Saturday, January 22, 2005
It's been said that history does repeat itself, first as tragedy, then as farce.
Kansans were rudely shoved on stage in the midst of the climactic last act of a tragedy when the Kansas State Board of Education adopted science standards that downplayed evolution and opened the door to young earth creationism in 1999. Most of us breathed a mighty sigh of relief when the international uproar over that controversy ended with the election of a new board in 2000 and a return to reason. Last November, however, a new board with a six-member majority who support "creation science" and Intelligent Design was elected. Science standards are under attack again. We may well be forgiven if we feel like we've been thrust back into the limelight, but instead of tragedy, we find ourselves in the midst of a production featuring a highly improbable situation with a crazy plot and populated by wildly exaggerated characters whose well-honed slapstick routines are delivered with deadpan seriousness.
