I think Eskelian is drawing his conclusions based on a completely arbitrary definition of 'observable', leading to claims that George Washington's existence is observable but the existence of dinosaurs (or more recently, early man) is not. He's either unaware of the confluence of physical evidence for the latter claim, or he's just being deliberately obstinate.

All we have is historical evidence that we draw conclusions from. Also the current state of the United States does not require the former existance of an George Washington, there are tons of other ways history could have happened. Illuminati could have faked most of the history and the papers and have infact ruled the US since the beginning or a divine hand could have created the US.

Maybe George Washington wasn't sworn in properly! We will call it "Intelligent Recollection". It sounds nicer than "Civics" or "History". All historical debates will be settled by one side claiming "I don't get it. Probably didn't happen. You can't be certain."

Also the origin of life is not the same as evolution.

Yup. I hope this thread didn't further depress you about the state of science education in the US. :P See also: Climate change in the US vs. Europe.

valguarnera@carrionfields.com