Red State Rabble

Ray Gonzalez, a professor of English at the University of Minnesota writes in the El Paso Times:

"The recent decision to ban Rudolfo Anaya's classic novel, "Bless Me, Ultima," at Norwood High School in Norwood, Colo., should be a wake-up call to every parent, teacher and writer who has devoted professional and artistic careers to educating the larger world about the cultural traditions of Mexican-Americans."

Norwood Superintendent Robert Conder says he removed the novel from the classroom -- even though he had received just a single complaint -- because of "obscene language and paganistic practices."

"That's not the kind of garbage I want to sponsor at this high school," Conder told the Norwood Post.

Naturally, Conder admits he has not read the novel.

There's a parallel between the Norwood censorship case -- which involves a book important to Mexican-American cultural traditions -- and the demand by Janet Harmon, and other Christian Fundamentalist parents to remove 14 books from the Blue Valley (Kansas) reading list. Of the 14 they want banned, five are by black authors Maya Angelou, Toni Morrison, Walter Dean Myers, and Richard Wright.

The real issue in both these cases is not decency, it's diversity, tolerance, and openness.

Here at Red State Rabble, we've been covering the emerging demonization of science and scientists by the right-wing, fundamentalist, intelligent-design/creationist cabal. The key feature of this attack is a campaign to equate evolution and Darwin with the horrors of Nazi Germany.

There is an important article in the Sunday Kansas City Star about an exhibition at the Bank Gallery in downtown Kansas City entitled, “Nazi Persecution of Homosexuals 1933-1945.” The article, by Alice Thorsen, quotes Mike Dalena of the Kansas City Jewish Museum as saying, “I see a lot of parallels between this history and what's happening now.”

"Homosexuals, whose “degeneracy” Nazis believed would taint the Aryan German race," writes Thorsen, "suffered horrors equal to Jews and gypsies before and during World War II: arrest, imprisonment, torture, castration, murder."

Now, Red State Rabble is entering his advanced years and sometimes suffers from short term memory loss. Can anyone remind us who is persecuting gays today? Is it scientists or is it the right?

Kansas Citizens for Science asks that defenders of science education go to the Kansas State Department of Education website and make a comment supporting the Science Curriculum Standards Draft and in opposition to the intelligent design/creationist minority report.

Your comment is valuable even if you live out of state. We want the board to know that the eyes of the nation and the world are on Kansas.

While you're at it, why not vist the KCFS website and become a member. KCFS has been an effective defender of science education for many years, now. They need your active support. Join them today.

Missouri State Rep. Cynthia Davis, a Republican from O'Fallon, a St. Louis suburb, has sponsored two bills in this session of the legislature.

The first, House Bill 35 would require biology textbooks in the state to contain at least one chapter that gives “a critical analysis of origins.” She admits the measure is aimed at scrutinizing evolution.

“Quite frankly," says Davis, "the theory of evolution is a theory in crisis. We need to find a way for the students to think for themselves.”

The second, House Bill 34, would eliminate the requirement that course materials and instruction on human sexuality and sexually transmitted diseases include discussion of contraception methods.

Red State Rabble is curious, Rep. Davis, when it comes to evolution you want students to think for themselves, but when it comes to human sexuality and sexually transmitted diseases you want to prevent them from having access to the information that would allow them to make informed decisions. Aren't you troubled by the contradiction?

Proponents of intelligent design often portray defenders of science as a dark force trying to prevent open discussion of the "controversy" surrounding evolution. They say teachers and scientists want to stop free and open discussion.

Take a look at what they do when they have the power, as they do now in Kansas, to control the discussion:

• The intelligent design minority on the science standards writing committee wasn't able to persuade the majority of their ideas -- so the demanded, and got, a do-over from the creationist majority on the Kansas BOE.
• The board majority held secret meetings with Attorney General Phill Kline to which the moderate board minority was not invited to discuss putting stickers on Biology textbooks in the state.
• A three member sub-committee -- composed exclusively of board conservatives -- will conduct a Scopes-style trial of evolution in the coming months, a deviation from established curriculum development policy. (Since moderates comprise 40 percent of the board, a fair-minded board might have included at least one moderate on the sub-committee.)
• Intelligent Design proponents William Harris, a science standards committe minority member, and John Calvert, who has no elected or official function on the board, have never-the-less been granted special consultative status and apparently meet privately with the sub-committee as advisors on the upcoming Kansas "Scopes" trial.

So much for free and open discussion.

A group of Blue Springs parent's (that's in the Kansas City metro area) who first wanted to ban Lois Lowry's "The Giver" from the Blue Springs schools now insist they only want some say over what's in the reading list there. Apparently, they got a little more sophisticated in what they're demanding after getting some coaching from Janet Harmon, the Blue Valley soccer mom, who doesn't want her son to read anything that might challenge the indoctrination he's getting at home.

These good citizens say "The Giver" is twisted. Here's what Publishers Weekly says:

Winner of the 1994 Newbery Medal, this thought-provoking novel centers on a 12-year-old boy's gradual disillusionment with an outwardly utopian futuristic society; in a starred review, PW said, "Lowry is once again in top form... unwinding a tale fit for the most adventurous readers."

Now, another group of parents has stepped forward to defend the book and reading choices for their children.

"The Giver" is particularly difficult for religious fundamentalists to swallow because, for them, it hits way too close to home. Twelve-year-old Jonas, the hero of the story, learns the horrible, hidden truth about his comfortable existence as a member of a well-ordered community when he is assigned the burden of being the holder of all its memories. In the process, he learns the real costs of living in a society that is "without color, pain, or past."

The community that "The Giver" is set in looks a lot like the one right-wingers are trying to force the rest of us to live in. That's why they don't want anyone to read it.

U.S. District Court Judge Clarence Cooper has ordered Cobb County schools to remove evolution disclaimer stickers from 34-thousand science textbooks in which they had been placed at the end of this school year. The school system had requested a stay on removing the stickers until an appeal of the case is decided.

The Eleventh U.S Circut Court may not rule on the board's appeal of the decision until the end of this year.

Red State Rabble has had a somewhat subversive thought.

While RSR would rather cut off our right arm with a rusty boning knife than listen to five minutes of Rush Limbaugh, we are well aware that the symphony of Rush and the ditto heads set against the primal hiss and crackle of the AM band is like mother's milk to some of our readers.

We all know that Rush is a man of high principle, so why don't some of you -- for whom cruising with the radio saint is like an afternoon at the beach -- give him a call and ask what he thinks of our boy Attorney General and his subpoenas?

See the post below for more details, and , if you get through, let RSR know what the airhead of the airways said. We'll post it, and credit you.

BTW, Rush can be found on KMBZ AM 980 Monday through Friday from 11:00 am to 2:00 pm. You can call The Rush Limbaugh Show program line between at 1-800-282-2882 during program hours.

It was difficult for RSR to type that last paragraph, but sacrifices must be made.

Remember back in 2003 when Florida prosecutors served search warrants on Rush Limbaugh that revealed that the radio statesman had picked up 1,733 hydrocodone pills, 90 OxyContin pills, 50 Xanax tablets and 40 pills of Kadian -- time-release morphine -- between March and September?

Limbaugh's lawyers rushed into court with a motion that said, "No citizen would wish these highly personal details to be held by minions of the state to finger through at their leisure. Nor would any sane person wish his medical diagnosis and medical prescriptions to be widely published on television shows, tabloid newspapers, Web sites and the like."

In the Limbaugh case, prosecutors had pretty good evidence to base their search warrants on. Limbaugh, himself, admitted he was addicted to painkillers, after the media reported that his former housekeeper had supplied him with powerful prescription pain killers. Later, he checked himself into a treatment program before returning to the air in mid-November.

Here's what Rush had to say about his predicament,

"The issue here goes beyond me, actually. It goes to the privacy of everyone's medical records. If this became a precedent, then no one's medical records would be private. If any law enforcement agency suspected, just wanted to go -- in fact didn't even suspect, had the desire to go -- fishing to find some evidence for a crime."

Here is what Red State Rabble is wondering. Will Rush come to Kansas to defend the 90 women whose private medical records have been subpoenaed by the boy wonder Phill Kline? Remember in Rush's case we had the testimony of the people who supplied his drugs as the basis of the search warrant. In Kansas, we have no evidence of a crime. Just a fishing expedition by a hard-right opponent of a woman's right to choose.

Are you coming Rush? Are you?

Josh Rosenau over at Thoughts From Kansas has a source who obtained a tape of the Connie Morris performance at the BOE science sub-committee meeting last Wednesday. Red State Rabble was there and we heard it for ourselves, but we assure you that John Stewart and the cast of the "Daily Show" couldn't have done it better than our Connie. If you want to hear the brain trust behind intelligent design on the board in action, you really should ask Josh to send you a copy.

You can also read Red State Rabble's report from the meeting, here.

BTW, Thoughts From Kansas has done a little more digging on its own into the incestuous campaign finance relationships between Kansas BOE members and Phill Kline.

"It's also nice of Steve Abrams, John Bacon, and Ken Willard to contribute to Phill Kline's campaign. It's possible that other Board members contributed to Kline through family members. Anyone know Connie Morris's husband's name? Is it George, who gave $200? Is Kathy Martin married to Douglas Martin, donor of 400?"

For background on contributors to right-wing Kansas board candidates look at Red State Rabble's earlier post here.

Let's say you were the commander-in-chief of a group of weekend warriors whose main duty was to drive a bunch of beat up, old vehicles up and down I-70 for training each summer. Occassionally, because they are a good, competent, patriotic, well-trained group of people, you'd send them out to help people in need following natural disasters, such as a floods, tornados, or hurricanes.

Then, suddenly, you decide to send them away from their homes, jobs, and families on long deployments in a war zone. As the prudent planner you are, you'd probably want to fix up the old beaters they drive and put some state-of-the-art armor on them-- at least as good as the armor you have on your own limo -- wouldn't you?

Now, let's say you're not commander in chief. You're a brilliant educational leader and you want to change your state's science curriculum. You've decided that traditional science just isn't cutting it anymore. What we really need, you think, is a dose of that ol' time religion in science classes. Most of your supporters think that means teaching the biblical account of creation found in Genesis. Others think it means teaching intelligent design. Still others, the sophisticated few like yourself, feel it's enough to "just teach the controversy. "

Your state has a certification system in place to insure that the people giving instruction to young people are qualified in the subjects they teach. In fact, all the universities in your state have developed teacher training programs for each of the teaching disciplines, such as science, math, music, English, and so on.

Naturally, as the prudent planner you are, you look at those teacher training programs to see what if anything would qualify the teachers of your state to instruct students in the new subjects you've added to the curriculum.

What you find, when you look at the University of Kansas academic program for Biology teachers in secondary schools (to take a random example from among many) is that prospective teachers are required to successfully complete a program of 138-141 hours to graduate with a bachelor of science education, and an additional 34 hours as part of their license requirements.

Since you are on top of everything, you'd also look at the actual classes a Biology major must complete at KU. You'd find that they have to complete 46-48 hours of general education requirements in such subjects as English, Math, History and Biology. You'd also find that they have to complete 52-53 hours in courses such as Principles of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Principles of Genetics, and Foundations of Chemistry.

Because you're a detail man, you'd also discover that teacher candidates must enroll in one "Cultural Achievement Course." Among the classes that meet this requirement are four philosophy and five religion classes.

You have a big, big brain. Multi-tasking is a snap, so you also observe that there is no research to back up intelligent design, no textbooks, and no lesson plans.

This might concern you, briefly, because you wouldn't want to think that teachers -- who are unqualified to teach your new intelligent design subject matter by any university level training -- might have a "Come to Jesus" prostelytizing session with their students instead.

But, you wouldn't worry about it for long, because having learned so much about thinking ahead, you've decided to pursue a new career as a chess grandmaster. You can see the next 15 moves in your head. You are a prudent planner.

"Those (science faculty) from KU and K-State are in near unanimous agreement, (that intelligent design is a bad, bad idea) but, that's not the point. -- Conservative board member Steve Abrams following the final science standards hearing in Topeka, Wednesday.

More peer review of the intelligent design minority report. This from Dr. Douglas L. Theobald, Ph.D. an American Cancer Society Postdoctoral Fellow:

"Most importantly, the Revisers make a huge blunder in confusing methodological naturalism (which is how real science is practiced) with metaphysical naturalism (which is an atheistic philosophy). Using methodological naturalism does not entail a belief in metaphysical naturalism. Everybody uses methodological naturalism all the time in their everyday lives, regardless of whether they are theists, agnostics, or theists. For instance, you use methodological naturalism when you figure out why your car doesn’t run well or why the light doesn’t turn on when you flick the light switch. When the light doesn’t turn on, we don’t consider the possibility that a ghost blew it out, rather we perform a test of the hypothesis that the filament in the bulb burned up (usually by looking at the bulb and replacing it with a new one)."

WJXT in Jacksonville, Fla. reports that the Clay School Superintendent David Owens has banned a photo Kelli Davis, 18 -- who had her senior class photo taken in a tuxedo top and bow-tie outfit provided for boys rather than the gown-like drape and pearls provided for girls -- from the Fleming Island High School yearbook.

The school's principal decided it could not appear in the yearbook, says WJXT, because she didn't follow the dress code.

Kelli, a straight-A student with no discipline problems, is a self-proclaimed lesbian. She said she was uncomfortable to have her chest exposed in the photo.

"Because that's me, you know. That represents me. The drape does not," Davis said. "They're not accepting me, that's the whole reason we're here."

Bryan College in Dayton, Tenn -- yes, it's named after William Jennings Bryan, the attorney who prosecuted high school biology teacher John Scopes in 1925 -- is raising $60,000 to cast a life-size statue of the "Great Commoner." The statue will be placed at the Rhea County Courthouse where the famous Scopes Monkey Trial was acted out.

No word yet on a statue for Clarence Darrow who defended young Scopes.

Is it just Red State Rabble, or does anyone else see the connection between the sleezy attack on the American Association of Retired Persons by the none-too-Swift Boat Vets, and the pending attack on scientists by the Discovery Institute?

The right's strategy, as Paul Krugman points out in his NYT column today, (see below) is to mobilize Christian conservatives by demonizing:

1. Hollywood
2. John Kerry
3. Liberals
4. Teachers
5. Gays
6. The ACLU
7. Scientists
8. All of the above and more to be named later, as needed.

The revulsion to the Swift Boat attack on the AARP has revealed some of the inherent weaknesses in their wedge strategy. The Discovery Institute -- by placing an announcement for the talk on its website -- has warned us what's coming, and given us a priceless opportunity to put a stop to it. Those of us in the reality-based community need to roll up our sleeves and launch a pre-emptive attack.

It isn't scientists who are acting as Nazis. The real danger is that the hard right -- empowered by Bush and the corporate elite -- will morph into an incipient Nazi movement.

See the post "Little Kansas Nazis" for the background on the Discovery Institute plan to label science and scientists as nazis.

Paul Krugman has Kansas on his mind. NYT

Red State Rabble feels for Attorney General Phill Kline, who may have been so busy poking his nose into the private medical records of Kansas women who have had abortions that he may not have had time to read the Kansas Open Meetings Act:

Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley, a Topeka Democrat, and Rep. Paul Davis, a Lawrence Democrat asked the Shawnee County prosecutor to investigate closed-door meetings held earlier this month between Kline and state school officials on Thursday.

They want an investigation into whether the meetings violated the state Open Meetings Act, which prohibits closed-door meetings when a majority of a body's quorum is present. Kline and the board tried to circumvent the law by holding two separate meetings with conservative members of the board. The KOMA provision that prohibits closed serial meetings that eventually include a quorum is a couple of paragraphs down in the act, and under the pressure of subpoenaing the 90 women's personal medical records, he may not have had a chance to read that far.

Mike Merriam, an attorney for six media organizations -- who have accused Kline and the board of circumventing state open meetings rules and violating the spirit of the law -- said an investigation by a county prosecutor would be valuable.

More than 100 people attended the Mainstream Coalition forum, Sense or Censorship, last night at the Jewish Community Campus.

In January, Janet Harmon, demanded that Blue Valley Board of Education remove 14 books she deems indecent from the reading list. The books -- award winning literature for young adults -- are by the authors Tobias Wolff, Maya Angelou, Toni Morrison, and Barbara Kingsolver among others. As a group, the authors in question have won the Nobel Prize, The Pulitzer Prize, The National Book Award, and the PEN/Faulkner award for their writing.

Ms. Harmon submitted 500 signatures at the January board meeting -- although she admitted that many of the signers were members of her church who did not have children in Blue Valley schools.

A group of students is currently collecting signatures on a counter petition supporting the Blue Valley book review policy.

At a recent meeting the board voted to keep the current policy -- a defeat for Ms. Harmon and those who want to dumb down the reading list in the name of decency.

One forum panelist, Cal Berggren, a parent, said that district's philosophy is that humans are a depraved species and vulgarity is the norm.

University of Kansas Education professor Mickey Imber disagreed.

“One thing that strikes me about teachers," said Imber, "is that they are straight, compliant, upright people,” he said. “People in teaching are there because they believe they have a calling or mission and get a great deal of reward from working with kids.”

Red State Rabble concurs.

faith (fāth) noun: Belief that does not rest on logical proof or material evidence.

Science (siens) noun: a systematic method of continuing investigation, that uses observation, hypothesis testing, measurement, experimentation, logical argument and theory building, to lead to more adequate explanations of natural phenomena. Science is the human activity of seeking natural explanations for what we observe in the world around us. Science does so through the use of observation, experimentation, and logical argument while maintaining strict empirical standards and healthy skepticism. (Kansas Science Standards Curriculum Committee definition)

The Spook Hill Elementary school media committee in Lake Wales, Fla. voted Wednesday to ban one of the six books by Lois Lowry that a parent found objectionable, reports The Ledger.

"The book, "Anastasia Again," will be removed from the school's library and sent to the district office. The story, a chapter book for children 9 to 12, is the second in a series about the trials and tribulations of the title character, Anastasia Krupnik, a precocious preteen girl...

"Kristi Hardee, the parent who filed the complaints... objected to the book's references to beer, Playboy magazine and Anastasia making light of wanting to kill herself...

"In the most controversial passage of the book, one Hardee and several committee members cited, Anastasia and her friend discuss a home movie her friend and another girl appeared in. The two girls ran on a beach with no clothes while one of their fathers filmed.

"Spook Hill principal Matt Burkett said. ". . . I am real bothered by that particular section."

Red State Rabble also attended the BOE science sub-committee meeting that followed the public hearing last night.

A consensus is emerging, at least in the media, that the hearings will be a replay of the 1925 Scopes trial in Dayton, Tennessee. Astute RSR readers will remember that the Scopes trial started as a publicity stunt by the Dayton Chamber of Commerce to boost tourism there. (The resemblance to the plot line of the latest episode of the Simpsons -- where legalized gay marriage is the tourist draw -- is simply uncanny.) In the comic opera now unfolding here, Kansas will replace Dayton in the public imagination in the same way WallMart has replaced Main Street.

Here's the take from Joel Mathis of the Lawrence Journal-World,

The Scopes Monkey Trial could be up for a 21st century replay in Kansas. Sometime this spring, three members of the Kansas Board of Education plan to hear testimony from proponents of evolution and intelligent design, in a trial-like hearing with a court reporter and cross-examination of witnesses. The result could change how science is taught inKansas schools.

"Nothing's on trial, except maybe evolution," said Kathy Martin, one of the three board members -- all conservative -- who will hear the evidence.

Today, the Kansas City Star report that the trial may last 10 days.

Red State Rabble found the sub-committee meeting fascinating. Board member Steve Abrams kicked things off with a long monologue in response to an email from science standards committee chair Steve Case, who was also present at the meeting. Sub-committee member Kathy Martin was also there, and Connie Morris was teleconferenced in.

Morris provided the comic relief last night, calling Case "obstructionist" for scrupulously maintaining his neutrality as chair of the standards writing committee, and refusing to walk into the ambush the ID proponents and the board sub-committee have set for him. Her allies on the sub-committee were visibly embarrassed by her remarks, smirking at times. Martin tried to smooth things over as soon as Morris finished her harangue and went back to watching the 700 Club with the volume turned down (Okay, okay, I'm just guessing about the 700 Club.)

Bill Harris sat at the conference table with the board members and Steve Case although it's not clear what official function he has other than being the leader of the minority on the standards committee -- they're the ones that lost the vote and now want a do-over.

Red State Rabble was charmed by the presence of John Calvert who , having no official function at these proceedings, nevertheless pulled a chair up from the spectators gallery to sit with the board and offer wise counsel. He gives the impression of a man who, having retired as a trial lawyer, has rejected competing in the greenest lawn in the neighborhood competition, in favor of changing the world.

Case has thrown the board sub-committee and their ID advisors, Harris and Calvert, a curve by declining to organize their hearings for them. Abrams, having been talked into the hearings by his erstwhile ID kitchen cabinet, now seems concerned that the hearings will have no credibility. All that could be agreed upon last night was that a list of topics to be taken up at the "hearings" will be drawn up.

Harris and Calvert seem already to have their list of hearing participants -- the usual suspects, mostly bible college biologists, no doubt -- which they are eager to put before the sub-committee, but Case is not sure real scientists will want to participate in a kangaroo court in which the outcome is all but foreordained.

"Today we want to explore the possibility that a very advanced civilization was using nuclear power almost 2 billion years ago. If this were to be the case, wouldn’t it punch a big hole in Darwin’s Theory of Evolution?" -- The Epoch Times

Red State Rabble attended the final public science standards hearing in the ballroom of the Capitol Plaza Hotel in Topeka last night. By RSR's count, about 160 attended the hearing. Last night, for the first time, those speaking in favor of real science education outnumbered those who support teaching intelligent design or creationism.

Particularly notable was the presence of a strong contingent of KU science faculty members speaking in opposition to the minority proposal.

A Presbyterian theologian seemed to connect most directly with the audience, however. His humorous example -- delivered through a thick Scottish brogue -- of a high school tennis coach insisting that the hugely successful baseball team play by tennis rules put smiles on the faces of almost everyone in the room.

Several high school students and recent graduates recounted the effect the 1999 vote to de-emphasize evolution had on their education and future plans. They pointed out that the practical effect was that evolution simply wasn't taught at their school. One student, a National Merit Finalist, spoke about the danger of bright students leaving Kansas because of the anti-science atmosphere in the state.

Supporters of the intelligent design proposal put forward by William Harris and John Calvert seemed to have received some coaching. There were fewer of the heartfelt appeals to teach God's word, that have so embarrassed Calvert and Harris, who protest that they aren't calling for the teaching of creationism, or even intelligent design, but for teaching "the controversy."

This largely legal tack has fooled no one in the science camp, but it may have disarmed the simple folk who see no reason why their particular brand of religion shouldn't be taught in the public schools.

The Mainstream Coalition forum on the book banning controversy in Blue Valley will be held tonight from 7:00 to 9:00pm at the Jewish Community Campus located at 5801 West 115th Street, just west of Nall and North of the Sprint Campus.

On the panel are: Calvin Berggren, a parent in favor of removing books; Pam Crandall, a parent opposed to removing books; Mickey Imber, a professor in the KU School of Education, who specializes in educational policy and law; and Matt Patterson, a teacher of high school English in Lawrence at Seabury Academy.

The moderator will be Laura Ziegler of KCUR 89.3 radio. Co-Sponsors include: Jewish Community Relations Bureau/American Jewish Committee, Kansas Families United for Public Education, Johnson County League of Women Voters, Olathe Branch NAACP, Shawnee Mission American Association of University Women

Here, in the heartland, we sometimes perceive things only dimly. The snow-capped mountains to the west drop down out of sight below the curvature of the earth. The waving fields of wheat must stand in for the deep blue sea.

The political life of the nation is also seen as from a great distance.

But we do see -- and we see right through -- things like this:

Yesterday, the extreme right American Spectator, posted an ad produced by the media advisors to that lovely group, the Swift Boat Vets. You remember them, they produced the dishonest ads designed to dishonor the wartime heroism of John Kerry.

Now, these hard right Republican operatives have been employed to savage the American Association of Retired Persons (disclaimer: Red State Rabble dropped his membership in AARP over their support for the Medicaid Perscription Drug Bill, but is now thinking of renewing because AARP has taken a strong stand in defense of Social Security and against the Bush privatization swindle. Yes, I'm that old.)

The ad shows a U.S. soldier stationed in Iraq with a red "X" over him, and a newly married gay couple kissing with a green check mark. The ad suggests that the AARP is somehow against our troops and for gay marriage. The American Spectator quickly pulled the ad as outrage mounted quickly through the day, but you can still see it on the Midwest Grass Roots Community web page. MWGC has been doing a good job of covering this example of right wing excess -- and other outrages here in the flyover zone. Check them out.

Even here, in the heartland, we can see through this sort of low smear.

The final science standards hearing will be held tonight, Wednesday, Feb. 23, from 7:00 to 8:30 pm at the Capitol Plaza Hotel, Emerald Ballroom1717 SW Topeka Blvd (on the northeast corner of the Expocenter grounds).

Following the hearing, the BOE subcommittee will discuss process and procedures for conducting hearings before the subcommittee. There will likely be discussion of the Harris/Calvert intelligent design proposals and the response by science standards chair Steve Case. This will be the first public meeting -- until now everything has been done behind closed doors -- and defenders of science education are encouraged to attend.

This meeting will start at 9:15 pm at the Kansas State Department of Education Board Room120 SE 10th Avenue, Topeka, KS.

Red State Rabble's post Antichrist Envy is a selection in the 127th edition of Carnival of the Vanities. For more information on this weekly showcase of blog writing go to Silflay Hraka to learn about the carnival, or see the current edition at PunditGuy.

At one time Kansas, like most of the Midwest, was under water. Until the land finally rose above sea level during the final years of the Late Cretaceous, the area was covered by a succession of oceans whose geologic record is preserved in the sedimentary rock that covers the Great Plains.

Kansas rocks are full of fossils. Although vertebrate fossils are common in Kansas rocks, particularly in the Niobrara Chalk of the Smoky Hills, invertebrate fossils are much more numerous.

From the Flint Hills on east, small invertebrate fossils (crinoids, corals, fusulinids, bryozoans, to name a few) are widespread in the limestones that crop out in roadcuts and stream banks. In the Smoky Hills region, the Fencepost limestone is loaded with clams, and the Niobrara Chalk also contains fossilized clams and oysters, as well as larger vertebrates, including fishes, sharks, and large swimming reptiles called mosasaurs and plesiosaurs.

You can learn more at the Oceans of Kansas website, and at here at GeoKansas.

Associated Press reports:

A suburban Atlanta school district under fire for placing evolution disclaimers in biology texts is expected to enter into mediation talks with the parents who have sued them.

Cobb County School District officials are expected March 1 to meet the parents, their attorneys and an official from the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals' mediation office, said Gerry Weber, legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia.

Last month, U.S. District Court Judge Clarence Cooper ordered the district to remove the stickers that called evolution "a theory, not a fact" from science textbooks. Six parents previously sued the district to have the stickers removed. The school board then voted to appeal Cooper's order last month. The school district also requested a stay from the judge's order that the disclaimers be removed
immediately.

"We're always open to hearing the mediator's ideas for how to resolve a case," Weber said. "We will certainly keep an open mind but we know the school district has already expressed skepticism over the process of mediation. It may be difficult to resolve anything."

Liz Craig of Kansas Citizens for Science sends along this statement by Mike Everhart President of the Kansas Academy of Science to the Science Standards Writing Committee hearing held in Derby on Feb. 10.

"... I would like to convey to the panel that the Kansas Academy of Science strongly supports the draft of the 2004-2005 Science Standards as written. The KAS does not support changes that would involve inserting non-scientific dogma into the teaching of science in our public schools...

"The theory of evolution is open to scientific examination and criticism. It has been reviewed and discussed by scientists since it was first proposed, and has continuously been modified by new data. Science is based on propositions that are open to being disproved on the basis of better information. If there is an alternative, valid scientific explanation for this process, then it should be presented in a scientific forum and be open to rigorous examination by others...

"The public school system is not that forum. The religious concepts of creationism and intelligent design have no scientific basis. They are beliefs, not testable theories, and are not science. They have no place in the science standards adopted for thepublic school system in Kansas."

Thanks to Dispatches From the Culture Wars (where you can find many, many more details on this story) for calling my attention to this little gem.

It seems, that while the religious right was busy mounting a campaign to label defenders of science as Nazis, they neglected to take a little look around their own glass house first.

Students at Cary Christian School, one of the largest and fastest growing Christian schools in the Raleigh-Durham, SC area, are reading a controversial booklet that critics say whitewashes Southern slavery with its view that slaves lived "a life of plenty, of simple pleasures."

One of the booklet's authors, Steve Wilkins, is a member of the board of directors of the Alabama-based League of the South, which is classified as a "hate group" by the Southern Poverty Law Center, an Alabama-based civil rights group.

The booklet argues that southern slavery was not only sanctioned by the Bible but, thanks to the patriarchal kindness of their wise evangelical masters, a positive, happy, and pleasant experience for the majority of southern blacks.

Are we looking at a future addition to the Kansas curriculum, here?

"Once a physicist and now a pastor, Jim Trainor, mixes some of his experience working on cutting-edge science with his current calling as rector of the Church of the Intercession" in Steven's Point, Wis., writes Andrew Dowd of the Daily Tribune. "Though some debates have pitted religious organizations against science and vice versa, Trainor wants to break down any sore feelings between the two disciplines and show how they work together. 'Both religious faith and physics are seeking ultimate truth,' he said. 'I find them not to be so alien to each other.'" Read how Trainor views the Big Bang, here.

You, poor reality-based, wooly-headed heathen, you thought scientists were busy peering into test tubes trying to find a cure for malaria and AIDS, tramping through farm fields to develop new and hardier crop species, plumbing the depths to learn how ocean currents affect weather patterns, or just generally being busy bodies and trying to save the rain forrest.

Little did you suspect that...

"Auschwitz... did not come from the Nazi high command," as John James told told those of us huddled in the Schlagle High auditorium for the first of the science hearings in February, "they (sic) came, rather, from the teachings of the scientific and philosophical worlds, which produced nihilism, and I submit to you that much of that, if not vast proportion of it, came due to the teaching of Evolution which, in turn, produces nihilism. So what are we doing? Are we producing little Kansas Nazis?"

If that statement galls you -- coming as it does from representatives of a movement that, not long ago, was telling us that AIDS was God's punishment to gays, or that the 9/11 terror attacks happened because the activities of pagans, abortionists, feminists, gays, lesbians, the ACLU, and People For the American Way "which possibly has caused God to lift the veil of protection which has allowed no one to attack America on our soil since 1812" -- well, you'd better get used to it. There's more on the way. (To read the whole incredible statement, look here)

On Thursday, April 7, at Seattle Pacific University, Dr. Richard Weikart a fellow at the Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture is scheduled to deliver the lecture "From Darwin to Hitler: Does Darwinism Devalue Human Life" based on his book which concludes that Darwinism played a key role not only in the rise of eugenics, but also in euthanasia, infanticide, abortion, and racial extermination, all ultimately embraced by the Nazis.

There is no doubt that many German scientists shared the anti-semetic cultural assumptions of the Nazis. Some allowed themselves to be used in the war effort. Others conducted inhuman experiments on Nazi concentration camp victims.

But, it should also be remembered that many other scientists courageously fought back against the Nazis at the risk of their own lives. Some, like Albert Einstein, escaped Germany, coming to the U.S. and Britain, to help the allies defeat Hitler.

It is important that all of us take the time to understand how the horror in Germany happened. While we're doing that, here's something the religious right might want to consider:

Fritz Stern, a refugee from Hitler's Germany and a scholar of European history, who has devoted a lifetime to analyzing how the Nazi barbarity became possible says this:

"We who were born at the end of the Weimar Republic and who witnessed the rise of National Socialism (are) left with that all-consuming, complex question: how could this horror have seized a nation and corrupted so much of Europe?"

Stern does not see science as the culprit.

"Hitler himself, a brilliant populist manipulator who insisted and probably believed that Providence had chosen him as Germany’s savior, that he was the instrument of Providence, a leader who was charged with executing a divine mission. God had been drafted into national politics before, but Hitler’s success in fusing racial dogma with a Germanic Christianity was an immensely powerful element in his electoral campaigns. Some people recognized the moral perils of mixing religion and politics, but many more were seduced by it. It was the pseudo-religious transfiguration of politics that largely ensured his success, notably in Protestant areas."

Science is a human activity. Its conclusions are provisional, and subject to revision based on new evidence. For those defenders of science who want to understand the issues that lie beneath this looming discussion, "The Mismeasure of Man," by the eminent palentologist and leading spokesperson for evolution, Stephen Jay Gould, takes an indepth look at the uses, and misuses, of science. Also take a look at Gould's "Rocks of Ages: Science and Religion in the Fullness of Life" for its surprisingly sympathetic portrait of William Jennings Bryan, and condemantion of eugenics, which was then fashionable in scientific circles.

The six-member creationist majority on the Kansas Board of Eduction has decided to go around the existing curriculum development process to create a "Science Hearings" sub-committee composed exclusively of conservatives -- no moderates allowed.

This rump body is designed to provide a forum for the Intelligent Design creationists to present the "evidence" for their Proposals to the state science writing committee.

Jack Krebs, of Kansas Citizens for Science reports that on February 15, Dr. Steve Case, chairperson of the science writing committee, received an email from Bill Harris, leader of the ID creationist contingent on the writing committee, proposing an elaborate procedure for the “Science Hearings.”

This proposal, essentially proposes a “trial” with witnesses, cross-examination, and so on that would allow them as many as ten full days to present their ID creationist arguments in public.

The proposal is clearly a product of lawyer John Calvert, head of the Intelligent Design network who has been retained as counsel and spokesperson for the ID creationists. KCFS urges you to read the entire proposed procedures at here.

Last Friday, Dr. Case replied. The full text of his reply is here. In his letter, Case suggests the Board take a survey of all institutions in the state concerning the extent to which the Intelligent Design creationists’ concerns adequately reflect science as it is taught in those institutions. In particular, he asks that the Board gather responses to these questions:

• To what extent is Intelligent Design used as a theoretical foundation for research at the institution?
• What courses is Intelligent Design taught at the institution?
• Is antievolution or evidence against evolution teaching included in the instructional program of your institution?
• Is there any scientific research that looks for explanations beyond the material world at your institution?
• Is evolution taught as philosophy at your institution?

Will the Board repy? Red State Rabble suspects they won't, at least not until after they've consulted John Calvert and received their marching orders.

From Agence France-Presse: Octopus may have flexible arms, but it uses them in the same three-jointed way as vertebrates, a finding that sheds intriguing light on how limbs evolved, a new study says.
An Israeli research team filmed octopuses as they stretched out an arm from a hidey-hole in an aquarium to grab a piece of food with their tentacles and bring it to their mouths.
The octopuses, filmed about a hundred times, used a vertebrate-like strategy to carry out the complex movement.

“Intelligent design is not a mystical conclusion and it is very good at recognizing design and the physical structure of a system,” Michael Behe told students at Lehigh University Feb. 17.

Last Night, Marge Simpson's sister, Patty Bouvier, came out on the Fox Network hit, "The Simpsons," television's longest-running situation comedy. Homer Simpson conducted dozens of same-sex weddings after Springfield legalized them to increase tourism.

What is it about cartoon characters and gays, anyway? First the Teletubbies, then Spongebob Squarepants, and finally, we thought, Buster the Rabbit.

Bloggers all over the country are flogging their computer keyboards to put up posts about this latest cultural flap, but only at Red State Rabble will you get the exclusive behind the scenes story.

Sources close to the Showtime network tell Red State Rabble that Patty originally planned to come out on the critically acclaimed television series "The L Word" which features a group of lesbian friends. Showtime insiders say a love scene between Patty and "L Word" star Laurel Holloman, who plays Tina on the show, was taped last year, but deemed "too hot" by network executives who favored acting cautiously in the wake of the flap over Janet Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction" at last year's Superbowl.

Writers for the "L Word" protested to network execs at the time saying that the fireworks between Patty and Tina fit perfectly into a series subplot that had Tina looking for love following her breakup with Bette.

Bootleg copies of the steamy sex between Patty and Tina are said to be circulating on the internet, and Larry Flynt has purportedly offered Patty $1 million to pose in "Hustler."

Dr. James Dobson, of Focus on the Family, who has carved out something of a niche for himself by commenting publically on gays in the cartoon industry has not yet delivered a judgement on this latest outrage.

If State Rep. Cynthia Davis has her way, Missouri school kids won't learn that condoms are effective at preventing pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, but they will get to meet "Speedy" the 18.7 foot, tye-died sperm. Speedy is the creation of Shannon Wendt, a motivational speaker with the Connection Institute in Joplin.

Connection Institute receives state grants to provide two-week abstinence-only programs in 31 schools. It receives direct federal support for other abstinence education efforts, and Wendt estimates it serves 8,000 students.

While the U.S. Centers for Disease Control says, “Laboratory studies have demonstrated that latex condoms provide an essentially impermeable barrier to particles the size of STD pathogens.” It also notes, “Correct and consistent use of latex condoms can reduce the risk of other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), including discharge and genital ulcer diseases.”

Wendt, on the other hand, who uses a handfull of marbles to demonstrate the size difference between STDs and sperm, claims that Speedy proves that latex condoms aren't that great at preventing disease.

Well, who ya gonna believe, the CDC, or the world biggest sock puppet?

If Cynthia Davis, who has introduced legislation favoring abstinence only sex education in Missouri has her way with our children, this sort of nonsense will become more widespread, and Speedy will make tons of money for his makers -- all paid for by Missouri taxpayers.

In a post titled "The Philosopher, Stoned" (see below) Red State Rabble took a look at the issue of academic freedom as it relates to science standards and the curriculum. Left unexplored in that post was the question of what actually happens in science classrooms around the country -- even when the curriculum calls for the teaching of evolution.

At the science standards hearing held in Derby, Kan., for example, Mark Neas, a science teacher with 16 years experience and a master's degree in science education, said, "I cannot teach a science class without stopping and giving God a little bit of credit ..."

This reminded Red State Rabble of our own experience in high school Biology, when we were exiled to the library for defending Darwin and evolution to a class in which the teacher presented Genesis as the true origin story and neglected to present any of the concepts of evolution to our class.

"In districts around the country, even when evolution is in the curriculum it may not be in the classroom, according to researchers who follow the issue," according to Cornelia Dean, of the New York Times. "Teaching guides and textbooks may meet the approval of biologists, but superintendents or principals discourage teachers from discussing it. Or teachers themselves avoid the topic, fearing protests from fundamentalists in their communities."

Then, there is this...

"In some areas of the country, many biology teachers are themselves believers in creationism," reports the Bennington Banner. "A 1998 doctoral dissertation found that 24 percent of the biology teachers sampled in Louisiana said that creationism had a scientific foundation and that 17 percent were not sure. Several surveys have shown that many teachers give at least some instructional time to creationism or intelligent design out of a sense of fairness.

Red State Rabble believes that the academic freedom argument put forward by intelligent design proponents is not only false, but that more students than we realize are the victims of Christian fundamentalist teachers who ignore the curriculum and proselytize for their particular faith before a captive audience of students.

Here, at Red State Rabble we’ve always numbered ourselves among the dime-store philosophers, drugstore cowboys, men's room conversationalists, dreamers, and seekers of truth, with a capital T, who are out there, I mean really out there, trying to make sense of the world.

That’s why we were so excited when Eugene Stohs, who introduced himself as an adjunct instructor in philosophy at several colleges here in the metropolitan Kansas City area, spoke at the first science standards hearing on the subject of academic freedom.

“In the interest of good science and progress in science,” Mr. Stohs informed us “it is important that science teachers and science students have the freedom to examine and to describe both the evidence for and the evidence against any current science theory.”

Who in their right mind, we wondered, could possibly be against academic freedom, and a sober examination of all the evidence?

“I support the Harris committee revision (intelligent design -- RSR) proposals,” concluded our Plato of the people, “since these revisions allow greater academic freedom.”

And, frankly, that’s where he lost us.

In 1940, the American Association of University Professors adopted a statement on academic freedom and tenure that states, “Teachers are entitled to full freedom in research and in the publication of the results.”

“Teachers are entitled to freedom in the classroom in discussing their subject,” the AAUP statement continues, “but they should be careful not to introduce into their teaching controversial matter which has no relation to their subject.”

“As scholars and educational officers,” the AAUP statement cautions, “they should remember that the public may judge their profession and their institution by their utterances. Hence they should at all times be accurate, should exercise appropriate restraint, should show respect for the opinions of others…”

Curiously, the account of academic freedom produced by our philosopher friend Mr. Stohs at the Schlagle High School science hearing, while including some blather about red shift, failed to consider the quaint notion that teachers should be careful not to introduce controversial matter that has no relation to their subject, or that they might have the responsibility to be accurate and exercise restraint.

Then, there is the question of what constitutes evidence, or does not constitute evidence, against evolution.

The Discovery Institute has done its best to gather “scientists” who find the evidence for evolution unconvincing. To date, the lists produced have leaned heavily on attorneys who took a geology class in college, a small handful of bible college biologists, and the odd crank or two. These individuals, brilliant researchers that they no doubt are, have neither produced any research to support their claims, nor contemplated conducting any.

The American Association for the Advancement of Science, which “seeks to assist the general public, especially the religious communities, to understand the scientific robustness of the contemporary theory of biological evolution,” on the other hand, serves some 262 affiliated societies and academies of science, including 10 million individual scientists.

A striking contrast, eh?

Like we said, Red State Rabble loves the dreamers, but then maybe, just maybe, there’s a reason why Mr. Stohs is adjunct.

Josh Rosenau, over at Thoughts From Kansas, has a post on where the four Blue Valley school board candidates stand on science education and the book evaluation policy. Supporters of teaching real science in public schools should be aware that Dan French "would not be opposed to having some discussion of the Intelligent Design theory." He also said he would support the removal of the novels that didn't meet standards -- the novels in question are by Pulitzer, Nobel, National Book Award, and PEN/Faulkner prize winning authors such as Tobias Wolff, Maya Angelou, Toni Morrison and Barbara Kingsolver.

Physics teacher Bryan Rehm is among the candidates backed by a new citizens group called Dover Citizens Actively Reviewing Educational Strategies. The group is registering as a political action committee. Rehm is one of 11 who sued the Dover Area School District for including intelligent design in its ninth-grade biology curriculum. Intelligent design holds that the universe is so complex, an unspecified guiding force must have created it. The lawsuit argues that intelligent design is merely a secular variation of creationism and that teaching it in public schools violates the separation of church and state. The Dover Area School

Richard Dawkins is in the Galopagos Islands and writes the following from a ship named the Beagle. This excerpt is from the first of three essays to be published in the Guardian. Here Dawkins takes a look at the evolution of the Galopagos most famous residents, the giant tortises.

"The tortoises did something similar (to the finches), evolving distinctive shell shapes on the different islands. The races on the larger islands have high domes. Those on smaller islands have saddle shaped shells with a high-lipped window at the front for the head. The reason for this seems to be that the large islands are wet enough to grow grass, and the tortoises there are grazers. The smaller islands are mostly too dry for grass, and the tortoises resort to browsing on cactuses. The high-lipped saddle shell allows the neck to reach up to the cactuses which, on their side, grow higher in an evolutionary arms race against the browsing tortoises."

You can read the whole essay here.

The Kansas State Department of Education has posted peer review comments on the minority report produced by eight members of the science standards writing committe who seek to open the door to intelligent design in the public school curriculum here. Peer review is a system using reviewers who are the professional equals of the principal investigator, or program director, who is to be responsible for directing or conducting the proposed project. It is a form of objective review. Peer review is legislatively mandated in some programs and in other programs is administratively required.

Here are some of their comments:

Responding to this section of the minority report:

"Methodological naturalism is scientifically problematic in origins science because it violates two key aspects of the scientific method. It philosophically limits both the formation and testing of competing hypotheses. It limits hypothesis formation by philosophically ruling out a logical, evidence-based competitor to the evolutionary hypothesis, that is, that life and its diversity are the result of a process that is at least partially guided."

Peer reviewer Karen E. Bartelt, Ph.D., a Professor of Chemistry at Eureka College tells ID proponents that they need to roll up their sleeves and do some real work,

"No one is suggesting that the Proponents not go out and test their hypotheses. In fact, this has been recommended numerous times. When this has been done and there is actually some evidential support, then it is time to have the discussion about whether or where to include it."

Peer reviewer Scott Brande, Ph.D. , Associate Professor of Natural Science & Mathematics at the University of Alabama-Birmingham debunks the notion that because evolution looks at the past, it isn't science:

"(The Intelligent Design Network proposal) suggests that a distinction be made between scientific investigations of contemporary phenomena and that of historical phenomena. As a paleontologist, I investigate the past, but not by criteria different from that needed to explore the present. The primary criterion for assessing the strength of hypotheses is the conformity of the hypothesis with the evidence, regardless of whether the evidence is 10 minutes or 10 million years old. "

There's more, much more here. I urge you all to go to the KSDE site and take a look.

Dr. Steven Case from the Center for Science Education and Center for Research on Learning at the University of Kansas and chair of the State Science Standards Committee has written to the board in response to John Calvert's Intelligent Design Network proposal to depart from the existing curriculum development process and proceed with a "trial."

"Mr. Calvert mentioned that these discussions would be a national forum the issues at hand. I believe that our mission is to serve the children of Kansas. We need to determine what is in the best interests of our Kansas children and not allow anyone to use the citizens and specifically the children of Kansas to advance a national agenda...

"In the current format I am concerned that are not specific standards for reviewing speakers. Are the individuals qualified to speak to the issues? Do they have an opinion or an informed opinion? It also appears that there are no standards of evidence presented by speakers. What constitutes evidence that supports a speaker's opinion? For example, does publication count or is publication in a peer-reviewed journal required? What is the bar that moves us beyond opinion and makes the evidence credible? This discussion must be driven by qualifications, rules, and standards of evidence."

Liz Craig of Kansas Citizens for Science reports:

"John Calvert, head of the Intelligent Design Network,who is acting as 'counsel' to the eight ID proponents on the science standards writing committee, has proposed a sort of 'trial' scenario in which 'witnesses' for and against including ID in the Kansas science standards would testify before three creationist BOE members."

Can we put William Jennings Bryan on the stand again? Look here for more details.

BTW, if you haven't joined KCFS yet, don't you think you should? Follow the KCFS link at the top of this post, its one of the best investments you'll ever make.

A couple of days ago, I posted a piece on why our homegrown Kansas fundamentalists and their poor relations, the biblical literalists, loathe mainstream Christians who understand evolution and support teaching it in public schools. That post included a quote from Pat Robertson to the effect that Episcopalians, Presbyterians, and Methodists embody the spirit of the Antichrist.

Since then, a number of my atheist friends have contacted me to say that, after reading the post, all the joy had gone out of their lives.

Now the quote from Robertson is not new. In fact, it's been bouncing around the internet for years, but my atheist friends don't get out much, so the news came as something of a shock.

For these guys, atheism is a badge they wear on their sleeves. They took real pride in the notion that, to men like Robertson, they were the Antichrist.

To give you an idea just how central the notion of being the Antichrist has become to some of my atheist friends, let me relate the following story from an old college pal now living in California.

As an opening conversational gambit on long, cross-country business flights, my friend had developed the habit of leaning over in his seat, early on in the flight, to confide in the passenger next to him, that she was flying with the Antichrist.

He stopped this after Sept. 11, he told me, for fear of causing an emergency evacuation of the plane and ending up a prisoner at Guantanamo.

Then, after reading that one of the standard operating procedures at Guantanamo is to have a particularly good looking, young, woman Marine wearing a tight T-shirt, military boots, and a thong, rub up against a prisoner who is shackled to a chair, my friend briefly considered dusting off his old conversational opener.

This particular fantasy, it turns out, is the very one that, all his life, has prevented him from consummating any long-term, consensual relationships with a member of the opposite sex.

After much thought, however, my friend decided to open himself to new experiences. Last week, at a local watering hole, he had the bartender send a drink to a likely looking young woman with a note that said, "When you woke up this morning, did you know you'd be going home with the Antichrist, tonight?"

The doctor tells him he'll be out of the hospital in a few days, but lying in bed with nothing to do but watch the soaps has given him time to think, and the more he thinks, the more discouraged he's become.

The idea that your garden variety Episcopalians, Presbyterians, and Methodists are the Antichrist, and hard-working atheists, like himself, aren't really on the radar screen of Pat Robertson and his flock of fundamentalists is a very depressing thought.

As you can imagine, my friend has experienced many rebuffs during the course of his life, but he's always bounced back quickly in the past. That's why I was so concerned that his joie de vivre might have flickered and gone out. As you can imagine, I felt guilty, and more than a little responsible, as well.

He called me from his hospital bed this morning to tell me that he feels at loose ends. He senses that he needs to do something dramatic and utterly pointless to break out of his funk, but doesn't quite know what that something should be.

That's when it came to me.

"Why don't you move to Kansas?" I said.

Associated Press reports,"A nearly 13 million-year-old ape discovered in Spain is the last probable common ancestor to all living humans and great apes, a research team says in Friday's issue of Science magazine. A husband-and-wife team of fossil sleuths unearthed an animal with a body like an ape, fingers like a chimp and the upright posture of humans. The ancient ape bridges the gap between earlier, primitive animals and later, modern creatures. This newest ape species, Pierolapithecus catalaunicus, is so significant that it adds a new page to ancient human history. The researchers sidestepped a controversy raging through the field by not claiming their find moves great ape evolution — and the emergence of humans — from Africa to Europe. Salvador Moya-Sola, one of the Science paper co-authors, said the new ape species probably lived in both places. "

Business Week says that "the 'power of the blogosphere' as a major influencing force in society, and argues that blogs are merely the latest powerful communication tool, an evolution from past centuries where people used handwritten screeds and whispering campaigns to bring down their enemies. Unlike anything else before, blogs provide more people with a mass communication vehicle to enable them to publish opinions, link to others and thus build literally irrestible forces of opinion, at a speed that's almost breath-taking.

Emanuel Parker of the Pasadena Star News reports that,

"America's lead in education and research that enabled the country to leap ahead of other nations and into space is eroding as competitors catch up to the U.S. in math and science, said former astronaut and Sen. John Glenn.

"Glenn, 84, spoke Wednesday at the Distinguished Speaker Series at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium and received a standing ovation when introduced as "a true American hero." In 1962, Glenn piloted the Mercury-Atlas 6 Friendship 7 spacecraft on the United State's first manned orbital mission.

"He made history again in 1998 when, at the age of 77, he became the oldest astronaut in history during a nine-day mission aboard the space shuttle Discovery.
"Cut backs in education and research are causing America to lose its once commanding lead in scientific fields, he said."

Now, I wonder how that happened.

Peter Muello of Associated Press reports "The discovery of a nearly intact fossil of a prehistoric crocodile is teaching scientists what the world was like before the continents were separated by oceans..."

Matt Franck of the St. Louis Post Dispatch reports that Missouri "Lawmakers got an earful from high school students Wednesday as they opened debate on a bill that would allow public schools in Missouri to teach sex education without mentioning contraception. The legislation by Rep. Cynthia Davis, R-O'Fallon, would eliminate a statute requiring that sex education classes and course materials discuss the benefits and side effects of condoms and other forms of contraception.

"At a House Education Committee hearing, the bill pitted advocates of abstinence-only sex education against those in favor of offering a broader range of information. And most of that testimony was offered by a handful of teens, the majority of whom told lawmakers that they want instruction on contraception.

"'To teach abstinence only is insulting to our intelligence,' said Montana Mallett, 18, a recent graduate of Webster Groves High School. 'You don't have to hand out condoms. Just teach them what's out there.'"

Deidra Pike of the Tucson Weekly takes an in depth look at the debate over teaching intelligent design in this article. She says,

"Arizona Sen. Karen Johnson (R-Mesa) co-sponsored a bill that would've required the state's science teachers 'to present evidence that supports and evidence that does not support the theory of evolution,' To Johnson, a Christian fundamentalist, the teaching of evolution in the schools isn't simply unfair; it could be 'faith-destroying,' she says. 'It's hard for me to understand how evolution can get put into school science programs and get stuffed down the throats of those who don't want to hear it and who don't believe it anyway,' Johnson says. "Children should choose what they want to believe. ..."

A must read.

Associated Press reports that "Wyatt Bunker, a Shelby County, Tennessee school board member is proposing that schools put a disclaimer sticker about evolution on high school biology textbooks. Bunker, who believes the Bible is the inerrant word of God, said he's concerned that the texts teach students only scientific theories about evolution and ignore religious creationism beliefs.A sticker he proposed at a board meeting Tuesday would read: "This textbook contains material on scientific theories about creation. There are many scientific and religious theories about the nature and diversity of living things. All theories should be approached with an open mind, studied carefully and critically considered."

Mainstream Coalition has announced the panelists for the Sense and Censorship Forum to be held Feb. 24 at the Jewish Community Campus (see my previous post for details.)
Calvin Berggren – parent in favor of removing books
Pam Crandall – parent opposed to removing books
Mickey Imber – professor in KU School of Education, specializes in educational policy and law
Matt Patterson – teacher of high school English in Lawrence at Seabury Academy

The Mainstream Education Foundation is hosting a public forum to discuss books being taught in Blue Valley high schools. The forum will be held on Thursday, February 24th, from 7:00 to 9:00pm at the Jewish Community Campus located at 5801 West 115th Street, just west of Nall and North of the Sprint Campus.

Some parents feel that some of the books currently used are inappropriate, due to language and content. Other parents feel the books in question are literature.

Come to this forum to hear all sides of the issue, and voice your own concerns. A panel of parents and experts will explain the issue, from both sides, then answer questions. Check back at Red State Rabble later for a list of speakers.

The public is invited. The moderator will be Laura Ziegler of KCUR 89.3 radio.

Co-Sponsors include: Jewish Community Relations Bureau/American Jewish Committee, Kansas Families United for Public Education, Johnson County League of Women Voters, Olathe Branch NAACP, Shawnee Mission American Association of University Women

For more information contact: Caroline McKnight, 913-649-3326, info@mainstreamcoalition.com

Kansas Citizens for Science is asking supporters of REAL science to go to the Kansas Department of Education website and make a comment opposing the anti-scientific revisions of intelligent design minority on the science standards writing committee, their fundamentalist supporters on the board of education, and in the legislature.

KCFS, which has been fighting the good fight for years now, observes that "one part of the state Board's recent Resolution concerning the science standards was to "collect comments from the public regarding the various proposed changes to the Science Curriculum Standards, either contained within the Science Curriculum Standards Draft or contained within the Minority Report." KSDE has set up a web page where one can offer comments on either or both of these.

"Furthermore, the Resolution instructed KSDE to "make the raw data available to the members of the Board, and will deliver to the KSBE a report that will organize the data into categories of (a) how many respondents were within Kansas; (b) the number of respondents that generally supported and generally opposed the various areas of input."


"We recommend that you make short, firm statements - most of what they will be doing is counting responses. Include both a comment for the Science Curriculum Standards Draft and one against the Intelligent Design/creationist Proposals (Minority Report). Be sure to include your credentials, such as scientist, science educator, parent, businessperson, and so on. Note also that even though they will separating in-state from out-of-state responses, out-of-state responses are important because they show that the nation has its eyes on Kansas."

Red State Rabble readers: It's time to take up the cudgel and fight for what we believe. Use the link and make a comment.

David Klepper of the Kansas City Star reports that boy wonder, Phill Kline, "fired back at the media and Democratic lawmakers for accusing him of skirting state open meetings law, calling the criticism 'irresponsible.' He said he had answered every question about the two meetings... Kline said he was not about to apologize... 'In hindsight, I'd probably do the same thing,' he said."

Byrn Nelson at Newsday reports that a "new study concludes that the earliest known humans appeared in southern Ethiopia around 195,000 years ago, about 35,000 years earlier than previously thought, based on what researchers say are the oldest anatomically modern human fossils ever found."
The study was reported in Nature.

Mike Mahoney (see post below) quoted Dr. William Harris, a medical researcher at UMKC's School of Medicine plaintively asking: "Why is anybody spending time on this (evolution)? Why are they spending money and devoting careers to this? For what purpose, when 50 years of experiments show it didn't work?"

I have a question I'd like to ask you Dr. Harris. Your UMKC web site lists dozens of research papers you've written on blood lipids and the effect of salmon in the diet (yes, he's a fish oil man). You obviously know your way around a research lab. You have scientific training. Why don't you turn the focus of your research toward intelligent design (or creation science, you choose) and turn up some evidence to support your theory?

Think of the things that would come your way if you actually produced some scientific evidence that proved Darwin wrong. Why, you'd be world famous. You'd be showered with prizes -- The Nobel for sure. There'd probably be a pot full of money in it, too.

Why Dr. Harris? Why, the tedious nine to five grind in the fish oil business when all this awaits the first person to produce an experiment that proves Darwin wrong?

KMBC's Mike Mahoney waded into the waters riled up by the Kansas tsunami over intelligent design last night. You can read his report here. For now, here are the juicier bits:

"... the intelligent design advocates charge science cannot prove the natural origin of life. 'Why is anybody spending time on this? Why are they spending money and devoting careers to this? For what purpose, when 50 years of experiments show it didn't work?' Harris asked.

"'Would that kind of attitude have led us to antibiotics? Would that have led us to genetic breakthrough that have led us to better crops?" Wiley asked. Wiley believes the intelligent design advocates have a hidden agenda for Kansas classrooms. 'I think intelligent design is just creationism dressed up in a cheap tuxedo,' Wiley said."

Dr. William Harris is a member of the minority of the science writing committee who supports intelligent design. He is an MD who teaches at UMKC's School of Medicine, and a medical researcher. Dr. Edward Wiley is at KU's Natural History Museum.

From the Associated Press:

"Forty members of the Kansas House are jumping into the debate over how evolution is taught in public schools. They've sponsored a resolution urging the State Board of Education to make sure students get a full range of views on scientific topics. The resolution cites evolution as an example. The board is expected to consider changes to the state science standards later this year. Some critics of existing standards want students exposed to more criticism of evolution. Governor Sebelius said Wednesday she opposes such changes. And some legislators say the issue ought to be left to the Board of Education. But backers of the resolution say they're only trying to promote objectivity in science education."

Look for a future post reporting where these 40 "objectivists" stand on school funding.

If you suffer from an irony deficient diet, you might want to take a look at Tony Ortega's Kansas City Strip column in The Pitch. Tony sez:

"The utter defeat was not lost on Celtie Johnson, a God-fearing Johnson County mom who was largely responsible for the last battle over evolution in Kansas schools. Back in 1999, she led an honest fight for biblical truth, attempting to get the Genesis creation story taught to schoolchildren. She's back again, fighting evolution once more, but this time she's standing up for the watered-down ID agenda. "

Ortega also observes that,

"So far, the local media have done a pathetic job of explaining the ideas behind "ID," giving us no real clue what's actually at stake in the effort to change science teaching standards. "

Unfortunately, it's hard to argue with that.

BlogKC has posted an old This Modern World cartoon from round one Evolution Brawl. I had forgotten about it, but seeing it again reminded me that no matter how much things change some things remain the same. If you want a good laugh, check it out.

At school board hearings where the topic is evolution, you often hear ID proponents -- who in their overwhelming majority believe the Biblical account in Genesis is literally true -- say that science and evolution are part of an agenda by atheists, agnostics, and secular humanists.

What really sets them off though are the speakers who profess a strong belief in God, but remain convinced of the fact of evolution.

A case in point: Rachel Robson describes herself as a Christian, a microbiologist, and a Kansan. She spoke at the science standards hearing held in Kansas City, Kansas on Feb. 1st.

"As a Christian, I know that there is absolutely no conflict between Evolution and my faith, or between naturalistic science and the Christian religion," Robson told the crowd. "As a Christian, I believe that God wants us to understand the world, and that the naturalistic methods of science are one of the means He gives us to do so."

This sort of statement, simple, straight forward, and deeply felt, absolutely drives the ID-biblical literalist crowd wild.

In their heart of hearts, the fundamentalists believe they are the only authentic Christians. Only they can speak for God.

While ID proponents, such as John Calvert and Philip Johnson, use polite language in public to describe mainstream Christians who understand and support the teaching of evolution -- they have called the thinking of such Christians "incoherent."

Other fundamentalists are not so temperate. Pat Robertson had this to say about his fellow Christians on the 700 Club, on January 14, 1991:

"You say you're supposed to be nice to the Episcopalians and the Presbyterians and the Methodists and this, that, and the other thing. Nonsense. I don't have to be nice to the spirit of the Antichrist. I can love the people who hold false opinions but I don't have to be nice to them."

Right now, biblical literalists have a lot of power in Kansas. Even so, they are a small minority of the population, even a minority among Christians.

According to the Kansas City Star, the Kansas House will get a chance to weigh in on the debate over teaching evolution in science classes. Rep. Mary Pilcher Cook, a Shawnee Republican, introduced a resolution Tuesday that would urge public schools to teach “the full range of scientific views that exist.” She said the idea is to stress “objectivity in science.” “We want evolution to be taught,” she said. “But we also want all of science to be taught, and that includes evidence against evolution.” The resolution, if passed, would be nonbinding. Pilcher Cook said it would “send a message to the state Board of Education.”

Martha Raffaele of The Associated Press reports that,

"The debate over whether a school district should require students to hear a statement about "intelligent design" is spilling over into this year's school board election. Two Dover Area School District board members who have resigned in protest of the policy say they plan to circulate nominating petitions for the May 17 primary election. A plaintiff in a federal lawsuit against the district is also expected to make a bid for the board. The district is believed to be the only one in the nation to require students to hear about intelligent design - a concept that holds that the universe is so complex, it must have been created by an unspecified guiding force.
School administrators read a statement about intelligent design to ninth-grade biology classes for the first time in January before teachers began their lessons on the theory of evolution."

Kind of reminds you of Kansas in 1999, doesn't it? Read the rest here.

Biblical Literalists and ID proponents often argue that evolutionary theory is of little use in practical, everyday science. Now, my Kansas blogging colleague, Josh Rosenau, who does the Thoughts From Kansas blog, and Rachel Robson have taken up that challenge with not one but two new blogs that examine the central role evolution plays in guiding research. They're taking a look at published scientific papers and cataloging the content based on whether evolution is central or peripheral to the development of that paper. It's an enormous undertaking that deserves our support. Frankly, I'm in awe. Take a look at what Josh and Rachel have done so far, here, at the Evolution Project, and here, at the Non-evolution Project.

UPI reports: German scientists have narrowed the search for the tiny genetic differences separating humans from other primates to a specific collection of 22 genes.
Though the distinctions between humans and other primates are easy to see, the genetic differences are tiny. Researchers at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Heidelberg used a trick of evolution, the duplication of genes, to help narrow the search for those differences. Read the rest here

WBAL reports from Elkton, Maryland that:

"The Cecil County Board of Education unanimously approved Monday night Biology: The Dynamics of Life" as a textbook for next year's 10th-grade science classrooms. The decision came after a board member complained that the book made no reference to creationism. The board approved the text with the stipulation that Cecil County Public Schools administrators agree to discuss, with the state board of education, a science curriculum change that would allow local teachers to present origin-of-life theories in the classroom. Board members also asked that the school system's media specialist provide students who have questions about mankind's conception with materials that also present conflicts in Darwin's evolution theories."

Jill Sederstrom of The Kansas City Star reports that:

"The Blue Valley school board will continue to review novels using the district's current policy, despite a petition brought to members last month. Blue Valley parent Janet Harmon delivered a petition with 500 signatures at a January board meeting, asking for the removal of 14 books from the curriculum. Blue Valley Board of education President John Fuller said Monday night that the district is reviewing the books based on a policy revised in September. Fuller encouraged the community to concentrate on other concerns, such as school finance. “The real challenge for this community is to see past this book issue and focus on the big picture with the same passion you have for novel selection,” he said.

I want to congratulate Fuller and the board for sticking to their guns, a rare enough event these days. I also agree that school finance is crucial to the future of Kansas school children. That being said, we must all remain vigilant to keep the censor's hands off our kid's reading list.

WJZ in Elkton, Maryland reports:

"The Cecil County school board is expected to decide tonight whether the county high schools will use a new tenth-grade biology textbook -- one that has been criticized for not giving equal time to the creationist theory of the origin of life. The book is called "Biology: The Dynamics of Life." Board member William Herold said in December he was concerned that he saw no mention of creationism in the book, but saw constant references to Charles Darwin's theory of evolution. He believes students should be taught about flaws in Darwin's theory and taught about reputable dissenting views. However, he says he will likely vote to approve the textbook if district administrators agree to change the school curriculum to include the holes in Darwin's theories."

On a Discovery Institute discussion board, John Calvert posted the following:

"I thought there would be a crowd, but not 400. The place was packed. Even if I wanted to speak, the line that had been open for speakers was closed well before my arrival. They cut off the list at 60 but allowed time for only 45 or 50."

I've noted before that Calvert seemed distracted at the hearing, and I think that points to the real reasons he didn't speak. Calvert is well aware that the ID strategy he's laid out is designed to avoid losing a court challenge. As a principal in the the ID battle he can't speak directly to his supporters needs and desires -- creationists all -- without creating a record that will be used in court.
But, if, on the other hand he speaks to the ID strategy he's laid out, he risks alienating the very supporters he's rallied to his cause. They are motivated by simple declarative statements that are usually followed by an Amen or hallelujah. The speaker who got the most applause that night said, "If we come from monkeys, how come there's sitll monkeys around." People whose minds work in this way might become suspicious that Calvert's putting on airs if he lays out the ID strategy too directly.
That's why its better for him to stay silent and work behind the scenes with the slightly more sophisticated creationists on the board.

Science Daily reports that "Biologists at Lehigh University and the University of Maryland have identified a cricket living in Hawaii's forests as the world's fastest-evolving invertebrate.
"Finicky mating behavior appears to be the driving force behind the speedy speciation of the Laupala cricket, the scientists wrote in the Jan. 27 issue of Nature magazine.
"Females in the Laupala genus detect tiny differences in the pulse rates of male courtship songs, which differ from one Laupala species to the next. They refuse to mate with males of other species, thus promoting the formation of new species."

At the science standards hearings and in countless letters to the editor, ID supporters never tire of telling everyone how science supresses the evidence of design. They wax indignant about censorhip and bias. Let's just be fair, they cry.
What do they do when they have the power to do what they want -- as in Kansas? Why they hold secret meetings that exclude moderate members of the school board. They set up a science standards hearing committee that excludes moderates and dumps overboard the longstanding curriculum development process in the state. Soon, they'll be holding hearings designed to cut out the the science standards writing committee -- and the public -- relying instead on "focused hearings from experts." You can be sure these experts will hail in disproportionate numbers, not from science laboratories around the country, but the Discovery Institute.

In an effort to get his ID supporters off stage -- and out of the court record in the suit that will follow a vote by the conservative majority of the board of education to open the door to intelligent design -- John Calvert of the Intelligent Design Network has called for "focused hearings from experts."
Having rudely disposed of the work by the scientists and educators who make up the majority on the science standards writing committee, the "gang of three" creationist board members who are the sole members of the rump Science Hearings Committee will choose. We can be sure that, just as they have taken direction from John Calvert on doing an end run around the longstanding curriculum development process, they will also take direction on who is, and is not, an expert. We can also be sure that these experts will not be representative of the science community as a whole, but will rely heavily on "think tankers" from the Discovery Institue.
Who will pay to bring these experts here? Why the good citizens of Kansas, of course.

Lost, last week, in all the uproar over Phill Kline and the consevative school board members meeting secretly -- and in violation of the open meetings act -- were the stories about how the board plans to short circut the public hearings process and set up a rump three-member "Science Hearing Committee" made up of exclusively of board creationists Steve Abrams, Kathy Martin, and Connie Morris.
In a posting last week, I noted that John Calvert, the Intelligent Design Network guru, seemed unhappy during the first hearing in Kansas City, Kansas. I speculated that he was not pleased with the performance of his own supporters who spoke not to ID but to their ferverently held belief in the creationist story told in Genesis:

"It's hardly surprising, that the biblical literalists who are the backbone of the movement haven't mastered the fine points of ID "theory" since they haven't bothered to learn the difference between a fact, a theory, or a hypothesis either."

Now we have solid evidence that Calvert was indeed dismayed at his troops failure to get with the game plan, and that the new tack taken by the board is a direct result of his criticisms in a commentary posted on the Discovery Institute's web site:

"One thing is obvious," Calvert writes, "This is not the proper process for deciding this issue. Focused hearings from experts are desperately needed to cut through the disinformation, ridicule and half truths."

Jack Krebs of Kansas Citizens for Science has an excellent post that goes into all the juicy details.

Natural organisms take hours to years to produce their next generation of offspring. Studying the evolution of these creatures takes great patience and often requires interpreting information from incomplete data or fossil records. With digital organisms we can produce hundreds to thousands of generations per hour while recording every detail of their evolution.
Read about the work going on at Michigan State's Devolab in the February Discover Magazine.

The fossil record may not be perfect, but it passed a critical test with flying colors, according to a study by University of Chicago paleontologist Susan M. Kidwell that will be published in the Feb. 11 issue of the journal Science.
While fossils of the glamorous dinosaurs get most of the attention, they are too few and far between to answer the most important questions about the evolution of life on Earth. So for decades, paleontologists have turned to humble shelled creatures like sea urchins or mollusks, whose enormous numbers and geographic range make their fossils a much better marker of the history of life. But paleontologists also have worried that some of those fossils decayed much faster than others, so that the remains collected today might misrepresent the true proportions of past life, thereby throwing off their conclusions.
To test this suspicion, Kidwell carefully analyzed the fossil record of marine bivalves, a diverse group of shellfish that includes scallops, oysters, cockles and mussels. Her study ruled out longstanding predictions that patterns in the fossil record would be dictated by differences in shell toughness among evolutionary lineages.
All of her analyses on how shell composition might distort the bivalve record over the past 500 million years showed either no effect, or the opposite effect, compared to what was expected if shell preservation was the most important factor. “The broad outlines of the bivalve record can be counted on as a reliable picture of evolutionary history,” said Kidwell, whose work was supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation. Link

Last Tuesday, Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline held secret, closed-door meetings with six conservative members of the Kansas Board of Education. Following the meetings, conservative school board members told the media that Kline had pledged to defend them if they put stickers critical of evolution on the biology textbooks of Kansas school children.
Moderate members of the board, the public, and the media were not informed in advance of the meetings or invited to attend.
Board moderates, the media, Kansas legislators, and members of the Kansas Science Standards committee say those meetings violate the Kansas Open Meeting Act (KOMA).
As criticism of the secret meetings intensified across the state last week, Kline and the board conservatives responded with a series of shifting – some would say evolving – rationales to explain their attempt to evade the law.
Kline first said he held separate meetings with three members each so as not to violate provisions of the open meetings law that prohibits closed by government agencies.
Then critics – reading KOMA on Kline’s own web site – pointed out that a 1988 opinion from the attorney general’s office also prohibits holding a series of meetings that collectively total a quorum of board members and where a common topic of discussion occurs.
Later, Board Chairman Steve Abrams said the meetings had lasted less than 10 minutes, and no one discussed whether they would violate the open meetings law. “It never crossed my mind,” he said.
However, Kline’s spokesman, Whitney Watson, told reporters that Kline consulted lawyers in his office before the meetings were held to ensure they would not violate the law. Was it premeditation or simple incompetence? I’ll let you decide.
As each successive explanation failed to account for the known facts, or contradicted earlier explanations, the pressure mounted, and Kline’s spokesman fell back, inevitably, on the last argument at his disposal: the accusations were motivated by politics.
The question we are left to answer is this: Are the changing explanations by Kline and the conservative board majority an example of evolution or intelligent design? Certainly, we are able to observe variation, but the short, unhappy life of the explanations offered so far speaks less to adaptation and survival than to extinction. Perhaps then, the answer to our question about Kline and the board’s dilemma can be found in design, but is it intelligent?