Chism, the southern baptist insurance salesman from Columbus, Mississippi, now has an even weaker bill he’d like to pass – I’m not even sure, entirely, what it would require after reading it here.

From Section I:

The lesson provided to students shall not evidence bias through selective instruction on the theory of evolution, but rather, shall have proportionately equal instruction from educational materials that present scientifically sound arguments by protagonists and antagonists of the theory of evolution.

Even making the world-shattering assumption that scientifically sound arguments by “antagonists of the theory of evolution” actually exist I don’t think that we’re going to be able to buy all those copies of “Pandas and People,” so lets add “unfeasible” to the list of problems this bill has.

Now on to part 2, where what I think of as the real intent of the bill exists:

No local school board, school superintendent or school principal shall prohibit a public school classroom teacher from discussing and answering questions from individual students on the origin of life…

Ah, so when one kid keeps sidetracking the biology class into theology, or one teacher wants to chat Answers in Genesis instead of Darwins finches, no one can stop them.

This is just about the last thing we need. Fortunately, Chism brings such a bill to the house yearly, and it is soundly stomped (none have ever gotten out of committee) – probably more for political bragging rights than anything else.

So for you Jacksonians, Representative Cecil Brown is the Chairman of the Education Committee – and he’s from our district (district 66), so let him know – he’s the guy with his hand on the throat of this thing at the moment.

A couple of evolution-based fun bits:

First off – an answer to “well you’ll never SEE evolution happening!”

Unless you look here.

Admittedly, this one has been seen before, but this is a good rundown if you’ve never heard of the e.coli experiment at the other MSU.

Secondly, you all may know that I don’t really go in for apocalyptic forecasts, especially this 2012 nonsense. Neither does this Mayan guy.

And finally, one thing we should be wary of in the context of denialism and debate – the difference between denialists and skeptics. You see, a skeptic, knowing that you can’t ever be sure, seeks out more and more comprehensive data to put what is “known” on more sure footing. Therefore, concentrating on new discoveries and well-researched findings is important. To the denialist, however, all that is important is that you are wrong. Kind of like skepticism turned cancerous.

So, to inject a carcinogen into the evolution discussion, because it’s fun – the failings of intelligent design.

Now they’ve got up a new short that explains away all that pesky evidence for evolution.

Mr. Weiner has a great comic on the subject, too.