Democrats like to paint Republicans as being anti-science and of course this is true. Republicans dispute scientific facts about everything from the harmful effects of pollution to the fundamental basis of biological science. But when it is politically expedient, democrats can be just as anti-science. On September 28, 2016 democrats caved-in to religious nuts who want to bury an extremely rare specimen where it will be lost forever to science. The specimen is known as Kennewick man, first discovered 20 years ago. It’s a nearly complete skeleton of a man who lived 9,000 years BP. Skeletal remains of humans from this age in North America are so rare that only a few have ever been discovered. The Army Corps of Engineers was going to let Native American tribes bury this precious specimen shortly after its discovery, but some scientists banded together and sued for the right to study it. They won in court and luckily we now have increased our knowledge about the life of early archaic man in the Pacific northwest. In 2015 a genetic study of this specimen determined Kennewick man shared a common ancestry with modern Native-Americans. Unfortunately, this gave new legal momentum to the religious nuts who want to perform a ceremonial burial with the specimen, even though the study did not show any direct relationship with the tribes that inhabit the region today. An amendment introduced by a democratic congresswoman was attached to a bill signed by then President Obama that will let these idiotic Indians throw away any more potential scientific knowledge we can learn about Kennewick man. Future advancements in science could give us the opportunity to glean further knowledge from the specimen, but alas, unless there is another successful lawsuit, this rare specimen will be lost. And it’s all because of the unnecessary deference given to stupid superstitions.
The government is going to let ignorant Native-Americans bury this 9000 year old skull. A nearly 1 of a kind scientific specimen will be lost to science forever.
I didn’t realize that Obama and the democrats were just as anti-science as the republicans.
In my opinion all religion is brainwashing for simple-minded people, and scientists know this, though they are often reluctant to say so. If this dispute involved Christian fundamentalists, many scientists would be loudly protesting this amendment. I’m sure they would call them “bible thumpers.” But they seem unusually quiet about this because they are afraid of being called racist or politically incorrect for getting in a conflict with an indigenous belief system. Well, I won’t be silenced. I have no tolerance for ignorant beliefs no matter what group spouts them. These Native-Americans are pushing their religion on us, and I think it is an outrage. This specimen doesn’t belong to them. They did not personally know Kennewick man. None of their great-great-great-great-great grandparents knew Kennewick man. In fact the ancestors of some of these tribes may have even fed upon Kennewick man’s kin. (See: https://markgelbart.wordpress.com/2012/10/24/native-american-cannibalism-and-dog-eating/ ) Their claim on this specimen is based on phony political correctness. They can’t demonstrate to which tribe Kennewick man belonged, probably because none of the tribes existed yet when he lived. So all the 5 tribes of the Pacific northwest (Umatilla, Nez Pierce, Colville, Yakama, and Wanapum) are going to share the burial ceremony, and the specimen is going to be buried in a secret location to prevent disinterment. How ridiculous. What politically correct bullshit. When Europeans discover thousand year old human specimens in Europe, no group ever comes forward to claim they have the right to the remains because they are relatives. Human remains are not sacred…they are just bones.
Native Americans on their way to bury scientific knowledge.
After I die I do not want to be cremated. I want to be buried, so there is a chance my remains could be discovered by scientists 30,000 years in the future. They can study or do whatever they want with my skeleton, and I’m pretty sure I won’t care.
GeorgiaBeforePeople 