In particular, Kansas voters should be sure to vote for State Board of Education members. Stand Up For Real Science has the skinny on the candidates, with proscience candidates:
District 2 (Sue Gamble's old seat, KCK):
Sue Storm (D, unchallenged)
Mary Ca Ralstin (R, competitive race)
District 4 (Bill Wagnon's old seat, Lawrence)
Carolyn Campbell (D, unchallenged)
Both Republicans are creationists. Meissner would probably have an easier time in the general, so a vote for Detrich is a vote for wacky fun. The danger is that Detrich might, possibly, win.
District 6 (Kathy Martin's seat, Northeastern Kansas)
Christopher Renner (D, unchallenged)
Bill Pannbacker (R, competitive against creationist incumbent Kathy Martin)
District 8 (Wichita, Carol Rupe's old seat):
Walt Chappell (D, unchallenged)
No Republican primary either, but Hedke's position is ambiguous.
District 10 (southeastern Kansas, former creationist chairman Steve Abrams' old seat):
David Dennis (R, competitive race, no incumbent)
Paul Casanova (D, unchallenged)
Abrams and Gamble are both running for state senate seats, and I hope the former loses and the latter wins. I'd dearly love to see Kathy Martin lose also. It's a shame to see so many good incumbents leaving at once, since it leaves the board with a lot less experience, and could make it easier to block real progressive change in Kansas schools. There's the very real danger of creationists picking up a seat or two, which would put Kansas right back on the path to craziness and public mockery.
As always, the primaries will settle a lot of questions about next year's legislative agenda. If moderates gain power, there will be less wingnuttery in the legislature. Here's hoping. If you're registered to vote in Kansas, tomorrow's the day.
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Bob Meissner (www.DrBobMeissner.com) has no agenda to when it comes to science standards. He has said he doesn't want to stop teaching evolution in our classrooms. Meissner is open and fair minded and would rather focus on making sure there is a science teacher teaching our kids (see teacher shortage in Kansas).
RJB, you're shilling for Meissner.
Miessner stated in 2004,
Even as recently as June of this year, Meissner's still having trouble figuring out that evolution is a well-established theory:
Meissner's giving off all of the signals of a creationist who knows he has to lie about his intentions in order to get elected.
His church places Biblical inerrancy at the top of its list of beliefs, even ahead of salvation through Christ. What do you think Meissner will betray first - his own beliefs, or Kansas' kids?
The Repugnant primary is not open. As an Independent, I could vote in the Democratic primary but most Democratic Candidates are unopposed. What is known about them?
The wife and I just voted this afternoon for all the good Dems representing Johnson County, Kansas.
I realize you're off in California, fighting the good fight, but I appreciate your attention to important thinks here in the hinterlands too.
Anyone who says "both sides" deserve discussion in a public school science classroom does not deserve a seat on the Board of Education.
When mainstream science decides there is more than one "side" to scientific reality, *THEN* there could be discussion in the science classroom. Until then, 99.9% of the world's scientists accept the fact of evolution, all life scientists use the principles of evolutionary theory productively in their work, and zero practicing evolutionary biologists give any credence to creation science, creationism, or ID creationism.
If ID promoters want to develop a testable hypothesis, test it, and publish the results so they can be replicated or invalidated by the worldwide science community, *like every other scientific finding*, fine. Where's the science?
Our students need to learn what the world considers science, not what a handful of religious nuts think it should be to support their Biblical worldviews.