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In This Issue

CONVOLUTED COMMON CORE COMPLICATIONS
A MATTER OF TIME: Rapid Cave Formation, Part II

CONVOLUTED COMMON CORE COMPLICATIONS

by Douglas Roger Dexheimer

The students in your public school are being taught using methods from the Common Core Curriculum:

The dumbing down of America is accelerating.  A massive federal takeover of education known as “Common Core” is attempting to impose nationwide academic standards on public schools throughout the entire country.  Thanks to the backing of billionaire Bill Gates, endless promotion by the U.S. Department of Education, and financial bribes to state governments by the Obama administration, 45 states and Washington, D.C. have already agreed to implement the full Common Core standards in their schools.¹

Pictured below is a sample problem used in Common Core’s second grade math instruction.  See if you can follow the convoluted logic used by Common Core for simple subtraction:²

The subtraction problem has been morphed into an addition problem that requires the student to dream up four numbers which must be added to each of the previous totals to arrive at the sum of 32, and then to add the column of those four numbers to get the answer of 20.

Your author has a degree in engineering.  I learned to subtract 12 from 32 in second grade using the "old fashioned” way.  Since a longstanding axiom of science is that the simplest explanation of a concept is far superior to any more complex approach, it naturally follows that this new method of subtraction is clearly a step backwards in education, compared to the straightforward method students have been taught for centuries in the most advanced nations on earth.  I agree with Michael Snyder when he says that “these ‘standards’ are doing to public education what Obamacare is doing to our health care system – absolutely ruining it.” ³

This ridiculous method of math instruction is just the tip of the iceberg.  CCC’s asinine techniques are incorporated into the teaching of geography, biology, history, grammar, family values, and morality. 

An apt assessment of Common Core’s lunacy:

At this point, only 43 percent of all Americans aged 18 to 24 can correctly point out the state of Ohio on a map of the United States.

 

How much dumber can we get and still survive as a nation?

 

Those promoting Common Core have gone to great lengths to make it appear that teachers, parents and students are embracing these new standards, but as Alex Newman recently detailed, that is not the case at all. In fact, there has been a huge backlash against Common Core even in bastions of liberalism such as New York….

 

While the Big Business front group has been producing ads purporting to show that “teachers” support the standards, that lie is easily put to rest by witnessing the revolt among teachers in New York, where the Common Core roll-out has advanced faster than in other states. There, the board of the state teachers union voted unanimously against Common Core as it has been implemented so far. New York State Assemblyman Al Graf, a member of the Assembly Education Committee with a degree in education, even told The New American that the controversial standards represent “state-sponsored child abuse.” Even the governor in the establishment stronghold has been forced to retreat slightly on Common Core in the face of the public uprising. Opponents of the education takeover say this is just the start.

 

We live at a time when Americans have already become incredibly dumbed down. Do we really want to sink even lower?⁴

In previous issues of this newsletter, we have encouraged parents to do a number of things to counteract the hijacking of our education systems by Common Core.  These include:

1. Contacting your state and local officials to tell them how you feel about the emphasis on evolution and the dumbing-down of your children.
2. Removing your students from the public school system immediately.
1. Enroll your children in a faith-based school system, or
2. Begin teaching them at home where you can control their instruction.

We continue to urge parents and others to continue in this battle against Common Core for the minds of our youth... and the future of our nation.

¹ http://www.infowars.com/you-wont-believe-the-method-that-common-core-is-using-to-teach-our-kids-subtraction/

² Ibid

³ http://thetruthwins.com/archives/you-wont-believe-the-method-that-common-core-is-using-to-teach-our-kids-subtraction

⁴ Ibid

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We’d love to hear from you!

If you have questions or comments, or if you have suggestions for making our newsletter better, please feel free to contact us.  We’ll do our best to respond to every query.  THANK YOU!

June Monthly Meeting

Tuesday, June 3^rd

“Radiometric Dating”

by Dave Penny

We’ll examine the types of radioactivity, the specific chemical elements used for radiometric dating, the false assumptions employed by scientists who use radioactive decay as a method of dating artifacts, and the overall unreliability of radiometric dating methods. We’ll discuss specific problems with dating the same artifact with different elements, and how radioactive dates are often quietly altered or discarded when they disagree with the known age of an artifact. We’ll discuss whether radiometric dating better supports the commonly held old-earth, or rather, a young-earth viewpoint.

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Monthly Meetings

2014

(1st Tuesday of each month; content subject to change; no sign up or registration necessary.)

• January 7th: “The Great Debate” DVD, moderated by Bob Farwell.
• February 4th: “God Created Birds” DVD, moderated by Douglas Roger Dexheimer (canceled due to weather).
• March 4th: “The Mystery of the Cambrian Fossil Record” DVD, moderated by Bob Farwell.
• April 1st: “Evolution vs. God” DVD, moderated by Kevin Anderson.
• May 6th: “Noah Extravaganza,” by Kevin Anderson & Bill Cowherd.
• June 3rd: “Radiometric Dating,” by Dave Penny.
• July 1st: “The Great Debate” DVD, moderated by Bob Farwell.
• August 5th: “Ice Age and Global Warming”  DVD, moderated by Kevin Anderson.
• September 2nd: “Relativity and Creationism,” by Dave Penny.
• October 7th: To be announced.
• November 4th: “The Great Debate” DVD, moderated by Bob Farwell.
• December 2nd: “Hegelian Implications,” by Dave Penny.

CSA Monthly Meeting Location

Westbrooke Church
9777 Antioch
Overland Park, KS 66121
10 blocks east of 69 Highway (or Switzer) on 95th St. to Antioch, south two blocks on Antioch, on east side of street.
Fellowship & book table: 6:15PM. Meeting: 7:00PM.

For detailed Monthly Meeting information:

www.csama.org

2014 Creation Safaris

• March 28 (Friday, 7:30 PM) – Astronomy Safari (cancelled).
• April 25 (Friday, 8:00 PM) – Astronomy Safari.
• April 26 (Saturday) – Southeast Kansas Fossil and Mineral Safari.
• May 30 (Friday, 8:30 PM) – Astronomy Safari.
• May 24 - 26 (Saturday - Monday) – Western Kansas Safari.
• June 7 (Saturday) – Photo/Nature Hike Safari at Overland Park Arboretum.
• June 28 (Saturday, 8:45 PM) – Astronomy Safari.
• June 19-21 (Thursday - Saturday) – A float trip down the Ozark River.
• July 19 (Saturday) – Kansas University Natural History Museum Safari.
• July 25 (Saturday, 8:45 PM) – Astronomy Safari.
• Rock Bridge / Connor’s Cave Safari (not scheduled this year).
• August 16 (Saturday) – Greater KC Fossil Hunt.
• August 22 (Friday, 8:15) – Astronomy Safari.
• Aug 29 - Sept 1 (Friday - Monday) – Southeast Missouri Safari.
• September 19 (Friday, 7:30 PM) – Astronomy Safari.
• Safari Zoological Park, Caney, Kansas (not scheduled this year).
• October 18 (Saturday) – HaHa Tonka Safari.
• October 24  (Friday,7:15 PM) – Astronomy Safari.
• Bike Safari on the Katy Trail (not scheduled this year).
• November 21 (Friday, 7:15 PM) – Astronomy Safari.
• November 22 (Saturday) – Squaw Creek National Wildlife Refuge Safari.

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You must register for any safari.

For safari details, and to register please visit:

www.csama.org

or call

(816) 618-3610 or (816) 246-4517

Astronomy safaris only, call:

(913)-515-6421.

A MATTER OF TIME:
Rapid Cave Formation, Part II

by Douglas Roger Dexheimer

In a previous article we reviewed a number of geologic processes in terms of a young earth interpretation -- i.e., in terms of an earth less than ten thousand years of age.  In this article we’ll discuss the young-earth creationist view of karst formations, particularly caves and caverns.  We’ll look at processes that differ greatly with the “millions-of-years” evolutionary viewpoint.

The Missouri Speleological Survey has written an interesting account of cave formation.  They utilize the standard deep time evolutionary interpretation of the process, yet they curiously incorporate some facets of the creation model.

Some karst is formed as a result of sulfuric acid welling up from below instead of carbonic acid percolating down from above. Some places in the American West are a mix of the two processes.¹

 

Many of us as creationists have visited small to large caves across the nation, some famous, some not.  CSAMA president, Tom Willis, has photographic documentation of National Park Service signs posted at Carlsbad Caverns over a period of several years showing the Park Service’s estimates of the caverns’ age.  That posted figure has decreased over the years from an estimated age of billions of years, to a current age of thousands of years.  One must conclude at the very least from such indecisiveness that some group or individual is confessing to ignorance in this regard -- likely hoping no one will notice.  (After all who, but a genuine scientist, would ever consider photographing a storyteller’s lie carved on park sign?)

Karst formation involves two major natural processes.  The first process removes rock from underground cavities.  The second process deposits those extracted minerals in the form of stalactites and stalagmites within those cavities.

The caves and caverns in central Missouri are located in karst areas.  The word “karst” is derived from a similar area in eastern Europe possessing similar geologic formations.  CSAMA has led numerous safaris to the karst regions of mid-Missouri over the years, particularly our Ha Ha Tonka Safari.  We’ve participated in guided tours in many of the caves and caverns within the state.  The appointed guides invariably describe every cave’s development in terms of millions of years. 

About 10 or 15 years ago, some of us had the pleasure of meeting creation scientist Dr. Emil Sylvestru.  He is affectionately known among his friends and acquaintances as "Caveman," due to his interest in, and impressive knowledge of cave formations.  His country of origin is Romania, location of the “original” karst region, from which the field of study gets its name. 

Dr. Sylvestru has, by experimentation, quite clearly demonstrated the weakness of the evolutionary theory of cave formation by dumping truckloads of weak carbonic acid on limestone bedrock, and examining the results.  His experiment has falsified the notion that dripping carbonic acid from rotting leaves has eaten out cavities in the earth to form caves and caverns in porous limestone. 

Dr. Sylvestru's proposed young-earth model involves sulphuric acid solution welling up from subterranean hot springs, such as exist today in the Hot Springs area of Arkansas.

Here is Dr. Sylvertru's explanation for the formation or dissolution of the cavities:

We must first emphasize that despite much effort, secular science (karstology in this case) still does not have an acceptable explanation of how water can manage to form large caves hundreds or thousands of feet underground. To eat away the limestone, the water must be acidic. How does it get deep inside the rock without losing its acidity? Thousands of measurements show that by dissolving limestone, the water loses its acidity within some 10 metres of the surface.) It is only possible for water to flow deep underground if it follows pre-existing conduits.

 

But when and how were those conduits formed? I believe it was at the time of the Flood, by hydrothermal solutions (HTS). These hot and chemically hyperactive solutions originated deep inside the earth as a result of the tectonic and volcanic processes associated with the global upheaval. These HTS could eat away enormous amounts of limestone in a year or even less."²

Here’s the rest of the story -- the formation of deposits inside the caves:

Rainwater has a huge appetite! It contains dissolved carbon dioxide (CO₂), which makes it (mildly) acidic. (The thicker the soil that covers the rock, the more CO₂ is supplied by bacteria in that soil.) The (mild carbonic) acid reacts with the solid calcite (calcium carbonate or CaCO₃) that makes up most of the limestone, taking some of the calcite into solution. 

 

The stolen calcite leaves a void behind and winds its way in solution towards the underground streams. Like a satiated snake ignoring potential prey under its nose, the saturated fluid now passes through the limestone leaving it untouched. But if it happens to meet a larger void—a cave—the saturated water “awakens.” Its CO₂ readily bubbles away, forcing the dissolved calcite (now calcium bicarbonate) to return to its original crystalline state.

 

This is how dripstones (such as stalactites and stalagmites), curtains, flowstones, etc.—speleothems in one word—rapidly form. These do not just beautify the darkness of the caves—they also fill them. Often a large void becomes completely blocked with new, almost-pure calcite, which is structurally stronger than the limestone itself.³

So here we have the young-earth explanation of dissolving, and then decorating the caves and caverns.  These two processes do not occur simultaneously, however.  The “dissolving” step probably took place thousands of years ago, since the Great Flood of Noah.  The “decorating” step took place after that period.  It, too, happens rapidly, and continues even to this day.

Some of you may have seen photographs of soft drink bottles that were totally encased in calcite that dripped on them inside a cave.  These deposits obviously built up over a short period of time, not billions, or even hundreds of years.

As I was preparing this article, another geologic discovery came to my attention.  Now there is good reason to believe the hardening of sediments to form rock did not take millions of years.  A microbe has been discovered that secretes the essential cementing agent that binds particles together into rock as hard as marble.

What’s the take-home message from this?  In the global flood of Noah’s day (about 4,500 years ago), there would have been a plentiful supply of microbes floating around and buried in low-oxygen-containing sand and other sediments, just right for those microbes to release their cementing agents into their surroundings. Little wonder then, that we see as a legacy of that watery event, lots of beautifully preserved creatures (fossils) in layers upon layers of rock-hard sediment!⁴

Come back next month for another look at more young-earth science that makes more sense than the uniformitarian accounts promulgated by old-earth scientists, and agrees with the true account of creation, GOD's Word, the BIBLE.

¹ http://www.mospeleo.org/scat.php?id=106

² http://creation.com/caves-for-all-seasons

³ Ibid

⁴ http://creation.com/Speedy-stone-from-sand-to-rock

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