UPDATE: October 19, 2007: Vitter was stopped! Details are here.
I wrote a little while ago about how the slimeball Senator from Louisiana, David Vitter, has put an earmark in an appropriations bill to fund a religious organization to teach creationism and slur evolution… to the tune of $100,000.
This bill may go up for vote on the Senate floor as early as TODAY.
If you are a US citizen, call your Senators and — politely, but firmly — ask them to remove this earmark from the bill. The Capitol Switchboard number is 202-224-3121. If you live in Iowa, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, or Mississippi, then it is very important you call Senators Harkin, Specter, Byrd, or Cochran (respectively), since they are important members of the appropriation committee (chairs or ranking members).
If you wanna know how to do it, why, just listen to this (sorry about the pops; I’m getting a new microphone soon).
You can get more information about this at the Evolution blog.
ACT NOW.
October 16th, 2007 at 9:32 am
Nice editing in that video.
I will make my calls…
October 16th, 2007 at 9:40 am
As a side note, you can subscribe to Action Alerts at the Secular Coalition of America’s website to see what other important measures that are up for vote or being proposed including an easy way to find out who your Congressman is and how to email him (or her).
Here’s the link to the specific action alert on this same topic
http://action.secular.org/dia/organizations/secular/campaign/?campaign_KEY=16118
October 16th, 2007 at 9:45 am
Done and done. The guy in Sen. Allard’s office was very nice, and even prompted me to say where I was from when I forgot to mention I was a constituent.
Everyone should know that this process is way easier than you might think. I have a bit of a phobia about calling up people or organizations out of the blue and talking to some disembodied voice I don’t know. But the thing is, your representatives want to hear from you, so they do a good job of making it a nonthreatening process. The person who answers the phone will let you speak your piece, ask if you want to leave your name, and thank you for calling. Easy as pie. Give it a try!
October 16th, 2007 at 10:20 am
Done! I contacted both my Senators by phone and emailed them the following letter. Very easy to do! Thanks, Skeptigator for the action alert link! (Really nice video, Phil!)
“Dear Senator: I am a Baltimore County, Maryland constituent. It is my understanding the US Senate is poised to vote on the Improvement of Education, Title III Fund sometime this week, and possibly as early as today. I hope I am not too late to implore you to remove the earmark to the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Appropriation Bill designated by Louisiana Senator Vitter to allocate $100,000 to the Louisiana Family Forum. This is an organization that would see intelligent design or anti-evolution religious teachings supplant real science in our classrooms. This is a clear violation of the 1st Amendment as this is a religiously backed group advocating their own religion. Please have this earmark removed as it is bad for Maryland and bad for the future of science in our classrooms. Thank you for your time.”
October 16th, 2007 at 10:58 am
[…] 9:58 am Sent today to Senator Feinstein, and I suggest you contact your senator. Thanks to the Bad Astronomer for the tip. Dear […]
October 16th, 2007 at 11:07 am
Done, and done. Sent to my district senator here in Utah.
Thanks for the heads-up BA.
October 16th, 2007 at 11:09 am
I’ve emailed Senator Byrd from WV (my home state):
“Senator Byrd,
It has come to my attention that David Vitter, the Senator from Louisiana, has earmarked a bill to provide $100,000 to fund the Louisiana Family Forum, which will be used to label Evolution as a “theory” and to present “alternate theories” which have absolutely no standing in science or reality. Mr. Senator, I implore you to not approve this bill while this earmark exists.
Evolution is proven science; it is not “just a theory.” In science, a theory is an explanation of a model which is backed by solid, empirical evidence; the word “theory” does not mean the same thing to science as it does in layman’s terms, and I direct you to http://www.notjustatheory.com/ for an explanation of the differences.
I have no problems with religious belief, but I want these OUT of the classroom. Alternative “theories” such as creationism and intelligent design have no scientific merit whatsoever. These “theories” begin with the conclusion, have no evidence beyond philosophy (which, by definition, can never be proven), ignore any contradicting evidence, can not be tested, and are easily refuted with only simply applications of logic. As such, they are not alternatives to Evolution, they are merely nonsensical ideas put forth by those who simply do not understand the science behind Evolution. I would additionally put forth that proof of Evolution can readily be found by simply examining the science behind the superbug, insect resistance to pesticides, the rapid mutation of HIV, and even such facts as The Nylon Problem (http://www.livescience.com/strangenews/050923_ID_science.html) or the fusion of two separate chimp chromosomes to form human chromosome number 2 (http://www.evolutionpages.com/chromosome_2.htm). These are not guesses Senator, these are stone cold facts.
Please Senator, honor our Constitution and do not allow funding to go towards religious groups whose only purpose is to ignore evidence and put forth ideologies, teaching them as fact when they are, in totality, nonsense. The only supported theory of human development and the speciation of organisms is Evolution. While it may not fit with one’s religious or spiritual beliefs, it is fact. We can not afford to teach our children that Evolution is “just a theory”, a lie, or anything else of that nature. Evolution is fact, be it accepted or not. We must keep church and State separate, and we do this by sending a clear message that we will not allow religion into our schools.
Please Senator Byrd, do not allow this bill to pass until the earmark is removed. Please stand up for science, it is imperative for the survival of our nation.
Richard Wolford”
October 16th, 2007 at 11:27 am
Senators Cantwell and Murray from Washington have been informed.
October 16th, 2007 at 11:27 am
Hello from your northern neighbour,
I’m a lurker and have been reading the blog, and the forum before that, for years and I rarely intervene.
I sometime get the feeling that I’m watching a train wreck about to happen on this whole topic. And what worries me, will Canada follow in the US footsteps?
October 16th, 2007 at 12:00 pm
will Canada follow in the US footsteps?
Not a snowball’s chance…
Religious yahooery promulgated by the government is generally not viewed well at all in Canada… which is funny given that our Queen is head of the Church of England. In fact, the last bastion of state-sponsored religion (funding of Catholic schools) is coming slowly under fire and has been abolished in many provinces.
The attempt to table a bill with such a flagrantly religious provision would be political suicide as the Conservative party leader found out in the recent Ontario election.
October 16th, 2007 at 12:20 pm
Are my New York reps in on this? If so, I’m so there. Even if I’m too young to vote. If Vitter’s still in office come 2013, I’ll vote him out.
In other news, yesterday, Branson announced that he has given up on finding Steve Fossett alive.
October 16th, 2007 at 12:43 pm
Isn’t Vitter the guy who was banging the hookers?
Not that I’m opposed to that, being fairly libertarian on activities between consenting adults, but he’s Mr. Bible Thumper Hypocrite in addition to all this.
Ah, Wikipedia, is there anything you do not know?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Vitter
$300 an hour? That’s cheaper then Nevada where it’s legal. I guess the black market really *does* float to the fair price of a product or service.
He supports Rudy Giuliani’s. Huh. Not what I would have expected.
Can we somehow breed a new generation of free market politicians WITHOUT the recessive religious gene?
October 16th, 2007 at 12:48 pm
Here’s a link about the group in question:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louisiana_Family_Forum
And their actual site:
http://www.lafamilyforum.org/
I *totally* want to parody that site. It’s tough to parody things that are almost self parodies, so it’s a challenge.
October 16th, 2007 at 1:27 pm
I’ve done it for both Senators from Ohio. Thanks for alerting us to this.
October 16th, 2007 at 1:44 pm
Done, it will be interesting to see if a Conservative Senator from Georgia (home of Cobb County and anti-evolution stickers) will do anything. I can’t help but feel my protest fell on deaf ears.
October 16th, 2007 at 2:28 pm
“Bible Thumper Hypocrite”
Isn’t that a redundancy?
Here in Redneckistan (The American Southeast - used to be solidly Dem, but good PR coupled with bad luck - and some admittedly poor performing politicians - changed all that) calling our senators is an exercise in futility - unless you are a “Dittohead/Great American”.
October 16th, 2007 at 3:36 pm
Sergeant Zim, the south’s conversion from the Democrats to the Republicans seems to have happened mostly after LBJ had the audacity to sign laws that made blacks first class citizens. The southern conseratives were of course upset that they couldn’t lynch anyone any more and they had to treat African Americans like human beings. Fortunately (in their eyes) now they have the gays to fill that role.
Goldwater endorsing the rights of states to have segregation if they chose and Nixon’s southern strategy didn’t hurt either.
October 16th, 2007 at 4:51 pm
In the last ten minutes, three voters from Spokane have contacted Senators Murray and Cantwell.
Ain’t the internet grand?
Thanks to BigBadSis and Robert Wolford for showing us how to word our Emails so well!
Now, I’m off to warn everyone in my email address book. . .
October 16th, 2007 at 6:38 pm
Any news? Did it go before the Senate today? *anxiously wishes to know*
October 16th, 2007 at 8:15 pm
Did it go before the Senate yet, or do I still have time to write letters to my senators?
October 16th, 2007 at 8:32 pm
I haven’t heard anything, and browsing the Senate site is the key to madness. I’ll post if/when I hear anything.
October 16th, 2007 at 8:54 pm
Yet another reason I’m embarrassed to say I live in Louisiana.
October 16th, 2007 at 10:59 pm
Right now I get happier and happier about the line that seperates Canada and the US, well being on the Canadian side of the line.
October 16th, 2007 at 11:01 pm
I really like this blog. …And I’m a fundamentalist Christian (but not the young Earth variety).
I don’t think it’s unreasonable to believe that God is behind this amazing universe we live in. There’s some pretty smart scientists out there that believe it too. I’m in good company. Probably one of the latest to ‘come out’ is Francis Collins, head of the human genome project (http://www.ctlibrary.com/40487).
I do think that Christians are going about it the wrong way when they try to sneak a creationist agenda into the science classroom, so I pretty much agree with Phil on this one.
It’s unfortunate that Christians are known for what we’re against instead of what we are for. Christ summed it up when asked what the greatest commandment was:
“The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” Mark 12: 29 - 31
October 16th, 2007 at 11:20 pm
The only ones fromany faith that I do not like are the ones that force their faith on others. I have had friend who were christian, jewish, muslim, and even a jehovahs witness.
October 17th, 2007 at 5:00 am
Good to see people taking action.
October 17th, 2007 at 8:31 am
I contacted Senator Biden.
I used your text from the video and included the page The Times-Picayune.
http://blog.nola.com/times-picayune/2007/09/vitter_earmarked_federal_money.html
Thanks for the heads-up.
Linda
October 17th, 2007 at 9:23 am
I don’t know if it’s too late, but I contacted Senators Murray and Cantwell of Washington State as well.
October 17th, 2007 at 10:07 am
I’m a Specter constituent, and I contacted both his office and Senator Casey’s office. Thank you, Phil.
October 17th, 2007 at 10:38 am
>>> “Bible Thumper Hypocrite†Isn’t that a redundancy?
Not really. As anti-religious as I am, I recognize there are some who *do* walk the walk. That’s why I give all my old stuff to the local Salvation Army store.
Example: while The United Way was holding expensive PR press conferences after Hurricane Katrina, the Salvation Army folks had quietly gone into New Orleans before the rain stopped falling with mobile canteens and field kitchens. They have a military style organization (hence “Army”) that does seem effective in bad situations.
I may not agree with their views on many, well, MOST things, but I can really respect their charitable efforts. They actually have their own ham radio network for disaster relief coordination. I’d rather support that than some overpaid executives at an uber CorporaCharity that trickles 20 cents on a dollar to those that actually need it.
October 17th, 2007 at 10:53 am
[…] Call the relevant no-counts and insist they 86 this pig-ignorant back scratching. digg_url = ‘http://suspect-device.com/blog’; digg_bgcolor = ‘cbcab6′; digg_skin = ‘compact’; […]
October 17th, 2007 at 1:38 pm
Phil,
While you (and most of your readers) and I don’t share the same theological views, I agree with you on this one. I contacted both Michigan senators asking for a big Nay vote on this.
Ordinary Radical
“He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. Micah 6:8″
October 18th, 2007 at 10:12 am
[…] Earmark Passes!! Readers of the BABlog are no doubt familiar with this post.The Vitter ID earmark passed the senate despite our best efforts. Here is the actual senate record: […]