The Chicago Tribune posted a story in the July 30 edition that highlights the often absurd hyperbole all too common in the language of environmentalists and eco-watchers. The story detailed the findings of scientists studying Lake Michigan and the ecology of the Great Lakes, one of them saying it is in “catastrophic” shape. Native fish and vegetation are being crowded out by new species and the “Great Lakes are at a tipping point” the Trib warns. It’s all presented as some major disaster that should alarm us all, as if Mother Nature is being ruined, presumably by man.

But a closer reading of the story proves that Mother Nature is doing just fine. It is only that our conception of what sort of ecology the Great Lakes should have that is taking a “catastrophic” turn.

The Trib report details the massively changing ecology of Lake Michigan as new species — like the zebra mussel, the guagga mussel and the round gobie, etc. — are remaking the ecology of the Great Lakes into something completely new in relation to what it once was. Scientists have found native fish species changing in their eating habits or beginning to disappear with new species adding a new aspect to the chain of life there.

It seems somehow to be alarming scientists.

“We don’t necessarily know all the impacts, but we know enough to know that they are being catastrophic,” said Cameron Davis, president of the Alliance for the Great Lakes. “The ecological balance of the Great Lakes is at a tipping point. And the question is: Can they recover? Or can we act quickly enough to help them recover?”

Recover? Why are we so worried about recovery? See, here is the truth. New species have arrived in the Great Lakes and are affecting their environment in order to survive. Older species are either adapting or dying off. The ecology is changing. But, there is STILL an ecology!

Besides that, we cannot affect such a change backward even if we wanted to. As mere humans we don’t have such a power.

See, in normal circumstances we call this evolution of sorts, we call it adaptation. It is supposed to be how we humans came into existence (yes, we are just as natural as the rest of Earth’s inhabitants). And, ecologies have come and gone many, many times on this small blue planet. Greenland, for instance, was once green, became a frozen wasteland, and is now green again. The Antarctic once had a moderate climate. A giant glacier once covered most of North America that scientists might have noticed doesn’t happen to be there today. And in each and every case the ecology changed with the climate. Species that once thrived adapted or died to be replaced by new ones which were, in turn, supplanted by still newer ones. It’s all pretty natural, really.

Things are changing in the Great Lakes, yes, but why is it assumed this is an evil thing? It looks to me that nature is taking care of itself just fine! Change is constant, adaptation is natural.

Let’s stop running around like it is the end of the world, shall we?

(Largemouth Bass Fine Art Print by Paul Brent)

But never fear, Gov. Jindal is not the sort of politician that will back down on all of his principles. Especially when those principles involve religion. Indeed, Jindal has just signed into law a measure that will allow public schools to teach something other than science in science class. Local school boards can now approve “supplemental materials” for schools to include in discussions of evolution. Something tells me those materials won’t involve the scientific method (because if they did, they’d already be there) and will involve lots of concepts that belong in philosophy, theology, and religion classes, not in science class.

With these actions, Gov. Jindal is off to a very Huckabeean start. But that should probably have been anticipated. Jindal was always more of a culture warrior than most of us secular conservatives liked to believe when we saw a non-Caucasian, young, smart conservative who could actually form coherent sentences make his way onto the stage. And he was always less interested in fiscal issues than economic conservatives would have preferred. He voted for the tax-hiking, pork-laden farm bill and against the Central American Free Trade Agreement. Meanwhile, he continues to support a ban on abortion with no exceptions, and has written articles on how Catholicism is the true Christianity and the true path to God. If you thought Huckabee’s women-should-submit language was unfairly taken out of context, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.

So let’s just say that this skeptic remains especially skeptical of Jindal, who seems at this point to be an economic moderate and hard-right social conservative more in line with the former governor of Arkansas than with the former governor of California. If this trend continues, I suspect that economic conservatives, moderates, and Independents will ensure that a future Jindal presidential campaign has the same fate as Huckabee’s, and once again, a certain segment of the Republican base just won’t be able to figure out why.

First of all, there’s plenty of scientific texts on intelligent design, as well as global warming, and cloning (all of which are covered by the law). How wicked of Bobby Jindal. He wanted kids to be able to see something on Global Warming other than An Inconvenient Truth.

Bobby Jindal broke the unwritten law. Rather than paying lip service to the concerns of social conservatives, he actually did something.

We talk about Expelled and the links between Darwinism and Hitler. (Hat Tip: Evolution News and Views.)

Obama: The Debate Dodger. (Hat Tip: Stop the ACLU.)

Clinton North Carolina Aides make bizarre statement.

Senator Coburn shows considerable class in regards to Obama’s debate statement.

McCain still on the outs with home state conservative political foes. (Hat Tip: Michelle Malkin.) And McCain’s elitism is an issue, too.

Governor Marc Sanford (R-SC) is apparently out as a potential Veep for McCain. (Hat Tip: Club for Growth.) but indications are that McCain’s Veep will be pro-life, however Joe Lieberman could star at the convention.

Let the record show: John McCain more generous with his own money than Obama or the Clintons.

Gated communities full of Ron Paul supporters. (Hat Tip: The American Conservative.)

Tom Tancredo takes on the Pope.

Giuliani violates Catholic Church law by receiving communion.

The Pope urges Catholic Colleges to uphold the value of Human Life and hits back at American secularism.

The moral sickness behind the Yale Abortion-Art fraud.

Al Franken: Senate Candidate and Tax Dodger. (Hat Tip: Red State.)

Court rules football coach can’t bow his head during student led prayer.

National Right to Life cracks down on dissent on Presidential endorsements.

The Boston Massacre: more abortions at one Planned Parenthood than Catholic Baptism with the entire Boston Archdiocese.

Oklahoma overwhelmingly passes pro-life legislation over Governor’s veto, while South Carolina sends an ultrasound bill to Governor Sanford’s desk.

Britain outlaws the use of mom and dad in an attempt to clamp down on Homophobia. (Hat Tip: The Midnight Sun.)

Brazil takes a step towards big brother with a crackdown on “homophobic bloggers“

Should there be a death penalty for Child rape?

Congressman John Campbell introduces a Constitutional Amendment to limit spending.

Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) seeks to investigate an illegal earmark.

Liberals against the game of tag. (Hat tip: Newsbusters.)

John Bolton blasts Bush’s Clintonian policy on North Korea. (Hat Tip: Michelle Malkin.)

A High School baseball blow out in Japan.

I agree with the ACLU: Stop enslavement of domestic workers for diplomats.

Is Brazilian Ethanol to blame for high food prices?

A UN Agency to preserve cultural heritage pulps thousands of books. (Hat Tip: Reformed Chicks Babbling.)

Well-intentioned ignorance.

Joined by Hatton Humphrey for part of the show.

Music by Mario Ajero via the Podsafe Music Network.

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Trackposted to Rosemary’s Thoughts, 123beta, Maggie’s Notebook, Right Truth, Shadowscope, Oblogatory Anecdotes, Cao’s Blog, The Amboy Times, Phastidio.net, Conservative Cat, Chuck’s Place, D equals S, Nuke Gingrich, The World According to Carl, Pirate’s Cove, Blue Star Chronicles, The Pink Flamingo, , and OTB Sports, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

We’re joined for Hatton Humphrey of the East Coast Conservative for most of the show.

It’s tax time and we talk about the Presidential Candidates Taxes a little bit.

Barack uses Dave Matthews band tickets to get people away from a Bill Clinton speech. Ah, bribing people with Concert tickets. It’s the new politics. (Hat Tip: Director Blue.)

Jeremiah Wright v. Black Evangelicals.

Another day, another whopper for Hillary Clinton. (Hat Tip: Hot Air.)

John McCain invents new classes of voters to go after.

Blogger right need more protection.

Bush Administration cuts red tape to finish the border fence.

Liberal talk radio guy caught in sex scandal. (Hat Tip: Hot Air.)

Washington State becomes the eighth state with earmarks transparency.

The Pig Book is out chronicling pork and waste in the federal government.

Florida’s House Speaker fights for taxpayer’s rights. (Hat Tip: Government Bytes.)

House Bill proposes big spending for population control groups.

Ted Turner makes a flawed case for population control based on Soylent Green.

China accuses the Dalai Lama of terrorism while they crack down on Buddhist monks.

An Ohio State representative wants to force parents to “volunteer” at school.

Neo-Darwinists show unprofessionalism as they try to crash Expelled and disrupt its conference calls. Also Academic freedom legislation that would allow teachers to discuss scientific objections to neo-Darwinianism is under attack with sometimes misleading information.

A teacher makes a fallacious anti-Christian statement and claims he was trying to teach his students how to thing.  (Hat Tip: Patterico.)

Student leave school at taxpayer expense for a gun control rally in Chicago. (Hat Tip: Publius Forum.)

Blaming the Internet for plagarism.

The problem with barring websites from requring people to list their sexual orientation.

A Muslim Speeders gets an exception to keep his driver’s license.

A reminder from Australia: Abortion is great for sex offenders.

Preparing High School kids “in the gap” for college from a biblical worldview.

North Korean and Algerian Christians persecuted for their faith.

 Music by Catz in the Hatz courtesy of the Podsafe Music Network.

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Trackposted to Outside the Beltway, 123beta, Maggie’s Notebook, Right Truth, Shadowscope, Leaning Straight Up, Cao’s Blog, Conservative Cat, Pursuing Holiness, D equals S, Chuck’s Place, Pirate’s Cove, Oblogatory Anecdotes – Photoshop Montage/Open Trackbacks, The Pink Flamingo, Wolf Pangloss, A Newt One- Don’t miss this show!, Dumb Ox Daily News, Rant it Up, Tilting At Windmill Farms, and Right Voices, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

Ron Paul is facing a potential backlash from some supporters for breaking the unwritten law and expressing a non-approved opinion on Darwinism that actually believes there’s a debate to be had.  

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This definitely looks like a must-see movie. (Hat Tip: George Grant.)

Coding of multiple proteins by overlapping reading frames is not a feature one would associate with eukaryotic genes. Indeed, codependency between codons of overlapping protein-coding regions imposes a unique set of evolutionary constraints, making it a costly arrangement. Yet in cases of tightly coexpressed interacting proteins, dual coding may be advantageous. Here we show that although dual coding is nearly impossible by chance, a number of human transcripts contain overlapping coding regions. Using newly developed statistical techniques, we identified 40 candidate genes with evolutionarily conserved overlapping coding regions. Because our approach is conservative, we expect mammals to possess more dual-coding genes. Our results emphasize that the skepticism surrounding eukaryotic dual coding is unwarranted: rather than being artifacts, overlapping reading frames are often hallmarks of fascinating biology.

(Wen-Yu Chung, Samir Wadhawan, Radek Szklarczyk, Sergei Kosakovsky Pond, Anton Nekrutenko, “A First Look at ARFome: Dual-Coding Genes in Mammalian Genomes,” PLOS Computational Biology, Vol. 3(5) (May, 2007), emphasis added.)

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Conservative Cat:

More Details on the Acetaminophen Scare
This news is a week old, but it’s not my fault. When you live with a guy who does molecular biology, the last thing you suspect is that he can’t spell the name of a common drug. Anyway, the story…

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