Evolution: Education and Outreach journal celebrates Darwin throughout 2009

The latest issue of Evolution: Education and Outreach — the new journal aspiring to promote accurate understanding and comprehensive teaching of evolutionary theory for a wide audience — is now available on-line, free:

http://www.springerlink.com/content/120878/

From the press release:

"Throughout 2009, the journal will celebrate the life and work of Charles Darwin.

Featured accordingly in the latest issue are articles on Darwin: "Why Darwin," "Artificial Selection and Domestication: Modern Lessons from Darwin's Enduring Analogy," "Charles Darwin and Human Evolution," "Experimenting with Transmutation: Darwin, the Beagle, and Evolution,"
"Darwin's 'Extreme' Imperfection," and "The 'Popular Press' Responds to Charles Darwin, The Origin of Species and His Other Works." Studies of teaching and learning are presented as well: "Assessment of Biology Majors' Versus Nonmajors' Views on Evolution, Creationism, and
Intelligent Design," "Educational Malpractice: The Impact of Including Creationism in High School Biology Courses," "Teaching Evolution in Primary Schools: An Example in French Classroom," and the late Michael E. N. Majerus's "Industrial Melanism in the Peppered Moth, Biston betularia: An Excellent Teaching Example of Darwinian Evolution in Action." There are also reviews of Michael Shermer's Why Darwin Matters and Rob DeSalle and Ian Tattersall's Human Origins."

And much more.

Clarity on HSLDA Warning about David Ogden

The Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) has sent out a warning missive, advising "members and friends" to oppose the nomination of David Ogden as US deputy attorney general.

HSLDA points out that Ogden's position is the "second highest" in the Justice Department, suggesting much but clarifying little. To best understand what, if any threat, Ogden might pose, it's important to understand the issues at hand with respect to the office in question. According to the US Department of Justice:

“The Deputy Attorney General advises and assists the Attorney General in formulating and implementing Departmental policies and programs and in providing overall supervision and direction to all organizational units of the Department. The Deputy Attorney General is authorized to exercise all the power and authority of the Attorney General, except where such power or authority is prohibited by law from delegation or has been delegated to another official. In the absence of the Attorney General, the Deputy Attorney General acts as the Attorney General.”

He is not of, and by himself, a threat because of his beliefs and past practices. Yet HSLDA "urges all of its members to immediately telephone both U.S. senators from your state to oppose the nomination of David Ogden" largely based on "his belief that the rules found in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child are already binding on the United States under the doctrines of international law."

Ogden's beliefs regarding international law and its applications domestically may certainly an issue, but to hinge rejection of his nomination on how that might, remotely, affect homeschooling in the US is short sighted and misguided.

HSLDA sites Ogden's ruling In the Supreme Court case of Roper v. Simmons, 543 U.S. 551 (2005), where Ogden argued that the rules banning the juvenile death penalty contained in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child were customary norms of international law “binding on all states.” They refer readers to an HSLDA Michael Farris article from 2007

Actually, a more critical examination of the Roper case can be found at the Heritage Foundation . HSLDA quoting HSLDA does not a case make.

HSLDA goes on to say, "This means that Ogden believes that the legal rules contained in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child are already binding on the United States, even though this treaty has never been sent to the U.S. Senate for ratification.

"Homeschoolers have long understood the dangers of this international treaty, which contains the core principle that the government may decide what it believes is best for each child without any proof of wrongdoing by the child’s parents. Ogden promoted the use of this UN treaty in the Supreme Court to reach the conclusion that America’s courts have the power to overrule state law, using international law as their guidepost for constitutional interpretation. Unfortunately, he was successful in doing so in the Roper case."

And homeschoolers have long been led astray by HSLDA on this issue. Please visit LIFEs National Homeschool Issues Quick Links page for more comprehensive reading on this issue.

HSLDA further contends, "If this weren’t enough, Ogden has a history of representing Playboy and other purveyors of pornography in high-profile legal cases. He also challenged the legality of using filters on library computers to protect children from seeing pornography. It would be hard to imagine how Ogdenwould faithfully enforce the nation's pornography laws if he is placed in this position at the Justice Department."

Plenty of conjecture here. We challenge the implications of legislating morality.

And then, HSLDA has the audacity to conclude, "The United States Senate needs to understand right now that the American public will not countenance the idea of the nation being led by people who believe that international law trumps American law."

HSLDA perhaps should understand right now that it no more speaks for "the American public" than it does for all homeschoolers.

If you do decide to oppose Ogden's nomination, please do so on the basis of common sense, and informed reason, not based on hyper-reaction to HSLDA scare tactics.

For more information on David Ogden, please read:

Christian right challenges Obama's Justice picks

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iVg2jiaBA1jwVfCdsisXI0FbZD0AD965IPMG0

Who Runs Gov at

http://www.whorunsgov.com/index.php?title=Profiles/David_Ogden&highlight=David+Ogden

And for perspective on the impact of past attorney generals and the office, learn about the history and rulings of previous attorney general, Michael Mukasey: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Mukasey

See also :

Human Rights as Customary International Law

http://www.dd-rd.ca/site/publications/index.php?id=1271&page=5&subsection=catalogue