In today’s Marietta Daily Journal and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, it was reported that the Cobb County School District (one of the largest districts in Georgia) was in the process of removing stickers from more than 34,000 science textbooks that included the topic of evolutionary theory. The stickers were placed in the books some two years ago by the school board, and stated: “This textbook contains material on evolution. Evolution is a theory, not a fact, regarding the origin of living things. This material should be approached with an open mind, studied carefully, and critically considered.” The adhesive remover “un-du” was used along with a putty knife to remove the stickers! The stickers got on the books because of the efforts of a group of parents (claiming to be creationists) who pressured the school board by presenting a petition signed by several thousand residents of Cobb County. A small group of parents sued the district; in January 2005, a federal judge ruled that the stickers were an unconstitutional endorsement of religion, and ordered them removed. Amazingly, the school board has appealed the ruling. On a positive note, students were hired to remove the stickers, and are being paid $10 per hour. Total tab for the district: $25,000. Quite an episode in the evolution-creationist debate on the teaching of evolution in the public schools. For more information on the issue, you might visit The Panda’s Thumb, which is one of the Blogs that I’ve included on the Blogroll.
Ten Commitments for Classroom Learning
Rather than bringing religion into school, there are values that all students and teachers can ascribe to regardless of their own religious beliefs. We can find these in our history—all of our history. In my own case, as a teacher, professor, and author, I have underscored my work as a writer and teacher with humanistic ideals. This post introduces you to the Ten Commitments.
The pandemic, the fires in the west, hurricane season all contribute to a world at home on line seeking a new way to live.
This year has been one of the worst on record, not only in California, but in Oregon and Washington. Take a look at the most recent year of fires reported in California. Note that the acreage burned for 2020 is outside the upper control limits of acreage burned since 2020. Something significant is happening this year. Prior to this year, the most acreage burned was nearly 2,000,000 acres. More than 5,000,000 acres have burned so far this year. The fire season is only half over. This is further evidence for climate change acting as a force in California fires.
I’ve added a new process chart (Figure 7) comparing fires to acreage burned. Something very dangerous has happened this year. More acreage has burned than any previous year, and the fire season is only at the half way point.
Ruth Bader Ginsberg was an important jurist supporting environmental protection laws during her years on the Supreme Court. An important one was Massachusetts v. Environmental Protection Agency.
The court ruled that Massachusetts was right in saying that the EPA was required to regulate “greenhouse gases” by the Clean Air Act, including emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases that contribute to global warming. We should concerned for the environment losing RBG.
Climate anxiety on the rise, but not with Republicans. https://truthout.org/articles/climate-anxiety-is-rising-in-the-us-but-not-among-republicans/?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=5e7f04b9-fb36-41fd-8cb5-2441e94f1e15
https://truthout.org/articles/climate-anxiety-is-rising-in-the-us-but-not-among-republicans/?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=5e7f04b9-fb36-41fd-8cb5-2441e94f1e15
It’s Oct 2 and we’ve voted by mail. The ballots arrived last Saturday. We voted and then sealed the ballot in an inner envelope and placed it in a mailing provided by the election commission for Cobb County. On Monday we drove 4 miles to Cobb County regional office. Outside the building is a large mail drop box for mail in ballots. The Georgi Sec States office has a website to track your ballot. I’ve received noticed that our ballots have been received and ready to be tallied. Biden/Harris, Jon Ossif, Rev. Warnock, & Lisa Cupid njmm
Don’t be afraid of Covid. Don’t let it dominate your life.” This was tweeted by Trump from his hospital bed. He has a nerve saying this when more than one million Americans are sick from COVID and more than 210,000 are dead.