Creationist bill, road kill
Ten days ago we wrote Indiana Creationism: New Bill for 2015, about a creationism bill introduced by Senator Jeff Raatz and Senator Dennis Kruse. It was a typical Discoveroid academic freedom bill.
To our great surprise, in the Palladium-Item, a Gannett newspaper in Richmond, Indiana, we read Legislators talk taxes, education, environment. Most of it is about legislative matters that don’t concern us, but here are some excerpts of considerable interest, with bold font added by us:
[Raatz] said he has withdrawn a bill that would have required schools to teach the strengths and weaknesses of scientific theory.
What? So soon? What happened? Raatz tells us:
“I got hammered in the press because some misinterpreted it to mean that creationism should be taught,” he said.
BWAHAHAHAHAHA! How did anyone ever get that idea? Let’s read on:
“This was a constituent-driven thing and was meant only to help promote critical-thinking skills in the classroom.”
In other words, he had no idea what he was doing. Well, he’s probably not a dedicated creationist — he just got talked into sponsoring the thing. Maybe he’s learned a lesson. Anyway, his bill sets a record for creationist legislation — it lasted only ten days.
But it’s not over yet. There’s still time for someone else — like Krause, who definitely is a creationist — to re-introduce the same bill. The Indiana legislature doesn’t adjourn until 29 April.
Addendum: Our report on the demise of this bill was apparently premature. It was based on a statement by Senator Jeff Raatz, one of the bill’s sponsors, that he was withdrawing it. However, the thing now seems to be really and truly dead. It died in committee, as reported by the National Center for Science Education — see Antiscience bill dies in Indiana.
Copyright © 2015. The Sensuous Curmudgeon. All rights reserved.
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The Sensuous Curmudgeon 
This was the same state legislature that tried to set the constant pi to 3.2.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indiana_Pi_Bill
So, uh, yeah.
Obviously some people ARE doing critical thinking, and Senator Jeff Raatz and Senator Dennis Kruse are not amongst those people.
It seems the only academic subject that legislators deem worthy of “critical thinking” is science. Why not history? Math? English? P.E.?
I was elated to see the double-yellow line on the dead ‘possum under the word “Indiana”! Especially now that this state has a Republican super-majority in its house and senate to go along with a theocratic Republican Gov. Mike Pence — a man with presidential ambitions.
At least it died before a fiasco like Dover vs kitzmiller happened. Costing the state millions in taxpayer money.