If nothing else, Sarah Palin's new memoir, Going Rogue, is quite the wellspring from which to draw blog posts.

HuffPo has already published several items about Palin's tome, my favorite of which quotes the New York Times' review of Rogue:

Elsewhere in this volume she talks about creationism, saying she "didn't believe in the theory that human beings -- thinking, loving beings -- originated from fish that sprouted legs and crawled out of the sea" or from "monkeys who eventually swung down from the trees."

Two things to take from that passage: 1. Sarah Palin doesn't believe in evolution, and 2. Sarah Palin seems to think that only human beings are capable of "thinking" and "loving," despite mountains of evidence to the contrary.

I suppose ignorance is bliss when you're blasting animals in the jugular with a high-powered rifle. Which brings me to another direct quote form Going Rogue: 

I always remind people from outside our state that there's plenty of room for all Alaska's animals -- right next to the mashed potatoes.

It can’t be a good thing when a state fires its head of science education for promoting science education. But that’s what happened when the Texas Education Agency put its science curriculum director Chris Comer on administrative leave in late October, leading to what she calls a forced resignation.

We begin our story on October 26 when Comer forwarded an e-mail announcing a presentation titled, “Inside Creationism’s Trojan Horse,” by Barbara Forrest. Forrest co-authored a book arguing that creationist politics are advancing the movement to get intelligent design theory taught in public schools, and are doing so through public relations rather than through scientific research. Shortly after forwarding the e-mail, Comer was put on administrative leave.

Former game-show host, somewhat unenthusiastic Campus Progress conference promoter, and public intellectual Ben Stein recently came out in favor of intelligent design (or some similar cocktail of science and creationism), narrating a documentary on what he deems the "supression and entrenched discrimination" against creationist ideas in the sciences.  Like other proponents of the idea, he attempts to explain its failure to persuade scientists and educators as the product of an unfairly-fought campaign by a handful of Dawkins fans, and not deficiencies in the "theory" itself.

When Emory University primatologist Frans de Waal read a news story that said Microsoft's chief executive, Steve Ballmer, had hurled a chair across the room on hearing an employee was going to work for rival Google, the scientist immediately made a connection with his own research: "When I see such behavior, I think of a chimpanzee."