Zachary Moore attended the DI's Darwin vs. Design traveling show. He got an interesting insight while chatting with Todd Norquist, of the DI's Center for the Renewal of Science and Culture:
I asked him how many of these conferences were planned by the Discovery Institute, and he seemed hesitant, telling me that he didn't know if any more of them were going to be possible, since the costs were too high for the Institute to handle. ... He then told me (quite openly, also, which I thought was odd) that the financial situation of the Discovery Institute was grim, and that they were "bleeding money" and were "barely able to keep the lights on in Seattle."
They've spent that money with some success though. Not that they've managed to turn their millions of dollars into any actual research, but Matt Nisbet points out they've been very effective at reframing science by talking about it in ways that play on the cognitive shortcuts journalists and the public rely on.
Unfortunately for them, you can't make much money with nothing to sell, and bogus spin can't win the fight for you. There has to be something behind it.
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Wouldn't it be awesome if whoever funds the DI decided finally that it's time to pull the plug?
:)
An appropriate bail-out strategy would involve Egnor begging for alms in the lobby of the new Creationism Museum.
Great meeting you tonight! I've told my husband about your blog. He's more into the sciences than I am.
Clearly the DI is screwed, blued and tattooed!
They have't had a cause since Kitzmiller. No school boards, no initiatives, no nothing. The number of op-ed pieces has dropped to zero.
So, if you were a big Christian Theocracy donor to the DI and you were looking at the bottom line, wouldn't you ask the question, where is my money going? What are the results?
The results are Failed Dover, Failed Kansas, Failed Ohio, Failed New Mexico, Failed California and Failed Texas.
The successes are...nowhere. None. Nada. Zip. Zero.
Not a good return on investment I'd say.
The DI broke? Hard to believe, with a sugar daddy like Howard Ahmanson, S&L billionaire. Not to mention various other wealthy right-wing religionists. If the hard-luck DI story is like everything else they say, don't believe it. Besides, they've gotten enough Christians to carry their anti-science message to local communities. Perhaps their job is done.
I doubt that contributors to pro-ID groups care a whit about the truth behind the science. A more plausible explanation is that they are intent on alienating less-educated people from politicians that would prefer them to be better educated. A better educated populous would be contrary to the interests of the political party that most of those contributors support.