Saturday, May 03, 2008
And the Recriminations ...
Supposedly, the Florida House refused to pass the Senate bill because it favored a stronger measure to require the critical analysis of evolution. As a former political science professor, I can tell you that this explanation doesn't hold water. If the Republican House leadership in Florida really supported academic freedom on evolution, they would have passed the Senate bill. Instead, they shamefully passed a bill earlier this week with language that the Senate had previously rejected, knowing full well this would likely mean the death of any legislation on the topic. What has just happened in Florida smacks of classic back-room politics by politicians who are trying to play both sides of an issue. Maybe I'm wrong and something else was going on, but I've yet to hear any credible explanation for why the House did what it did. If you are a Florida citizen concerned about academic freedom in your state, you should start demanding some answers right at the top, starting with Florida's Republican Speaker of the House, and the House sponsor of the poison pill "critical analysis" bill that everyone knew the Senate wouldn't accept. At the very least, those responsible for this shouldn't be allowed to take credit for trying to pass an academic freedom bill that they obviously wanted killed.
