Meet Dr. James Lunney a chiropractor and a Conservative Party Member of Parliament for Nanaimo-Alberni in British Columbia."Dr." Lunney recently made a fool of himself by making the following statement in the House of Commons as reported in Maclean's magazine [James Lunney v. Evolution].
Mr. Speaker, recently we saw an attempt to ridicule the presumed beliefs of a member of this House and the belief of millions of Canadians in a creator. Certain individuals in the media and the scientific community have exposed their own arrogance and intolerance of beliefs contrary to their own. Any scientist who declares that the theory of evolution is a fact has already abandoned the foundations of science. For science establishes fact through the study of things observable and reproducible. Since origins can neither be reproduced nor observed, they remain the realm of hypothesis.PZ Myers is making fun of Canada by posting Lunney's remarks on Pharyngula. He's right. We deserve it. Lunney is a genuine kook who quite obviously wouldn't know real science if it bit him on the backbone.
In science, it is perfectly acceptable to make assumptions when we do not have all the facts, but it is never acceptable to forget our assumptions. Given the modern evidence unavailable to Darwin, advanced models of plate techtonics, polonium radiohalos, polystratic fossils, I am prepared to believe that Darwin would be willing to re-examine his assumptions.
The evolutionists may disagree, but neither can produce Darwin as a witness to prove his point. The evolutionists may genuinely see his ancestor in a monkey, but many modern scientists interpret the same evidence in favour of creation and a creator.
Listen up, all you people who live on Vancouver Island! Don't send this guy back to Ottawa after the next election or you're going to look very silly.
12 comments :
Is Lunney pronounced like "loonie"? :)
He was also one of those who strongly opposed bill C-51.
I'm headed to Vancouver island next month for summer research with my lab.
I doubt I'll see him in the woods where we'll be though...
But if I do!
Nice work NDP'philes! Now the kooks are crawling out of the woodwork with the onset of spring and then summer. While the liberals form ever larger circular firing squads, and breaking up into ever more bitterly divided camps, the Tories are playing the unity game pretty well, and laughing all the way to a secure majority. The likes of Lunney would'd have dared talk thusly in their riding, but now have gathered enough courage to spew this junk in the Parliament? Maybe even David Warren as Minister for Education won't make a difference? Because by then the half a dozen liberal units will not even be on talking terms with each other?
Truti
PZ Myers is making fun of Canada by posting Lunney's remarks on Pharyngula. He's right. We deserve it.
Naaah ... he's just being silly.
Criticize Lunney by all means, but why should I, living north of Newmarket in Ontario, feel that I deserve part of the criticism?
It's like me making fun of the North American university teaching community because Behe still has a faculty position. Would you take your share of that?
Besides, you're being a bit silly, too, albeit on a smaller scale.
Listen up, all you people who live on Vancouver Island!
Come now. Vancouver Island has 6 federal ridings, one of which includes a sizable chunk from the mainland. Why not include the people of Vancouver in your exhortation as well?
Accuracy and perspective, you know!
lol that's my hometown... maybe I'll run into him this summer
What is it with the Tories and chiroquacks? Lunney, Goodyear, and Colin Carrie (my MP when I used to live in Oshawa), are all chiroquacks.
Blogger Devin said...
lol that's my hometown... maybe I'll run into him this summer
Friday, April 03, 2009 6:30:00 PM
+++
That just before you run over him?
Just beware of the stains on your car, - they will not be blood!
Also, is it possible that Loonnie is a sob (oh, I meant 'south-of-the-borderer) that has slipped through the net?
He's got some pretty deep connections to the charismatic religious right, which I explored on my blog. Frankly, Lunney scares me more than Goodyear does. Or would, if he was a minister.
Sorry for erasing my own comment above...
People should find this quite entertaining after having read the Gary Goodyear and James Lunney embarassments:
http://www.palanski.com/2009/04/im-believer-by-dan-gardner.html
Enjoy.
I live here in Nanaimo, and I'm outraged by his remarks. He calls us arrogant, when he believes without looking at any evidence that he knows the truth from the bible. I didn't vote for him last time but you can be sure he's not getting my vote this time. I really hurts to see this kind of ignorance in a leader. Not to mention the Science ministers recent comments.
This idiot is my MP, much to my embarrassment. (No, I did NOT vote for him, and no, we're not all loonies in Nanaimo.) He's already been challenged on the use of 'Dr' and that has obviously had no effect on his self-perception as an emiment scientist. Notice how he glibly equates belief in a creator with belief in creationism. A real slimeball. What is it with chiropractors?
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