Assault on Science

I've been meaning to blog about my marvelous trip to St. John's, Newfoundland, but have not had the time nor the internet connection. Now I have the latter but not much of the former, so instead I need to bring attention to an extremely important current issue:
http://lasciencecoalition.org/
It's scary and troubling that this stuff is happening. Here are the important points outlined in an e-mail I received from the Ecolog list-serve:

Point 1: The Louisiana law, SB 733, the LA Science Education Act,
has national implications. So far, this legislation has failed in
every other state where it was proposed, except in Michigan, where
it remains in committee. By passing SB 733, Louisiana has set a
dangerous precedent that will benefit the Discovery Institute by
helping them to advance their strategy to get intelligent design
creationism into public schools. Louisiana is only the beginning.
Other states will now be encouraged to pass such legislation, and
the Discovery Institute has already said that they will continue
their push to get such legislation passed.

Point 2: Since Gov. Jindal's support for teaching ID clearly helped
to get this bill passed in the first place, his decision to veto it
will stick if he lets the legislature know that he wants it to stick.

Point 3: Simply allowing the bill to become law without his
signature does not absolve the governor of the responsibility for
protecting the public school science classes of Louisiana. He must
veto the bill to show that he is serious about improving Louisiana
by improving education. Anything less than a veto means that the
governor is giving a green light to creationists to undermine the
education of Louisiana children.

I don't understand what it is about the United States that makes these ID issues constantly arise. It is pretty much only the U.S. where this happens - other countries realize teaching religion in a science course is a horrible notion that doesn't even deserve a speck of consideration. The implications are scary for both religion and science - mixing both is a detriment to both. Even though I'm not a Louisiana resident or in any way associated with the state, I'm really embarrassed for their legislature, their governor, and the citizens who support turning their science classes into a joke. Spread the word and urge Gov. Jindal to veto this bill!