A World-Famous Chemist Tells the Truth: There’s No Scientist Alive Today Who Understands Macroevolution

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Photo Credit: Uncommon Descent Professor James M. Tour is one of the ten most cited chemists in the world. He is famous for his work on nanocars (pictured above, courtesy of Wikipedia), nanoelectronics, graphene nanostructures, carbon nanovectors in medicine, and green carbon research for enhanced oil recovery and environmentally friendly oil and gas extraction. He is currently a Professor of Chemistry, Professor of Computer Science, and Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science at Rice University. He has authored or co-authored 489 scientific publications and his name is on 36 patents. Although he does not regard himself as an Intelligent Design theorist, Professor Tour, along with over 700 other scientists, took the courageous step back in 2001 of signing the Discovery Institute’s “A Scientific Dissent from Darwinism”, which read: “We are skeptical of claims for the ability of random mutation and natural selection to account for the complexity of life. Careful examination of the evidence for Darwinian theory should be encouraged.”

On Professor Tour’s Website, there’s a very revealing article on evolution and creation, in which Tour bluntly states that he does not understand how macroevolution could have happened, from a chemical standpoint (all bold emphases below are mine – VJT):

Although most scientists leave few stones unturned in their quest to discern mechanisms before wholeheartedly accepting them, when it comes to the often gross extrapolations between observations and conclusions on macroevolution, scientists, it seems to me, permit unhealthy leeway. When hearing such extrapolations in the academy, when will we cry out, “The emperor has no clothes!”?

…I simply do not understand, chemically, how macroevolution could have happened. Hence, am I not free to join the ranks of the skeptical and to sign such a statement without reprisals from those that disagree with me? … Does anyone understand the chemical details behind macroevolution? If so, I would like to sit with that person and be taught, so I invite them to meet with me.

In a more recent talk, entitled, Nanotech and Jesus Christ, given on 1 November 2012 at Georgia Tech, Professor Tour went further, and declared that no scientist that he has spoken to understands macroevolution – and that includes Nobel Prize winners!…

Read more this story HERE.

MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow’s Show Calls Abortion Practitioners Heroes

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Photo Credit: LifeNewsAbortion practitioners across the country are responsible for nearly 57 million abortions. They kill unborn babies on a daily basis, kill and injure women in failed abortions, and leave women, men, and families dealing with devastating mental health and spiritual issues as a result.

While a majority of Americans oppose abortion and believe abortions ought to be illegal, MSNBC held a segment calling abortion practitioners heroes. The Maddow show story focused on the anger abortion advocates have over pro-life laws in Texas and other states resulting in closing abortion businesses because they can’t seem to follow the law.

As Texas Right to Life writes:

On Wednesday night, MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow featured an exclusive segment about the current state of pro-life laws in Texas, following the implementation of HB2, the Texas abortion safety law that added additional safety measures for women visiting clinics. The piece concluded with the announcement that Whole Women’s Health, which owns and operates abortion clinics across the state, was closing two of its five centers, in McAllen and Beaumont, respectively.

Read more this story HERE.

Obama Misspells Aretha Fanklin’s ‘Respect’ During Women of Soul Jam

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Photo Credit: Breitbart President Barack Obama made the kind of public flub Thursday night that would have dominated the news cycle had President George W. Bush said the very same thing.

Obama, taking part in the White House’s Women of Soul concert, announced music legend Aretha Franklin by misspelling the singer’s signature song.

Yes, RESPECT. Or, as Obama calls it, RSPECT.

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Obama Proposes Eliminating Funding for Abstinence Education in 2015 Budget

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Photo Credit: APPresident Barack Obama wants to eliminate funding for abstinence education funding in his 2015 budget, which he sent to Congress on Tuesday.

In the “Cuts, Consolidations, and Savings” portion of the budget, it shows that the $5 million funding to Health and Human Services (HHS) through its Title V Maternal and Child Health Program that was included in the 2014 budget is not part of Obama’s latest budget.

Supporters of “sexual risk avoidance” – or SRA abstinence education programs – expressed the need for such programs and the across-the aisle-approval of them by parents.

“By eliminating SRA (sexual risk avoidance) abstinence programs in his budget, the President has, once again chosen to ignore the wishes of parents and the approach that helps youth avoid all risk associated with teen sex,” Valerie Huber, president of the National Abstinence Education Association (NAEA), said in a statement on Wednesday.

“This is truly unfortunate, but not at all surprising,” Huber said. “President Obama has sought to cut or eliminate SRA abstinence programs each year of his presidency.

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Planned Parenthood: Religious Liberty/Hobby Lobby Suit is About ‘Taking Away Birth Control’

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Photo Credit: AP/Ron EdmondsIn a Feb. 27 commentary in the liberal Huffington Post, Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards claims that states’ efforts to protect the religious rights of citizens is really about “taking away birth control.”

Richards cited the Arizona legislation (SB 1062) recently vetoed by Republican Gov. Jan Brewer that would have allowed individuals to not provide products or services if their provision required them to violate their religious belief in marriage between one man and one woman.

“With the debate over the Arizona bill during the last few days, folks across the country have gotten a preview of this extreme agenda, and they don’t like what they see,” Richards wrote. “It’s clear that this isn’t about religious liberties.”

“It’s about corporations who want a license to discriminate against people by denying services, taking away birth control coverage, and blocking access to health care,” said Richards, who presides over the largest abortion provider in the United States.

Richards also linked the Arizona legislation to the Sebilius v. Hobby Lobby case, currently being considered by the U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS). Hobby Lobby is suing the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) over an Obamacare regulation that requires individuals and business to carry health insurance that offers contraception, sterilization, and abortion-inducing drugs without co-payments.

Read more this story HERE.

Let’s Move: 1.6M Paying Students Drop School Lunch — ‘Challenges With Palatability’

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Photo Credit: APDespite an increase in the number of students who receive free meals as a part of Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” campaign, 1.6 million students have dropped out of the school lunch program, according to a Government Accountability Office Report (GAO), which noted that part of the decline was due to the palatability of the lunch offerings, and “plate waste” – students throwing away some of the food.

“All eight SFAs [school food authorities] we visited also noted that students expressed dislike for certain foods that were served to comply with the new requirements, such as whole grain-rich products and vegetables in the beans and peas (legumes) and red-orange sub-groups, and this may have affected participation,” said the GAO in its report, “Implementing Nutrition Changes Was Challenging and Clarification of Oversight Requirements Is Needed.”

“Further, some SFAs we visited noted that negative student reactions to lunches that complied with the new meat and grain portion size limits directly affected program participation in their districts,” said the GAO. The school food authorities noted that changes made to sandwiches led “to a middle and high school boycott of school lunch by students that lasted for 3 weeks and, at the same time, “participation in school lunch significantly declined in those schools.”

The report also said, “Nationwide, participation in the National School Lunch Program declined in recent years after having increased steadily for more than a decade. According to our analysis of USDA’s data, total student participation—the total number of students who ate school lunches—dropped from school years 2010-2011 through 2012-2013 for a cumulative decline of 1.2 million students (or 3.7 percent), with the majority of the decrease occurring during school year 2012-2013.”

The decrease in the total number of students eating school lunches during the last two school years was driven primarily by a decrease of 1.6 million students paying full price for meals, despite increases in the number of students eating school lunches who receive free meals,” said the report.

Read more this story HERE.

Oscars Pizza Delivery Man Recounts His 15 Minutes of Fame

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Photo Credit: Brittany LevineEdgar Martirosyan, the pizza delivery man who dished out slices to Hollywood’s A-List stars on-air at the Academy Awards on Sunday night, was stunned when host Ellen DeGeneres asked him to follow her out into the audience.

“I was shocked. At that point I didn’t understand,” the Glendale resident told the City Council at a meeting Tuesday night.

Martirosyan showed up to the City Hall meeting because his friend, Artur Soghomonyan, is a driver for the City of Glendale’s meal delivery program for seniors, which the council was recognizing with a special proclamation.

Martirosyan said representatives for the Oscars called his business, Big Mama’s & Papa’s Pizzeria in Hollywood, to see if he wanted to interview for the opportunity to deliver pizzas during the show. Out of a handful of pizzerias, his was selected, he said, but he thought the delivery of cheese, gluten-free, mushroom and olive and peperoni pizza was for Academy Awards staff. He had no clue he’d be hand-delivering to movie stars such as Meryl Streep.

“It was a good surprise for me,” he told the council.

Read more this story HERE.

Oscars: Matthew McConaughey ‘God Has Graced My Life…Not of My Hand’

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Photo Credit: Kevin Winter/Getty ImagesBy Debbie Emery.

Matthew McConaughey won the Oscar for best actor for his performance in Dallas Buyers Club on Sunday during the 86th Academy Awards.

The 44-year-old walked away with his first Oscar after winning both the Golden Globe and SAG Award for his portrayal of AIDS patient Ron Woodroof in the biographical drama from Focus Features.

When he took the stage to accept his award, McConaughey, wearing a white tuxedo, calmed his usual exuberance by thanking God, his father, his mother, his wife, Camila Alves, and their children.

He concluded his heartfelt speech with his now-signature line — “All right, all right, all right” — from Dazed and Confused.

Read more this story HERE.

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By Paul Bond.

Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck and others tease celebrities who are “confused” when the actor thanks God after winning best actor for his performance in “Dallas Buyers Club.”

Matthew McConaughey’s best-actor acceptance speech invoking God and family might have garnered a lukewarm reception from his celebrity colleagues at the Oscars on Sunday night, but it was getting lots of positive attention from conservative media figures, including Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck, who used the moment to insinuate that Hollywood is anti-religion.

“First off, I want to thank God because that’s who I look up to. He’s graced my life with opportunities that I know are not of my hand or any other human hand,” McConaughey said after winning for his performance in Dallas Buyers Club.

Limbaugh said during his syndicated radio show Monday that the celebrities at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood for the 86th Academy Awards were “confused” by McConaughey’s acceptance speech.

Read more this story HERE.

North Carolina School Board Votes to Keep Controversial Book in High School Curriculum

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Photo Credit: James SarmientoA North Carolina school board will keep in its high school curriculum a book that tackles abortion, torture, rape and prostitution.

The Watauga County school board voted 3-2 on Thursday to keep Isabel Allende’s “The House of the Spirits” in the curriculum after the mother of a sophomore at Watauga High read the book assigned to her son and asked teachers to ban it, Fox 8 reported, citing the Winston-Salem Journal.

The vote follows a five-month controversy over the novel, a New York Times bestseller, which is recommended by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction as part of the Common Core curriculum.

“Parents need and deserve an opt-out if they don’t want their children to read this particular book,” said board member Brenda Reese, who added she has read the book twice since the challenge first came up in October. “But I don’t feel like we should pull this book from the class.”

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Planned Parenthood President: When Life Begins Not ‘Really Relevant’ in Abortion Debate

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Photo Credit: APThe president of the country’s largest abortion provider said she didn’t think the matter of when life begins is pertinent to the issue.

“It is not something that I feel is really part of this conversation,” Cecile Richards of Planned Parenthood told Fusion’s Jorge Ramos on Thursday. “I don’t know if it’s really relevant to the conversation.”

Read more this story HERE.