I have a BA. JD and SJD, but don't know squat about medicine, and wouldn't presume to be an expert just because I have seen some medical research and medical testimony in my time.
I also note he has apparently caught the white apologist's PC "slavery bug" in his recent academic efforts, which may explain his enthusiasm for connecting the great white man slave exploiter TJ with the poor black exploited and defenseless slave woman, Hemings.
I have to agree with Clint "Dirty Harry" Eastwood's recent comment that Americans in the 21st century spend waaaaay too much time and effort trying to bond by being politically correct, and such efforts taint our sense of reality to a great extent. His statement "made my day."
J South
-----Original Message-----
From: Steven T. Corneliussen <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Fri, 27 Feb 2009 12:01 pm
Subject: Re: A modest proposal re the DNA debate
Then I suggest you read the rest of the message I just sent, in which I
explained the answer.
JEFFREY D SOUTHMAYD wrote:
> Don't know what his previous publications about pottery and architecture have to do with this either.
>
>J South
>
>
>
>You are indeed missing the most fundamental point of all: Professor
>Neiman does not engage the DNA evidence. Instead, he engages the
>apparent coincidences between Sally Hemings's conceptions and TJ's
>sporadic presences at Monticello
.. He professes to have used statistical
>science to prove that the coincidences prove that TJ fathered six
>Hemings children.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>JDS
>
>
>
>
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Steven T. Corneliussen <[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Sent: Fri, 27 Feb 2009 11:53 am
>Subject: Re: A modest proposal re the DNA debate
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> > Don't know what any of this research and writing
>
> > has to do with expertise in dna analysis, but perhaps
>
> > I am missing something.
>
>
>You are indeed missing the most fundamental point of all: Professor
>Neiman does not engage the DNA evidence. Instead, he engages the
>apparent coincidences between Sally Hemings's conceptions and TJ's
>sporadic presences at Monticello. He professes to have used statistical
>science to prove that the coincidences prove that TJ fathered six
>Hemings children.
>
>
>The DNA evidence does figure into the Neiman study, but only insofar as
>the nonstatistical threads of the pro-paternity argument are -- or so
>Dr. Neiman says, anyway -- germane in his application of something
>called Bayes's theorem. He applies that to the=2
>0results of the computer
>simulations with which he started his study.
>
>
>In this matter, Dr. Neiman was working as20a scientist, precisely in
>order to invoke science's special authority within a humanities debate.
>But his scientific report "Coincidence or Causal Connection? The
>Relationship between Thomas Jefferson’s Visits to Monticello and Sally
>Hemings’s Conceptions” appeared in a leading humanities journal,
>sequestered from the scrutiny of other scientists.
>
>
>Professor Neiman is a distinguished scholar, and statistical science is
>an important tool for him and his colleagues. See for example the
>description from his Web site for the course "Analytical Methods in
>Archaeology" (http://people.virginia.edu/~fn9r/anth588/index.html).
>Excerpt: "This course examines quantitative analytical techniques used
>in archaeology. Topics include, regression, smoothing, correlation,
>measures of diversity and distance, spatial autocorrelation and Mantel
>methods, seriation, ordination, and clustering."
>
>
>So there's no mystery about his qualifications. In his dual roles at
>U.Va. and Monticello, he's obviously superbly qualified. The mystery, in
>my view since 2000 when this all started, is what caused him to become
>so supremely confident that he could actually use statistical science to
>resolve a two-century-old sex mystery for which the evidence is so
>fragmentary anyhow.
>
>
>Steven T. (Steve) Corneliussen
>
>Poquoson, Virginia
>
>
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