Thanks for these comments on my Darwinism post of January 15.

     <<  Pet:  "The shortest argument against directed evolution is the
Argument From Imperfection"  >>

Pet, it's ironic to dismiss what you call "directed evolution" on the
grounds that it is so ineffectual.  After all, it's the quest for
something _more effectual_ than chance alone that fuels the critics of
the "Blind Watchmaker" model.

You seem to want it both ways.  On the one hand, when critics marvel at
the diversity and complexity of life, Darwinists assure us that there is
near-miraculous power in their simple, chance-driven model.  At the same
time they are willing to argue (as you do, to shoot down a more
directive process) that evolution is _not_ all that powerful:  "A
Director of Evolution must be quite ignorant or quite inept to have made
so many false starts, backtrackings, and wasteful byways."

In short, critics suspect a (still undiscovered) teleological principle
because evolution works so _well_; you debunk it because evolution works
so _badly_.  An interesting contrast in points of view.

     <<  Pet:  "whether it behooved those in a science to pay close
attention to the Velikovskys"  >>

However the truth turns out, it behooves those in science to acknowledge
that questions remain open.  The thoughtful scientists Taylor cites are
not to be written off as cranks.  By slurring them as "Velikovsky's,"
you stoop to the snide mudslinging I deplored in Jim Meritt's FAQ.  Is
your jocular invocation of God, the "Director of Evolution," a veiled
ploy to tar secular critics with the brush of Creationism?

If, as you imply, the likes of Taylor are too "exasperating" to bother
with, then why not just ignore creationism too?  Curiously, the same
Darwinists who have no time for serious critics, post thousands of words
on their website railing against the Sunday School silliness of
creationism.

     <<  Kirt:  "the challange to those dissatisfied with natural
selection is to offer up their own theory"  >>

Hey, Kirt, I'd like that too.  But I don't have to invent a new theory
before raising questions about the present one.  Questioning may
motivate the quest for something better.

C.