Thoughts in a Haystack

Good Riddance:

John Freshwater, the Mount Vernon, Ohio "science teacher" who burned crosses into the arms of his students with laboratory equipment and continued to undermine the teaching of evolution in his classes, despite instructions to stick to the curriculum, has been put on track to be fired. The school board voted 5-0 to begin the process. Freshwater has two weeks in which to appear before the board and give reasons why he should not be fired.

To see the reasons he fully deserves to be, take a look at the report of the investigation by an independent consultant.

Run It Up the Poll:

The Gallup folks are back with their trusty poll that, despite the different numbers in the recent FASEB survey, continues to give essentially the same numbers on the evolution/creationism divide as it has for the past 26 years: 44% creationists, 36% "theistic evolutionists;" and 14% evolution without divine intervention.

Perhaps the most interesting numbers are those by political party. Republicans are 60% creationists, while Independents are 40% and Democrats are 38%. Reality doesn't do too well in Republican ranks, whether it comes to government or science.

Oh! Riiiight!:

Democrats have their own (smaller) share of reality-challenged party stalwarts, though. One of the most challenged at the moment is Louisiana State Senator Ben Nevers, who sponsored that state's "academic freedom" law that is on the verge of becoming law. Just to demonstrate his disconnect, Nevers said recently that he didn't think lawsuits would be filed because of the legislation.

Say, Senator, do you think you can take a trip up here to New York? There's this bridge I think you'll really like ...
.