From The Lawrence Journal-World, 5/4/05:
http://ljworld.com/section/evolution/story/203780

Evolution vs. Creation
Evolution hearings show scope of cultural divisions
By Scott Rothschild, Journal-World

Topeka --

It's being dubbed Scopes II and Evopalooza.

There are concerns that Kansas again will be the butt of late-night
comedians.

The national media are parachuting in.

Opposing sides are setting up information booths, lining up experts,
scheduling press conferences and zipping alerts and documents through
cyberspace.

But for Kansas, it's just another battle in the culture war.

Hearings set to start Thursday on biological evolution are the result
of an ongoing political revolution on the State Board of Education.

For years, the 10-member board received little attention, tending to a
public school system of 450,000 students in 301 districts across the
state.

But starting in the late 1990s, the board became the battleground
between social conservatives and moderates.

In 1999, when science standards were being written, a conservative
majority on the board opted for standards that de-emphasized
evolution.

When the vote was made, then-Gov. Bill Graves issued a one-sentence
statement that said:

"This is a terrible, tragic, embarrassing solution to a problem that
did not exist."

The anti-evolution decision hit a raw nerve in public discourse,
deciding elections, defining candidates and destroying political
careers.

Kansas was ridiculed on late-night television, and the actions of the
board were compared with the 1925 Scopes Monkey Trial, in which a
teacher in Tennessee was found guilty of violating state law by
teaching evolution in the classroom.

In 2000, moderates in Kansas took back three seats in elections that
were reported around the world.

The newly seated board put evolution back in the standards, and all
was quiet for a while.

Conservatives recapture board

But without a major issue before the board, conservatives quietly
recaptured control in the next two election cycles, hitting social
buttons with the electorate. In one campaign, an incumbent moderate
Republican was said to be aligned with an atheist organization.

In another, the conservative winner said she wanted to prohibit the
children of illegal aliens from attending public school despite a U.S.
Supreme Court decision that states the children must be educated.

This year, with science standards being updated by a 25-member
committee of scientists and instructors, the new conservative majority
on the board blessed a minority report from the standards committee
that criticizes the foundation of evolution.

The hearings starting Thursday will be conducted by three of the
six-member conservative majority on the State Board of Education.

The hearings will feature numerous witnesses who will testify to the
inadequacy of evolution theory.

The witnesses and writers of the minority report are backed by leading
proponents of an idea that is called intelligent design.

Intelligent design says that there is a master planner behind the
origins of life.

Pro-evolution scientists have boycotted the hearings, saying they
refuse to be drawn into a debate over intelligent design, which they
consider a philosophy or religion and not a scientific theory that can
be tested.

But the scientists will set up an information booth outside the
hearings to contradict the hearing testimony.

News organizations will broadcast coverage worldwide, which has raised
the concern of some that Kansas will again be depicted as a hayseed
state.

"I never like to see Kansas have a black eye in any way," Gov.
Kathleen Sebelius said.

She said the board needed to adopt science standards that would give
students the opportunity to do well on standardized tests "and not
jeopardize the opportunity for Kansas kids to compete."

___________________________________________________________

"The argument that the literal story of Genesis can qualify as science
collapses on three major grounds: the creationists' need to invoke
miracles in order to compress the events of the earth's history into
the biblical span of a few thousand years; their unwillingness to
abandon claims clearly disproved, including the assertion that all
fossils are products of Noah's flood; and their reliance upon
distortion, misquote, half-quote, and citation out of context to
characterize the ideas of their opponents."


Stephen Jay Gould

---
http://www.ElmerFudd.US/ http://www.notserver.com/
Scientology crooks: http://sf.irk.ru/www/ot3/otiii-gif.html
http://PerkinsTragedy.org http://www.rightard.org/
"Fred is replacing Clinton's penis as the rightard's fixation" -

From The Lawrence Journal-World, 5/4/05:
http://ljworld.com/section/evolution/story/203780

Evolution vs. Creation
Evolution hearings show scope of cultural divisions
By Scott Rothschild, Journal-World

Topeka --

It's being dubbed Scopes II and Evopalooza.

There are concerns that Kansas again will be the butt of
late-night
comedians.

The national media are parachuting in.

Opposing sides are setting up information booths, lining up
experts,
scheduling press conferences and zipping alerts and documents
through
cyberspace.

But for Kansas, it's just another battle in the culture war.

Hearings set to start Thursday on biological evolution are the
result
of an ongoing political revolution on the State Board of
Education.

For years, the 10-member board received little attention,
tending to a
public school system of 450,000 students in 301 districts
across the
state.

But starting in the late 1990s, the board became the
battleground
between social conservatives and moderates.

In 1999, when science standards were being written, a
conservative
majority on the board opted for standards that de-emphasized
evolution.

When the vote was made, then-Gov. Bill Graves issued a
one-sentence
statement that said:

"This is a terrible, tragic, embarrassing solution to a problem
that
did not exist."

The anti-evolution decision hit a raw nerve in public
discourse,
deciding elections, defining candidates and destroying
political
careers.

Kansas was ridiculed on late-night television, and the actions
of the
board were compared with the 1925 Scopes Monkey Trial, in which
a
teacher in Tennessee was found guilty of violating state law by
teaching evolution in the classroom.

In 2000, moderates in Kansas took back three seats in elections
that
were reported around the world.

The newly seated board put evolution back in the standards, and
all
was quiet for a while.

Conservatives recapture board

But without a major issue before the board, conservatives
quietly
recaptured control in the next two election cycles, hitting
social
buttons with the electorate. In one campaign, an incumbent
moderate
Republican was said to be aligned with an atheist organization.

In another, the conservative winner said she wanted to prohibit
the
children of illegal aliens from attending public school despite
a U.S.
Supreme Court decision that states the children must be
educated.

This year, with science standards being updated by a 25-member
committee of scientists and instructors, the new conservative
majority
on the board blessed a minority report from the standards
committee
that criticizes the foundation of evolution.

The hearings starting Thursday will be conducted by three of
the
six-member conservative majority on the State Board of
Education.

The hearings will feature numerous witnesses who will testify
to the
inadequacy of evolution theory.

The witnesses and writers of the minority report are backed by
leading
proponents of an idea that is called intelligent design.

Intelligent design says that there is a master planner behind
the
origins of life.

Pro-evolution scientists have boycotted the hearings, saying
they
refuse to be drawn into a debate over intelligent design, which
they
consider a philosophy or religion and not a scientific theory
that can
be tested.

But the scientists will set up an information booth outside the
hearings to contradict the hearing testimony.

News organizations will broadcast coverage worldwide, which has
raised
the concern of some that Kansas will again be depicted as a
hayseed
state.

"I never like to see Kansas have a black eye in any way," Gov.
Kathleen Sebelius said.

She said the board needed to adopt science standards that would
give
students the opportunity to do well on standardized tests "and
not
jeopardize the opportunity for Kansas kids to compete."

___________________________________________________________

"The argument that the literal story of Genesis can qualify as
science
collapses on three major grounds: the creationists' need to
invoke
miracles in order to compress the events of the earth's history
into
the biblical span of a few thousand years; their unwillingness
to
abandon claims clearly disproved, including the assertion that
all
fossils are products of Noah's flood; and their reliance upon
distortion, misquote, half-quote, and citation out of context
to
characterize the ideas of their opponents."


Stephen Jay Gould

---
http://www.ElmerFudd.US/ http://www.notserver.com/
Scientology crooks: http://sf.irk.ru/www/ot3/otiii-gif.html
http://PerkinsTragedy.org http://www.rightard.org/
"Fred is replacing Clinton's penis as the rightard's
fixation" - mordacpreventor