{"id":3229,"date":"2018-03-11T16:32:37","date_gmt":"2018-03-11T20:32:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=3229"},"modified":"2018-03-11T16:32:37","modified_gmt":"2018-03-11T20:32:37","slug":"the-looming-storms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=3229","title":{"rendered":"The looming Storms"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>For those of you who have been along for the ride with us here at Florida Citizens for Science since the early days, you very likely know one of the most polarizing opponents we faced back in 2008: Ronda Storms. If you don’t know her or just need a refresher, Storms sponsored and went all in for a bill in the state Senate that was a response to the brand new state science standards that had just been approved at the time. Those new standards prominently featured evolution and Storms fumed at that. She filed\u00c2\u00a0SB 2692<\/a>:<\/p>\n

The Teaching of Chemical and Biological Evolution [SPCC]; Cites act as the “Evolution Academic Freedom Act.” Provides public school teachers with a right to present scientific information relevant to the full range of views on biological and chemical evolution. Prohibits a teacher from being discriminated against for presenting such information. Prohibits students from being penalized for subscribing to a particular position on evolution, etc.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It was approved by the Senate and the House approved its version of the same bill, but the two bills were very different and couldn’t be reconciled by the end of the legislative session, thus killing both. The huge fight made big news back then and made up all of chapter 10 “Who Gets to Decide What Is Science” in my book Going Ape: Florida’s Battles over Evolution in the Classroom<\/em><\/a>. Storms had several colorful quotes and jaw-dropping things to say about evolution throughout the legislative session.<\/p>\n

So, why am I rehashing this history? Because Storms is jumping back into politics:\u00c2\u00a0Ronda Storms is back, with a run for District 59 House seat<\/a>.<\/p>\n

She said she’s been repeatedly urged to get back into politics since leaving the state Senate in 2012 to run for property appraiser, losing to Bob Henriquez.<\/p>\n

She previously served two terms as a commissioner, 1998-2006, and one and a half terms in the Senate starting in 2006.<\/p>\n

In 2005, Storms started a kerluffle when she objected to a display of gay-themed books in a county library during a gay pride event, and successfully proposed a policy barring the county from recognizing gay pride events.<\/p>\n

She advocated sterilization for people accused of child abuse and cutting off county money for Planned Parenthood.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And here’s another take on Storms’ announcement:\u00c2\u00a0Ronda Storms is back; don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t underestimate her<\/a>.<\/p>\n

She successfully fought to stop county funding for Planned Parenthood. As a state Senator, she pushed for intelligent design to be taught in public schools.<\/p>\n

She is unabashed about her faith, her values, and what she wants to accomplish. She can be loud, abrasive, insulting, but mostly she is unafraid of consequences \u00e2\u20ac\u201c political or otherwise.<\/p>\n

The district she hopes to represent covers much of eastern and southern Hillsborough County and has a lot of rock-ribbed conservatives who basically think the way she does. Her name recognition with those folks alone is enough to make her formidable.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This should be very interesting!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For those of you who have been along for the ride with us here at Florida Citizens for Science since the early days, you very likely know one of the most polarizing opponents we faced back in 2008: Ronda Storms. … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pcZNLl-Q5","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3362,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=3362","url_meta":{"origin":3229,"position":0},"title":"The Storms has passed","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"September 8, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"I had neglected to check on the status of Ronda Storms' Florida House election campaign. I'm so sorry. The good news is that she lost:\u00c2\u00a0Florida House: Ronda Storms\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 comeback ends in GOP primary Republican candidate Joe Wicker said he received a concession call about 9 p.m. from opponent Ronda Storms\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 1 comment","block_context":{"text":"With 1 comment","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=3362#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":560,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=560","url_meta":{"origin":3229,"position":1},"title":"Late night tidbits","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"April 24, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"It feels good to know we're not the only ones who can see through the so-called \"academic freedom\" and \"critical analysis\" of evolution certain lawmakers are trying to push. Newspapers in Florida have consistently been on the side of reality and good science. The St. Petersburg Times has an editorial\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "\"Academic Freedom\" bills '08"","block_context":{"text":"\"Academic Freedom\" bills '08","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=23"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":552,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=552","url_meta":{"origin":3229,"position":2},"title":"Early news reports on today’s tap dance","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"April 17, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Senator Storms' tap dancing has made the news here and there. (edited to add the Palm Beach Post editorial.) Palm Beach Post editorial: Fraudulent evolution bill Translated, the bill wants creationism - disguised as \"intelligent design\" - to have equal billing in classrooms. The bill is a fraud. The staff\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "\"Academic Freedom\" bills '08"","block_context":{"text":"\"Academic Freedom\" bills '08","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=23"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":493,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=493","url_meta":{"origin":3229,"position":3},"title":"Florida columnist and NY Times see through the BS","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"March 6, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Bill Maxwell, columnist for the St. Petersburg Times, draws a clear line between personal faith and public education, and admonishes state Sen. Storms for crossing it. With state Sen. Ronda Storms officially joining the debate over the teaching of evolution in Florida's public schools, reasonable residents should be wary and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "In the News"","block_context":{"text":"In the News","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":501,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=501","url_meta":{"origin":3229,"position":4},"title":"Loose lips … will they sink the ship?","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"March 12, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"It took a while, but the true motivations behind the creationism bills (\"academic freedom\") are starting to show. As \"academic freedom\" was tossed out there on the playing field it was touted as nothing more than \"freedom\" to teach the so-called \"strengths and weaknesses\" of evolution. Those of us who\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Creationism Bills"","block_context":{"text":"Creationism Bills","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=11"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":534,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=534","url_meta":{"origin":3229,"position":5},"title":"An early account of what happened","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"April 8, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Florida Citizens for Science board member and middle school science teacher Mary Bahr attended today\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Senate Judiciary committee meeting to testify against Senate Bill 2692, the deceptively-named \u00e2\u20ac\u0153academic freedom\u00e2\u20ac\u009d bill. The following information is based on my e-mail and phone correspondence with her following the meeting. Bahr said that the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "\"Academic Freedom\" bills '08"","block_context":{"text":"\"Academic Freedom\" bills '08","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=23"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3229"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3229"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3229\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3231,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3229\/revisions\/3231"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3229"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3229"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3229"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}