#620: David DeWolf

David DeWolf is a law professor (Gonzaga) and senior fellow at the Discovery Institute. In 1999 DeWolf, together with Stephen Meyer and Mark DeForrest, coauthored the 40-page booklet “Intelligent Design in Public School Science Curricula: A Legal Guidebook,” in which a strategy for legal cases involving teaching Intelligent Design creationism in public schools was laid out, claiming that Edwards v. Aguillard mandated “teaching a variety of scientific theories about the origins of humankind” subject to a “clear secular intent of enhancing ... science instruction.” If only ID had been a scientific theory, it would have been good to go, of course, but it isn’t so DeWolf and his gang needed a backdoor. The strategy they developed did not help particularly much in the Kitzmiller v. Dover case. In response to Kitzmiller v. Dover, DeWolf et al. whined that ID is a “valid scientific theory”, that the court should not have addressed the question of whether it was a scientific theory, and that the decision will have no effect on the development of ID as an alternative to evolutionary theory (the latter of which is of course true, since ID-ists were never in the business of developing a theory anyways but rather to get anti-evolution into schools). Their screeds are discussed here, and absolutely demolished here (note also the discussion of an amicus brief containing some rather astonishingly disingenuous claims authored by DeWolf for the case)

He – and in particular his ardent support of “teach the controversy” (i.e. manufactroversy) –

was cited at length by Santorum in the latter’s Address to Congress regarding the infamous Santorum amendment, and it appears to have been a law article by DeWolf that provided the blueprint for Santorum’s amendment.

Diagnosis: In many ways DeWolf is a fine symbol of the Intelligent Design movement. His efforts are of course all about legal strategies for implementing creationism in public education. And that, of course, is what ID is about – it has never been about doing science.

#549: Larry Caldwell

Skipping Herman Cain for the obvious reason (that puts his rank theocratic leanings, pseudomathematics, hilarious ranting, and conspiracy theories in perspective), we give you instead the terminally ridiculous Larry Caldwell. Caldwell is a pro-intelligent design activist and attorney – a somewhat less well-hinged alternative to the Thomas More Law Center – who has been honing the largely defensive weapon of litigation for use in various causes supporting the intelligent design movement. Caldwell and his wife, Jeanne (a Christian school teacher who “takes the Bible literally”), used to run Quality Science Education for All, which has little to do with “science” or “quality” in education, and is generally known for his “his hair-trigger willingness to sue people for just about anything in the cause of ID creationism.”

Caldwell describes his goals as getting schools to teach “some of the scientific weaknesses of evolution”, and among the numerous targets for his lawsuits we find the NCSE (also here), The Texas State Board of Education, Roseville Joint Union High School District (because they didn’t take seriously his garbled objections to their biology textbook, also here), and the University of California, Berkeley, claiming that their website “Understanding Evolution” violated the separation of church and state by linking to sites that claim that religious faith is compatible with evolution. The courts weren’t particularly interested in Caldwell’s complaints.

Caldwell has also written for the Discovery Institute blog,

Diagnosis: That’s the way to establish the scientific credentials of Intelligent Design Creationism, Larry! As a creationist activist, Caldwell has at least realized that appealing to science is gonna get him nowhere.

#521: Josh Brecheen

Josh Brecheen is an Oklahoma State senator who also owns a motivational speaking business (Brecheen Keynotes and Seminars). Now, when January 2011 marked the opening of a new legislative session in the State senates (as all Januaries do), some idiots have – they always do – to present a ”teach teh controversy” or outright anti-evolution bill. Brecheen was responsible for Oklahoma’s in2011.

Copied and pasted right out of the Discovery Institute’s anti-science strategy ”Academic Freedom”, Brecheen’s version stated that local education administrators ”shall not prohibit any teacher from informing students about relevant scientific information regarding either the scientific strengths or scientific weaknesses of controversial topics in sciences, when being taught in accordance with adopted standards and curricula,” where such topics “include but are not limited to biological origins of life and biological evolution.” That is, “teach all the science”. Of course, the fact that evolution is not a scientifically controversial issue and creationism is not a scientific theory is uninteresting, and what the law is supposed to do is to let any and every teacher spread the most egregious nonsense to students without having to stand up for it.

Brecheen’s defense of the bill was, predictably, filled with all the usual creationist talking points, including conspiracy mongering (“Renowned scientists now asserting thatevolution is laden with errors [curiously none are mentioned] are being ignored”). Fortunately, as every such “Academic Freedom” sponsor is wont to do, they disregard the Discovery Institute’s stealth recommendation and tell the media what they are really trying to achieve. Brecheen promptly spilled the beans: “I have introduced legislation requiring every publically funded Oklahoma school to teach the debate of creation vs. evolution using the known science, even that which conflicts with Darwin's religion.” He admitted that “One of the bills I will file this year may be dismissed as inferior by ‘intellectuals’”. Indeed.

Diagnosis: Dense dullhead with no aptitude for critical thinking, not the faintest what science is or how it works, and no understanding of the fact that he lacks a clue. Such incompetence won’t prevent you from getting into positions of power, however, so Brecheen cannot be completely dismissed as harmless.

#509: Ray Bohlin

Raymond Bohlin is a Research Fellow of the Discovery Institute's Center for the Renewal of Science and Culture, and thus deeply involved in pushing intelligent design creationism as a scientifically valid alternative to evolution for America’s school children (not as a scientifically valid alternative to evolution for scientists, since that would require, you know, science and evidence and research and stuff, and these guys aren’t into that). That ID is a scientific rather than religious alternative can be seen from the illuminating quote young-earth-creationism-sympathetic Bohlin offered on Grand Canyon here.

Bohlin is also head of Probe Ministries, which deals with thorough scientific treatments of a variety of issues, such as “Is masturbation a sin?” (the answer is “yes”). The connection between the blatantly fundamentalist Probe ministries and the Discovery Institute is actually telling; they also got Heather Zeiger from that one; though they never inform anyone of the connection, of course. Both Zeiger and Bohlin were called to testify before the Texas Board of Education in their capacity of religious fundamentalists that the deranged members of the Board could pass off as expert witnesses on science.

Ray’s wife Sue has also done some research on such profound scientific questions as whether pole dancing is OK for believers (answer: only within the confines of marriage).

Bohlin does admittedly have scientific credentials. Before becoming a fanatic church leader he was a molecular biologist, and had a few real science publications. That, of course, is what has made him one of the leaders of the ID movement. He is known for his claims that gene duplication cannot increase biological complexity, as well as the standard creationist canards – one of his books (written with one Sharon Sebastian) is called “Darwin’s Racists” – you probably see where it’s going (three steps: first attempt to blame Darwin for Hitler; then confuse the consequences of believing a claim with the truth of that claim to infer, by the powerful inference rule “wishful thinking” that Darwinism is unsupportable (and evolutionists are evil)). Bohlin is also a global warming denialist who likes to cite people like Fred Singer. Because of his global warming denialism he likes to play himself as a huge fan of environmentalism in order to convince people that his global warming denialism “really” is based on science and concern for the environment.

Diagnosis: It has become rather hard to come up with new characterizations of these people by now, since they all trot out the same fallacies and talking points for exactly the same reasons. Bohlin’s influence, however, should not be underestimated.

#497: Tom Bethell

While Kentucky governor Steve Beshear deserves honorable mention for his endorsement of the expansion of the Creation Museum, it may be hard to take it as evidence for lunacy rather than opportunism. No such doubts surround Tom Bethell.

Bethell is a senior editor at American Spectator and “media fellow” at the Hoover Institution (he is also originally British, but appears to work primarily in the US). Bethell is famous for endorsing virtually every brand of wingnut pseudoscience and every denialist position ever invented. That commitment is summed up in his magnum opus, the frighteningly well-known Politically Incorrect Guide to Science (reviewed here), in which he endorses them all: Intelligent design creationism (all the standard canards, including this, and most of these; some Bethell quotes on evolution are discussed here), AIDS denial, including denying that there is anything such as an AIDS epidemic in Africa (it is duly taken down here), that radiation is good for you, stem cell lies, anti-environmentalism – particularly, of course, global warming denialism (some Bethell quotes are discussed here), but also the DDT idiocy (he further popularized the Rachel Carson smear), and claiming that endangered species aren’t really endangered – and cancer quackery. It is truly an astonishing display of all and every crank fallacy and gambit there is, from the Galileo gambit to the Ham hightail, through “science was wrong before”, the “evil liberal science conspiracy”, science is a “secular religion”, and so on. Even the title should give you an idea that Bethell has fundamentally misunderstood something, and a good article on Bethell and fellow denialist John Tierney discussing their failure to distinguish science from politics can be found here (see also this). This one is also pertinent.

Of course, the overall theme of the book is that the the scientific establishment is constantly sidelining “politically incorrect” dissent in order for scientists to boost liberal ideology and take out mountains of grant money. Anyone who has ever known a scientist should see that there is something not entirely coherent about that picture. Bethell’s stance on general science policy is duly discussed here. A comment on his positive review of Expelled, which also highlights some of these problems, can be found here.

Bethell has subsequently published “Questioning Einstein: Is Relativity Necessary”, in which he plumps for relativity denial based mostly on the work of übercrank Petr Beckmann (this one is informative as well). Beckmann’s bullshit is, of course, complete nonsense and should serve merely to establish once and for all that Bethell does not have the faintest clue what he is talking about (as if more proof was needed).

Bethell is currently fellow-traveller with the Discovery Institute, and often publishes on their website. You can read Bethell trying to explain natural selection here. He doesn’t have the faintest clue.

Diagnosis: An absolute moron who takes denialism and confirmation bias to the extreme (as if that needed saying) – he is, in Myers’s words, a “gumbyesque crackpot” – who appears to try to promote wishful thinking as a valid form of inference (a rule that would of course be self-validating). His book remains relatively popular, and it is probably safe to say that Bethell is the epitome of what is wrong with the world.