Thirty years ago, we remembered this as Abraham Lincoln's birthday and every year we cut out silhouettes of the president who guided us through one of our nation's most troubled times. Now the 12th of February is being marketed as "Darwin Day" by several groups in the US, such as PETA.
I have a wonderful dog (boxer) and of course I view dogs as far superior to cats, but I have a tough time grasping PETA president Ingrid Newkirk's claim that "A rat is a pig is a dog is a boy." (In fact, I have to wonder if she has ever had a dog.) There are at least a few, like the author Aldous Huxley in "Ends and Means," who admit that they embrace this kind of worldview without any deeper meaning, "because it frees me to my own...pursuits."
But not former presidential speechwriter (and game show host, lawyer, professor, etc.) Ben Stein. The trailer for his new movie "Expelled" came out today, not coincidentally. An interesting new/old challenge for the 21st century's egalitarian claims in the marketplace of ideas. Every generation has its rebel - see what you think.
