Comments on: Florida: John West Spins Wildly to Cover Luskin’s Back

By: Austringer

Austringer — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 19:03:41 +0000

Test…

By: Ed Darrell

Ed Darrell — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 10:40:23 +0000

Oops. “take” should be “taken.”

Apologies.

Unlike Luskin, I think accuracy is important . . .

By: Ed Darrell

Ed Darrell — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 08:00:10 +0000

So who would decide what is scientific under the bill?

The same people who currently must make that determination: science teachers themselves in consultation with their science curriculum staff and their school boards.

Well, now ain’t that lovely? He’s take away this job from the scientists, say at the National Science Foundation, National Academies of Science, and AAAS, and from the courts, and given it to local school boards.

Lawsuit fodder? You bet.

By: defectiverobot

defectiverobot — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 23:54:45 +0000

Nevermind that he considered the student “biggoted,” why is Inheret the Wind being shown in a science classroom in the first place?

By: John Pieret

John Pieret — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 23:38:09 +0000

One good development is that some of the Florida legislators might be seeing the light. Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio, who previously was making soothing noises in the direction of supporters of the "academic freedom" legislation, may be having a change of heart:

House Speaker Marco Rubio said there can be "valid debates on Darwin." But he said there's a reason teachers are held to a standard curriculum for K-12. "It seems to me the movie and the issue applies more in the higher education setting," Rubio said.

Florida is supposedly in a big push to attract biotech jobs and it may be sinking in that this kind of foolishness is hurting their chances.

By: Bad

Bad — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 20:03:22 +0000

It's worth pointing out that the actual legislators in question have already explicitly listed some of the "criticisms of evolution" that they are thinking of. Alan Hays mentions the lack of any "half-monkey, half-human" evidence: a concept as evolutionarily laughable as a half-squid, half-bird fossil. In other words, these legislators are imagining protecting things that are downright falsehoods told about what evolution predicts and shows.