Monkeys and the Board of Education

I live in Kansas. I have lived here for 20 plus years. I still do not refer to myself as a "Kansan," and I doubt I ever will.

Why? Because "Kansans" do stupid ass things like elect board of education members who do stupid ass things like devote energy to a debate that was decided a few decades ago with the Scopes Monkey trial. I believe it was in 1925.

Mark Twain said once that when the world came to an end he wanted to be in Kentucky because everything happened 20 years later there. Obviously, he had not been to Kansas.

For the third time in six years, the Kansas board of education has spent time discussing evolution being taught in schools. Never mind that our schools are falling apart and teachers are funding their classrooms from their own meager pocketbooks, we've got time to screw with this foolishness. Evolution is science. "Intelligent Design" is a PR term to replace "Creationism," which replaced "religion."

Today at lunch I told Trish I wanted to find a list of the Kansas Board of Education members, how they voted, and when they're up for election. Six of them have gotta go. It's bad enough what that mutt, Toto, has done to Kansas' image, but must we bring more on ourselves?

Well, finding a list of Board of Education members is no easy feat. I searched, then asked for assistance from KanAnswer, where you get a live person online. About 20 minutes of time resulted in
http://www.ksde.org/commiss/bdmin2.html

There are some important pieces of information missing that I have emailed the board secretary asking for - how each of them voted, and when they're up for election. We know the way some voted because they've been quoted. But we don't know others.

See the board and find their addresses:
http://www.ksde.org/commiss/bdaddr.html

See a map of the districts from which they are elected:
http://www.ksde.org/commiss/bdmem.html

I will keep you posted on the answer I get regarding election dates and votes.