Evolution issue tips board’s balance [Kansas school board election]

Lawrence Journal-World (Kansas) ^ | 02 August 2006 | Sophia Maines

[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.

[RFC_Gal]

Full exchange from Episode 6: Jaynestown

Book: What are we up to, sweetheart?
River: Fixing your Bible.
Book: I, um… What?
River: Bible's broken. Contradictions, false logistics… doesn't make sense.
Book: No, no. You - you can't...
River: So we'll integrate non-progressional evolution theory with God's creation of Eden. Eleven inherent metaphoric parallels already there. Eleven. Important number. Prime number. One goes into the house of eleven eleven times, but always comes out one. Noah's ark is a problem.
Book: Really?
River: We'll have to call it "early quantum state phenomenon". Only way to fit 5,000 species of mammals on the same boat.
. . .
Book: River, you don't… fix the Bible.
River: It's broken. It doesn't make sense.
Book: It's not about… making sense. It's about believing in something. And letting that belief be real enough to change your life. It's about faith. You don't fix faith, River. It fixes you.

[furball4paws]

You shouldn't have eaten those "scallops". They weren't intended for you. :)

[wyattearp]

Thank you. ;-)

Couldn't remember the exact exchange.

[Zeroisanumber]

I'm sure they had the Vedic Creationists and Scientologists pulling for them.

And don't forget the Raelians.

[Doctor Stochastic]

I become ill everytime I read in the newspaper or online that conservative = creationist...this is certainly not the case but the MSM and others continue to try to lump all conservatives with the ID'ers/creationists...

So do most creationists. Like haggis or no Scot.

[Zeroisanumber]

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.

"You were lucky this time PatrickHenry! But next time you and your Communist Evolution friends will be destroyed! COOOOBBRAAAA!"

[ZULU]

Sorry the Conservative lost, but his position on Evolution was idiotic - and that's being kind.

[jennyp]

2-0 PLACEMARKER

[PatrickHenry]

It's been a bad year for creationists. First, the Dover litigation went spectacularly against them.
Kitzmiller et al. v Dover Area School District et al.

Then (O the horror!) Evolution of 'irreducible complexity' explained.

Then, yet another creationist gap got filled in: Newly found species fills evolutionary gap between fish and land animals.

The Wall Street Journal had a great article about those last two items:
Two New Discoveries Answer Big Questions In Evolution Theory.

Then, various religious figures spoke out against them:
Creationism dismissed as "a kind of paganism" by Vatican's astronomer.

Then the UK moved against them: UK Government agrees creationism cannot be taught in science.

Then one of the most prestigious scientific bodies in the world spoke out against them:
Royal Society statement on evolution, creationism and intelligent design.

Then the fabled Cambrian Explosion fizzled out. Mollusk fossils push back evolution, ROM scientists say .

Then, perhaps the unkindest cut of all:
Evolution caught in the act: Smaller beaks in Galápagos finches make finding food easier.

Then, a prominent conservative intellectual laid it all out:
Darwinian Conservatism: How Darwinian science refutes the Left’s most sacred beliefs.

Then, the good people of Kansas tossed some creationists off their school board:
Evolution issue tips board’s balance [Kansas school board election].

How much worse can it get?

[b_sharp]

Unbalanced placemarker

Please note the total lack of fancy shmancy colour in my 'placemarker'.

Some of us prefer to use content rather than optics to make our point.

[PatrickHenry]

Mars is red, Uranus is blue,
here's a PLACEMARKER for you.

[Deadshot Drifter]

I wonder what curse Pat will be putting on Kansas for its crime.

Maybe a plague of raccoons to devour all that corn. He'll probably go with tornadoes though. That way he can claim to be a true prophet (while hoping all the sane people forget or ignore that Kansas is known for frequent tornadoes.)

rubbing salt in the wound trivia:
the Creationist thread about this, excerpting The Washington Post, only went 43 posts. But managed by post 2 to blame the loss on "mafia tactics" used by evolution proponents. That would be the voters excercising their right to vote, to us eeeeeevil Darwinists.

[RadioAstronomer]

I did read it and it's a GOOD read!!

My public apologies. So much of my stuff gets unread I get cynical. Sigh. I wrote thoughtlessly.

I am very glad you like it. That was a lot of work.

My very best regards,

RA

[RadioAstronomer]

Please note the total lack of fancy shmancy colour in my 'placemarker'.

I flunked coloring! LOL!

[RadioAstronomer]

WOW! Looks like there is a show I should check out! Thanks!

[LibertarianSchmoe]

The evolution of a browncoat.

[presently no screen name]

It wasn't thoughtless, at all. I hadn't responded to you before you posted it so you had no knowledge I was reading it. Your honesty is what grapped my attention along with the thought and time that went into your post. Most impressive, indeed.

I'm leaving very early tomorrow for some R&R and not ready! If I don't get back to you today, it will be Monday.

All the best to you, also.

[curiosity]

What really upsets me is how the media equating conservative with being anti-evolution.

[RFC_Gal]

Quite a few on this very site say that conservative == anti-evolution.

[PatrickHenry]

What really upsets me is how the media equating conservative with being anti-evolution.

It upsets us all -- at least the science-literate among us. That's the main reason we have these threads -- to show the world that there are loads of conservatives who aren't Luddites.

Interestingly, because some of these races were Republican primaries, with pro- and anti-science candidates, the MSM have been compelled to describe the rational candidates as "moderate" conservatives. The unspoken message there is that if you're really conservative then you're a raving Dark Age theocrat.