Then I must not have explained myself well enough.
The "men from mars" point is how ID theorists hand wave away the fact that they're really talking about how God created the species, but they know they can't admit that out loud without problems with church-state separation. They claim with a straight face that ID *could* mean little green men from mars, so they aren't really attempting to hijack science in the name of religion. Right.
The point about clouds is that it could easily be concluded by someone unfamiliar with condensation and convection that they were "designed". After all, why do they have distinct edges where the open sky ends and the cloud begins. Why wouldn't the water in the air spread itself evenly, instead of clump together? It was the norm for people to have such views 300 years ago. God brought the rain, the lightning, etc. and in today's parlance they would be "designed".
The only difference is that the mass of people understand clouds, but they generally have a very bad understanding of evolution, so it is possible to hoodwink them with stories about ID. Particularly when it supports their faith.
It's easy to hoodwink people about technical issues, such as metallurgy that affects steel in the WTC. Given a political bent to think a certain way, many people can be convinced of totally irrational ideas about 9/11. Just as people with a religious conviction can be convinced of totally irrational ideas such as a 5000 year old earth, or that evolution is incorrect.
I think all that they are saying is that ID doesn't necessarily mean that the designer *has* to be the Judeo-Christian God. The same could be said when atheists state that evolution doesn't *preclude* the existance of God.
The point about clouds is that it could easily be concluded by someone unfamiliar with condensation and convection that they were "designed". After all, why do they have distinct edges where the open sky ends and the cloud begins. Why wouldn't the water in the air spread itself evenly, instead of clump together? It was the norm for people to have such views 300 years ago. God brought the rain, the lightning, etc. and in today's parlance they would be "designed".
But nobody has tried to claim that a cloud is alive.