Les Jones

When I volunteered at Ijams, the newsletter would talk about geologic history and evolution, but the volunteers were specifically instructed not to use "the 'E' word" (exact quote) during walks. Isn't just maybe possible that the same sort of thing is going on at GCNP?

The real burning historical question is: was Doonesbury ever funny?

"...the volunteers were specifically instructed not to use "the 'E' word" (exact quote) during walks."

And this urge to use the 'E' word was germane [please be specific] in what manner to your 'walk'?

And how does a blatantly-false aside help restore the forever-tarnished reputation of a "cartoonist" [how appropriate!] who once demeaned and insulted an heroic war veteran [presidential candidate Bob Dole] because of his life-threatening injuries and permament disability incurred while fighting Hitler's forces?

Trudeau has more in common with sheep caecum than humanity. God forbid he passes along his defective genes.

Steve: yeah, as I recall they preferred us to talk about adapted instead of evolved. Some of the NPS people apparently talk about millions of years, and one person reported their guide asked if it was OK if he talked about millions of years. Once bitten, twice shy, I guess, but not a sign of censorship.

Alex: Easy. Steve's just relating his experience. When you're doing naturalist interpreter stuff, evolution can come up pretty easily because it explains an awful lot of biological phenomena.

Steve, and Wes...please excuse my ill temper. Something about Trudeau makes me whip out the razor.

Oops...now I've renamed you, Les. I'm off to the kitchen for that coffee now. LOL!

I seem to recall that story making the rounds a few years ago. Nothing at Snopes.

Ok, reading through the links, it sounds like a total non-story. I used to be a member of Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics -- they constantly did the same thing, "exposing" big conspiracies with nothing but anonymous sources as proof. Totally frustrating, since there's plenty of well documented BS pulled by the Forest Service without having to resort to made-up shit.

What PEER did doesn't change the scientific truth. (If something is 40 million years old, then it's 40 million years old.) However, PEER's deception in trying to make a political point will cloud the scientific question for some people. Shame on them for hurting their own cause.

Kudos to Michael Shermer who went to great lengths to run down the facts about PEER's deceptive tactics, and for having the guts to write a retraction.