Please welcome Reed Cartwright's De Rerum Natura to the blogosphere. Reed is currently finishing his PhD in genetics at the University of Georgia and is involved with the Georgia Citizens for Integrity in Science Education. A few weeks ago I cited his analysis of the proposed Georgia science standards, which have thankfully been changed.
You may recall that Georgia Superintendent of Schools Kathy Cox, in one of the most flagrant displays of idiocy I've seen from a public official in a long time, called a press conference to announce that they were leaving the word "evolution" out of the new proposed science standards but leaving the concept there under a different name. Her reason for this was that the word 'evolution' causes too much controversy. Right. And naturally, the best way to avoid controversy is to call a freaking press conference to announce that you're avoiding controversy. As it turns out, she was lying through her teeth. It wasn't just the word that was taken out of the new standards, it was virtually the entire concept of biological evolution. Thanks in large part to Reed's analysis of the proposed standards, the people of Georgia found out that Cox had in fact gutted the AAAS standards on biology of most of its substantive content. The president of the AAAS protested this, teacher's groups and parents in Georgia stood up to her, and Cox rather quickly restored the full AAAS standards. One can only think that her political career took a severe blow, and one can only think this is a good thing.
Having Reed in the blog world means competition for good posts. I notice that he beat me to a post on the Discovery Institute's misleading press release about a letter from the Department of Education concerning the Santorum amendment. It's pretty typical misrepresentation of reality from the DI. I may still have more to add to that story in the next few days. Anyway, please welcome Reed and go read his blog as often as possible. It's good to have another voice for quality science education.