"I believe this...and that"

I just came across this, which is worth a chuckle, demonstrating one reason why legislators should stay out of academic micromanagement. Oklahoma state representative Thad Balkman (R-Norman) said "I'm not anti-evolution." He also said "I believe in intelligent design."

Well gee whiz, bub, what do you imagine intelligent design to be? A subset of the theory of evolution? All intelligent design is, is a philippic against evolution (and methodological naturalism).

Balkman also said, "I think it's disappointing that these people are not open to debating these issues."

Think about it bub--if there was anything in intelligent design worth presenting and arguing for, in the world of science, it would have been presented and argued by now in the scientific literature. Not in some tent-revival "debate" where Creationists eschew facts and honesty, but where any factual errors and misrepresentations can be caught and corrected before falling upon impressionable ears. Science is conducted by examining the evidence, not by hiring a PR firm and trying to convince the naive.

People like Balkman, who haven't a clue about what science and evolution are, ought to sit down and shut up--or try to learn about the subject. They should not be making the rules.