The John Templeton Foundation does not support research or programs that deny large areas of well-documented scientific knowledge. In addition, we do not support political agendas such as movements to determine (one way or the other) what qualified educators should or should not teach in public schools. ... [T]he Foundation does not support the movement known as Intelligent Design as such, as an intellectual position or as a movement.All the Discovery Institute can do is put out propaganda, issue press releases, maintain a pretty website, raise money from fools, and con the science-illiterates who sometimes make up the school boards in rural locals. It's easy to flim-flam a bunch of real estate salesmen, funeral directors, and dentists' wives. The Templeton Foundation ain't gettin' sucked in.
And neither was the Federal Court, as evidenced by the judge's decision in the Kitzmiller case:
from pp. 137-138 of the Court's decision:
Those who disagree with our holding will likely mark it as the product of an activist judge. If so, they will have erred as this is manifestly not an activist Court. Rather, this case came to us as the result of the activism of an ill-informed faction on a school board, aided by a national public interest law firm eager to find a constitutional test case on ID, who in combination drove the Board to adopt an imprudent and ultimately unconstitutional policy. The breathtaking inanity of the Board's decision is evident when considered against the factual backdrop which has now been fully revealed through this trial. The students, parents, and teachers of the Dover Area School District deserved better than to be dragged into this legal maelstrom, with its resulting utter waste of monetary and personal resources.[emphasis added]
Templeton isn't falling for it, and neither did a conservative Republican Federal judge appointed by Bush, who just pounded a wooden stake through the heart of the ID movement.
(But see the true story here.)
And urban. Mayor-for-life Marion Barry started his political career by getting elected to the DC School Board.
But he's not scientifically illiterate. I bet he knows what happens when 1 gm of cocaine is boiled in a solution of sodium bicarbonate.
Happy new year!