"She blinded me with science:" Ida, another "missing link," is nothing special after all

I can't think of any area of so-called "science" that's more characterized by fraud, cover-up, and wild extrapolation based on insufficient evidence than that of man's alleged ancestors (e.g., Nebraska Man; Java Man; Peking Man; Piltdown Man). When the discovery of Ida was announced, I was skeptical, and wondered how long it would take before it would be exposed as yet another "missing link" that turned out to be nothing of the kind. It comes as no surprise to this blogger that we now have the answer.

It's amusing to read that the scientists are having a difficult time finding a pigeonhole for Ida to fit into, so they might just have to invent a whole new species for her instead. Remember, this is science!

Remember Ida, the fossil discovery announced last May with its own book and TV documentary? A publicity blitz called it "the link" that would reveal the earliest evolutionary roots of monkeys, apes and humans. Experts protested that Ida wasn't even a close relative. And now a new analysis supports their reaction. In fact, Ida is as far removed from the monkey-ape-human ancestry as a primate could be, says Erik Seiffert of Stony Brook University in New York.

Speaking of missing links, I wonder when (not if) ardipithecus ramidus will be exposed as something considerably less than is claimed for it by its enthusiasts. It's only a matter of time until this one is shown to be true ape, true man--or hoax. And when that day comes, it will again come as no surprise to this blogger.

A campaign for euthanasia--from 1906

I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live: Deuteronomy 30:19

For whoso findeth me findeth life, and shall obtain favour of the Lord.
But he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul: all they that hate me love death. Proverbs 8:35-36

There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. Proverbs 14:12 (also Proverbs 16:25)

Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people. Proverbs 14:34

Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,...
...And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; Romans 1:22,28

From the front page of The Evening Journal, Edmonton, Alberta, Saturday, January 6, 1906:

HASTEN DEATH
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The Startling Doctrine of a Cambridge Professor.
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Chloroform the Aged and Mortally Afflicted, he says.
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Special to The Journal.
Philadelphia, Jan.6.--Dr. Charles Elliott Norton, of Cambridge, has joined forces with Anna E. Hall, of Cincinnati and with Mrs. Maud Bellington, in a campaign of killing off of hopelessly insane, hopelessly diseased, and victims of accidents. His views are expressed in a letter written to Miss Hall, and made public here to-day.
Setting aside all doubtful cases, he says that no right thinking man would hesitate to give a dose of laudanum, sufficient to end the suffering and life together of a victim of an accident from the torturing effects of which recovery was impossible, nor should a reasonable man hesitate to hasten death in case of mortal disease such as for example cancer when it has reached a stage of incessant pain and when the patient desires to die. Prolonging of life in such a case by whatever means is criminal cruelty. With old persons whose mind has become a chaos of wild imaginations, productive of constant distress, not only to the sufferer but all who live with and attend him, then the plain duty is not to prolong but to shorten life.