I'm from Missouri

This site is named for the famous statement of US Congressman Willard Duncan Vandiver from Missouri : "I`m from Missouri -- you'll have to show me." This site is dedicated to skepticism of official dogma in all subjects. Just-so stories are not accepted here. This is a site where controversial subjects such as evolution theory and the Holocaust may be freely debated.

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Location: Los Angeles, California, United States

My biggest motivation for creating my own blogs was to avoid the arbitrary censorship practiced by other blogs and various other Internet forums. Censorship will be avoided in my blogs -- there will be no deletion of comments, no closing of comment threads, no holding up of comments for moderation, and no commenter registration hassles. Comments containing nothing but insults and/or ad hominem attacks are discouraged. My non-response to a particular comment should not be interpreted as agreement, approval, or inability to answer.

Monday, December 25, 2006

Unchallenged Alabama state evolution-disclaimer textbook stickers

I was astonished to learn that for many years Alabama has had unchallenged and mostly unnoticed evolution-disclaimer stickers in biology textbooks statewide! How come these stickers have apparently never been challenged in court? Are the ACLU and the Americans United for Separation of Church and State unable to find a single "mascot" (Kitzmiller and Selman are examples of "mascots") in the whole state of Alabama?

In fact, some of the language in Cobb County's stickers was identical to that of Alabama's latest stickers, which end with --

Instructional materials chosen to implement the content standards within this course of study should be approached with an open mind, studied carefully, and critically considered.

For comparison, the Cobb County stickers ended with --

This material should be approached with an open mind, studied carefully and critically considered.

Alabama filed a joint amicus brief with Texas in the appeal of Selman v. Cobb County because the district court decision in that lawsuit threatened Alabama's own textbook stickers. The brief says,

INTEREST OF AMICI CURIAE

. . . Since 1996, the State of Alabama has affixed stickers concerning the theory of evolution to the fronts of biology textbooks used in public schools. The current sticker, approved by the State Board of Education, reads as follows:

- - - - - - - - - - -

Whether or not controlling, it is clear that any ruling concerning the constitutionality of Cobb County's textbook sticker will have an important bearing on the validity of Alabama's sticker.

There have been major lawsuits against evolution disclaimers in local school districts: Kitzmiller v. Dover (oral disclaimer), Selman v. Cobb County (textbook sticker disclaimer), and Freiler v. Tangipahoa Parish (oral disclaimer). Are the Darwinists afraid to sue a whole state over an evolution disclaimer? The Darwinists were not afraid to sue states over a law banning the teaching of evolution in public schools (Epperson v. Arkansas) and over laws requiring equal treatment of evolution and creation science in the public schools (Edwards v. Aguillard and McLean v. Arkansas Board of Education).

Merry Christmas, everyone.

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1 Comments:

Blogger Larry Fafarman said...

Postscript --

The history of evolution disclaimers outside of Georgia is given on pages 15-20 of Eugenie Scott's expert report that was prepared for the now-canceled new trial of Selman v. Cobb County (the page numbers are not in the images of the report but are in the bottom border of the screen).

Monday, December 25, 2006 10:52:00 AM  

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