Wednesday, July 26, 2006
Hall Toes Party Line
Jesse Hall, running for the 1st District Kansas Board of Education seat against moderate Janet Waugh, says he's been quietly going door to door with his campaign, suggesting he's not connected with other right-wing fundamentalist candidates who want to reshape public education in the state along the lines of Christian academies.
Yesterday, we pointed out that for a man quietly going about the business of seeking his neighbor's votes, he seems to have had little success in winning campaign contributions from them -- only four of his contributors live within his district -- but he's been very successful at tapping into that deep well of financial support available to candidates certified in good standing with the radical right.
A profile of the 1st District race in today's Kansas City Star shows that Hall is also highly attuned to the nuance of this week's particular intelligent design party line:
Yes, it's true. The folks who in 1999 proposed writing crude young earth creationism into the science standards have become so sophisticated, they aren't even for intelligent design -- that's sooo last week, now.
Their motives are pure. They want only to teach the "scientific criticisms" of evolution. The only problem is, the so-called scientific criticisms of evolution they wrote into the standards can't be found in the writings of any legitimate scientist, in any of the published, peer-reviewed science literature, or any legitimate science textbook.
You'll find it only in the tracts churned out by creationist groups such as Answers in Genesis, the Institute for Creation Research, and intelligent design groups such as John Calvert's Intelligent Design Network and the Discovery Institute.
Yesterday, we pointed out that for a man quietly going about the business of seeking his neighbor's votes, he seems to have had little success in winning campaign contributions from them -- only four of his contributors live within his district -- but he's been very successful at tapping into that deep well of financial support available to candidates certified in good standing with the radical right.
A profile of the 1st District race in today's Kansas City Star shows that Hall is also highly attuned to the nuance of this week's particular intelligent design party line:
Science standards approved in November encourage students to look at both the theory of evolution and criticism of it. Hall supports the standards, saying that they don’t specifically advocate teaching creationism or intelligent design.
Yes, it's true. The folks who in 1999 proposed writing crude young earth creationism into the science standards have become so sophisticated, they aren't even for intelligent design -- that's sooo last week, now.
Their motives are pure. They want only to teach the "scientific criticisms" of evolution. The only problem is, the so-called scientific criticisms of evolution they wrote into the standards can't be found in the writings of any legitimate scientist, in any of the published, peer-reviewed science literature, or any legitimate science textbook.
You'll find it only in the tracts churned out by creationist groups such as Answers in Genesis, the Institute for Creation Research, and intelligent design groups such as John Calvert's Intelligent Design Network and the Discovery Institute.
