Richard Dawkins: None Better

Last night we went across the lake to Hec Ed to hear Richard Dawkins, the evolutionary biologist, popular science author, Oxford professor, noted atheist, and all-around great guy. Also known as Darwin's Rottweiler (a reference to 19th century Darwinist Thomas Henry Huxley, who was referred to as Darwin's Bulldog. Get it?) since he is a no-nonsense defender of Darwinian evolution, he is currently on a publicity tour for his latest book, The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence For Evolution. He gave dramatic readings from several chapters and, let me tell you, you don't want to be a creationist anywhere near Prof. Dawkins. He totally despises those people and all of their works and finds it quite shocking (as should any educated person) that 40% of Americans don't realize that evolution is not just a theory, it is a fact. The evidence is overwhelming and, from fossils to microbiology, it is entirely consistent. He points out that the idea of evolution is easily disproven - all that is required is to find one fossil from the wrong time period. For example, a bunny rabbit being found in the time of dinosaurs would pretty much make mincemeat out of the whole idea. However, nothing of the sort has ever been found and is not likely to be.
He took questions after his talk, many of which were not entirely stupid. He was only stumped once when someone asked him what his theme song would be. One questioner prefaced his question by apologizing on behalf of the city of Seattle for the Discovery Institute which was very well received by the crowd. Surprisingly, there were no obvious knuckle-dragging religious zealots in evidence and, if any had tried to disrupt the proceedings, there were enough free-thinking rationalists around to settle their hash, I am quite sure.
On a related note, our potential next King County Executive, Susan Hutchison, claims to have debated Prof. Dawkins on the subjects of politics and religion. The Seattle Times has the story and it more or less turns my stomach. What an asshat like her was doing at Windsor Castle is beyond my comprehension. A talking head in an empty dress (and a stealth Republican at that) attempting to "debate" one of the most brilliant men of our age? Please.
At any rate, a good time was had by all. Richard Dawkins - what a guy.