The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board is deciding next month whether to allow a bunch of Jesusers at the Institution for Creation Research offer science teaching degrees. One might assume that their particular brand of “science” includes lots of amino acids and dinosaurs named Adam, Eve, Eve, Adam and maybe also Eve. MORE »

• Kathleen Parker recalls a high school book report and undergoes a severe mental paroxysm during which she realizes that if it weren’t for narcissists like her, bloggers would have piloted the planet into the sun by now. MORE »

Anytime you get a die-hard advocate of intelligent design on camera, you’re bound to hear something that makes your brain so deeply upset that it practically cries out for a bubble bath and a long nap. But the length and breadth and depth of the weirdness could not be guessed at until author Michael Behe appeared on the Hannity and Colmes show for a “special report” on ID last week. Late in the interview, America heard this startling exchange: MORE »

Today, U.S. District Judge John E. Jones ruled against the Dover Area School Board’s decision to insert intelligent design into their schools’ science curriculum. A great ruling for anyone who prefers their science to be based less in folklore and more in, uhm, what’s the word for it…oh, yeah: science. MORE »

• Reliable Source: Two lawmakers are injured during charity football game. [WP]
• Rush & Molloy: O’Reilly calls for “full-body search” of legal pundit: “You’re a good-looking girl. I mean, if you haven’t seen [Lis Wiehl] on TV, she’s a good-looking blond.”. . . Tom Brokaw: “This is a time when those of us who care about science and Darwin have to take a stand.” [NYDN]
• Liz Smith: Lewis Lapham: “I’ve arrived at the point where I would prefer to read Machiavelli than listen to Karl Rove.”. . . Bill Clinton: “I always figure when somebody goes after your motives, they’re on their last leg, because they actually think you’re doing something good that’s gonna have good consequences. Attacking somebody’s motives is the last refuge of somebody who’s on the short end of the stick.” [NYP]

• Santorum: “Science leads you where it leads you.” Also the heart wants what it wants. Sometimes that’s a dog. No, seriously: Rick comes out against “intelligent design” (magic). [Beaver County Times (no shit), via Pandagon]
• Oh, God: Please don’t make me give up Target. So they are all “Fuck you bitch about your little unprotected pregnancy sex accident” — they have really great housewares. Fuck. Fry’s man, tho? I will never. Shop. There. Again. [Savage Love (last item)]
• Bush tonight: “Reasonable people can disagree about the conduct of the war –­ but it is irresponsible for Democrats to now claim that we misled them and the American people.” Translation: You can disagree except when you do. [Michelle Malkin]
• Kazakhstan totally pissed about Ali G. [Reuters]
• “If you’re going to be the lead columnist for the business section of a major American newspaper, a certain amount of Bentonville ball-lickery is part of the package.” [TMFTML]

• What does it mean when Chris Matthews wonders “whether Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald would prove to be an Alexander Scourby or a Don Knotts?” Slate readers think they know…. [Slate]
• The illustrated Maureen Dowd. [TMFTML]
• Geeks seek to apply “alternative explanation” to “gym.” “It’s time to move past outdated physical fitness dogma. Can I do a chin-up? No. But I can do spelling-ups all day long.” [INDC Journal]
• BYU prof thinks that World Trade Center towers might have fallen due to “pre-positioned explosives.” Also wears special magic underwear. [Deseret News]
• “In the oddest footnote yet to The New York Times’ post-Jayson Blair/Judith Miller credibility saga, editors at the Times Magazine recently scrapped a piece by author J.T. LeRoy over concerns he may not exist.” Hate it when that happens. [WWD]

A reader alerts us to news of Pat Robertson’s latest fatwa: Calling down the Almighty exact revenge for the town of Dover, Pa. tossing out the school board who mandated that “intelligent design” (i.e. “magic”) be taught in schools. “I’d like to say to the good citizens of Dover: if there is a disaster in your area, don’t turn to God, you just rejected Him from your city.” Says our reader, “Well, you know, he DOES pray all those hurricanes off course–it only takes a little extra faith to have one level a town full of evolutionists who have the temerity to vote. . .” MORE »

Take an old-fashioned red state preacher in the cut of every character John Lithgow has ever portrayed on film. Make him spew fire-and-brimstone imprecations and certainties about a creationist myth tricked out as “intelligent design.” You’ll have every member of the scientific community who’s not a laughable fraud sighing in frustration. Ah, but now turn that same preacher into the Dalai Lama, and make the cosmic message something about shiny happy people holding hands. And what do you get? Something like this: MORE »

John McCain signs on with President Bush’s plan to erect a bridge past the 19th century by endorsing the teaching of intelligent design in the nation’s public schools. Schools should bring in “all points of view” regarding the origins of the human species, the Arizona senator said–which, we fear, is just the sort of opening Tom Cruise has been waiting for. MORE »

• Roberts responds to questions from lawmakers with 83 pages of documents, including essay about “modesty and humility”; turns out he met with Gonzales three months before O’Connor’s resignation. [WP, NYT, LAT, WT, USAT]
• Two aides close to Rove testified last Friday in the leak investigation; Fitzgerald seems to be “wrapping up the loose ends.” [NYT]
• Bush endorses teaching of intelligent design and evolution in public schools: “I felt like both sides ought to be properly taught.” [WP, NYT]
• Bush arrives in Crawford for longest presidential vacation in 36 years: “I’ll be doing a lot of work. On the other hand, I’ll also be kind of making sure my Texas roots run deep.” [WP]
• GOP holds congressional seat in Ohio after tight race. [NYT]
• 21 Marines killed in Iraq over the last 3 days; total death toll exceeds 1,800. [CNN]

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