But let's say cladistic studies indicate a strong connection for a nested heirarchy.
That still does nothing to prove ToE. It could just as easily be strong evidence of Intelligent Design, or directed evolution by an Intelligent Agent.
That's the point you fail to grasp. Your evidence or comprehensive analysis supports ID perhaps more so than ToE.
SO why hasn't this intelligence produced another species? I mean, come-on, it's produced millions upon millions of other species (sorry kinds) in almost 6,000 years. You'd think we'd be able to wake up tomorrow and see in the news how some new mammal came outa the arse of farmer john's Dairy cow. When is the last time you recall anything like that happening? Is God on vacation? Running outa new ideas?
If you observe the number of species that have been fossilized, use an age of 6,000 years, and then extrapolate the rate new species were formed at, you'd think we would at least see some new species forming at least once a year (very conservatively). Where do you see such rapid changes?
Yet, if you sit down and think about how slow the earth changes over-all, how slow species change (no cats turing into dogs next door), doesn't it click in your head that these things must have happened over a LONG period of time? Doesn't it make more sense?
™ Version 4.2