Inherit The Stupid
Kansas State Board Votes to Teach Intelligent Design in Schools
Nov. 8 (Bloomberg) — The Kansas State Board of Education approved a proposal to teach intelligent design along with evolution as a scientific explanation of how life began.
The board voted 6 to 4 in favor of the guidelines, which say schools should teach
that doubt exists about the validity of evolution, a theory that originated with British biologist Charles Darwin in the nineteenth century.
The debate about teaching intelligent design, which says life is too complex to have happened through evolution, has led to a federal lawsuit in Pennsylvania and the introduction of legislation in Michigan. President George W. Bush told a group of reporters visiting the White House on Aug. 1 that the theory should be taught alongside evolution, according to Knight Ridder.
Board Chairman Steve Abrams and members John Bacon, Kenneth Willard, Kathy Martin, Connie Morris and Iris Van Meter voted in favor of the guidelines, said Nicole Corcoran, a spokeswoman for Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius. The issue was raised by these members amid an effort to overhaul the Kansas school system that began in February 2001.
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HL Mencken, “THE MONKEY TRIAL”: A Reporter’s Account
“Darrow has lost this case. It was lost long before he came to Dayton. But it seems to me that he has nevertheless performed a great public service by fighting it to a finish and in a perfectly serious way. Let no one mistake it for comedy, farcical though it may be in all its details. It serves notice on the country that Neanderthal man is organizing in these forlorn backwaters of the land, led by a fanatic, rid of sense and devoid of conscience. Tennessee, challenging him too timorously and too late, now sees its courts converted into camp meetings and its Bill of Rights made a mock of by its sworn officers of the law. There are other States that had better look to their arsenals before the Hun is at their gates.”
“The new standards say high school students must understand major evolutionary concepts. But they also declare that the basic Darwinian theory that all life had a common origin and that natural chemical processes created the building blocks of life have been challenged in recent years by fossil evidence and molecular biology.
In addition, the board rewrote the definition of science, so that it is no longer limited to the search for natural explanations of phenomena.”
They did WHAT?
“..the board rewrote the definition of science.”
Just like that. As you do.
But wait – all is not lost! The Hun is repelled! Pandas Thumb reports :
Just days after the close of testimony in the Kitzmiller et al. v. Dover Area School Board case, the people got a chance to put in their two cents via school board elections, choosing between the incumbents with their ?intelligent design policy?, or the
contenders of the Dover CARES campaign. The results, courtesy of the York Dispatch:—– Dover —–
B Reinking Dem. 2754
H Mc Ilvaine, Jr. Dem. 2677
B Rehm Dem. 2625
T Emig Dem. 2716
A Bonsell Rep. 2469
J Cashman Rep. 2526
S Leber Rep. 2584
E Rowand Rep. 2547
2-Year Term
L Gurreri Dem. 2623
P Dapp Dem. 2670
J Mc Ilvaine Dem. 2658
E Riddle Rep. 2545
R Short Rep. 2544
S Harkins Rep. 2466
2-Year Unexp
P Herman Dem. 2542
D Napierskie Rep. 2516
6 Out of 6 precinctsThe Democratic slate contains the challengers to the current board members.
It should be noted that the incoming board members from the Dover CARES campaign have a platform plank saying that ?intelligent design? will be taught in Dover public schools. However, the venue of such instruction will not be the science classrooms, where it was out-of-place, but rather an elective course on comparative religion, where it fits perfectly.
Yes, it was a clean sweep and the people of Pennsylvania said emphatically where they stand on the deliberate warping of science teaching by religious nutjobs.
It’s not quite over yet, though. An appeal by Pa. parents against the Board’s initial decision to teach so-called intelligent design is being heard now. This Panda’s Thumb piece, ?Waterloo In Dover: The Kitzmiller v. DASD Case? gives an account of the trial, and much background. From some of the quotes it doesn’t look good for ID –
At close, Pat Gillen remarked to Judge Jones, ?Your honor, by my reckoning we have been here 40 days. That seems an auspicious number.? Jones replied, ?So it seems, but it was not designed!? At which point the courtroom burst out in applause.
But Kansas is just gone, sunk in the swamp of medieval know-nothingness, and no Clarence Darrow in sight.
