SGU Episode 4

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SGU Episode 4
15th Jun 2005
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SGU 3                      SGU 5
Skeptical Rogues
S: Steven Novella
B: Bob Novella
E: Evan Bernstein
P: Perry DeAngelis
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Introduction

S: Hello, and welcome to the Skeptics Guide To the Universe. This is your host Steven Novella. Today is June 15th, 2005. With me this week are Perry D'Angelos,

P: Y'ello!

S: Evan Bernstein,

E: Hello everyone

S: and Robert Novella

R: Good evening, everyone.

News Items

Kansas School Board Follow-Up (0:21)

S: First a little follow-up on our favourite story in the news this month, the evolution debate in Kansas; the board still has yet to make a final decision, but they are, umm, fighting with each other. The three moderate members of the board lashed out against the conservative members who are proposing the changes to the science standards. You might remember in 1999, I believe it was, Kansas had voted to remove evolution from the, the uh science standards in that state. The 2000 elections saw some of the conservative, more conservative members removed, and the new board reinstated the evolution friendly standards. In 2004, however, the conservatives again, uh, seized a majority of the Kansas school boards, and now they are considering once again, either watering down treatment of evolution in the science standards or forcing criticism of evolution. Some say they are entertaining introducing Intelligent Design, which is a form of creationism into the standards. What's interesting, uh, in the past week is that is that the board members themselves are now fighting, uh, pretty diligently amongst themselves. One member, Bill Wagman, one of the more moderate members, he told the three most conservative members, the ones who are proposing the changes, that they were all dupes of Intelligent Design advocates. He said that Intelligent Design was based upon absolute and total fraud.

PD: Sounds like a bright guy

SN: Sounds like a bright guy. Unfortunately, he and his are in the minority. Connie Waras who was the most outspoken of the conservative members, criticized the moderate members for not attending the meetings when the Intelligent Design proponents were giving their testimony. She said "Had you attended, you would have been informed," Waras said, "You would be sitting here as informed individuals and not arrogantly calling us all dupes." Well, I actually doubt that. If they had bothered to sit through it they would be all the more flabbergasted at their fellow board members. So this is a story we will be following, um

References