I'd been trying my hardest to ignore it, but this weekend involved a bit of riding on city busses (feeling dangerous) and catching up on my New Yorker subscription. One of the issues included a story about "intelligent design"
In particular, you are learning that Darwin’s theory of evolution provides just one possible explanation of life, and that another is provided by something called intelligent design. You are being taught this not because of a recent breakthrough in some scientist’s laboratory but because the Dover Area School District’s board mandates it. [nyer]
At Thomas Frank's talk, he discussed the conservative tactic of shrieking about how their U.S. American culture is being destroyed without their consent. That's pretty much how I feel about this sort of thing. Somehow, though, it seems unlikely to see a secular adoption of cultural populist techniques to promote science.
