lest we lose our reputation as an ignorant and backward country...

The three Republican presidential candidates who indicated last month that they do not believe in evolution may have been taking a safe stance on the issue when it comes to appealing to GOP voters.

A Gallup poll released Monday said that while the country is about evenly split over whether the theory of evolution is true, Republicans disbelieve it by more than 2-to-1.

Republicans saying they don't believe in evolution outnumbered those who do by 68 percent to 30 percent in the survey. Democrats believe in evolution by 57 percent to 40 percent, as do independents by a 61 percent to 37 percent margin.

from a CBS News article

What I find dispiriting is not that nearly 70% of Republicans believe in the Tooth Fairy, but that nearly half of *Democrats* do as well, and over a third of independents.

What next? Are Americans still big supporters of the Flat Earth Theory? Are we convincned that the Sun and the planets revolve around the Earth, perhaps in a series of concentric crystal spheres? Are we going back to trial by fire and water sometime soon?

Don't tell me this isn't the effect of religious fanaticism. Ignorance and lack of education can produce a lack of knowledge, but only mysticism and dogma actively struggle agaisnt science.

in more positive reporting...

soccer_fox and I had a lovely day yesterday; I took the day off to get some legal transactions arranged with the State Of Maryland, and accomplished a few.

We footled about most of the morning, talking and watching Wonderfalls, then in the afternoon we went to the Motor Vehicle Administration and got MD drivers' licenses and registered to vote. We had hoped to change the titling and registration of our cars as well, but we were not able to find a place that could go the state safety exam that day, so we're going to do that later. We've still got a couple of weeks left in our grace period.

We also walked up to the local library and got cards there. It's in quite a nice community center, which has a computer facility and game room and various meeting rooms. Herself read the town newsletter and discovered that there's a healthcare-related committee that needs volunteers to serve, so she's going to be looking that up. We also saw an ad for another local famers' market, one that redactrice had mentioned to me, so we're goign to give that a try next week. It was a nice day for walking about, and we wandered home a different way.

N made us a tasy dinner, and we watched a movie I'd ordered from Netflix on a whim. It's called "Blow Dry", and it's a gently hilarious comedy in the vein of The Full Monty or Strictly Ballroom. It's advertised as starring Alan Rickman, which drew me to it, but once it started playing there was a huge parade of British and other actors whose appearance is like a warm blanket to me, promising an evening of good acting, gentle humour, and wonderful fun. Bill Nighy has become, for some strange reason, one of my favourite actors, and he plays Rickman's principal foe. Natasha Richardson plays Rickman's ex-wife, who ran off ten years before the film opens with a colleague and her new love interest, played by Rachel Griffiths. Josh Harnett plays the son of Rickman's and Richardson's characters. Warren Clarke, Rosemary Harris, David Bradley, Oliver Ford Davies, all sorts of people in supporting roles. It was great fun.

Most of all, I got to spend a whole day, in a leisurely way, with my favourite lady, which was a huge treat for me. I do love her so much! :-)

jobs in the Purple Valley

redactrice, Williams is hiring. Any of these look like a good first step away from DC? ;-)

http://wiki.williams.edu/display/handbooks/Employment+Opportunities