Michigan Republican Guberatorial Candidate comes out in favor of I.D.

[profplum]

DeVos: Intelligent design should be discussed in Michigan's science classes (http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060920/NEWS99/60920015)

I wasn't going to vote for the fellow anyway, but this gives me a reason to spread the bad news about him out of state.

[Djugashvillain]

I just wish these people would think a step or two further. I.D. should be taught in science class: fine. But by extension so should alchemy and astrology and all those other discounted scientific fields. There is nothing to distinguish these from I.D., except Christianity and funding, of course. And therein lies the rub.

The biggest problem is, however, how 'democratic' sounding this is. 'Teach them all! The more the merrier!' they seem to think. Unfortunately, science isn't democratic, it's exclusive: you have to have evidence and a working theory to explain that evidence before your 'science' gets taught at any level. But people love democratic sounding things--even if being democratic in this instance means propogating lies.

[Writer@Large]

Yeah, and sadly this douche has a real chance of winning. Our current Dem governor took over a Michigan that was quickly spiraling into the shitter and she doesn't have a perfect record for doing something about it.

--W@L

[patchy]

I hear ya, neighbor. Ohio's Republican candidate for Governor is also a staunch fundy who supports the teaching of fairy tales in science class. I'm actually a registered Republican but will be voting for the Democratic candidate, Ted Strickland. (Ted, himself, is/was an ordained minister but he's still much more enlightened than that tool Ken Blackwell.)

[buckshot23]

How bout it profplum let's agree to stay home on election day. Save some money on gas.

[profplum]

How bout it profplum let's agree to stay home on election day. Save some money on gas.

:Cheeky:

You can stay home on election day. I'm voting for Granholm.

[LambdaCalculator]

Chandler Woodcock, the Republican gubenatorial candidate up here in Maine, is also a huge fundie godbot who wants to teach I.D. (along with abstinence only courses in lieu of effective sex education). I was surprised that he won, and he only did so because of a huge grassroots mob effort on the part of his evangelical godbot bretheren in the north.

I was expecting to be able to safely cast a vote for Pat Lamarche (Green) in the upcomming election, but Woodcock is dangerously high in the polls. I'm not a huge fan of John Baldacci (the current Democratic incumbent), but if it really comes between him and Woodcock I have to cast my vote to keep Woodcock out of Augusta.

[buckshot23]

:Cheeky:

You can stay home on election day. I'm voting for Granholm.
Since you are forcing my hand I am going to send you the bill for the gas!:)

[profplum]

Since you are forcing my hand I am going to send you the bill for the gas!:)

:sneaky:

Just for that, I'm not going to change my location line to reflect my new address. Nyah!

:devil3:

[Albion]

I just wish these people would think a step or two further. I.D. should be taught in science class: fine. But by extension so should alchemy and astrology and all those other discounted scientific fields. There is nothing to distinguish these from I.D., except Christianity and funding, of course. And therein lies the rub.

The biggest problem is, however, how 'democratic' sounding this is. 'Teach them all! The more the merrier!' they seem to think. Unfortunately, science isn't democratic, it's exclusive: you have to have evidence and a working theory to explain that evidence before your 'science' gets taught at any level. But people love democratic sounding things--even if being democratic in this instance means propogating lies.


They don't really want democratic ideas taught, or competing theories as a general concept. They want Jesus in the public schools, and this is a way to do it. The "teach all the theories" business is just the means to the end of "God created everything, praise Jesus!" in science classes in public school. Oh, and "global warming isn't happening," "environmentalism is a communist plot," and "stem cell research is a sin."

[Djugashvillain]

Oh, I agree. It's all under the pretense of democracy, when really it's just a means to force Jesus into science.

[niggle]

Yeah, and sadly this douche has a real chance of winning. Our current Dem governor took over a Michigan that was quickly spiraling into the shitter and she doesn't have a perfect record for doing something about it.

--W@L

Yeah, but isn't your governor a :eek: Canadian?

What would happen if every pseudoscience got taught in school?

"okay class, open your newspapers and find your horoscope for today and see if it matches what you got with your Tarot cards."

[Albion]

Well, it seems to work OK at Hogwarts....:D

[ELECTROGOD]

DeVos (all of them) are pretty heavily into the effort to get religion into the government. In fact I'd have to say that this is his (and his wife's) real reason for getting into politics, they have not made such an issue of it though coming up to the election as it would probably hurt their chances (keep focusing on "jobs" and no one will notice the rest).
His wife's family are the ones who donated the $12 million (or so) to build the headquarters in Washington D.C. for the Family Research Council (bible thumpers).
In the 70s the elder DeVos was into some pretty fringe religious group and it appears that the family kept the tradition.

http://www.pridesource.com/article.shtml?article=20150

http://www.whatyoudontknowaboutdick.com/


The Devos family has been funding quite a lot of the conservative Christian organizations that have been stirring things up around the country:
http://www.mediatransparency.org/funderprofile.php?funderID=17

[amaradulcis_nyx]

Very informative links - thanks for posting them. Scary, though.

Many of my conservative business associates are supporting DeVos because of his "business" focus. Funny thing how they don't seem to mind the religious focus creeping into the state as long as they (local business owners) keep making money. :mad:

[ELECTROGOD]

That is why politicians keep harping on promises of reducing (or eliminating) your taxes when they run for office...if it's about the perception of you getting more money then there is no need to pay attention to anything else (works great for Republicans).

[Wildgrass]

So far I think Granholm is doing quite well with her ad campaign. The real teller will be what kind of election night smear campaign Dick's side will come up with.

If it has anything in common with the 2004 election, it won't be pretty. On election night they put a message on my answering machine saying vote for Kerry if you want homosexuals to marry. It was confusing to liberals because we don't care if homosexuals marry. For conservatives it sounded like a campaign from Kerry.

It was mentioned the next day in a few news outlets, but dismissed because the election was over and nobody took credit for it.

[EarlOfLade]

I feel sorry for all of you who has live in a state who elects such a moron. But, what else can you expect? We are talking about USA after all.

[manderguy]

Of course the funny thing is after the intial "teach ID" his handlers claimed he was misquoted or taken out of context. Then he went on to elaborate his opinion a number of times. He is more right wing than Bush.

Most editorial pages in the state are saying he's FOS on this issue.

Of course the funny thing is that ID has given up on "teach ID" and moved on to "teach the controversy". Devos hasn't been reading his talking points. Like many creationists, he is not only not up on his science, he's not up on his psuedo-science.

Speaking of global warming there's a bill in the MI House to "teach the controversy" of evolution and GW. Seriously, could the GOP stupid pandering get any more transparent??

How are the two linked? Oh yeah, only through old school business GOPers (nevermind they're wrong on this) and the new godsquadders that hold major sway in the GOP. Tragically pathetic.

[WWJD4aKlondikeBar]

This douchebag DeVos is the failed former CEO or Amway. He's just going to send our Michigan jobs to his friends in China so please don't let people vote for him.