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Comment Re:"Fully Half Doubt the Big Bang"? (Score 1) 600

If a model conflicts with observation, the model either must be dropped or modified.

That's a little too simplistic. Often, when a model conflicts with observation, the first thing that is questioned is the observation. Is the observation accurate? Is it repeatable? Is the observation made without observer bias (intentional or otherwise)?

How is that too simplistic? If the observation was inaccurate, then it really wasn't an observation, was it?

Only in the same way that it is impossible to "observe" a True Scotsman.

Comment Nice try (Score 5, Informative) 667

"No, consideration of special creation is definitely not open for discussion, it would seem."

Nice try, except scientists have considered creationism. For instance, Stephen Jay Gould has written screeds analyzing creationism scientifically. The issue isn't a lack of consideration, but rather that such scientists have thoroughly refuted creationism. I actually wouldn't mind a series scientifically analyzing creationism in principle, perhaps along the lines of some of Gould's work, but I somehow doubt that such a public flaying would satisfy the good folks at AiG.

Comment Re:And the US could turn Russia into vapor (Score 1) 878

To give an analogy. If I'm walking in a dark alley and run into a guy who jumps on me with a knife, I'm in my right to take out a pistol and shoot him. But if I'm walking in a dark alley and a guy is camping at the corner, he might be waiting for me to come by and jump on me with a knife, but until he does I have no moral or legal right to shoot him.

This looks eerily like the US justification for the Iraq War.

Comment Re:Of course it's going to exacerbate inequality. (Score 1) 529

The U.S. K-12 educational system is ridiculously expensive and sucks mostly because it is a heavily bureaucratized government monopoly

I hate to ruin your little libertarian fantasy narrative, but there are private and charter schools in the United States, so it's not a government monopoly by any stretch. A "government monopoly" would more closely resemble the situation in Taiwan, which is one of the countries discussed favorably in TFA, where the schools are all run by the Chinese Ministry of Education.

One's alma mater is only a barrier in the U.S. if you work for the government.

I have no idea what planet this idea came from.

Social mobility is still greater in the U.S. than in other countries

The United States actually scores very low in indices that measure social mobility. Moreover, this study finds that in the US out of all the sampled countries, one's PISA score in science is more likely than any other country to be influenced by parental background.

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