Talk to Action, a site that reports on the religious right, has a doozy with a few twists.  The title is a bit confusing: “RINO says his dino proves Noah’s Flood. Wha wha WHAT? UPDATED!”

Well, the RINO (Republican In Name Only) is Michael Peroutka, an extreme right-winger who is so far to the right that he disguises his real political affiliation (the confederacy of dunces called The Constitution Party) by trying to run as a Republican for a minor political office in Maryland.  In reality, he’s a pro-Confederate secessionist who proudly sports the Confederate flag on his garb:

Clarkson and I have previously reported that Peroutka and Whitney [David Whitney, Perutka’s preacher and political ally] are leaders of the League of the South, a Neo-Confederate group which the Southern Poverty Law Center describes as a hate group. Whitney serves as the chaplain of the Maryland chapter of the League. As the lead instructor of Peroutka’s Institute on the Constitution, he teaches “the God-given right to secede.”

Peroutka has spoken at League of the South conventions for years, was elected to its board of directors in 2013, and on at least one such occasion sported a polo with a Confederate battle flag.

Below is a video of Peroutka from three years ago, arguing that “evolutionary thinking is dangerous—and anti-Amerian,” as well as “What I’m saying is that the promotion of evolution is an act of disloyalty to America… What I’m saying is there’s no way you can promote or believe in evolution and sing `God Bless America’ during the 7th inning stretch!” Note that he declares with confidence that the creator God is not Allah or any of the Hindu deities. Sounds like Eric Hedin, no? No Hindu monkey god could do that!

Now it’s Peroutka’s creationism that has led to this latest shenanigan, and the part that interests me (I can’t do squat about his political luncacy):

Peroutka’s family foundation — the Elizabeth Streb Peroutka Foundation (named in honor of his mother) — purchased an allosaurus skeleton for $200,000 in 2004 and spent a decade carefully restoring it. Creation Museum proprietor Ken Ham seems to think that the acquisition of the dinosaur fossil lends his endeavor credibility.

“For decades I’ve walked through many leading secular museums, like the Smithsonian in Washington, and have seen their impressive dinosaur skeletons, but they were used for evolution,” Ham told the Associated Press. “Now we have one of that class for our museum.”

. . . A museum geologist claims that the well-preserved state of the 30-foot-long, bipedal predator shows that it apparently died in a sudden immersion. He hastily concludes that if the dinosaur died quickly by immersion, then this must corroborate the Biblical story of Noah’s flood. He admits no other possibilities for a dinosaur’s sudden drowning.

In case you’ve forgotten what an Allosaurus is, it’s a large carnivorous theropod dinosaur, which looks similar to T. rex. Here’s an Allosaurus fragilis skeleton. The one Peroutka gave to the creation Museum, which supposedly proves the Flood, is apparently worth about $200,000:

Now most animal fossils are formed after immersion of a carcass in water and its burial in sediments, so I’m curious how the Creation Museum’s “geologist” could show that this one died by sudden immersion (read: Noah’s flood). How can you distinguish that from the thing dying in water that wasn’t the Flood, and then being fossilized. Real geologists in Kentucky, of course, haven’t fallen for it:

“The Creation Museum has asserted the specimen to be evidence of Noah’s flood without any actual research,” said Dan Phelps, president of the Kentucky Paleontological Society, in an email to the AP.

“Real vertebrate paleontologists study the surrounding sediments and the geological context of their finds,” he added. “Of course since the Creation Museum doesn’t do scientific research, all (it) really has done is obtain a nice display trophy.”

So here’s a challenge to Ken Ham, the Creation Museum, and the “geologist” who proved that this skeleton was from an animal who died in Noah’s Flood. Since you claim scientific evidence for the Flood, including items like this skeleton, please make available for scrutiny the results of your geologist’s inspection of the Allosaurus skeleton, including the data showing that there is no possibility for the creature’s death save “sudden immersion while alive.” In fact, perhaps I’ll write Dr. Phelps and urge him to make this inquiry.

Any real scientist who studies something like this is honor-bound to make his data available to other scientists. I’m absolutely positive, of course, that this creationists “geologist” won’t do it, but I’d like to see his/her excuse. Without any evidence and documentation, the claim that this thing died in Noah’s Flood is worthless. Moreover, there should be some dates associated with the fossil, showing that it’s less than 10,000 years old, and certainly not 150 million years old thought by non-loony geologists to be the time when this creature lived.

Mr. Ham, show us those data!

h/t: Terry