Losing candidate's statement: "I'm melting ... melting!!
Posted on 08/02/2006 3:46:10 AM PDT by PatrickHenry
Darwin won.
Moderate Kansas State Board of Education candidates pulled off a victory Tuesday, gathering enough might to topple the board’s 6-4 conservative majority.
A victory by incumbent Janet Waugh, a Democrat whose district includes parts of Lawrence, and wins by Republican moderates in two districts previously represented by conservatives left the tables turned heading into the Nov. 7 general election.
“If we change the board around, we’ll be able to make decisions that we think are right for our students,” Lawrence school board member Craig Grant said.
Grant had worked to defeat the conservatives who attracted international attention and ridicule for the state after adopting science standards critical of evolution.
Waugh held onto her seat in District 1, rebuffing a challenge from conservative Jesse Hall who, according to the last campaign finance report, had raised about three times more money. But Waugh collected 63 percent of the vote.
“Obviously money can’t buy elections,” she said. “I think the people of Kansas are tired of being the laughingstock not only of the nation but the world.”
Not all the conservatives were defeated.
Conservative incumbent John Bacon held his seat in District 3, which includes parts of Johnson County. Bacon won by a slim margin, with 49 percent. Challengers Harry McDonald, Olathe, the former president of Kansas Citizens for Science, and David Oliphant, also of Olathe, split the remaining vote.
Bacon faces Democrat Don Weiss in the general election.
In the District 5 race to represent a large part of western Kansas, conservative incumbent Connie Morris trailed moderate challenger Sally Cauble who at midnight had 54 percent of the vote with 556 of 609 precincts reporting.
Conservative Ken Willard held his seat in District 7 by a wide margin. He faces Democrat Jack Wempe in November.
And with few votes still to be counted at midnight, moderate Jana Shaver appeared to be the favorite for the District 9 seat. Shaver ran against Brad Patzer, son-in-law of outgoing conservative board member Iris Van Meter. At press time, Shaver had 58 percent of the vote. The winner faces Democrat Kent Runyan in the general election.The five races have attracted national attention as both sides battled for control of the board.Many wanted a shake-up after the 6-4 conservative majority altered the state’s science standards, rewriting the definition of science and adding criticism of evolution.
Proponents of Kansas’ latest standards say they encourage open discussion.
“Students need to have an accurate assessment of the state of the facts in regard to Darwin’s theory,” said John West, a vice president for the Center for Science and Culture at the Seattle-based, anti-evolution Discovery Institute.
The conservative board majority changed the rules on sex education, requiring parental permission before students participate in classes, though districts including Lawrence opted not to change their ways.
And the conservative majority pressed the issue further, considering an “abstinence-until-marriage” approach to sex education.
It also filled the state’s top education administrative seat with Bob Corkins — a conservative activist with no educational background who lobbied against increased school funding.
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Creationists in the election:
Dist. 1: Jesse Hall loses 37% to 63%, all the votes countedContinually updated election results from AP, at the site of the Kansas City Star (the five school board election results are at the very bottom, so you have to scroll down): Election results.
Dist. 3: John Bacon wins with 49% in a 3-way race, all votes counted
Dist. 5: Connie Morris loses with 46% to 54% for Sane Sally Cauble, 99% of votes counted
Dist. 7: Ken Willard wins with 54% in a 3-way race, all votes counted
Dist. 9: Brad Patzer loses with 42% to 58%, all votes counted
Three creationists lose, including the vivacious Connie Morris, the fantasy lassie of the prairie. Be still my heart!
The voters seem to agree on wanting an accurate assessment of the facts.
You have to be careful what you ask for.
Well, I didn't get my wish, but this result -- in Kansas! -- is just fine. The Discovery Institute had pinned all their dwindling hopes on this election. I guess they figured that if they have a shot anywhere, it's in Kansas. Well, guess what?
Now, surely Republican party pros have received the message that creationism isn't a winner on election day. And if national politics remains free of this madness, Republican dominance is probably assured for a generation.
God bless Judge Jones and the voters of Kansas!
Only one of the five creationists got a clear majority. There's a possibility he was popular for other reasons.
I should point out that this has all happened before. Conservatives took over the board and introduced creationism and then in the next election the moderates took it back. But just two years later the creationists came back and took control again. This battle isn't over. It'll continue in 2008 and 2010 and 2012...
Conservative Republicans who brought international attention to Kansas by approving academic standards calling evolution into question lost control of the state school board in primaries.As a result of the vote, board members and candidates who believe evolution is well-supported by evidence will have a 6-4 majority. Evolution skeptics had entered the election with a 6-4 majority.
[snip]
The most closely watched race was in western Kansas, where incumbent conservative Connie Morris lost her GOP primary to Sally Cauble. Both are former educators, but Morris had described evolution as ``an age-old fairy tale'' and ``a nice bedtime story'' unsupported by science.
Critics of Kansas' science standards worried that if conservatives retained the board's majority, it would lead to attempts in other states to copy the Kansas standards.
``There are people around the country who would like to see the Kansas standards in their own states,'' said Eugenie Scott, director of the National Center for Science Education in Oakland, Calif., which supports the teaching of evolution.
[snip]
It's a definite shift in allele frequency, due to natural selection.
I wonder if DI favors science teachers digging into a critical analysis of Genesis. Freedon to teach the controversy, after all.
I just read it -- are these people series?
It just leads to threads like the one yesterday where people ignorantly say "we just want to teach alternatives" where there ARE none.
*sigh*
What's this about 530 million years?
Bigoted Victorial-era Darwnists might manage close this flimsy door in its frame, but the barn walls are already falling all around it.
Face it, PH. Your side lost by having to turn to seedy politics and the thugs of the ACLU to protect "science" from scientific inquiry. History will record that you were disgraced.
Bigoted Victorian-era Darwnists might manage close this flimsy door in its frame, but the barn walls are already falling all around it.
Face it, PH. Your side lost by having to turn to seedy politics and the thugs of the ACLU to protect "science" from scientific inquiry. History will record that you were disgraced.
No one said they can't discuss alternatives. But in philosophy where it belongs.
Why do you constantly run this canard when it is patently false?
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