Ben Stein is . . . what?

Apparently Ben Stein, the Discovery Institute's latest anti-science mouthpiece and producer of that abortion called "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed" is also a bit of a coward! He was asked to be the commencement speaker at the University of Vermont this year, and has backed-out. His stand on science is well documented in his own 'mockumentary' and his public statements promoting his movie. Well a number of people complained to UVM President that anyone who says:

"When we just saw that man, I think it was Mr. Myers [i.e. biologist P.Z. Myers], talking about how great scientists were, I was thinking to myself the last time any of my relatives saw scientists telling them what to do they were telling them to go to the showers to get gassed … that was horrifying beyond words, and that’s where science — in my opinion, this is just an opinion — that’s where science leads you." (Interview excerpt discussed and shown here.

doesn't deserve to be speaking at any University! Well the University resident did not cancel his invitation, but he did pass on the messages to Ben, in order for him not to be blindsided by criticisms. So what does little benny do, he chickens out! He mealy-mouths the usual platitudes about how misunderstood he is, and how he is actually pro-science. He called the complaints 'laughable' and 'pathetic', yet he still runs away!

And, to top that, the Discovery Institute is spinning things in their usual departure from the facts style. In a post "Darwin Defenders Get Ben Stein Expelled from University of Vermont’s Commencement Address" they make the insinuation that "It also seems highly unlikely that Stein's withdrawal was completely voluntary." All because the University president isn't a fan of their version of Creationism-lite, Intelligent Design. Hey, DI, he's a UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT! He should be against pseudo-science. They also blame Biologist PZ Myers (Pharyngula blog) for the emails and complaints. Their main complaint about Myers seems to be that he generated some of the complaints and that the complainers were not affiliated with the University.

My response to that is "SO WHAT!" Any intelligent, educated person should object when Stein is asked to speak at a University! Stein's anti-science position should put him at odds with every secular University in the world, and many of the private ones as well. Oh he would be welcome over at Liberty University, but I am talking about a real school of higher learning, not Jerry Falwell's excuse for one.

My response to Stein is go back and crawl under a rock. His position that Darwin caused the Holocaust is a form of Holocaust denial! (His mockumentary was not only a lie -- for how he suckers in real scientists and then did his best to place their comments out of context. He deserves only contempt and his willingness to run and hide when he reads a few complaints proves that he knows it! The very fact that he has the DI spinning things for him is equally as reprehensible as his own behavior. So I hope he goes and crawls back under the rock and watch re-runs of his economic forecasts on how strong the economy is and how, just before the bubble burst, he was using the housing market as an example of how wonderful things are and how the bubble could never burst. He is just as good a film maker as he is an economist. Need a reminder, look at this collection of interviews which include little benny laughing at Paul Schiff, who was predicting exactly what has been happening to the economy! I think it was benny who predicted the Dow hitting 16,000 this year. Oops!