Discovery Institute | Page 623 | Public policy think tank advancing a culture of purpose, creativity, and innovation.

Imposter Design Theory On Trial In Dover Case, Real Intelligent Design Still Not Discussed in Court

Harrisburg, PA – Building on the mischaracterizations of the first day’s witness, the ACLU continued to put an imposter version of intelligent design on trial in the second day of the Kitzmiller v. Dover trial. “I know what intelligent design is, and it sure isn’t what they’re talking about in Harrisburg,” said Casey Luskin, the program officer for public policy and Read More ›

Adult Stem Cells Restore Feeling In Paraplegic

This article, published by WorldNetDaily, quotes Discovery Institute Senior Fellow Wesley J. Smith: Bioethics specialist Wesley J. Smith, writing in Lifesite.com, expressed enthusiasm about the apparent breakthrough, but also urged caution. “We have to be cautious,” said Smith, a senior fellow at the Seattle-based Discovery Institute and a special consultant to the Center for Bioethics and Culture. “One patient does Read More ›

Price-Gouging?

If you bought a home 10 years ago for $100,000 and just sold it for $300,000, have you engaged in price gouging? Most people would say “no,” provided there were willing buyers and sellers of both sides of the transaction merely responding to the market at the time.
As a result of hurricanes Katrina and Rita, some politicians have demanded prosecution of “price gougers.” In many states, like Florida, “price gouging” is illegal. The Florida statutes say, “It is illegal to charge unconscionable prices for goods or services following a declared state of emergency.”

Hmmm, I know what the law means when says burglary or murder are illegal, but an “unconscionable price”?

So I looked in Webster’s Dictionary, and found unconscionable is defined as “excessive; extortionate” and gouge is defined as “to extort from or to swindle.”

Read More ›

In Dover Trial, ACLU’s Expert Witness Mischaracterizes Intelligent Design

Harrisburg, PA — The case of Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District opened in federal court yesterday with the ACLU calling its first expert witness in an effort to tell the court how it should define science. The ACLU is suing the school board of Dover, Pennsylvania for adopting a policy that requires students to listen to a three-paragraph statement about Read More ›

Institute: Both sides wrong

Original Article Two members of the Discovery Institute attended the trial but did not participate. The Discovery Institute, the leading proponent of intelligent design, took aim at both sides in the Dover Area School District’s case that started Monday in U.S. Middle District Court in Harrisburg. Representatives for the Seattle-based organization oppose the district mandating a policy that it says Read More ›

Beautiful night sky, star in the space. Collage on space, science and education items. Elements of this image furnished by NASA.
Sparkle shinny blue star particle motion on black background, starlight nebula in galaxy at universe Space background. This image furnished by NASA

Copernicus Stages A Comeback

More than sixty years after the famous Galileo “The Earth it Moves” trial in Rome, Copernicus is in the news again, this time in the form of a so-called theory of universal gravitation (or UG, as it has come to be known). Headquartered at the Royal Society, a think tank in London funded by well-heeled royalist donors, members of the Read More ›

Is Teaching Intelligent Design Illegal?: A Debate

Original Article The “Monkey trial” of John Scopes is generally thought to have set back the anti-evolution forces which were gathering momentum 80 years ago, but in recent years they have massed again. Intelligent design—a theory that acknowledges evolution yet presumes a “designer” behind it—appears poised to deliver better results for doubters about Darwin’s view of evolution. While some call Read More ›

‘Intelligent Design’ Faces First Big Court Test

This article, published by MSNBC, mentions Discovery Institute: Indeed, the Discovery Institute —— the Seattle-based think tank that is the intellectual engine of the movement —— finds itself opposing both sides. While it criticized the ACLU for pursuing an “Orwellian” stifling of scientific debate, it also disagreed with the Dover school board’’s vote last year. The rest of the article Read More ›

Intelligent Design Explained

Original Article Intelligent design isn’t meant to re-insert God into science but rather to question the mechanisms of the Darwinian theory of evolution. That is what Phillip E. Johnson, a retired law professor who is sometimes called the “father of intelligent design,” told a group of Washburn University students and members of the community Saturday night. “I thought it went Read More ›

Trial Puts Dover Debate in National Spotlight

This article, published by The York Dispatch, mentions Discovery Institute: Seattle-based Discovery Institute, the leading proponent of intelligent design, has issued a statement disassociating itself with Dover school board’s “misguided” policy. The rest of the article can be found here.