IDiots on parade

<----Dover PA Board of Education



I followed the Dover PA Intelligent Design trial with utter fascination. Here's one of the many things I learned -

It is entirely possible for a person who is as dumb as a rock to be elected to a school board and become responsible for the education of children.

This is an excerpt of the cross-examination of Mrs. Heather Geesey, (former) Dover PA board member and ignoramus extraordinaire:

Q Now, you said you voted for the October 18 curriculum change because you liked it.
A Yes.
Q You supported the change.
A Yes.
Q It -- because it gave a balanced view of evolution.
A Yes, I mean . . .
Q It presented an alternative theory?
A Yes.
Q And the policy talks about gaps and problems with evolution?
A Yes.
Q Yes. You don't know what those gaps and problems refer to, do you?
A No.
Q But it's good to teach about those gaps and problems?
A That -- yes, that's our mission statement, yes.
Q But you have no idea what they are?
A It's not my job, no.
Q Is it fair to say that you didn't know much about intelligent design in October of 2004?
A Yes.
Q And you didn't know much about the book Of Pandas and People either, did you?
A Correct.
Q So you had never participated in any discussions of the book?
A No.
Q And you made no effort independently to find out about the book?
A No.
Q And the administration had made copies of the book available to board members.
A Yes.
Q But you never read the book.
A No.
Q And no one ever explained to you what intelligent design was about.
A No.
Q And you never got any instructional materials or tapes about intelligent design.
A No.
Q And you never viewed any or read any books about intelligent design.
A No.
Q And you didn't study it independently.
A No.
Q You didn't go on the Internet and look it up.
A No.
Q So you didn't really think too much about intelligent design.
A No.
Q You just knew it was something else that the kids were going to learn?
A Yes.
Q And it was a theory that was different from Darwin's view.
A Yes.
Q And what you testified earlier is that you were relying on the recommendation of the curriculum committee.
A Yes.
Q And that was their job.
A Yes.
Q And because they were recommending the introduction of intelligent design, you were going to go along with that.
A Yes.
Q And you thought it was a good idea to introduce an alternative to evolution.
A Yes.
Q Now, it wasn't the entire curriculum committee that was recommending this change, correct?
A I don't know.
Q Well, who was on the curriculum committee?
A Bill, Allen, and I can't remember the other one.
Q Was Sheila Harkins on it?
A I don't know.
Q Do you know if Sheila Harkins was supportive of intelligent design?
A I don't know that. I don't know. I never really thought about it.
Q So the two people you were really listening to and talking to about this were Bill Buckingham and Allen Bonsell.
A Yes.
Q And Casey Brown, I'll just tell you, Casey Brown was the last member of the curriculum committee. Does that sound right?
A Yes.
Q And she was not supportive of this change.
A No.
Q In fact, she was adamantly opposed to introducing intelligent design into the curriculum.
A Yes.
Q But you weren't listening to her, were you?
A She wasn't -- she was ignoring me, she wasn t mentoring me, so . . .
Q But she was there advocating against introduction of intelligent design, so it wasn't like the curriculum committee was unified?
A Right.
Q But you chose to listen to Mr. Buckingham and Mr. Bonsell?
A Correct.
Q Now, I know you said you don't have any background in science, correct?
A Correct.
Q And do you know whether Mr. Buckingham has a background in science?
A No, I do not.
Q Do you know that in fact he doesn't have a background in science?
A I don't know. He's law enforcement, so I would assume he had to take something along the way.
Q Did he ever tell you he knew something about biology?
A No.
Q How about Mr. Bonsell, do you know what his background is?
A No.
Q Do you know what he does for a living?
A He's a business owner, I believe.
Q He's not a scientist, to your knowledge?
A Not to my knowledge, no.
Q He's not a science teacher?
A No.
Q Now, there are people employed by the school district who do know a little something about science, correct?
A Correct.
Q And that would be the teachers.
A Yes.
Q And you know Ms. Bertha Spahr?
A Yes.
Q And she's been with the school district a long time.
A Yes.
Q And she's head of the science department.
A Yes.
Q And you know Ms. Miller.
A Yes.
Q And you know Mr. Eshbach.
A Yes.
Q And you know Mr. Lanker?
A I don't -- I wouldn't be able to place him, but I know the name, I know he's a teacher.
Q And he's a science teacher?
A Yes.
Q And you knew that the science teachers were all opposed to introducing intelligent design?
A Correct.
Q And the teachers had in fact told you that they were concerned about introducing intelligent design because they were worried that they would get sued.
A Correct.
Q And specifically they were worried about teaching from the Pandas book, correct?
A I don't -- I don't know.
Q Do you recall in August of 2004 you had a discussion about approving the new Biology book?
A Yes.
Q And at that time Mr. Buckingham did not want to vote to approve the Biology book unless Of Pandas and People was approved?
A Correct.
Q And do you recall Ms. Spahr making any comments about Of Pandas and People?
A No. No.
Q Could you look at page 63 of your deposition, please. Are you there?
A Yes.
....(Edited for brevity)...
Q And you knew that the teachers were opposed to introducing this intelligent design change because they were afraid they were going to get sued for teaching religion?
A Yes.
Q And so the only people in the school district that you're aware of that have a science background were opposed to introducing intelligent design; they thought it wasn t science, they thought it was religion, and you ignored that?
A Yes.
Q And you voted for the proposal because Mr. Buckingham and Mr. Bonsell encouraged you to do so?
A I agreed with them, that's why I voted for the proposal.

Folks - Mrs. Geesey is not an anomaly. She is not the only clueless, irresponsible clothes-horse-posing-as-a-human who has the power to decide what your child will be taught in school.

The rest of the Dover school board was equally dumbfounding in its ineptitude and dishonesty, and I highly recommend that you take the time to read the full transcripts at the talkorigins site. I would have sent you over to the Discovery Institute (an Intelligent Design proponent website) to read the transcripts, but true to form for these folks, they only posted the transcripts of the examination of the "expert witness" for the God of the Delaware Water Gaps faction, Michael Behe. I guess they don't want us to read the other stuff.

Some other highlights of the trial - The judge figures out that the donated copies of "Pandas" (the ID book that was to be recommended as additional reading) were provided by church donations, and this fact was hidden by some Mickey Mouse money laundering that the defense witness tried to hide. The defense witness's sputtering responses to the judge's angry red-faced interrogation on this charade is either extremely sad or extremely funny, I can't decide which.

With the exception of Michael Behe (who was torn to shreds) all of the "expert witnesses" for the defense backed out of testifying once they realized that they would be placed on the witness stand and all of their testimony (plus their published work) would be subject to public critical scientific examination as part of the trial.

In a seemingly rare display of people making real changes through the voting process, the entire Republican contingent of the Dover school board (8 out of 9 members) was voted out on election day.

In a typical display of disengagement from reality, Pat Robertson admonished the voters of Dover for abandoning God, despite the fact that the school board's entire defense case rested on the assertion that Intelligent Design has nothing to do with God.

Be aware people, and know who is on your school board. The future is on the line.

Next, we'll go to Kansas where we will learn that it is necessary to redefine science in order to make the scientific theory of Intelligent Design.....um.... scientific.