NH Mother Uses Child as a Prop to Question Rick Perry on Evolution

What a brilliant concept, teach both and let the student decide.

@kate
Right like we should teach the kids that maybe the holocaust happened or maybe it didn’t. Let the kids decide.

the texas record in education is frighteningly abysmal. and if perry were elected he’d try to end the department of education all together… he makes george w. bush look like a rhodes scholar.

This is the clearest evidence of someone rising to the level of his incredible incompetence. However, I maintain that the real problem here is one of the mass media and their maniacal obsession with the likes of people like Perry, Bachmann, Palin….those creepy crawlies who have been mandated through some divine power of their own creation to propagate their twisted theories about reaity. Good for the ratings and sales, though.

Well Kate I’ll one up you. How about we just let kids decide on whether or not they want to waste time at school or stay home and invest all their time playing video games? Maybe let drunks decide whether or not they can drive intoxicated? I mean perry supports letting companies decide whether or not to employ illeagals.
Heck why don’t we just let every one do what ever the heck they want and convert our entire society to a dystopian neo libertarian cluster F.
By the time the teaparty, faux christians and libertarians are done our nation is going to look like Pakistan or somalia.

In Texas we’ve been suffering from this kind of idiocy far too long. For the good of the country I say people, please keep asking these questions…find out who and what Rick Perry really stands for and believes…make up your own minds but base it on facts…not the quick glib answers that the gov likes to use. Perry has not been challenged much here…let’s see what he’s really made of…and if we really want to follow that line of thinking…Remember the shrub…”burn me once shame on you, burn me twice shame on me…”

@ DC SNARK
So you are comparing an event where there are plenty of first hand accounts alive today in the Holocaust, and an event that is theoretical (no first hand accounts) in the origins of the earth. Some things are open to debate, and some aren’t. Nice comparison.
I took biology in College and I think there is every proof that there is an intelligent creator that created our bodies. Most people take our bodies for granted, but it’s an amazing device. To say our bodies created themselves by chance over millions or billions of years from ooze takes alot more faith than admitting there is a creator. Our brightest minds today cannot fathom many of its mysteries even now.
So yeah I would rather schools allow kids to make educated decisions on these topics instead of teaching liberal agenda in preschool as fact like they do here in California. Yes liberal agenda is a religion that is taught on TV, in the classroom, by unions, and in some churches. Of course separation of church and state don’t apply here. To be fair they really should, or at least be given equal play with other belief systems in our schools and media.

I agree that she shouldn’t have used her child, she should have just asked Perry herself, “Do you believe in Creationism, do you really think Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid are unconstitutional, do you think kids should be led in prayer by their teachers and principals while in school?”
I mean, sure, she wanted someone to deliver these questions to Perry on his own intellectual level, so she used a small child, but that doesn’t make it right.

@ John Re: “I mean, sure, she wanted someone to deliver these questions to Perry on his own intellectual level, so she used a small child, but that doesn’t make it right.”
Nice one ;)

I’ve been thinking the last few years, “I need to get out of texas before my kid gets to school age.” The Perry appointees on the school board are scary. Now Perry is possibly moving to the national level. How far will I have to move!?
BTW Evolution may be a theory, but it is based on thousands of scientific facts proven by thousands of hard working scientists over the last several hundred years (or more). To ignore this for an idea based on one book of duboius origins is ignorant.

This just makes me sad.
People fundamentally don’t understand what a theory is. They don’t understand the scientific method. They don’t understand how a fact (an observed phenomenon) can also go on to become part of a theory (the most current explanation of observed phenomenon). They don’t understand the history of evolution, how it was observed in nature long before it was explained by man. People do not understand the robustness of a given theory, let alone the robustness of modern day biology – or how modern day biology is wrapped up tightly around evolution.
They want to put evolution along side with a rhetorical retort. And they want to let children decide for themselves. Hyperbole aside, this same principle can be applied to virtually every other science, from the periodic scale (how do you know there’s only one proton in hydrogen?) to astronomy (have you actually been to another galaxy? let’s teach some other idea that has no scientific backing whatsoever, and let the children decide which one is right).
Unfortunately, the holocaust example works. There are holocaust deniers all over the world, despite mountains of evidence. Likewise, there are mountains of evidence for evolution and climate change.

Rick Perry has been campaigning for only 5 days and he has made some huge gaffes which will make him completely unelectable by the general public. He is dumber than Bush, a huge hypocrite since he took billions of Fed stimulus money then said the stimulus was bad, doesn’t “believe” in science but will, as an elected government official, ask people to “pray for rain for 3 days.” He is an idiot!

It would be good to simply have the press prompt itself to ask Obama about being a member of a viciously racist church for nearly 20 years, having the vicious racist Van Jones on his staff, coming to the defense of the racism of the racist Prof. Henry Louis Gates, Jr., nominating a racist to the Supreme Ct., having a racist as an Attorney General, and getting a basic fact about his childhood incorrect.

What I see posted on this site are many individuals who have no capacity for opinions othere than their liberal indoctrination. They cannot believe people should be able to research and discover for themselves what truth actually is supported. It seems children are supposed to go to liberal schools, listen to liberal indoctrination and swallow it all whole. There is no more critical thinking, just mindless following.

It’s obvious the liberals here voted for Obama. Now tell me, who are the fools?

Quantum physics has shown that there is no time. Everything that has happened, is happening, and could possibly happen – already has. We’re just experiencing it in a linear fashion. So, whether it took hundreds of millions of years, or 7 days, or 7 seconds… its all irrelevant. Perry’s answer is best because he’s NOT TRYING TO IMPOSE A VIEW ON THE KID. And for those of you worried about what a President believes – now would be a great time to get rid of the Dept of education, wouldn’t it?

The child was CERTAINLY being used as a “prop” by the spineless, manipulative kid’s mom. Ask the question yourself. Your child isn’t voting. Reminds me of the Jehovah Witnesses where I live who frequently roll their babies around door-to-door for support in their cause.
I don’t have a problem with evolution and creationism being taught in our schools. If one side is so obviously right, then surely our kids are smart enough to see through the fallacies of the other side. School should be about debating issues so kids learn to think for themselves.

So sad that politics wants to draw a line between faith and science instead of recognizing that science can extend into the faith realm and, properly applied, possibly answer some profound questions. Democrats insist on “Separation of Science and Faith”. Just think how much we’d learn if the the political and ideological axes to grind would be put aside and let science enter and explore creationism, intelligent design, etc. But just like Global Warming, liberals draw a line and if you don’t immediately acquire their enlightened conclusion without asking questions, then you’re labelled anti-science. That’s NOT scientific. That’s intimidation, authoritarianism, fascism. But they call it science. Harumph!

SelenesMom:
Thanks for making this jibberish so crystal clear. What Perry passes off as intelligence is no different from that of his fellow Republicans — they are all out to lunch.

The mom is craven and cowardly. Perry should have responded “son, your mom is obviously a smart and caring parent. Have her take you for a one on one meeting with your teacher”

Typical liberal, he’s got a question for you, ask him why he doesn’t believe in courtesy or manners. Because he has a mother like you.

Let the student decide. Gee, isn’t that great. As a student, I think I’ll decide that Einstein was wrong, that the French Revolution was about cake, that 3 is close enough when adding 1 and 1.
Of course you can’t let students decide: they are students. If people want to learn creationism, they should go to church. If they want to learn to think critically, they should evaluate evolution.
The real problem with Rick Perry (and I’m a Texan!) is that he does not value education. He didn’t value it personally, getting thru A&M with a D average. And he doesn’t value it for Texans, having cut the school budgets to the bone and leaving our schools the envy of…. Mississippi. Rick Perry wants to starve the beast. That’s what he’s all about, nothing more.
And if education suffers, that’s okay, because WalMart and McDonald’s are hiring for minimum wage, and to Rick, a Job is a Job, is a Job.

regardless of whether you believe in creationism or evolution the materials for either to happen.
for those who believe in creationism, please remember that the planet was already here when both versions of genesis open, God just takes it and remakes it into something that can be used. also in genesis, it says us and we not I which would state multiple Gods working together not a single God acting alone, it was not until after genesis that God is called I or him.
for those who believe in evolution, who’s to say that evolution didn’t have help. we know that through our own observations and attempts we can cause different things to happen genetically which means that an entity that we may perceive as a God would likely have the same knowledge and probably usable in ways we don’t yet comprehend.

Can’t God use evolution to build His world? God can do whatever God wants to do. God works on a far different plane than we do. Let God be God.

Cholms, if it makes you feel any better, other theories include gravity, and the travels of the planets around the sun. The reason that Evolution is a theory is that there is a chance that someone will find a human buried below a dinosaur, which would blow the whole theory up. The chance is about the same as gravity suddenly failing and us floating off into space.

Perry is a first IDIOT! He most certainly does not represent all Texans.

I think people should know both religious and non religious beginnings of man/woman…but be open to the God theory too people…who made the goo in the water??? to make us into apes???and why are there still apes…??? just a few questions maybe God doesn’t want us to know for sure so we will not think we are gods…keep yourself a little humble…pray for the day we will know for sure…God Bless…Mr. Perry Gov of Texas…he is a brave man to put himself out there in the way to critical countries arena for president…as liberals find too much wrong with anyone these days…stop and think people what will happen if we all believed the same way…what a boring country we would be…this is why people for other countries want to be here…keep our minds working with a little kindness for the other man/woman…God Bless America…

One more thing…I am giving that woman the benefit of the doubt she was helping that young man to ask questions of our contestants ??? for president…we are a circus at times…and the young man may have been very nervous…speaking out…Glenn Beck said to bring our kids to see our work in the political areas…our kids will be living after we messed up our nation…or they will be joyful that we do things right…
God Bless our troops…and nations govenors, etc…I am getting too long here…so sorry

Goody. Another candidate for mother of the year award. I hope she’s proud of her stellar job pimping her child.

Why is it that conservatives like perry and Bachmann want LESS government but they want Obama to fix the recession that started before Obabma got in office. isn’t Obama part of the government?

@D Bolger: If Perry becomes President (let’s hope he doesn’t…) the last resort would be to move out of the country. The USA has turned into a toxic waste dump of idiocy nowadays. We may be the most powerful country in the world, but oh boy we’re certainly not the smartest in terms of common sense. The sad part is there’s probably millions of people out there that support Rick Perry only because of his religious values. What happened to separation of church and state?

someone needs to ask Perry if he understands what the meaning of “theory” is in the context of science. right after they ask him if he understands the separation of Church and State, and a little thing called the Supremacy Clause.

I’m sticking with the “Creator” the “Craftsman”, “God” and that I have a “Soul”…

On the pointed issue (and blogger’s biased caption) of the mother “using her kid as a prop”: perhaps we should consider the STRONG possibility that Perry was PURPOSELY ignoring her (and other adults) at the event, and he himself was using kids and babies as props–don’t politicians like Perry always do this?—in order to make talking points and photo-ops where they are not challenged by their peers!
Perhaps the blogger should be thinking that Perry used the kid as a prop as opposed to the kid’s mother!
I don’t for an instant believe that Perry is a hayseed, but rather the typical opportunist who is for sale to the highest bidder, as the story of his life has fully shown.

The whole evolution/creationism issue as it pertains to schools is a feint in any event, the true issue is who is going to have the perogative of indoctrinating the next generation in their political/world view.
Most “civilians” in this debate don’t understand natural selection(C. O’Donnel,”Why aren’t monkeys still evolving?”),scientific method (R.Perry, “I’m sceptical of the science.”…hey Rick,scepticism IS the heart and soul of rigourous scientific method) or for that matter, theology (the Biblical creation story is broadly understood to be an alegory for the advent of human consciousness…there are in fact TWO significantly different creation stories in Genesis,ask a creationist which one they would like taught in schools and why they prefer one over the other and get specific about why they made that discernment…watch ‘em squirm.)
And to “teach both science and creationism and let the children decide.”? “Young man would you like to go to MIT or eternally burning hell…you decide.”

If Perry wants to teach “both sides and let students decide, fine. Let’s also teach astrology alongside astronomy, alchemy alongside chemistry, and the four humors (blood, black bile, yellow bile, and phlegm) alongside medicine. Those so-called alternative theories all enjoy as much scientific support as biblical literalism.

Watching all this unfold from the other side of the Atlantic it is almost unbelievable that there are enough people who take these Tea Partiers and right wing freaks so seriously that they have an actual shot at the White House.
If someone on their ticket is elected President America is really in trouble.

Maybe we should teach horoscopes,and and how to tell if a person is a witch,and while we are at it,we can teach that some people believe the world is flat…..or is this like Fox “news” we report you decide,that isn’t teaching.

@FlatBack4
Taking a solitary Biology class in college isn’t the definition of a solid scientific background. The connection you make between concepts (evolution and “god”) is completely superfluous and shows an overall lack in understanding of how biological systems operate.

OK Angie,let us look at your Marine in class parable,the Marine I assume hit the prof.using what HE BELIEVED to be a permissable act,but society,and common good know that this is WRONG.So the correct SCIENTIFIC possibilty,is,the Marine suffers from auditory hallucinations,or has a God complex,EG. only he, or his beliefs speak for God.But in science,THERE IS NO BELIEF SYSTEM,OR SYSTEM OF FAITH.Evolution is called a theory because it is the most LOGICAL explanation for our existance,and evidence shows it to be plausable.But not being able to be PROVEN by sciences acceptable methods it has to be called a theory,Gravity is a theory,E=MC2 is still a theory,and who says we are not still evolving?We have increased how tall we are in about 4 generations,people in the 1860 were an average (male) of 5foot 5 inches.and has increased to about 5 foot 9 inches.We see what happens when an invasive plant or animal is brought to a new area with no preditors or something to keep it in check,it will take over.Evidence is everywhere for evolution,but religion can only be proven by believing.

I must be “ignorant” because there is no way I believe in the evolution theory! I believe in creationism 100%. Why? Because Genesis 1:1 states: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Genesis 2 states:Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. 2 And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. 3 Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.
4 This is the history[a] of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens. Genesis 8: 21-22: Then the LORD said in His heart, “I will never again curse the ground for man’s sake, although the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done. While the earth remains,
Seedtime and harvest,Cold and heat, Winter and summer, And day and night
Shall not cease.” This is proof enough for me!!!

Magic
The earth revolving around the sun is no longer theory. Its proven fact supported by many many conclusive tests. Why do you hate science?

Capitalism, socialism, communism, fascism, christianity, Islam, and all the religions and credos in the world are false dogmas, destructive and based on human fear :(

Yes, creationism if wrong and false. Worse, it has held humanity in chains for centuries :(((((( Sure it feels good right after confession. But the feeling does not last. I know. I grew up as a Christian. LUckily I broke the religious chains :) But millions of humans remain prisoners of a belief that is now threatening to destroy mankind :(

Perry: one day’s shrinking flower :))))

Is everyone jumping on the hate bandwagon? Guys, y’all realize he’s a republican… to get the GOP votes (and stay elected) he has to stand strong on “conservitive” views. I live in Austin, this is a SERIOUSLY LIBERAL city… I’ll put it this way: I voted for Obama, next year it will be Perry. I’ve had an abortion, I make <20k yr, and I love the gays ;) but those issues will be at the bottom of the list for a couple more presidents. Let Perry fix our finnacial mess. BTW: My Texas school didn't teach evolutionism or creationism….. The Media – You have to take it with a grain of salt!

Evolution doesn’t address our orgins, Let’s cede the point man came from monkeys who evolved from a two legged poliwog in the lake, there’s still the unaswered question, where did it all start ?

Study any part of any anatomy and it’s hard to fathom it evolved from some sea goo, just a finger joint has interlocking bones, attached to muscles, interlinked with tendons. They are under the complete control (for the most part) of the host who can have it point or pull with commands from a central data center that controls hundreds of other functions at the same time, both voluntary and involuntary that keep us alive. If I had a watered plant and was able to keep it alive for a trillion years, I don’t think it would be able to evolve into my lap top, which is inferior to the brain