The F-words decode Da Vinci

On GMA this morning during a discussion of the forthcoming movie based on Dan Brown's novel, The Da Vinci Code, a critic of the Christian persuasion accused the book of being false, fallacious and fanciful. The critic failed to use the another f-word to describe it, i.e., fictional. What part of fiction is not understood?

Inequality in school finance?

The Kansas City Star has alleged in both news stories and editorials that Johnson Count, Kansas, taxpayers pay 30 percent of the taxes that support the new Kansas school finance plan which within Johnson County school districts will pay for only 18 percent of the state's students. The alleged inequity between tax payments and state aid for schools is reported as the reason "... all Johnson County lawmakers voted against the plan."

The state revenue collected within Johnson County comes primarily from three sources: property taxes, income taxes and sales taxes. Johnson County's property tax base probably is the highest assessed valuation per capita in the state. Aggregate income within Johnson County probably is also the highest of any county in Kansas. Sales tax collections, probably also the highest of an Kansas county are strong due to the many retail outlets in the county that, in addition to the upper income spenders who live in Johnson County, also attract shoppers from Missouri and other nearby Kansas counties. The latter shoppers boost the aggregate sales tax collections. It is no wonder given the affluence of Johnson County and its economic dominance in suburban Kansas City that it produces state revenue disproportionate to its population. However, one constant belies any claim of unfairness. The rate for state taxes paid by an individual in Johnson County is the same as that for any other Kansas taxpayer.

The reason state levied and collected taxes pay for Kansas public schools is the State Constitution. The taxes are levied and collected from individuals, not counties. Comparison of the percent of tax revenue to the percent of students is irrelevant to the education of Kansas children, an a conclusion of unfairness is a non sequiter. We have a state financed system of public education in Kanasas and Johnson County legislators need to embrace it, instead of subverting it. Last time, I checked Johnson County is part of Kansas and benefits greatly from this association.

Let the least able pay...

A TV commercial by Glaxo-Smith-Kline ends with a saying, "Today's medicines finance tomorrow's miracles". Is this really the best way to pay for pharmaceutical research and development? That is, should the high cost of medicines be justified by the fact that part of that cost, after profits, operations, etc., pays for product development? Are the users of medicines necessarily the most able to pay for R&D costs of new medicines? Would users of medicines be better able to afford the R&D costs than say people who don't use medicines? One would think that the elderly, the sick, and the infirm, who are more than likely the greater users of therapeutic drugs would be lesser productive members of society and, in a capitalist economy, they would have fewer financial resources to pay a "hidden" tax for medical advancements through presecription drugs. Perhaps, the financing of pharmaceutical research needs re-thinking. Perthaps, research should be conducted independently from the manufacture and distribution of prescription drugs. Perhaps then, a more logical connection between the beneficiaries of new drugs and the source of funds for their development could be found. I could certainly see a role for greater funding of university pharmaceutical research with the revenues from commercialization of new discoveries being returned to the funding source rather than the university. The goal should be a reduction in the cost of medicines by spreading the cost of pharmaceutical research to society-at-large whose members are the potential beneficiaries of new drugs rather than the ones who suffer from ailments for which existing drugs provide relief.

Worth Repeating

Letters and Voices in the KC Star often contain statements that are "Worth Repeating". I'll report the ones I think deserve the treatment as a feature of this blog. If you , dear Reader, see one in your local paper that you think is "Worth Repeating" send it to me by email and, if it fits, I'll post it, too.

In today's Star Voices, Eric Ramer of Kearney said:

"President Bush saying that America has a dependence on foreign oil is like the head of the Medellin cartel saying that Americans have a drug problem."

Stone School

The painting shown below is the one-room Stone School that was formerly located on the north side of US54 Highway about 1 mile east of the K105 junction, near Toronto, Woodson County, Kansas. The school was attended by my mother and her older brother, Roland, beginning in 1914, as first graders. They traveled, along with the hired man's children, a 3 mile distance to the school from their home on a farm above the Verdigris River valley in a horse drawn buck-board wagon. My uncle at 7 years was responsible for the harness and mother at 5 years old took care of the feed and water in the shelter near the school for student conveyances. The shelter wasn't in the sepia photo taken in 1917 by Josie Dean, teacher, from which this painting was made. Ms. Dean gave each student a copy of the picture as a memento of their attendance. The Stone School building survived until the early 1950s when a tornado dumped its stones in a heap and scattered the roof across the county. In 1918, mother's family moved to town were she, her older brother and siblings attended a graded elementary school.

Kansas City Press Club's "Intelligent Design, Intelligent Media: Is Coverage Accurate?"

I was privileged to attend the meeting described in the heading yesterday evening at the Carlsen Center, JCCC, from 7 PM to about 8:40 PM. After a greeting from Jack Miles of Sun Publications, Derek Donovan introduced the panel and explained the ground rules. Immediately, John Calvert (who failed to identify himself each time he spoke) wanted to know why Steve Abrams and Dave Awbrey were on the panel. Calvert would have preferred that he had been on the panel, so he could express his frustrations with the media from the Intelligent Design Network viewpoint. Donovan ducked Calvert's query in a manner that reveals his qualifications for the post of Reader's Representative at the KC Star.

Right out the blocks, Abrams claimed the Kansas Science Standards of 2005 didn't cover ID, which a flyer passed out at the door by Jack Krebs, Kansas Citizens for Science, readily refutes. Awbrey claimed the whole issue of whether ID belongs in the Science Standards was framed around the Scopes Trial of 80-odd years ago. Awbrey intimated that the media was not up to speed on the core issues of the evolution debate. Dave Heiling of the KC Star disagreed, saying the media should not let either side define the issues by their words alone, rather both sides should be covered through common terms understood by the public, and if that was "Scopes", so be it.

Next, without an apparent segue, Awbrey chided Kansas scientists on the standards committee for not participating in the "debate", the KBOE hearings in Topeka orchestrated by the wing-nut majority on the board. Awbrey blasted their non-participation in the sham hearings as Arrogance, which raised some hackles. During the open comment period of the meeting, Krebs countered that scientists will debate the issues, but choose not to do so in the rigged hearing format.

I was surprised that nobody questioned the appropriateness of a debate format to settle issues of fact. Since when are the defintions of science or evolution, the proper subject of a debate between scientists and pseudo-scientists. And, by what qualification do members of the KBOE believe they have the right or reason to define either? They need to affirm the decision of the scientists as to what makes good standards and disregard the pseudo-scientist minority report they accepted. The education of our children should be above politics. Calvert referred to his minions who testified at the KBOE hearings as equally credentialled as the ones who refused to participate. I won't question the quality of their degrees or their degrees' pertinence. An examination of the hearing transcript will show that it is not the degree one holds that matters, rather it is what they do with it. I know a few people with bachelor's degrees who are more knowledgeable in their fields than are some PhDs.
Awbrey in his ramblings against scientists who chose not to debate, preferring instead "peer review", described them as harboring a dangerous attitude. Awbrey attacked the scientific community as being 'dogmatic' (Now, where have we heard that?), suggesting that both sides play the religion card. Awbrey lamented that scientist should take their religion out of science class, supposedly referring to the religion of materialistic cosmological metaphysical secularism or some such. By the time Awbrey completed his circle of logic, I swear his comments amounted to something like science is not about "objective reality". I wish I had brought my handy little recorder, so I could have captured verbatim all of the wisdom Awbrey imparted for posterity.

One of the problems with media coverage was exemplified by a comment of Dave Heiling. He said that "Scientists believe in evolution." Well, that's a common use of the verb, believe, but it is incorrect to say that. Creationism and science are not parallel. Creationism is based on faith in the biblical account of origins and saying believe about matters of faith is right. Evolution is based on empirical evidence of the transformation of the biosphere. Scientist have proof, they need not rely on belief as does a biblical literalist. Scientist know the facts and the logical interpretations that spring from them.

Back to Awbrey: He asked several times for proof that the Science Standards fiasco has given Kansas a "black eye". I got the impression that Awbrey was claiming, "No harm, no foul." Well, it may be too soon to see empirical evidence of the damage done to our state's economy, but there are plenty of anecdotes as to our being perceived as backward. It is not just our "inferiority complex" as Awbrey alleges. I personnally have heard scientists in the aerospace industry question if Kansans are really as ignorant as they seem to be. Kansas prides itself on aerospace connections, but if viewed as ignorant in science, opportunities for collabortion will be lost, simply because Kansans will be discounted as players. Finally, Awbrey alleged a media bias against conservatives, which Heiling countered effectively. It was fortunate that the panel discussion was drawing to a close. I suspect that Dave Awbrey had ran through his play book and further discussion would have been a rehash.

Did the question, 'ID, Is the coverage fair?' get answered? Partially, but it would have been better, if more panelists had contributed, and more viewpoints were represented and heard.

Recipe for Sand Tarts

From Grandmother Rogers recipe box, an English treat:

INGREDIENTS:
1 cup soft butter or margarine
2 cups sugar
2 eggs, separated (leave egg whites to glaze tops)
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 cups sifted all-purpose flour
Powdered cinammon
Sugar

PREPARATION:
Cream butter and sugar. Add egg yolks and beat until light. Add sifted dry ingredients and mix well. Chill dough for at least 3 hours.
On a lightly floured surface, roll dough very thin and cut to desired shape.
Put on greased cookie sheets, brush with unbeaten egg whites, and sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon.
Bake in 375° oven for about 8 minutes.

GRANDMA'S NOTE: "These are difficult to handle. I make quite small as they are expensive.

Pilcher-Cook's Complaints

In an "As I See It" column in the May 2nd KC Star, Mary Pilcher-Cook, Republican Kansas State Representative, complains about misleading vocabulary used by proponents of medical research to relieve human suffering. She cites three examples of alleged deceptioin by stem-cell research proponents:

• What the actual research entails- She claims the research is about manufacturing and destroying human life.
• What the research has accomplished- She claims there has been a lack of success with embryonic research.
• What the research has not revealed- She claims it is highly exploitive of women, because of the number of eggs required for the process of cloning, aka somatic cell nuclear transfer.

But, first, let's deal with another claim by Pilcher-Cook that the editors of Nature magazine admonished scientists for purposeful deception by discussing a proposal to refrain from using the term 'embryo' when referring to the blastocysts from which human embryonic stem cells are harvested. The editorial was hardly an admonishment and the term, "purposeful deception" is Pilcher-Cook's, not the editors of Nature, who also wrote, "...appearing to deny that fact will not fool die-hard opponents of this research. If anything, it will simply open up scientists to the accusation that they are trying to distance themselves from difficult moral issues by changing the terms of the debate." The editorial actually supported scientists who confront their critics.

A Google search revealed that Pilcher-Cook probably got her information from a blog called Secondhand Smoke. She referred to the Nature magazine as the July, 2005, issue, apparently being unaware of the weekly publication of Nature. The editorial she misconstrues is from the July 7, 2005, issue. Now, on to her three leading claims.

It is true that a blastocyst embryo has the potential to become a fully functional organism. But, potential or opportunity is not human life, not now, not ever. Play with words all you want, Mary, but you can't use words to turn an embryo in a laboratory (read as 'sow's ear') into a breathing, perceiving and cognitive human being (read as 'silk purse').

Pilcher-Cook's other two complaints: lack of embryonic stem-cell research success and exploitation of women, are not addressed in her article. So, I won't address them either, except to say, Poppycock!