ProPublica has put up a summary of the spending included in the stimulus bill.

February 12, 1809 was a pretty good day for the world – Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin were born. The Lafayette Journal & Courier had an article on Darwin with a passage that caught my attention:

“I really believe that creationism and science are hand-in-hand,” said Chris Johns, principal of First Assembly Christian Academy in Lafayette. “Just as some who see science through Darwinism.”

. . .

“We do bring up both sides,” Johns said.

“We teach both sides — and quite honestly, we believe the creationism side.”

Johns said while students are taught God had a guiding hand in the world’s creation, as opposed to the big bang theory, it is not a rejection of science.

Evolution holds that the Earth is billions of years old and that all life, including humans, evolved from simple forms through a process of natural selection.

In particular, the not believing in the Big Bang thing caught my eye – and that’s because of a parenting issue with which I was presented a couple of weeks ago. I had told Cole, my 5 year old, about the Big Bang. A day or two later, he said he told his teacher about it and she told him “he wasn’t telling the truth.” Now, some of this is probably just a translation issue by the 5 year old. I don’t think his teacher called him a liar. But, I think she did try to tell him that the Big Bang Theory wasn’t true. A few days later, he said something like “God made all snowflakes different.” I was fairly abrupt in telling him that it wasn’t God that made the snowflakes, but rather a natural combination of cold and water. Nature is a wonder on its own, we don’t need to theorize a God to add to it. I haven’t raised a fuss with the teachers or the school because it’s a church where the pre-school is located. They said that religion wasn’t part of their curriculum, aside from a thank you song at snack time, but some teachers are apparently more into proselytizing than others. But, you go to a church, you get God. I get that.

Another thing about that passage that struck me was the conflation of the age of the earth with evolution. That strikes me more as a matter of geology than evolution. The Young Earthers are more perplexing to me than the anti-evolutioners. Wholesale rejection of science in the name of believing chapters of the Bible written from the oral traditions of bronze age shepherds is absolutely baffling to me.

So, anyway, 200 years ago Darwin was born, and he wrote a book that helped us better understand the world around us. That bent a lot of folks out of shape, but I’m happy he did it. Happy birthday Charles. Thoughts on Lincoln will have to wait.

The Lafayette Journal & Courier ran a story on the partial victory by the police officer defendants in a suit by a woman who was injured as police fired at a fleeing vehicle operated by the man who had abducted the woman and murdered the woman’s son.

The suit alleged that the police officers violated the woman’s constitutional rights and also that she was injured through their negligence. A federal judge granted the officers’ summary judgment motion on the constitutional claims — which are a federal matter — but declined jurisdiction on the remaining state claims and remanded those back to the state court. I represent the county and the county officers sued and, therefore, was briefly mentioned in the story. The federal judge’s opinion is here (pdf) . Among other things, the judge found:

“Here, the defendants were faced with a dangerous and violent felon, who had just broke into Ms. Browell’s residence and shot her son, and was attempted to resist arrest and flee the scene by driving erratically through the neighborhood[.]” . . .

“Clearly the officers were attempting to apprehend the likely armed Lile, a legitimate governmental interest, and not intending to harm Ms. Browell.”
. . .
Viewing the record in the light most favorable of Mrs. Browell, she simply cannot demonstrate that defendants violated her constitutional rights. To the contrary, the uncontested facts reveal that defendants’ use of force in attempted to subdue Mr. Lile, a fleeing felon who had shot and ultimately killed Ms. Browell’s son and held her unconsciously captive, was reasonable, and no jury could find otherwise.

Harold Adams, writing for the Lousville Courier Journal has more on former Rep. Oxley’s DUI on Friday. He hit a parked car while driving with a BAC of 0.17. He says he “made an error in judgment. . . I take full responsibility. I make no excuses, and I expect no special treatment.”

The Richmond Palladium-Item is reporting that Judge Thomas Snow, currently in Wayne Superior Court 1, will be appointed chair of the Alcohol & Tobacco Commission. Normally this wouldn’t mean much, but Judge Snow is the father of one of my sister’s best friends growing up. So, from that perspective, it’s a good appointment. And, by all accounts, Judge Snow is “the kind of person who makes any institution he joins a great deal better, and that which he leaves, saddened.”

The Associated Press had an article entitled “Indiana seeing a rise in military recruitment,” which is ostensibly due to the problems with our economy. This made me think of the historical notion that bad economic times lead to military conflict. If nothing else, countries have a surplus of able-bodied citizens and have to direct their energy one way or another in a way that keeps the existing government in power. I’m not especially concerned that unemployment in the U.S. will lead to increased saber rattling by us — we have an uncommonly stable government — but look for increased hostility around the world as other economies go in the tank.

Former Representative and Democratic Lt. Governor candidate Dennie Oxley was arrested on a DUI charge Friday, allegedly with a BAC over 0.15.

I have no idea of the details of Oxley’s incident, but every time I see a public figure arrested for a DUI, it suggests to me that hammering on the “don’t drink” side of the equation is insufficient. We need alternatives to driving our own vehicles to get around – whether that’s better public transit or zoning for corner pubs or something else, I don’t know.