At the start of this month we posted Will Kentucky Have a Lucid Moment?, about approval by the Kentucky Board of Education in a 9-0 vote of the evolution-friendly Next Generation Science Standards.

But that was only an interim step — a halfway house, as it were. The standards still had to go through the state’s regulatory process, which involves public hearings and a review by the state legislature’s House and Senate committees on education, And that brings us to the news we found today.

In the Courier-Journal of Louisville, Kentucky we read School science is hotly debated in Kentucky. Here are some excerpts, with bold font added by us:

Supporters and critics of Kentucky’s new science education standards clashed over evolution and climate change Tuesday amid a high-stakes debate on overhauling academic content in public schools. Opponents ridiculed the new standards as “fascist” and “atheistic” and said they promoted thinking that leads to “genocide” and “murder.”

BWAHAHAHAHAHA! There is a certain perverse pleasure in seeing full-frontal lunacy on display by those who proudly proclaim their behavior as the only path to holiness. There seems to be a lot of that in Kentucky. The news story continues:

Nearly two dozen parents, teachers, scientists and advocacy groups commented at a state Department of Education hearing on the Next Generation Science Standards …

The issue isn’t even before the legislature yet. We may have fun for months with this thing. Hey — this is a surprise:

“Students in the commonwealth both need and deserve 21st-century science education grounded in inquiry, rich in content and internationally benchmarked,” said Blaine Ferrell, a representative from the Kentucky Academy of Sciences, a science advocacy group that endorses the standards.

It must be lonely in Kentucky for a man like Blaine. Let’s read on:

But the majority of comments during the two-hour hearing came from critics who questioned the validity of evolution and climate change and railed against the standards as a threat to religious liberty, at times drawing comparisons to Soviet-style communism.

BWAHAHAHAHAHA! We continue:

One parent, Valerie O’Rear, said the standards promote an “atheistic world view” and a political agenda that pushes government control.

O’Rear? Did we read that name correctly? Anyway, she seems to have it backwards. It’s the theocrats who are pushing for their own perverse form of government control. Here’s more:

Matt Singleton, a Baptist minister in Louisville who runs an Internet talk-radio program, called teachings on evolution a lie that has led to drug abuse, suicide and other social afflictions.

BWAHAHAHAHAHA! Evolution seems to be responsible for everything evil, including poverty, perversion, halitosis, and toenail fungus. Moving along:

At one point, opponent Dena Stewart-Gore of Louisville also suggested that the standards will marginalize students with religious beliefs, leading to ridicule and physiological harm in the classroom, and create difficulties for students with learning disabilities. “The way socialism works is it takes anybody that doesn’t fit the mold and discards them,” she said, adding that “we are even talking genocide and murder here, folks.”

One or two crazy comments are amusing. But when we see one after another after another — well, it’s tragic. Let’s skip over most of the article until we get to the results of the hearing:

Kevin Brown, associate education commissioner and general counsel, said comments will be reviewed by department staff and summarized into a statement of consideration with formal responses. Board members will then consider the comments and responses in August and decide whether to make changes or advance the standards to legislative committees for approval.

Ah yes — the comments will be reviewed, summarized, and then considered. These science standards are going to travel a long and torturous journey. But considering that this is happening in Kentucky, it should provide us with entertainment every step of the way.

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