Florida: The Press Conference Video

Thanks to Skip Evans of Big Sky Penguin, I’m able to host the video of the press conference held on April 14th. This is still critical information to spread as the Senate considers the two antievolution bills before it.

Ann Lumsden, biology professor at Florida State University, makes opening remarks and then introduces the rest of the speakers. Vic Walczak of the Pennsylvania ACLU and attorney in the Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District then notes how the legislation proposed will be a lawsuit magnet. Maryann Fiala of the Florida AeA talks about how failing to treat science seriously in Florida’s schools will make it harder for businesses to find talent in Florida or recruit it from elsewhere. Sir Harry Kroto, chemistry professor at Florida State University and Nobel laureate, also speaks to the issue of business and specifically the biotech industry being put off by anti-science getting a privileged entrance into the science classrooms in Florida. I then talk about how the terms “academic freedom” and “critical analysis” are misuses and how they each have a known history of such misuse by religiously motivated antievolutionists.

The video itself was taken handheld on a consumer camcorder, so the video part is shaky. The audio is mostly good due to the amplification of the PA system used. Here’s the about 20MB version in WMV format. (I’ll look into embedding and a getting a larger version up later.)

Florida Citizens for Science/Florida ACLU Press Conference, 2008/04/14