On the radio

I'm going to try to keep my other blog -- my travel blog -- free of politics, but I had to record this:

On day two of my trip, while I was driving through the narrow part of Idaho, I was twiddling with the radio dial. I ran across a talk program with a guest (Frank Turek?) who had written a book entitled I Don't Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist. He and the host were dissing science, and Frank actually used the phrase "From goo to zoo to you."

Then just today, on I-90 outside Rapid City, SD, I was again playing radio roulette. I caught someone reading a Seuss-sounding poem and heard something about a watch. Sure enough, it was Paley's watchmaker set to child-friendly rhyming. And "goo to you" managed to fit in there.

During the past week as I've toured geology museums and fossil-fabulous parks, the messages have been so clear and so strong. For anybody who wants to know about the geological history of the planet and the ancient life forms that have been uncovered there is no shortage of resources. I guess some people would just rather listen to their own voices or to people who tell them that studying science is a waste of time.