When you can't get religion directly into the schools because it can't be called science, redefine the word science to get around the inconvenience.  That's how Kansas has decided to get intelligent design into the school biology curriculum.

I don't have to point out how terribly laughable this is.  Not only is intelligent design junk science at best, Pennsylvania learned the hard way what happens when you push religion into state schools.

Rather than bore you with a repetitive analysis of Kansas' decision, laughable though it may be, I'll point out some of the better articles I've stumbled across on the web.

From Three Way News:

And never forget which party embraces this idiocy. It's the party of a president who can give a speech to the nation on the danger of bird flu making the jump to humans yet still claims the jury is out on evolution. How exactly does he think that jump will be made? A late inning intelligent redesign of the virus?

From The New York Times:

All eight members up for re-election to the Pennsylvania school board that had been sued for introducing the teaching of intelligent design as an alternative to evolution in biology class were swept out of office yesterday by a slate of challengers who campaigned against the intelligent design policy.

From NewScientist.com:

In anticipation of the Kansas board vote, the National Academy of Sciences and the National Science Teachers Association has revoked permission for Kansas to use any of their copyrighted material in the state standards.

From Pharyngula:

Following scientific procedures will never lead one to the supernatural. They can't. Using material methods and observing phenomena in the natural world and interpreting them on the basis of logic and prior evidence and explanations is going to keep everything well grounded in the natural world. It's not a matter of having a closed mind—it's a matter of having a suite of useful tools that do their job within a specific domain. I have a box of socket wrenches and screwdrivers and a hammer at home, but I don't haul them out to invent fairy tales.

From Outside The Beltway:

We can only hope that the people of Kansas will realize that their Board of Education has humilated them by opening the door to psuedo-science once more and will head to polls and vote these clowns out of office as was the case in Dover.

From The Poor Man:

Golly, it sure would be terrible if our kids moved away from home and left us in this pig-ignorant redneck shithole of a state. It sure would be great if there was some way we could ensure that they never, ever, ever have any chance of getting into a fancy out-of-state college!

From Scientific American:

Somewhere right now in Kansas, there is a little child who may grow up to be a brilliant scientist. She may make fantastic contributions to science, and future generations may remember her as one of the brightest intellectual lights of her time. But if so, it will be despite the public education that she received in Kansas, because today six dimwits on the state's Board of Education voted to lower the standards for how science is taught.