A fossil discovered in Canada may prove to be the missing link in the puzzle as to how fish evolved into land-dwelling animals.

Such a find would have been problematic in the U.S. where, in the same week of Tiktaalik roseae‘s unveiling, TV’s Bill Nye the Science Guy was heckled in Texas when he criticized a literal interpretation of a verse from Genesis.

I know, sometimes the irony just writes itself.

As for Tiktaalik roseae, scientists say it looks like a crocodile but has lobe-fins like those of ancient fishes, as well as gills for breathing under water.

The animal also has some features common in land animals, such as a neck and “elbows” and “wrists” on its fin-like limbs which would have enabled it to move around on land.

Already the fossil, although long dead, has a greater physical presence than Stephen Harper.

(Watch for that line in the next episode of Air Farce. Remember you heard it here first).

While Canadians in general may find much to be proud of in their groundbreaking fossil discovery and accept its implications, here in the States, postulating any sort of “missing link” that would suggest God didn’t play boggle for six days (and then inexplicably rested on the seventh, a strange trait for an all powerful omnipotent being), is a dicier proposition.

Which is where Bill Nye, Tiktaalik roseae, and American media and religious culture intersect.

The effervescent Nye appeared on Keith Olbermann’s Countdown show on MSNBC April 7 ostensibly to explain the significance of this new fossil find. Brian Unger, subbing for Olbermann (famous as the only TV chat show where liberals get a predominant voice), seemed more interested in reaction to Nye’s run-in with Texas fundamentalists that the earth shaking fossil discovery.

This was much to the consternation of Nye, who seemed to want to forget what happened at McLennan Community College in Waco on April 5.

Nye, rather than putting on his TV persona for the kiddies, instead spoke frankly about global warming, fossil fuels and exploring Mars. He got into hot water, though, when he critiqued the literal interpretation of the biblical verse Genesis 1:16: “God made two great lights — the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars.”

Nye said the sun, the “greater light,” is but one of countless stars and that the “lesser light” is the moon, which really is not a light at all, rather a reflector of light.

According to the Waco Tribune-Herald, a number of audience members left the room at that point, visibly angered by what some perceived as irreverence, one woman shouting “we believe in a God!” as she left the room with three young children.

Such is America, at least Middle America.

And in fact, the whole “missing link” controversy took another meaning entirely that same week in Washington, at least according to pundit Andrew Sullivan, who on his Time magazine blog, enthused: “We have a missing link. No, I don’t mean the post-fish. I mean the Bush connection in the Plame leak. It turns out that, according to Libby, it was the president who first sanctioned the leak of the NIE (National Intelligence Estimate) data to discredit Joseph Wilson.”

See how everything just ties together?

Now to bring the whole convoluted point home, here’s the payoff: the same people who won’t believe in the scientific “missing link” will, in turn, remain remarkably consistent and not believe in President Bush’s role as political “missing link” either.

Get it straight true believers: there are no missing links. God made man in his own image and George Bush is incapable of sin.

  • And there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
  • And there is no such thing as global warming, man made or otherwise. And there were no voting irregularities in Ohio in 2004 (or Florida in 2000).
  • And we are fighting a just and noble war for democracy in Iraq.
  • And there is no such thing as “peak oil.”
  • And now, to justify a military invasion and possible nuclear bombing of Iran, we’re told that the Iranian prime minister is “another Hitler,” Iran is our greatest global challenge and that Iran is the leading supporter of global terrorism.

I am reminded of the White Queen’s retort to Alice (in Wonderland) who told her that “one can’t believe impossible things.”

“I daresay you haven’t had much practice,” said the Queen. “When I was younger, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.”

The White Queen was undoubtedly American.

And I guess it’s also a good thing for Tiktaalik roseae that it isn’t around today to see what a hash we’ve made of our evolution.

Keith Gottschalk

Keith Gottschalk

U.S. Keith Gottschalk has written for daily newspapers in Iowa, Illinois and Ohio. He also had a recent stint as a radio talk show host in Illinois. As a result of living in the high ground...