The Untimely Passing of Chris Comer

In our enlightened country, it appears the forces of darkness have another victory. The state of Texas director of science curriculum has been forced to resign (when did we stop calling it being fired?) as reported here. The reasons behind her firing "appear" to be several fold, however in my estimation there was one reason for her firing and several piss ass justifications because the fire-ers knew they were morally bankrupt and were trying to cover their respective asses.

The impetus behind Ms. Comer's firing, I mean forced resignation, you ask? She sent out an email letting some people on her mailing list know that there was a local lecture coming up soon by Dr. Barbara Forrest a Professor of Philosophy at Southeastern Louisiana University. Dr. Forrest was a witness in the Kitzmiller vs Dover trial (which found Intelligent Design to be creationism repackaged). In case you were wondering Dr. Forrest testified for the plaintiffs.

"But but but she was fired for a number of reasons!" You say?
"Is it difficult breathing with your head up your ass in the sand?" I respond.

The call to fire Comer came from Lizzette Reynolds, who previously worked in the U.S. Department of Education. She also served as deputy legislative director for Gov. George W. Bush. She joined the Texas Education Agency as the senior adviser on statewide initiatives in January.
Reynolds, who was out sick the day Comer forwarded the e-mail, received a copy from an unnamed source and forwarded it to Comer's bosses less than two hours after Comer sent it.
"This is highly inappropriate," Reynolds said in an e-mail to Comer's supervisors. "I believe this is an offense that calls for termination or, at the very least, reassignment of responsibilities.
"This is something that the State Board, the Governor's Office and members of the Legislature would be extremely upset to see because it assumes this is a subject that the agency supports."

One of the problems is that Comer's email may give the impression that the state of Texas science curriculum board may actually support and endorse the position of the speaker. You know the position that intelligent design is a strategy used by right wing christians to get creationism, and ultimately their narrow minded interpretation of christianity, into schools. God forbid, the science curriculum board supports, you know, things associated with science. God forbid the people of the state of Texas actually get the idea that the science education committees support science and science education.

This all stems from Don McLeroy's (state board of edekashun chairman and vocal creationist) new policy of "tolerance." In other words, we'll tolerate evolution, for the moment, but you need to tolerate my beliefs as science until such time as we can redefine my belief as the one true revealed science of god.

This could not come at a better time for the Texas fundies, as the state is reviewing their science standards in the next few months. Mark my words, Texas/ID will be an issue in the near future. The creationist (aka fundamentalist christians) have removed yet another roadblock in their quest to get their religion promoted in schools and all the while the decry themselves as victims. When will we stand up for ourselves and send them back to the fringe where they belong?