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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Valley&State Backpage O&E Sports Archives Classifieds Faith&Beliefs Obituaries Revels December 8, 2004 Evolution only a problem to us The Nov. 30 San Francisco Chronicle reports: "Anti-evolution teachings gain foothold in U. S. Schools." This is evidence only of the ongoing struggle between science and religion in America and is quite exceptional among the economically advanced nations of the world. In no other such nation is "the jury still out on evolution." The November 2004 National Geographic cover story asks, "Was Darwin Wrong?" The answer is a resounding "No, the evidence for evolution is overwhelming." The story presented is a marvelously clear and comprehensive report on the present state of the science of evolution. David Quuaman, the author, writes: "Evolution is both a beautiful concept and an important one, more crucial nowadays to human welfare, to medical science, and to our understanding of the world than ever before. It's also deeply persuasive - a theory you can take to the bank. The essential points are slightly more complicated than most people assume, but not so complicated that they can't be comprehended by any attentive person. Furthermore, the supporting evidence is abundant, various, ever increasing, solidly interconnected, and easily available in museums, popular books, textbooks, and a mountainous accumulation of peer-reviewed scientific studies. No one needs to, and no one should, accept evolution as a matter of faith." The problem with evolution, as Freud pointed out, is that it is an insult to our egoism, which deludes us into thinking that we humans are something really special. That most religions embrace this narcissistic view is, of course, also a problem that further complicates things, especially in America. Gerald Cavanaugh Ashland Funds best spent on clean energy With the obscene amount of money this administration is spending on the war in Iraq and on the nearly worthless missile defense system, we could have literally millions of homes in the U.S. fitted with solar-electric systems, completely off the energy grid, clean energy and self-sufficient for years to come. We would not need to send our young adults to die and kill in foreign lands. We would not need to have the loss of life and limb of countless completely innocent foreign civilians on our hands, on our consciences! (Well, most consciences, anyway.) And we could share that sustainable, clean energy technology with the rest of the world. Imagine the jobs that would be created with that industry! It is, even now, very technologically possible. And considering the military budgets of the countries of the world, it is also fiscally possible - now - if not for the stranglehold the petro/military/neo-con cabal has on this petro-minded, petro-friendly, petro-obsessed administration! So, George Bush, Laura Bush, Jerry Falwell, Rush Limbaugh, Jesse Jackson, Jimmy Carter, John Kerry, Theresa Heinz-Kerry, and all others who claim a faith in God ... in your heart of hearts, do you think God prefers we continue to kill and be killed, and continue to pollute the global home he's given us, for the sake of short-sighted, finite, greed-driven petro energy dominance, or put our energies, intellects, hearts and souls into rushing to sustainable, clean, non-violence-dependent solar and other technologies? Be honest now, your God may be listening! Hal Davis Ashland No getting over this Bush win I'm tired of being told to "get over it" by people gloating over Bush's win. What Bush supporters themselves need to get over is the fact that I and the fifty-seven million Americans who told Bush we don't want him in our White house don't ever intend to get over it. We intend to hold him responsible for killing our troops, bankrupting our nation, alienating our allies and violating our Constitution by attempting to establish fundamentalist Christianity as the basis for Congressional legislation. But when they discover that he's taken more of their money and given it to the rich, taken more of their jobs and off-loaded them to India, taken more of their rights than they even knew they had, and killed more of our (and their) sons and daughters, it won't be time for us to gloat. It will be time for all of us to cry together. Matthew Lubic Talent Eyes open - wallet shut You should have investigated before publishing a laudatory article on Ilchi Lee's programs. Behind this movement for peace and healing through meditation and yoga lies a controversial public figure involved with a number of tax-exempt organizations intermingled with dozens of for-profit businesses, e.g. Dahn World Company, BCC Consulting Company, Bell Rock Development Corporation, Vortex Inc. (which sells baseless healing devices, like a $4,500 turtle). Lee conducts deceptive "experiments" demonstrating how his Brain Respiration (BR) program develops ESP in children: blindfolded and closed book reading, telekinetic spoon-sticking and spoon-bending. He reports that certain research universities are studying BR's ESP effects, but two named researchers told me they are not. Meanwhile, BR, with its paranormal and religious underpinnings, enters public schools nationwide as a child development program. Lee, founder of two brain "science" institutes, conveys brain myths, e.g. that we use just a tiny portion of our brain, that "below-alpha" EEG readings reflect a healthy state, that EEGs can show ESP, that ambidexterity exercises increase creativity and innovation. The Ashland "Dahn Yoga Gallery" Web site suggests that if serious hip pain results from Dahnhak exercises, continue, as pain indicates impure energy release - harmful advice from a "clinic." Many former students report coercion and manipulation to spend thousands for all the must-have enlightenment trainings, to volunteer long hours, or worse: see www.rickross.com (search database for Dahn Center) and www.randi.org. I see good reason here to keep our eyes wide open and our wallets zipped shut. Lorie Anderson Ashland DailyTidings.com Home Page Valley&State | Backpage | O&E | Sports | Archives | Weather | Classifieds Columnists | Faith&Beliefs | Obituaries | Revels | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2004 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Slippers Isotoner Slippers Dsw Shoes Ciara Lyrics & Pictures libor rate Radiotelephone Communication Calenders 2005 Calender 2005 Calendar lil jon eastside boyz Citibank Student Loans Acs Loan Matchmaking & Dating Scripts Adventure Travel Conference Calls - $50/Month Security Systems The game rapper Click Here Site Search: .:Advertisements:. RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams