Quick hit number one

Tim over at Democratic Left Infoasis, who was kind enough to conduct (and then foolish enough to post) an email interview he did of me, has an occasional feature he calls "Whirlwind of Nausea and Hope." So with a tip of the hat to the originator, a series of "Quick Hits of Outrages and Concerns."

This one refers to Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-18th century), who, apparently seeking to re-establish his bona fides with the wacko right after stumbling over stem cell research, said on Friday that so-called "intelligent design" should be taught in public schools alongside evolution. Parroting the "expose students to a wide range of ideas" meme, Frist argued that ID

"doesn't force any particular theory on anyone. I think in a pluralistic society that is the fairest way to go about education and training people for the future."

Yeah, that's the way to train people for the future: turn science into a popularity contest where you're free to believe whatever you want, facts be damned. Maybe we could go a step further and vote on scientific theories and undo the ones we don't like. I've never been too crazy about gravity, myself. Maybe I should get up a petition.

Footnote: To its credit, AP noted that "Nearly all scientists dismiss [ID] as a scientific theory, and critics say it's nothing more than religion masquerading as science."