Wednesday, January 04, 2006
SOP
The wingnut majority on Kansas State Board of Education redefined science in Oz last November. But, just because they've approved new standards hostile to science, doesn't mean those standards have actually been committed to paper, yet.
As the Associated Press reports, "[t]he final revisions are a response to two national science groups' refusal to let the State Board of Education use their copyrighted material in the standards. The process could take several more weeks and cost several thousand dollars. The standards are being reviewed by a law firm that specializes in intellectual property law, said Dan Biles, an Overland Park attorney who represents the board.
And even if the standards had been written before the conservative majority approved them, that doesn't imply that reading-averse members of the board, such as Kathy Martin or Connie Morris, would have troubled themselves to actually sit down and read the standards to learn what's in them before voting.
Likewise, Steve Abrams, chairman of the board, sees no need for a tedious second vote once the standards have been thought up by the law firm they've hired and committed to paper.
That process may seem just a bit odd to residents of reality-based parts of the globe, but here in up-is-down Kansas, it's fast becoming standard operating procedure.
As the Associated Press reports, "[t]he final revisions are a response to two national science groups' refusal to let the State Board of Education use their copyrighted material in the standards. The process could take several more weeks and cost several thousand dollars. The standards are being reviewed by a law firm that specializes in intellectual property law, said Dan Biles, an Overland Park attorney who represents the board.
And even if the standards had been written before the conservative majority approved them, that doesn't imply that reading-averse members of the board, such as Kathy Martin or Connie Morris, would have troubled themselves to actually sit down and read the standards to learn what's in them before voting.
Likewise, Steve Abrams, chairman of the board, sees no need for a tedious second vote once the standards have been thought up by the law firm they've hired and committed to paper.
That process may seem just a bit odd to residents of reality-based parts of the globe, but here in up-is-down Kansas, it's fast becoming standard operating procedure.
