Darwinist testified at Dover trial "with evident fierce joy"

Kevin Bunkum and Archie Bunker

-- from Uncommon Descent

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The National Center for Science Education says,

The expert witness testimony given by paleontologist Kevin Padian was a highlight of the Kitzmiller v. Dover trial. . . . .

Padian's testimony was cited several times in the court's legal decision (PDF) in the case. For example, "A series of arguments against evolutionary theory found in Pandas involve paleontology, which studies the life of the past and the fossil record. Plaintiffs' expert Professor Padian was the only testifying expert witness with any expertise in paleontology. His testimony therefore remains unrebutted. Dr. Padian's demonstrative slides, prepared on the basis of peer-reviewing scientific literature, illustrate how Pandas [the book "Of Pandas and People"] systematically distorts and misrepresents established, important evolutionary principles." The judge also noted that "Padian bluntly and effectively stated that in confusing students about science generally and evolution in particular, the disclaimer makes students 'stupid.'"
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Author Edward Humes wrote in his book about the Kitzmiller trial,Monkey Girl (Ecco 2007), "Kevin Padian, Berkeley paleontologist and curator of his university's Museum of Paleontology, entertainingly brought the bone hunter's perspective to the courtroom, the sort of character on whom the fossil-hunting hero of the film Jurassic Park was based. Padian happily showed slides of his 'critters,' as he tended to call the ancient fossils and bones he used as a window on the past. ... Padian, with evident fierce joy, debunked the often repeated claim that the absence of 'transitional fossils' was a problem for evolution and an argument for creation or intelligent design."

Padian is Professor in the Department of Integrative Biology at the University of California, Berkeley, Curator of Paleontology at the University of California Museum of Paleontology, and president of NCSE's board of directors.

So Padian showed "evident fierce joy" in jawboning about how jawbones evolved into middle-ear bones.

This is the same dude who handed out "Friend of Darwin" certificates at a reunion of the Dover plaintiffs team.

I always suspected that Darwinists are sort of crazy. I wonder what comedian is going to play Padian in "Dover: The Movie."

BTW, I never thought of the "fossil hunter" in "Jurassic Park" as a Darwinist, certainly not as a stereotype for Padian.
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