Presidential contender Rick Perry has expressed his beliefs about intelligent design before, supporting  creationism as a theory taught in Texas classrooms. However, on Thursday, he was specifically asked his feelings about evolution during a campaign stop in New Hampshire.

“How old do I think the earth is? You know what, I don’t have any idea,” said the Texas governor when asked about his position on the issue by a woman and her son. “I know it’s pretty old so it goes back a long long way. I’m not sure anybody actually knows completely and absolutely how long, how old the earth is.”

Perry regarded evolution as “a theory that’s out there” and one that’s “got some gas in it.” He mentioned how both creationism and evolution are taught to students in public schools. He explained, “I figure you’re smart enough to figure out which one is right.”

Perry is not the first presidential contender to express doubt over a theory that most scientists believe. Earlier this summer, GOP presidential candidate Michele Bachmann expressed doubt about the theory of evolution.

“I support intelligent design,” she said after speaking at this year’s Republican Leadership Conference in New Orleans. “What I support is putting all science on the table and then letting students decide. I don’t think it’s a good idea for government to come down on one side of scientific issue or another, when there is reasonable doubt on both sides.”

In 2006, Bachmann stated that some within the scientific community discredit the theory of evolution. “There are hundreds and hundreds of scientists, many of them holding Nobel Prizes, who believe in intelligent design,” she said.

Governor Perry was also asked about global warming. He wrote in his book, “Fed Up!” that doctored data was behind global warming. ”They know that we have been experiencing a cooling trend, that the complexities of the global atmosphere have often eluded the most sophisticated scientists and that draconian policies with dire economic effects based on so-called science may not stand the test of time,” Perry wrote.

He called former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, who won a Nobel Peace Prize for his call to action on climate change, of being a ”false prophet of a secular carbon cult,”

In Bedford, New Hampshire on Wednesday, Perry suggested that politics is playing a large role in the global warming debate.”I do believe that the issue of global warming has been politicized.

I think there are a substantial number of scientists who have manipulated data so that they will have dollars rolling into their projects,” Perry said. “I think we’re seeing it almost weekly or even daily, scientists who are coming forward and questioning the original idea that man-made global warming is what is causing the climate to change.

Yes, our climates change. They’ve been changing ever since the earth was formed. But I do not buy into, that a group of scientists, who in some cases were found to be manipulating this data.”

Image Courtesy of  http://www.flickr.com/photos/ritaquinn/

The article Rick Perry Questions Evolution and Global Warming appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

Republican presidential hopefuls are having a difficult time with the gay marriage issue. It seems like a relatively simple issue, but in the GOP world, it is quite convoluted.

Not wanting to upset their tea party and religious base, many candidates shun the idea of gay marriage. However, as public attitudes are changing, some GOP candidates are left scrambling.

“They see the polling – more and more Republicans are supporting gay marriage,” said David Welch, a former research director for the Republican National Committee. “It puts them in an awkward position with the younger members of the party and also with independents whose votes you need to win.”

Richard Socarides, a former Clinton White House adviser on gay rights, said the political climate has changed rapidly and dramatically as leading Democrats celebrate the advent of gay marriage in New York and the imminent end of the ban on gays serving openly in the military under President Barack Obama.

“It’s now advantageous for Democrats to support gay rights, and a net negative for Republicans to oppose them,” Socarides said. “It’s become extremely complicated for many of the Republican candidates who are used to using anti-gay rhetoric as a way to gin up their base.”

In early primary state New Hampshire, gay marriage is legal. According to conservative activists in the state, none of the major GOP presidential candidates has yet taken a public position on the ongoing effort by some Republican legislators to repeal the state law legalizing same-sex marriage.

In Iowa, two presidential hopefuls-Michele Bachmann and Rick Santorum-both signed a pledge condemning same sex marriage among other things. Mitt Romney and Tim Pawlenty were among those refusing to sign the pledge, but both issued statements stressing that they favored limiting marriage to one-man, one-woman unions.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry has stated he supports the each state’s right to legalize gay marriage. “That’s New York, and that’s their business, and that’s fine with me,” said Perry. However, some of his supporters were upset by Perry’s comments and he quickly tried to assuage those fears.

“I probably needed to add a few words after that `It’s fine with me,’” Perry said. “Obviously gay marriage is not fine with me. My stance hasn’t changed. I believe marriage is a union between one man and one woman.”

Image Courtesy of  http://www.gop.gov

The article Republicans Are Wrong on The Gay Marriage Issue appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

No one likes stepping in a mess left by another person’s dog. A new company, PooPrints, has begun offering its services to owners of apartment complexes to help motivate owners to pick up after their pets. Using DNA testing, apartment complexes in Lebanon, New Hampshire and Rockville Center, Long Island are now able to match a saliva sample from all of the dogs that live in the complex with any offending dog excrement.

PooPrints is a subsidiary of BioPet Vet Labs Inc. and was created with a number of goals in mind. Keeping public grounds clean has aesthetic and cost considerations, but the most important reason for using this service is environmental. According to PooPrints’ website, an average of 276 pounds of waste are produced each year by just one dog. After combining that number with the large number of dogs owned by people worldwide, that number grows to 20 billion pounds of waste produced each year, 40% of which is not picked up.

If it is not properly disposed of, that waste can cause a number of health and environmental concerns. It can easily enter local lakes, streams, and ponds, carrying a number of diseases such as parasites, bacteria, and viruses. This creates the risk of spreading these diseases directly to humans through accidental contact with these bodies of water. The danger increases when dog excrement is left in areas where children play. Children often put their hands in their mouths, which can lead to transmission of these diseases to humans.

Reception to this new method of holding owners accountable for cleaning up after their dog’s messes has been mixed. Some people had no problem with giving out their animal’s DNA, or even paying another small fee if it means their precious pooch is still able to reside with them. After all, it only gets expensive if they neglect to pick up after their dog.

However, there are those who feel that this method of tracking is too invasive. Some people are very private, and even something as seemingly small as tracking dog excrement is seen as a violation of that privacy. It makes people worry about the possibility of more and more control being exerted over the individual until almost no rights exist anymore.

Others are concerned about malicious actions from their neighbors such as at the apartment complex in New Hampshire. The only repeat offender denied the second charge, claiming that someone else in the complex was trying to deliberately get this person in trouble. This person claimed that someone must have watched where the excrement was thrown away, removed it, and placed it back on the ground. While this claim is not completely impossible, the complex owner did not see the possibility of such malicious intent and dismissed the argument.

This creative new method of catching lazy owners may not be the only solution to the problem, but it is certainly the most interesting. Only time will tell if this catches on, becoming a common practice in gated communities and apartments, or if it is only a fad that will fade away with time.

The article Apartment Complexes Begin Tracking Dog Droppings appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

Sarah Palin has apologized to Mitt Romney for stealing his thunder, sort of.  Palin showed up in New Hampshire on her bus tour the same day that Romney was in the state declaring his candidacy for the 2012 election.

“I apologize if I stepped on any of that PR that Mitt Romney needed or wanted that day,” Palin, a paid commentator for Fox, told “Fox News Sunday.” Despite speculation to the contrary, Romney has insisted that Palin’s unplanned appearance did not bother him.  Romney praised the “energy and passion” that Palin adds to the Republican campaign last week.

On Sunday, Palin said her highly publicized “One Nation” bus tour had not moved her closer to a 2012 run. She is “still right there in the middle,” she told host Chris Wallace, “still trying to figure out what the lay of the land will be as these weeks and months go by.”

Palin rejected Wallace’s suggestion that she “messed up” a historical reference during a stop on her bus tour, when she described Paul Revere’s midnight ride as a warning to “the British that they weren’t going to be taking away our arms, by ringing those bells and by making sure that as he’s riding his horse through town to send those warning shots and bells that we were going to be secure and we were going to be free … and we were going to be armed.”

Revere’s 1775 ride, on the eve of the Revolutionary War, was designed to warn Samuel Adams and John Hancock that British troops were coming to arrest them. Along the way, Revere also alerted residents that the British were on the march.  “You know what, I didn’t mess up about Paul Revere,” Palin insisted. “I know my American history.”

Palin maintained that “part of his ride was to warn the British, that were already there, that, ‘Hey, you’re not going to succeed. You’re not going to take American arms. You are not going to beat our own well-armed persons, individual private militia that we have.’ He did warn the British.”

This isn’t what really happened, but whatever helps Sarah sleep better at night.

Christopher Halloran / Shutterstock.com

The article Sarah Palin apologized to Mitt Romney appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

It is now official.  Mitt Romney is in the race for the hotly contested 2012 Republican nomination.  Romney kicked off his presidential bid in early primary state New Hampshire.  Romney’s main obstacle is a big one though—his health care plan while he was governor of Massachusetts remains a problem with many Republican voters.

“That’s his elephant in the room, and he still hasn’t dealt with it,” said Jerry DeLemus, who heads the Granite State Patriots Liberty PAC.  “This is a critical election — we might come up with better candidates than we’ve put up in the past,” said DeLemus, who admits he’s still hoping others will join the race.

Although Romney has vowed to repeal Obama’s signature health care plan if elected, he has not addressed his own state-wide health care plan that is similar to the federal plan that he now wants to repeal.  He did admit his own plan had some flaws, but his insurance plan is still widely popular in his home state.

Romney has risen to the front of some polls and he has more name recognition than in 2008. However some big names, such as Sarah Palin, have yet to make a decision on the race and could potentially eliminate Romney’s front runner status. Palin was conveniently also in the area during Romney’s coming out party, stealing away media attention.

Romney, 64, addressed the crowd at Scamman Farm last week, saying, “Barack Obama has failed America. When he took office, the economy was in recession. He made it worse, and he made it last longer.”

The former venture capitalist and governor pushed his business expertise during his speech.  He told the cheering crowd that voters need a new leader that can help the U.S. economy recover.  “Turning around a crisis takes experienced leadership and bold action. For millions of Americans, the economy is in crisis today, and unless we change course, it will be in crisis for all of us tomorrow,” Romney said.

The article Mitt Romney Throws his Hat in the 2012 Election appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.