfront move is part of a wider national response by gay groups in America in the wake of an election in which gay issues, such as same-sex marriage, came to the fore. In an effort to maximize turnout among conservative and evangelical voters, ballots on same-sex marriage were held in 11 states during last November's election. All voted against them.

Poised between hope and chaos

Mon, 24 Jan 2005 14:08:00 +0000

Mohammad Hassan al-Balwa is a Sunni Muslim businessman from the devastated Iraqi city of Fallujah. The former head of the City Council, he says he will not vote in his country's forthcoming elections on Jan. 30. The election will be the beginning of the division of the Iraqis, he said. From the beginning [of the U.S.-led invasion], the Sunnis have been marginalized, because they said the Sunnis were all Baathists. This was their mistake.

The majority of people in Fallujah, he adds, have hatred and anger in their hearts.

Balwa reflects the sharp divisions in Iraq in the run-up to an election for which 12.5 million people are registered to vote. He reflects on an Iraq divided between those who will vote and those, either through fear or rejection of the process, will stay at home.

He reflects, too, on an Iraq divided between the minority Sunni Muslims, who dominated the Iraq of Saddam Hussein for decades, and southern Shiites and northern Kurds. The latter comprise the 80 percent of the population who were persecuted under Saddam's rule, while the Sunni minority of just 20 percent dominated all areas of Iraqi life, the ruling Baath Party in particular.

Crusade for creationism

Mon, 13 Dec 2004 14:31:00 +0000

Jeff Brown is a passionate defender of the borough where he lives. Dover, tucked away in the rural hinterland of Pennsylvania, is a conservative place, he says. It has never been the sort of place to attract attention. Until now.

Dover is becoming famous after its school board decided to introduce an alternative to evolution in parts of its biology curriculum. The furor caused Brown and his wife, Carol, to resign from the board. Extremist Christians, he believes, have taken it over with an agenda to undermine the teaching of evolution. Now he is angry. "This community is going to rebel," he said. "People believe your religion is your own private business."

Dover has been catapulted into the center of a renewed battle over the teaching of evolution in schools. The religious right, emboldened by its spreading influence in the Republican Party and an explosive growth in the number of evangelical Christians, has launched a major push to get an alternative to evolution -- which they believe denies the biblical version of God's creation of the world -- into the classroom. At least 40 U.S. states have faced legal challenges in recent months.

Hell no, we won’t stay

Tue, 07 Dec 2004 15:30:00 +0000

Eight U.S. soldiers serving in Iraq launched a legal challenge Monday to stop their tours of duty from being extended. The lawsuit is the first of its kind by a group of American soldiers on active service in the country. The soldiers, seven of whom remain anonymous out of fear of official retribution, are fighting against being forced to stay in their units after their period of enlistment has ended.

This so-called stop-loss policy has seen thousands of American soldiers being kept on despite having passed their official dates for retirement, leaving the military or switching to other units.

The move adds to a growing list of dissatisfactions expressed by current and former members of the military over U.S. handling of the Iraq war. They have ranged from widespread criticism over insufficient troop levels to equipment shortages and failures.

The stop-loss policy was introduced last spring for all U.S. soldiers posted to Iraq or Afghanistan. It means that soldiers whose period of enlistment ends while they are on active duty cannot go home until their entire unit reaches the end of its period of service. That could mean many weeks of additional service for individual soldiers whose enlistments end earlier than those of their comrades.

Turnout is still key

Mon, 08 Nov 2004 16:27:00 +0000

For a brief moment George W. Bush thought he might have lost. As Air Force One was touching down in Washington on Election Day afternoon, his political advisor, Karl Rove, was hunched over an onboard phone getting the first exit poll data from the battleground states.

It was not good news. When Rove relayed the tidings that John Kerry could be heading for a win, Bush was steadfast but disappointed. "I am surprised," he confessed to senior advisor Karen Hughes, and then added: "But it is what it is."

That last phrase echoed the words the pope used about Mel Gibson's blockbuster film "The Passion of the Christ." It showed how easily religious mannerisms fall from Bush's lips and how central his faith is to his view of politics. A few hours later, however, the real voting tallies were showing the first signs of Bush's victory. It was clear the religious right was in fact turning out in droves for the man whose faith matched its own. It was what it was. The Republicans had won.

Many in America now believe there has been a revolution in American politics. At a time of war in Iraq and the first net loss of jobs since the Great Depression, it was instead the issue of cultural values that decided the greatest number of votes. For Kerry's campaign, which saw the Iraq war and the economy as the deciding factors, it was a huge slap in the face.