The Evolution of Intelligent Design: Plays Fine in Oz, Not So Much in Pennsylvania

If Tuesday's election results prove anything, it's that kids in Kansas and kids in Dover, Pa., may soon be taking very different science tests...or that intelligent design supporters may fleeting one-termers when it comes to their 15 minutes of fame. Discussion about the divergent votes in two states dominates the blogosphere today, capturing 12 of today's top links, two of the day's today's two top key phrases and throwing at least five school board members into the limelight among the day's 10 burstiest people.

Here's what happened: on Tuesday, the Kansas Board of Education adopted new science standards (today's top three news stories) that approve intelligent design -- the thinking that life evolved with the help of a higher power -- as part of a curriculum that sheds doubt on Charles Darwin's (scientifically accepted) theory of evolution. Also on Tuesday, voters in Dover, Pa., tossed off the school board an entire slate of candidates who had supported intelligent design. Foreign news sources seem as interested in the news as did U.S. media.

And here's the reaction: Panda's Thumb, today's top blog post, notes that incoming members of the Dover school board support intelligent design...but in comparative religion classes, not the science lab. As for the state from which Dorothy Gale hails, "What's the matter with Kansas?" asks blogger Joe Gandelman, who notes that the board's decision also redefines science "so that it is no longer limited to the search for natural explanations of phenomena." Pharnygula, in fact, says Kansas offspring will be taught the equivalent of "slippery twaddle." The Ratcliffe blog guessed correctly -- that the vote would just fuel the fires of the Flying Spaghetti Monster believers, who are back at No. 5 among today's top links (with more T-shirts! Halloween FSM costumes! Car magnets!). A BlogPulse trend graph also tracks the discussion:



Flip flops?
More than a few bloggers are pointing out that the text of the Texas' Tuesday-passed man-woman-only marriage amendment, if read literally, bans marriage altogether. Mother Jones raises the question. Also raising questions are reporters who want to know why the White House changed change the transcript of a White House press briefing from Scott McClellan saying "that's accurate" to Scot McClellan saying "I don't think that's accurate." Frankly, I don't think that's right.

And a little something for the brain
Don't forget to waste time checking out the Blue Ball Machine.